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his blog he said: 'The attitude of the police officer who failed to consider that the material easily passed the statutory test for disclosure was engendered by the very idea now written into the official policy of the College of Policing that means that a complainant in a sex case must be believed. 'Any police officer who considered that her or his duty was to investigate the case fearlessly and with a view to seeing if the allegation would stand up in court or was likely to fail should have considered the text messages between the complainant and the accused in this case'.
The flawed prosecutions have prompted fears there have been miscarriages of justice – but also raise the prospect that rapists and child abusers could go free if they are able to challenge disclosure of evidence at their trial.
It comes amid concerns that police are making basic errors in sex crime investigations in an attempt to improve conviction rates, with just 11.2 per cent of allegations of rape leading to a conviction.
Mr Itiary's case collapsed at Inner London Crown Court yesterday afternoon after the Crown Prosecution Service decided to offer no evidence.
Police said they had been 'working closely with the CPS to progress the investigation and provide full disclosure'.
However, the day after Mr Allan's trial collapsed, a review was ordered which'resulted in the identification of relevant material which was passed to the CPS to disclose'.
A CPS spokesman said: 'Prosecutors decided that there was no longer a realistic prospect of conviction and we offered no evidence against the defendant at a hearing today.'
Rape trial shambles is latest sex attack case to end in chaos Leo Mahan and Thady Duff (left) were cleared of rape when it emerged detectives had 'cherry picked' the evidence while Bartolomeo Joly de Lotbiniere, 22, (right) was cleared of rape reported to police 14 months later It comes after a string of rape cases were found to have fallen apart. Friends Thady Duff, Leo Mahon, Patrick Foster, all 22, and James Martin, 20, were charged with gang-raping a young woman following the May Ball at the Royal Agricultural University in Cirencester, Gloucestershire in 2014. It was alleged that the violent assault was filmed, and the footage circulated via Snapchat. But the trial at Gloucester Crown Court collapsed after it emerged that detectives had 'cherry picked' and 'airbrushed' the evidence. A study of the alleged victim's phone revealed that she had sent nude pictures of herself to one of the men in advance of the ball and also how she had given inconsistent accounts of a 'threesome' she took part in at an Army barracks five months after the alleged university rape. Shockingly, none of this material was handed over to the prosecution or defence by an investigating police officer. Royal Agricultural University students Mahon, Foster and Duff, and friend Martin, were cleared in 2016 after the prosecution offered no evidence. An IPCC investigation later found that detectives had no case to answer for misconduct. Bartolomeo Joly de Lotbiniere, 22, was accused of raping a geography student at York University after a night out downing cheap spirits and alcopops. His 19-year-old accuser said his advances were unwanted and that she froze in terror as Lotbiniere, also then 19, undressed her and carried her to bed in her halls of residence. But she only reported Mr Joly de Lotbiniere to police 14 months after the alleged attack when he appeared on television in six episodes of the BBC2 quiz show University Challenge. After such a long passage of time there was no forensic evidence, only individual testimonies, accounts from friends and text messages. Mr Joly de Lotbiniere insisted what had happened was a 'two way', consensual one-night stand, saying : 'Drunk or sober I would never rape anybody.' After two trials spread over seven months — the first ended in a hung jury — he was found not guilty of rape and sexual assault in September.
Last night Commander Richard Smith, who oversees the Met's rape investigations, said: 'I completely understand that this case may raise concerns given the backdrop of the case of [Mr Allan] last week.
Why are rape suspects named in the UK and what are the rules in other countries? Anonymity for men and women accused of rape until conviction was in place for 12 years until 1988 when it was repealed. At the time one of the main reasons given was that the public could not be warned by police if a suspected rapist was on the run, for example, without asking for a judge's permission first. Margaret Thatcher's government also wanted to're-balance' the system in favour of victims - and in high profile cases encourage other victims to come forward. People accused of rape in Britain can be named and cases involving public figures often attract significant media attention. Parliament has considered the idea of anonymity for those accused of rape on a number of occasions. The previous Coalition Government said it would extend anonymity in rape cases to defendants. However, having undertaken an assessment of the evidence, it concluded in 2010 that there was insufficient reliable evidence to justify a change in the law. Anonymity is not granted for rape defendants in any other common law country, with the exception of the Republic of Ireland. There, a rape defendant's identity can be made public only if they are convicted of rape.
'The Met is completely committed to understanding what went wrong and is carrying out a joint review with the CPS, the findings of which will be published. Rape investigations are by their nature very complex, and often hinge on the contradictory accounts of the alleged suspect and the complainant about what has taken place.
'We are reviewing all our investigations where we are in discussion with the CPS, to assure ourselves that we are meeting our disclosure obligations in an acceptable timescale based on the volume of data that some cases involve.'
Last week DC Azariah, 37, was accused of'sheer incompetence' by prosecutor Jerry Hayes after failing to hand over 40,000 text and WhatsApp messages which proved the innocence of Mr Allan. The 22-year-old student, accused of six counts of rape, spent almost two years on bail and three days in the dock at Croydon Crown Court before his trial was dramatically halted by a judge when it emerged that his accuser had sent hundreds of messages to friends describing her rape fantasies.
DC Azariah had claimed the phone records were 'too personal' to share, and only did so when a new prosecutor took on the case and demanded the evidence.
Yesterday Mr Allan's solicitor Simone Meerabux said: 'I think that someone should look back at all the Met cases and look at the reviewing lawyer who looked at the cases involving this officer. I really don't think that the CPS can put the blame on this one officer, I know reviewing lawyers aren't doing their jobs.
'I do not think that the Met can investigate themselves, nor the CPS investigate themselves, it must be an independent inquiry.'
Conservative MP Bob Neill, chairman of the Justice select committee, said: 'This is an extremely troubling development. It rather confirms the view that this was not a one-off mistake. I think there are deep-seated failure of disclosure by both the police and the CPS.
'There also needs to be a very swift inquiry into this officer's conduct and suitability for being involved in these rape investigations. After making two errors of this gravity he should not be involved in any more active investigations until we find out what has gone wrong.'
Mr Neill said Director of Public Prosecutions Alison Saunders, who has pushed to increase rape prosecutions and convictions, must 'urgently' review communication failures between the police and CPS on handing over sensitive material.
'I don't know if this officer is not up to scratch, but the CPS needs to realise that if it can't depend on the police to carry out thorough checks of the evidence then prosecution lawyers have got to be more proactive,' he said.
'It is not good enough to see that this mistake was not a one-off. We have got to make sure that it is not happening in any other cases. Every case this officer has been involved in needs to be looked at again.'
David Green of think-tank Civitas, a former adviser to the Government, said: 'There is a wider problem that the justice system and the police have lost their way because of the cult of victimhood and the prevailing idea that the victim should always be believed. That is leading to these grave injustices.'Kenlissa Jones, 23, was charged with murder after inducing an abortion (Screenshot/WALB)
UPDATE: The murder charge against Kenlissia Jones was dropped Wednesday because District Attorney Greg Edwards said Georgia state law does not permit prosecution for “alleged acts relating to the end of her pregnancy,” the Washington Post reports.
A Georgia woman is in jail with murder charges hanging over her because she took a pill to induce an abortion, resulting in the death of her fetus as she was en route to the hospital.
According to local WALB News, Kenlissia Jones, 23, purchased a drug called Cytotech online from a source in Canada. On Saturday, she took the drug at around 8 p.m., causing her to experience pain. As a neighbor drover her to the hospital, the pills took effect, and the fetus lived for about a half hour outside her body. She was arrested and jailed on charges of malice murder and possession of a dangerous drug.
She was about five-and-a-half months pregnant, the station reported. Georgia law prohibits abortions after 20 weeks gestation.
Jones, who has a toddler, was jailed without bond. The charges leveled against her surprised everyone from anti-abortion activists to the district attorney reviewing the case.
Legal experts say prosecuting Jones would fly in the face of Georgia state and case law, the Wall Street Journal reports. State law forbids prosecuting women for feticide in association with their own pregnancies, attorney and women’s advocate Lynn Paltrow told the Journal. And a precedent-setting case determined a teen who shot herself in the abdomen while pregnant, resulting in a stillbirth, couldn’t be prosecuted for performing an illegal abortion. Prosecutors dropped the case.
“I have been involved in the pro-life movement for well over 20 years, and I’m not aware of a situation like this ever,” Genevieve Wilson, a director of the anti-abortion group Georgia Right to Life, told Talking Points Memo. “I’m very surprised by it.”
District Attorney Greg Edwards told WALB he has never seen a case like this, but Tuesday evening remarked, “as of right now she’s still charged.”
Jones’ family members said they didn’t know she was pregnant and expressed grief.
“We lost what would have been a nephew for me. And everything. And then my sister,” her brother, Rico Riggins told WALB. He and his wife are caring for Jones’ toddler son.
Jones is one of a growing number of American women criminally charged for abortion-related issues. Purvi Patel, a 33-year-old Indiana woman, was the first to be convicted of feticide, NBC News reports. In March, she was sentenced to 20 years in prison.
Anne Bynum, 37, of Arkansas, was arrested and charged in April with concealing a birth and abusing a corpse after taking an abortion-inducing pill, delivering a fetus that died shortly after birth, then wrapping the body in a bag for several hours before going to the hospital, ArkansasOnline reports. Bynum is free on $20,000 bail.The New York City Council on Tuesday approved a measure requiring the Police Department to warn applicants for firearm licenses and permits about suicide and death.
The bill, Intro 1724, would instruct the NYPD to provide applicants for firearm licenses and permits with a mandatory health warning on death and suicide risks. It passed 44-2 and heads to Mayor Bill de Blasio’s desk for signature.
NYC Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito prefaced the body’s vote this week by equating it to the Surgeon General’s warning on cigarettes, hoping to ignite “a national movement” on the risks of gun ownership.
“A majority of Americans believe that having a gun in their home makes them safer, and numerous studies have conclusively demonstrated the opposite is true,” Mark-Viverito said. “The risk of suicide is higher in homes with guns. The risk of homicide is higher in homes where an abusive partner owns a gun and occupants are significantly more likely to die from accidental gunshot injuries in homes with guns.”
The warning would advise that: “The presence of a firearm in the home has been associated with an increased risk of death to self and others, including an increased risk of suicide, death during domestic violence incidents, and unintentional deaths to children and others.”
A fiscal impact analysis found the move wouldn’t cost the city anything as existing resources would be used to implement the legislation.
The measure passed the Council’s Public Safety Committee on Monday 6-1 with the committee chair, Councilwoman Vanessa Gibson, saying, “these gun warnings are the first step to changing the public’s conversation.”
NYPD legislative affairs director Oleg Chernyavsky told the committee earlier this month that the agency supports the proposal. He said the agency currently provides applicants with a pamphlet on state and local gun laws, including safe storage requirements, but doesn’t issue a warning on potential risks from the misuse of firearms.
The city of 8.5 million has just over 41,000 people licensed to possess firearms — with just 2,500 of those having very rare carry permits — and has among the strongest licensing requirements in the nation, The New York Times reported.
If signed by de Blasio into law, New York City would not be the first to implement mandatory gun warnings.
California has required warnings on firearms certificates and instructional pamphlets since 1993. Current law mandates packaging of any firearm to carry a statement warning that children are attracted to and can operate firearms and that if a child obtains and uses one, the owner could be subject to fines and imprisonment.
Last year, Washington Gov. Jay Inslee signed a measure that aims to help drop the number of suicides through a partnership of pharmacies and gun dealers to develop materials and training to spot signs of someone at peril from what they term the “nation’s most preventable form of death” in a state where the suicide rate is 14 percent higher than the national average. Among the mandates is that the state Department of Fish and Wildlife update their firearm law pamphlets with suicide prevention information.U.S. Rep. Gabbard Tulsi Gabbard (HI-02) has scheduled her statewide Town Hall Tour, including meetings in Hilo and Kona.
Rep. Gabbard will be in Kailua-Kona on Tuesday, April 11, from 6 to 7:30 p.m. at Kealakehe Intermediate School, 74-5062 Onipaa St.
She will be in Hilo on Tuesday, April 18, from 7:30 to 9 p.m. at Waiakea High School, 155 W. Kawili St.
To RSVP for any of the meetings, residents from the Second Congressional District are encouraged to sign up at gabbard.house.gov/townhall at least one day prior to the meeting date:
“I’m grateful for the opportunity to represent the people of Hawaiʻi in Congress,” said Rep. Gabbard, who represents the people of the Second Congressional District. “Our district is spread out, includes every island in the state, and is a long way from Washington, so my team and I focus on outreach in a variety of ways to serve Hawai‘i’s people and keep them updated.
“I invite my constituents on each island to come out and join me at a town hall near you, where I will share a congressional update, discuss local and national issues, and answer questions,” said Rep. Gabbard. “I look forward to seeing you there!”
ADDITIONAL STATEWIDE MEETINGS
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WailukuJust bought this today and I was so excited to try it that I've already tested two things. My main reason for buying it was to clean my invisalign trays because, lets face it, they get nasty. Doesn't matter how much denture cleaner I use or how much I brush them, they are no match to the morning breath scent that lingers in them even after cleaning. I figured I could also use it to clean my engagement and wedding ring because I am newly wed and still like to watch it sparkle on my hand. I compared a few different ones and this one looked the nicest and seemed to have the most positive reviews.First I tested out an old invisalign tray that had been soaking in Polident solution all day but, upon drying, still was kind of musty. I add a splash of mouthwash to the warm water and let it do its thing for 4 mins. The trays smelled great afterwards. I can't speak about removing the filmy look as my trays didn't have that.Then I put it to the test with my rings. I added a few drops of dawn to warm water, set it to 4 mins and HOLY CRAP- they sparkled so much afterwards. My rings get so dingey looking and this made them look brand new! You can't really tell from the photos but, trust me, it did wonders on them.Its small, unlike some other bulky ones i came across while comparing products, and the color and design looks great. It isn't loud at all, kind of a low hum. It actually sounds louder in the video than it does in person. It does warm up a bit but it didn't cause any warping of my invisalign trays because of it.Ericsson Australia chief executive Håkan Eriksson insists his company is not to blame for the major coverage problems hitting its $1.1 billion contract to connect rural customers to the national broadband network.
In 2011, Ericsson was awarded the contract to connect 450,000 rural and regional homes and businesses with high-speed wireless broadband by 2015. But the rollout has been plagued with technical problems and construction delays.
Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull this month revealed that 80,000 premises could be stuck without a wireless service because NBN Co lacked the spectrum required – a problem that would require a cut of $1.2 billion to operating cash flows by 2021 to fix. Spectrum is the tightly-regulated electronic airspace used by all broadcast technologies to send and receive signals.
Ericsson Australia chief executive Håkan Eriksson says the government and NBN Co were running a review into the fixed wireless and satellite program. Photo: Jesse Marlow
Mr Eriksson said the government and NBN Co were running a review into the fixed wireless and satellite program and did not wish to pre-empt its findings. He also said he did not know the specifics of how the problem would be solved. “But the client has to provide us with the spectrum," he said. “It’s not Ericsson’s responsibility to find spectrum and buy it.
“NBN Co knows about the spectrum issue, they have a plan for it and it will be resolved somehow."Original HANDPAINTED UV Art by Professional Artist Anna Marija Bulka
Each artworks are a unique and hand painted in the UK and comes directly from my studio.
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ABSTRACT ACRYLIC Painting Portrait WOMAN ART Modern Abstract Large Wall Art Canvas Painting Abstract Colourful Abstract Painting Multicoloured Artwork Original Contemporary Painting Painting Portrait Abstract UK HANDMADE
Title: "Temptation"
Medium: Professional artist grade acrylics, canvas
Colour: red, orange, blue, white, black,brown,
SIZE: 90 x 90cm
Ready to hang.
Paintings are signed on the canvas and finished with a gloss brilliant varnish.
Paintings are shipped ready to hang.
What is ready to hang? Ready to hang is when you get a painting in a box and you can hang it right away.
(for example many painters ship their painting rolled in tube and you need to stretch them on wooden base)
UK shipping Free. If another country is depends on where and what size the image. Please ask.
All of paintings are professionally packed with great care. For more protection I pack paintings with cardboard and bubble wrap.
Tracking number is provided when the order ships. Shipping is insured.
Your completely insured purchase. -Delivery Times are dependent on delivery location. You will be provided with the tracking number and status, as well as my 100% money-back guarantee. I can not refund shipping charges.
My art is your art now and so I will insure that your new addition will make it to you in the best possible condition
Amazing QUALITY~Purchase with 100% confidence!
WE ARE NOT SENT TO GERMANY AS A RESULT OF THE RULES CONDUCTED BY GERMANY.
If you are from Outside Europe ask about the cost of delivery.
Thank you for choosing to support my original artwork!After your life is destroyed and you are left for dead by the malicious Count Shax, a sorcerer named Roth teaches you the ways of powerful magic and gives you the tools to seek your revenge. The setup is as cliché as it gets, but luckily there’s plenty of interesting gameplay in Lichdom: Battlemage. Think of a first-person combat game with customizable spells and the loot/boss structure of Diablo, and you have a good idea of what to expect.
The base level of difficulty is quite challenging, and players may struggle until they begin combining magic, leveling up base sigils, and crafting new spells. Thankfully you continue to grow in power and collecting loot even as you die over and over at the hands of the enemy swarms and bosses. There’s a bonus for staying alive as well; the more checkpoints you can get to without dying adds to the rarity of the loot you collect along the way. You’ll eventually come away with sacks of loot, all of which can be broken down for materials or applied directly to existing sigils to craft new and powerful magic.
Crafting is at the core of everything that happens in Lichdom, and you can either stick with the tried and true basic spells like targeted blasts and area-of-effect spells or move into far more interesting fare like the potent lob. The system is incredibly deep and should keep players concocting new things all the way into New Game Plus. If you’re looking to make some crazy spell mixes, optional challenge rooms are dotted around the world that provide a glut of quality materials.
In addition to your ever-growing arsenal of magic, players must use dodges and shields to get by. The basic form of protection is a timed maneuver; if you can time your block with an opponent’s attack you unleash a powerful retaliation with your active magic. More advanced shields and modifiers allow players to do all kinds of interesting things, like teleport and unleash strikes at the point of materialization.
Combat is smooth and responsive, but I found myself falling prey to “backpedal blasting” at several points throughout the game, simply retreating backward while chaining control and damage spells. It’s something everyone has done from time to time in first-person games while seeking cover, but it feels awkward and out of place here in light of the mostly frenetic combat.
Lichdom: Battlemage is an interesting and enjoyable take on first-person fantasy with lots of customization to dive into. I’m hoping this initial effort leads to an even more polished sequel for Xaviant down the line.A Conservative candidate who wore camouflage and hid in a bush at night to catch a sign vandal has been reminded to let police handle the situation next time.
Incumbent Yukon candidate Ryan Leef made headlines after he put a woman under citizen’s arrest last week for allegedly defacing his campaign signs.
Yukon RCMP issued a statement titled “Citizen’s arrest of mischief suspect” on Thursday to warn the public to think twice about mirroring the Conservative candidate’s vigilantism.
Citing a section of the Criminal Code, Mounties reminded that Canadians can only make arrests in “specific” situations.
“We encourage our communities to leave intervention to the police, who are trained, equipped and have broader legal authorities than the average citizen,” it read.
They outlined how officers had responded to a report of someone sabotaging election signs on Aug. 27.
Whitehorse resident Carrie Boles admitted to vandalizing about half a dozen of Leef’s signs. She said she just had a enough of seeing the “gaudy signs” posted along a stretch of the Alaska highway near her home.
So she decided to do something “foolish and immature.”
While she was cutting into another sign on a rainy night, she was caught off guard when two men jumped out from a nearby bush, one shouting, “citizen’s arrest!”
She described what ran through her mind at the moment in a letter published by Yukon News:
I am a 110-pound woman standing on the edge of a dark stretch of the Alaska Highway, as my left arm is being twisted behind my back and my body is being forced to the ground. My final thoughts: “Ouch that hurts,” and the distasteful idea of a potential sexual assault.
Then she recognized Leef’s voice.
“I was like, ‘what are you doing sir, out here at 11 o’clock at night in the pouring rain, protecting your campaign signs?’” she told CBC Radio.
Mounties later arrived on scene and Boles was let off with a warning. Leef later defended his actions, telling the broadcaster his experience as a former member of the RCMP taught him to be prepared.
With files from The Canadian Press
Also on HuffPost:
Photo gallery In Photos: Canada Election 2015 See Gallery Ryan Leef's Citizen's Arrest Of Sign Vandal Politely Scolded By RCMP 1 / 323
In Photos: Canada Election 2015 1 / 323
Like Us On FacebookOil Prices are Down Again—Did We Miss Our Best Chance for a Better Energy Policy?
Oil is down again. The price of Brent crude, which moves US gasoline prices, is below $100 a barrel for the first time (save a single month) in five years.
Why am I not celebrating? No, I don’t own a portfolio of oil stocks. Instead, I am afraid that the recent fall in world oil prices may mean that we have missed our best chance for a better energy policy.
What would a better energy policy look like?
A better energy policy, as I have explained many times before, would be one that required people to pay the full costs of the energy they use. That would include not only costs of production, but also the external costs arising from harmful spillover effects. By and large, energy users in the United States now pay only costs of extraction, processing of fossil fuels, and generating of electricity. The result is that they use energy wastefully, pushing their consumption beyond the point where the benefits from using an additional unit fall below its full costs. (For details, see the links at the end of this post.)
And no, the full-cost argument is not just about climate change. Personally, I think there is a strong argument for counting climate change among the spillover effects of fossil fuel use, but if you are a skeptic, there are plenty of other, very tangible external costs to consider.
A recent working paper from the IMF attempts to quantify some of them, including health costs of local air pollution and congestion costs of motor vehicle use. The authors of the working paper estimate that those costs average $57 per ton of CO2 for the 20 countries that account for the largest emissions, and about $36 per ton for the United States. Those numbers are greater than many estimates of the climate-change costs of CO2 emissions. (This paper from the Interagency Working Group on the Social Costs of Carbon reviews the wide range of estimates of climate change costs.)
The estimates in the IMF working paper do not include the national security costs of import dependence. Those costs, although hard to quantify, are obviously substantial for the United States, the EU, and others.
The case for a price-smoothing tax
For years, economists have supported a carbon tax or a cap-and-trade mechanism as ways to ensure that fossil fuel prices reflect the full costs of their production and use, but the idea has never been politically popular. In the political calculus, the short-run pain of higher prices always seems to outweigh the promise of long-run gains.
One way to get around the short-run/long-run problem would be to institute a price-smoothing tax that rises and falls inversely with energy prices. As applied to petroleum, Congress would establish a floor oil price of X dollars per barrel of crude. Whenever the world market price P fell below X, an oil tax of T dollars would come into effect to fill the gap, with the amount of tax set according to the formula T=X-P. Whenever the price rose above the floor, the tax would be zero. Nothing could be simpler.
A couple of years ago, at a moment when the Libyan crisis had sent prices soaring, I proposed such a mechanism for gasoline taxes. The idea was not original—Charles Krauthammer had written about it in 2004 and others have mentioned it since, including, recently, the editors of Bloomberg View.
Interestingly, at least one major auto dealer has endorsed the idea as a way to end the uncertainty of a market in which demand swings wildly from SUVs to economy cars and back as the price of gasoline rises and falls. Right now, for example, as prices swing down, the Wall Street Journal reports that Chevy dealers have just 59 days’ worth of gas-guzzling Suburbans in stock compared with more than three months’ worth of subcompacts and all-electric Volts. Such a tax would reduce uncertainty for manufacturers and consumers, too, and would be a far more effective way to promote fuel efficiency than CAFE standards and other command-and-control regulations.
There is no reason the idea of a price-smoothing tax has to be limited to motor fuels. It could work just as well in the form of a carbon tax. The carbon tax could be indexed to the price of crude oil, for which global benchmarks are widely available, or to an appropriate weighted average of prices of coal, oil, and natural gas.
The problem of timing
There is just one catch—the timing. The political climate for introducing a price-smoothing tax is at its maximum when oil prices are high. Suppose, for example, Congress wanted to set a price floor of $100 per barrel of crude oil. If it did so when the price was $110, no one would feel an immediate pinch. The tax would take effect only at some later date, when the world price fell below the floor. There would never be a moment when the tax would cause an increase in wholesale or retail energy prices.
Any time from early 2011 to the middle of 2014 would have been a great time to institute a $100 per barrel price floor. Early 2008 would have been a good time, too, although the window of opportunity was shorter then. Unfortunately, the recent drop in global prices has closed the window. We have missed another chance to put this promising idea to work.
Too bad, but let’s not forget about it. As long as no effective mechanism is in place to encourage conservation, another surge in global energy prices is inevitable. Let’s be ready to roll out the price-smoothing carbon tax the when the timing is again right.
Related posts
Why Conservatives, Progressives, and Libertarians Should Love a Carbon Tax (three-part series)
The Myth of Affordable Energy
How a Price-Smoothing Oil Tax Could Help Make This the Last Oil-Price Crisis
Addendum: A note on the Henderson effect
In a 2012 blog post and earlier articles, economist David Henderson raises a technical objection to a price-smoothing oil tax. He bases his objection on the notion that the OPEC cartel acts as a monopolist in world markets, raising prices above production costs in order to maximize its members’ profits. Among other considerations, the price OPEC sets depends on the elasticity of demand. The less elastic demand, the higher the profit-maximizing price.
Suppose, says Henderson, that the US imposes a variable tax that holds the domestic price of crude oil constant. That would make US oil demand appear to be inelastic from OPEC’s point of view, since the amount sold in the US market would remain unchanged regardless of the world price. Since the US is the largest consumer of oil, he reasons, such a tax would reduce the elasticity of demand in the global market as a whole. OPEC would react to the lower elasticity by raising its profit-maximizing price. We could call this the “Henderson effect.”
The points Henderson makes about elasticity and monopoly are sound enough, but I have two reservations about their practical significance for US policy.
First, Henderson’s argument assumes that the tax is “aimed at undercutting OPEC’s monopoly behavior.” If, instead, the aim of a price-smoothing tax is to encourage conservation, then the Henderson effect would be an enhancement, not a flaw. After all, in a competitive world oil market, anything the US did unilaterally to encourage conservation would, by reducing total demand, cause the global price to fall. That would encourage consumption elsewhere, undercutting the aim of conservation. The Henderson effect, instead, posits that a price-smoothing tax in the US would induce an increase in the world price, thereby reinforcing its effectiveness as a conservation measure.
Second, Henderson exaggerates the extent of OPEC’s monopoly power. He bases his discussion on an assumption that the US consumes 25 percent of the world’s oil and that OPEC exercises effective monopoly power of the world supply of oil. Those figures were probably already out of date when Henderson wrote in 2012, and since then, both US consumption and OPEC’s market share have fallen further. As of 2014, the United States consumes only 20 percent of world oil production. US imports have fallen even more rapidly than its share of world consumption. Since peaking in 2006, US they have fallen by more than a quarter. Furthermore, the bulk of the remaining imports come from Canada and Mexico, neither of which is a member of OPEC. US imports from OPEC countries are equal to only about 8 percent of world oil production. Taking these trends into account, the effect of a unilateral US price-smoothing tax on global demand elasticity would be significantly smaller than Henderson suggests.
In short, the Henderson effect, if it operates at all, is weak and getting weaker. To the extent it does operate, it reinforces the goal of global conservation rather than undercutting it. It is more of a theoretical curiosity than a telling a critique of a price-smoothing tax, either on gasoline or on carbon.Quarterback Robert Griffin III celebrated when the Washington Redskins fired coach Mike Shanahan, former teammate Santana Moss said Monday. However, Moss told a local radio station, Griffin's giddiness hurt him in the end.
Griffin denies having done so and, via Twitter on Tuesday, told Moss that "to openly lie about me is a betrayal."
No subtweeting needed
Santana Moss, I treat you like a brother & have always had your back. To openly lie about me is a betrayal..... — Robert Griffin III (@RGIII) September 19, 2017
Moss, appearing on 106.7 The Fan, said the perception was that Griffin appeared happy over Shanahan's ouster after the 2013 season.
"When the whole thing went about, we hear that Mike Shanahan's not coming back the next year, then we hear the quarterback like, 'Hey. Mm-hmm,'" Moss told The Fan. "Like, basically saying that, 'Hey, you got me out of here not playing last year, the last few games, then that's what happens. You get fired.'"
By that point of their relationship, it was clear an issue existed between the Shanahans -- Mike and his son, then-offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan -- and Griffin. It simmered beneath the surface after Griffin's rookie season, which ended with him tearing his ACL in a playoff loss to the Seattle Seahawks.
But the extent of the problems weren't fully divulged until late in Griffin's second season, at which point it became clear that Mike Shanahan would not return for a fifth year. He was fired after a 3-13 mark in 2013 with one year left on his contract. He benched Griffin in favor of Kirk Cousins for the final three games.
"So 2014 comes, and Jay Gruden comes in, and he don't care," Moss told the station. "We see that now. He doesn't care. He don't care what he says about you, he doesn't care what he says at you.
"And he rips RG every chance he gets, like every meeting, and we're sitting there looking like, 'Yeah. You know what? You were just so happy that Mike and Kyle and them is gone, but now you're getting your behind ripped every day, because you're not playing the kind of football that we need to play for us to be successful.' So it comes back and bites you in your behind because now you see this guy is at home."
Griffin, via Twitter, said he has been "lied on a lot over the years."
Put in an impossible situation w/ a coach who never wanted me. Made players like Santana Moss a believer through hard work, film study... — Robert Griffin III (@RGIII) September 19, 2017
Showing up early, leaving late, putting in the extra hours, staying after practice & getting extra work in. We won the division that year. — Robert Griffin III (@RGIII) September 19, 2017
After Shanahan was fired, reports trickled out that he was not firmly in favor of trading up to draft Griffin in 2012. Washington won the NFC East in Griffin's rookie year, and he was voted to the Pro Bowl.
Griffin also tweeted:
Next year coach wants out, says he wants out, says he never wanted me as his QB & I GET BLAMED? C'mon man. I have been the good soldier. — Robert Griffin III (@RGIII) September 19, 2017
Some so desperately want me to fit this negative narrative that has been pushed about me. But I don't fit it. Never have. Never will. — Robert Griffin III (@RGIII) September 19, 2017
There were various reports about Griffin's standing among teammates during his playing days. There was a faction that didn't care for him and some who did. Griffin was voted a team captain in Cleveland last season. |
of evidence which, if known, would provoke new questions on top of the witness statements above. For example, was an older model (outdated) police car seen leaving the area of the theater after the shootings? What was the blood evidence on Holmes' clothing and shoes? Whose blood was it? Did it belong to victims inside the theater? Was Holmes, as he stood at the exit to the theater and surrendered himself, covered in more blood than he would have accumulated as a shooter? In other words, was he set up as the designated patsy?And are there more witnesses in the theater who saw accomplices? If so, as in Columbine, they will, no doubt, be told by law enforcement to keep quiet. If there is a trial, will Corbin Dates and the other anonymous witness mentioned above be asked to testify? The chances are slim to none.If the Batman murders are indeed a covert op, the motives behind it don't need much explanation. The UN Arms Trade Treaty, which has been under final discussions in New York since July 3rd, and is due to wrap up on July 27th, is a new step in the direction of gun confiscation, despite its announced aim of limiting only the export of weapons from one nation to another. Once the Treaty is signed, it will need senate ratification to go into effect and impact the 2nd Amendment. That ratification is the hard part for gun-control advocates. The tragedy at the Batman premier on July 20 could act as a pressure wave-front on senators to rubber-stamp the treaty.Other motives to stage the shootings in Aurora? The manufacture of a consensus for massive "crime prevention," and that means the extended use of medical drugs to influence behavior and the brain toward the goal of passivity and conformity---with the victims ENJOYING IT. (See Soma, the drug of choice in Huxley's Brave New World.)"Say something, see something" is only part of the picture. Creating a nation of snitches is certainly on the DHS's to-do list. But we are in the Century of the Brain. Researchers are eager to pawn off their discoveries for the development of technology that can literally limit behavior and thought. Behind the facade of "curing mental disorders," this is where brain research is heading. Free will and choice are considered flimsy outmoded notions that need to be cast aside, so the Brave New World can emerge. James Holmes becomes a classic case of a man whose brain needs "restructuring." The globalist technocrats want every inch they can win in the battle to convince the public that brain manipulation holds a promising future for the human race. Of course, their idea of the future is synaptic and neuronal control. Holmes is one more poster child for their chilling agenda.Brad Garrett, a former FBI profiler and now an analyst for ABC News, is one of the prime go-to experts who deliver pronouncements on mass murderers. Garrett supplies the public perception of these killers.Here are his off-the-shelf conclusions about James Holmes: "[Mass killers are] insecure, they start having, perhaps, dark thoughts that people are following them or that there are voices---auditory voices---that are directing them...some version of this happened to Mr. Holmes...the onset of whatever this chemical imbalance might be, it starts taking over, and he starts withdrawing..."It's a well-recognized fact that there are no chemical or biological tests to confirm a diagnosis of any so-called mental disorder. The whole hypothesis of "chemical imbalance" as the basis for mental disease is just that, a hypothesis. Nevertheless, Garrett promotes it as if it's accepted science, and he doubles down by suggesting that Holmes was hearing voices directing his actions.But psychiatric drugs (e.g., Ritalin, Prozac, Paxil, Zoloft, Haldol, etc.), used to curb mental problems, instead actually CAUSE patients to experience paranoia and hallucinations and withdraw---and plan and commit violence. It's the drugs. Garrett is providing cover to explain Holmes' actions as mental illness, when in fact he knows nothing about what Holmes experienced or why. If Holmes was, in fact, a mind-control subject, that is hidden behind psychobabble.Garrett supplies exactly the kind of narrative that calls for "early intervention," prevention of crime throughout society before it occurs, which, in the hands of brain researchers, means chemical and other means of controlling "anti-social" impulses.It is noteworthy that a young neuroscience student, Holmes, who was at one point studying "the biological basis of mental disorders," winds up as an accused mass murderer who is "obviously deranged" and "suffering from a chemical imbalance in the brain."At this point, we go down the rabbit hole, and the pieces of the puzzle are strange and tantalizing.A video has emerged of Holmes, at age 18, six years ago, lecturing to fellow attendees at a science summer camp at Miramar College in San Diego.Holmes explains he has been studying temporal illusions and subjective experience. A temporal illusion, he states, is the idea that you can change the past.At the Cannonfire blog ( http://cannonfire.blogspot.com ) there are comic-book panels posted from what Joseph Cannon calls "the most famous passage in the most famous of all Joker stories, Alan Moore's 'The Killing Joke.'"The Joker is asked: "I mean, what is it with you? What made you you the way you are? Girlfriend killed by the mob? Maybe brother carved up by some mugger...?"The Joker replies: "Something like that happened to me, you know...I'm not exactly sure what it was. Sometimes I remember it one way, sometimes another...if I'm going to have a past, I prefer it to be multiple choice! Ha ha ha!"James Holmes, at 18 years of age, said he was studying temporal illusion, "the idea that you can change the past," a feat the fictional Joker had obviously accomplished.In the last ten years, the film that explored this subject---and Holmes' other interest, the subjectivity of experience---most deeply, through its treatment of dreams and the insertion of synthetic experience in the mind, was Inception, directed by Christopher Nolan, who of course also directed the recent Batman trilogy, including The Dark Knight Rises. In yet another version of changing the past, in 2000 Nolan directed Memento, which unraveled its story backwards, as a victim of anterograde amnesia, who can't store memories, tries to revenge his wife's murder by leaving clues for himself that will lead him to the identity of her killer.Are we simply talking about a neuroscience student's (Holmes') interest in comics and films, or did he participate in experiments that attempted to alter his subjective view of the world and his own past?For example, there is wealth of information about the criminal experiments conducted by Canadian psychiatrist, Dr. Ewan Cameron, who operated with funding from the CIA during the 1950s. Cameron ran MKULTRA Subproject 68, during which he used massive electroshocks, sensory isolation, drug-induced periods of sleep (7-10 days), and audiotapes of "re-patterning" commands to attempt to wipe out patients' pasts, their memories, their former subjective mindsets, their very personalities---in favor of recreating these patients as "new and improved people."As a teen, Holmes interned at the Salk Institute in San Diego. Salk carries out studies using functional MRI, a technique of brain mapping that involves correlating read-outs with various mental activities. It's only speculation at this point, but somewhere along the line, did Holmes participate in such experiments, and were the results used to map regions of his brain for later inputs, so someone could achieve behavioral/thought control over him?To even suggest Holmes may be a mind-control subject brings immediate criticism, to which I would offer this counter: why accept the scenario of the crime put forward by the Aurora police? Why do they deserve the benefit of the doubt? Why limit and narrow the investigation to their story?Was law enforcement correct about the JFK and JFK and MLK assassinations? Was law enforcement correct about the Columbine massacre, in which 101 witnesses state they saw other shooters? Was law enforcement correct about the lone duo of plotters in the Oklahoma bombing? Was law enforcement correct about 9/11?In all cases---no.I'll tell you this. If the authorities really wanted to know what makes James Holmes tick (a prospect I strongly doubt), their best chance would be to send someone into his cell who could talk to him about Christopher Nolan, Inception, Memento, functional MRI, the TV series, Lost, which contained time-travel themes and was a show he and his friend, Ritchie Duong, used to watch together every week when they attended UC Riverside. Talk to Holmes about what he wants to talk about. Who knows what would eventually unravel?It might be far more than the police wish to uncover.Sources:The author of an explosive new collection, THE MATRIX REVEALED, Jon was a candidate for a US Congressional seat in the 29th District of California. Nominated for a Pulitzer Prize, he has worked as an investigative reporter for 30 years, writing articles on politics, medicine, and health for CBS Healthwatch, LA Weekly, Spin Magazine, Stern, and other newspapers and magazines in the US and Europe. Jon has delivered lectures and seminars on global politics, health, logic, and creative power to audiences around the world.The author of an explosive new collection, THE MATRIX REVEALED, Jonwas a candidate for a US Congressional seat in the 29th District ofCalifornia. Nominated for a Pulitzer Prize, he has worked as aninvestigative reporter for 30 years, writing articles on politics,medicine, and health for CBS Healthwatch, LA Weekly, Spin Magazine,Stern, and other newspapers and magazines in the US and Europe. Jonhas delivered lectures and seminars on global politics, health, logic,and creative power to audiences around the world.Imagine that you are feeling strong, healthy, and overall better than you have ever felt before. The symptoms you have been experiencing for years have been reduced significantly as the result of hard work and dedication to your health. Then one evening, as you are eating dinner with a loved one, the pain in your gut returns. You tell yourself it cant be too serious and decide to sleep it off. The morning comes and you have hardly slept because the pain is building, and by the time the afternoon arrives you are in so much pain that you decide to go to the hospital.
This is what I experienced a little over three weeks ago. Yet again, I ended up in the hospital. Something was different this time though. It all turned out to be a blessing in the most inconvenient of disguises. I was in pain, dehydrated, confused, vomiting. I knew the routine of checking into the emergency room well by this point. Keeping my focusing on my breathing and trying not lose my patience. Memories of past traumas began racing through my mind, the pressure building quickly, threatening to throw my breath off pace.
One memory in specific stands out above the others, that of the lead surgeon on the gastroenterology team in the hospital standing beside my bed as I woke up from a short nap (you don’t get much sleep in the hospital because someone different comes to check on you every hour or two ). He introduces himself and continues to tell me that they have reviewed the results of my CT scan, and it looks like i’m going to need surgery again because their is an obstruction in my bowel. At that moment, when I heard those words, it was as if I had been broken into thousands of pieces.
In the past, the mention of another potential surgery would immediately put me in a state of anxiety and then depression. This time things were different. I sat there in the waiting room, knowing I had a very important choice to make. Whether I was going to let this break me, or whether I would come out of this stronger, with an even more positive attitude. I would make every conscious effort to smile, be positive, and be happy. Rather than to worry, which is a prayer for an unwanted outcome.
The rest was routine. A barrage of questions about how you feel, what you are experiencing. Pain medication. 3-5 day stay. Nurses and doctors visiting you every couple of hours. Blood tests every day. Miserable hospital food. Still though, I wouldn’t let it get me down. The same surgeon came in, and yet again told me that he thinks I will need surgery for this. If that was the case, I thought, then so be it. I wont stress over this. Regardless of what happened, I would bounce back.I was blessed with a loving family, girlfriend, and friends. Turns out I didn’t need surgery. The results of some tests showed that I hardly had any inflammation, which was a sign that my diet was working and my Crohn’s wasn’t very active. What landed me in the hospital was scar tissue from my surgery two years ago, which had slightly narrowed a portion of my intestinal tract. I was overwhelmed with joy, all my hard work had been paying off. This was just another bump in the road. I could further tweak my diet to ensure this wouldn’t have to happen again. I pray thats the case, and if its not i’ll continue to roll with the punches.
Im only human. I still feel pain, anger, confusion. But a positive attitude allows me to channel those emotions into something better. I had read in the past of how it is in our nature to experience pain, but our suffering is a choice. I understood this concept intellectually, but it was only until this last hospital visit where I was able to know the concept experientially.
Enough is enough, its not worth letting my days pass in a constant state of irritation. I know there is a better way to live, it has taken me this long to learn how. I can breath, I can move forward, I can keep smiling, I can be grateful for all that which I experience. I can chose how I react to what happens to me. I wake up every morning with a wealth of gratitude for my life. I am confident that I will look back at this as one of the most important turning points of my life.
Practice gratitude. Embody positivity. Stay hungry.
-Dan
AdvertisementsImage caption The Champ mission was the first to pick up the magnetism associated with the tides
European scientists are going to try to measure the movement of the oceans by tracing their magnetism alone.
The effort will be achieved using three super-sensitive spacecraft called Swarm, which should launch in 2012.
The magnetic signal of the tides sweeping around the globe has been seen before, but the new mission would aim to observe far more detail.
It should provide additional data on how the oceans transfer heat around the Earth, a key feature of the climate.
"When salty ocean water flows through the magnetic field of the Earth, an electric field is generated and this electric field again makes a magnetic field," explained Dr Hermann Lühr, from the German Research Centre for Geosciences (GFZ) and a leading investigator on Swarm.
"We hope to have the possibility to measure the ocean currents which are so important for climate dynamics, because oceans are transporting a lot of heat. The German Champ mission was the first to see at least the tidal signal, but with Swarm we want to be able to monitor the currents themselves."
The new mission is one of the several innovative European Space Agency (Esa) endeavours being discussed this week here at the American Geophysical Union (AGU) Fall Meeting, the largest annual gathering of Earth and planetary scientists.
The major part of Earth's global magnetic field is generated by convection of molten iron within the planet's outer liquid core, but there are other components that contribute to the overall signal, including the magnetism retained in rocks.
It's a akin to finding a needle in a haystack Dr Mark Drinkwater, Esa
Swarm's goal is to investigate all the components, but pulling out the small part produced by ocean movement will probably be its greatest challenge, concedes Dr Mark Drinkwater from Esa's Earth observation division.
"We're talking about tens of thousands of nanoteslas for the total field measured at satellite level, of which one part in 50,000 approximately is contributed by ocean circulation," he told BBC News.
"So it's a akin to finding a needle in a haystack, but the modelling which has shown the retrievability of this element of the magnetic field has demonstrated that it might be possible with [our satellite system]."
It means the spacecraft themselves have to be built with extreme care. The magnetism generated by the satellites' own workings has to be minimised as much as possible, and thoroughly modelled to understand what interference it might be introducing into the scientific data.
Image caption The signal introduced by the satellites themselves must be totally understood
Currently under construction with manufacturer EADS Astrium, the satellites look like giant mechanical rats with long tails.
The tails are booms designed to hold Swarm's sensitive magnetometer instruments away from the "noise" that would inevitably come from the electronics inside the main body of the spacecraft.
Every component put on the satellites has had to be tested, right down to the glues that have been used to bond some surfaces together. Any trace ferrous materials in the glues could ruin the measurements.
"You can't go near the spacecraft with a standard spanner or screwdriver - all the tools you would normally use on a spacecraft build. You have to de-gauss them," said platform project manager Andy Jones.
"You have to test them and make sure they're magnetically clean so they'll leave no trace, because if you touch a bolt with a magnetised spanner you will leave a field behind on that bolt."
Image caption The Swarm satellites have the look of giant mechanical rats
The Champ spacecraft came out of orbit just a few weeks ago, burning up in the Earth's atmosphere.
Scientists reported first in 2003 that this satellite could sense the subtle magnetic field generated as the waters of the Earth moved under the gravitational tug of the Moon. This signal was apparent because of its very regular pattern.
Sensing the more complex signal from general ocean currents will be much more difficult, however.
At present, researchers use a range of methods to track the currents, including altimetry - the measurement of ocean surface height.
Image caption The global field is made up of several components, including the magnetism retained in crustal rocks
"All these different forms of measurement give you a different answer," said Dr Lühr.
"If you consider altimetry, this relies on seeing how the surface of the water is deformed by the current. But this can also be deformed by other effects like warming up, or having less salt in the water.
"However, if you look into the magnetic field this is just the integral motion from top to bottom of the water, and it will give you a really independent answer about the net transport of that water."
The Swarm satellites will be launched on a single rocket into a polar orbit some 300-500km (186-311 miles) above the Earth.
Two of the satellites will circle the planet in tandem while the plane of the third spacecraft will be offset and gradually diverge over the course of the mission.
This approach is expected to make it much easier for Swarm to separate out all the different components of the global magnetic field.
Scientists say they still have much to learn about Earth's magnetism.
The global field, which shields the planet from high-energy particles emanating from the Sun, appears to be getting weaker, particularly over the South Atlantic where Champ data was used to show there had been a 12% reduction during the course of three decades.
It is in this so-called South Atlantic Anomaly that orbiting spacecraft experience most of their technical failures and where astronauts on the space station receive their largest dose of radiation.
Image caption The German and British divisions of Astrium have led Swarm development
[email protected]*I must preface this with I am not a writer for TRS. I just got inspired by the story of Val posted and I really wanted to do something for my favorite character. *
The walls of Griffin Hallsey’s trophy room were a monument. Every creature native to the solar system was present in one way or another. Along each wall, floor to ceiling, were the gaping maws of beasts ranging in size from the vicious skelk to the colossal ragnar.
The monsters did not stop at the walls though. High above his head Cabot saw the bones of an undoubtedly carnivorous flying predator, the likes of which he had never seen. Even the glass coffee table at which the time tested hunter sat in front of was held up on the spine of what Cabot assumed was a magnur, a monster he had only seen in old holobooks due to their extinction.
“William Cabot.” The grizzled veteran interrupted his thoughts. “To what do I owe the pleasure?”
“I’m putting together a team.” The ship captain said sharply, once again glancing around the famous hunter’s trophy room.
Griffin abruptly stood up from the couch, nearly knocking the pelt hung across the back to floor. He walked towards the small liquor cabinet at the back of the room, removing a crystal bottle of scotch.
“I hate to break to to you boy, but I’m retired. And last I heard so were you.” he said, pouring the dark liquid into a short glass.
“NORDITA brought me out. Specifically for this.”
“These beasties must have been mighty impressive to get you back out in the field.” He said with a smirk.
Cabot strode to the armchair at the end of the coffee table and sat down on the edge of the seat.
“Not only that, the pay off is eight figures. We’re all looking at four million… after expenses. Anyone could retire for good anywhere they chose with that kind of money.”
“Tell me of the quarry.” Griffin said, returning to the couch.
“The limited intel we have says it’s like nothing we’ve ever encountered. The lab coats are calling it Extreme Rapid Evolution. We’re talking dynamic changes in a matter of hours if not minutes. On a cellular level. Not only that, these things are smart. They’re exemplifying understanding of basic tactics. Divert. Surround. Kill. Run when outmatched but return when things tip in their favor.”
Griffin leaned forward, his interest piqued.
“This is all just the tip of the iceberg. There are reports of them being over fifteen feet tall. Some are breathing fire, summoning lightning strikes out of thin air. There are even rumors of teleportation. Entire squads of militia being grabbed one at a time, plucked from their fellow soldiers without even a scream.” Cabot said, his hands shaking.
The fire in Griffin’s eyes was apparent, he hadn’t even taken a drink since Cabot started talking. He leaned back, the gleam in his eye fading as he took a drink of his scotch.
“I know why you retired.” Cabot said, cutting the silence.
Griffin still sat silently.
“You did it for her. And in your situation I probably would have done so for the same reason.”
“Dinah never liked me going out on these expeditions…” Griffin trailed off. “She was always supportive of what I did, but I could always tell… I could always see when she saw me leave. That look in her eyes. The look of maybe she would never see me again. I’m just not sure I would be honoring her… Doing this.”
He drank the last of the scotch in his glass.
“I’m not going to claim I know how your wife would feel about this, but I’m going to ask your this: Do you want to spend the remainder of your days sitting in your house, drinking scotch and reminiscing about days gone by? Or do you want to spend them doing what you loved, and the thing your wife knew you loved?”Life has been busy, so just a saying without commentary today:
An old man was asked by a brother: “How do I find God? With fasts, or labour, or watchings, or works of mercy?” The old man replied: “In all that you have said, and in discretion. I tell you that many have afflicted their body, but have gained no profit because they did it without discretion. Even if our mouths stink with fasting, and we have learnt all the Scriptures, and memorized the whole Psalter, we still lack what God wants: humility and charity.”
~ Sayings of the Desert Fathers, 10.91
Okay, a little commentary: Apparently this old man would disagree with John Lennon. Love (charity) isn’t all you need, or at least you can’t have it alone. We also need humility. And the more I read the fathers, the more I think that it is impossible to have true charity without humility. Love may be a fruit of the Spirit, but humility is the root without which that fruit could not have grown.
This, at least, has been my experience. And it explains why I so often find that I am worse at love in practice than I imagine myself to be.Wisconsin 2, 11 Minnesota State 1
Verizon Wireless Center • Mankato, Minn. • Attendance: 3,826 Final Stats | Final Stats | Interviews
Jan. 12, 2013
Final Stats
MANKATO, Minn. -- With 6.2 seconds left on the game clock in overtime, the goal lamp flashing and fans inside the Verizon Wireless Center astonished, John Ramage stood tall on the ice and gave a salute.
The man nicknamed "Captain America" did it again.
For the second-straight night, Wisconsin (8-7-5, 6-5-5 WCHA) scored in overtime to upset No. 11 Minnesota State (14-8-2, 8-8-0 WCHA), as the Badgers stole a 2-1 win from the Mavericks on Saturday night.
Just a night prior, the Badgers won their first WCHA regular-season overtime game since 2006, but made it two in two nights with another victory.
Fast Facts • Ramage scores second straight game-winning goal in overtime • After not winning an WCHA regular-season overtime game since 2006, Badgers win two in two nights over Minnesota State. • Wisconsin improves to 7-0-3 in its last 10 games.
Ramage (St. Louis, Mo.) found himself in scoring position following assists from Sean Little (Fond du Lac, Wis.) and Ryan Little (Fond du Lac, Wis.). Stick handling his way through the MSU defense, the senior captain found a hole left side, stepped into his shot and blasted the go-ahead score into the net for the win.
The goal marked back-to-back overtime game-winning goals for Ramage. It was also his fourth score of the season, with all four having come on the road.
With the win, UW extended its unbeaten streak to 10 games (7-0-3), earned its sixth straight win and third straight series sweep. The weekend sweep also marked the first ever in Mankato by the Badgers.
Ramage wasn't the only Badger to strike again on Saturday night, as Jefferson Dahl (Eau Claire, Wis.) scored for the second straight night to give UW a 1-0 lead. At the 16:55 mark of the second period, the junior forward shielded his defender on a semi-breakaway, went backhand to forehand and slipped the puck inside the post for the score.
MSU finally got on the board in the third period. After winning the faceoff, the Mavericks fired from the point, as the shot was then deflected and snuck in past Joel Rumpel (Swift Current, Saskatchewan), tying the game 1-1 at the 12:27 mark of the period. Matt Leitner was credited with the score and Evan Mosey the assist.
It was one of the few mistakes on the night for UW goaltender Rumpel, who allowed just one goal and recorded 35 saves. Making just four in the first period, Rumpel combined for 28 saves over the final two periods and earned his fourth win of the season (4-5-3).
In addition to Rumpel's efforts in net for the Badgers, the UW penalty kill stepped up and answered the call on Saturday, killing off eight different power-play opportunties for the Mavericks. In total, UW had 11 penalties for 22 minutes, but held MSU scoreless throughout their time on the man advantage.
Now one game above.500 for the first time this season, the recently hot Badgers return home to the friendly confines of the Kohl Center, where they will play out 11 of their final 16 games of the season.
Next up on the schedule for Wisconsin is a visit from top-10 Miami (12-5-5, 8-4-4 CCHA), Jan. 18-19. Opening faceoff is set for 8 p.m. (CT) on Friday and 7 p.m. on Saturday.Showtime was once in the MMA business and didn’t necessarily want to leave it.
The premium channel aired Strikeforce from 2009 until the promotion was completely folded into the UFC in 2013. A few months after Strikeforce’s extinction, Showtime went into discussions about bringing the sport of mixed martial arts back to its network.
Invicta FC and Showtime were nearly broadcast partners. At the very least, there were discussions underway. Showtime Sports executive Stephen Espinoza said as much earlier this month on The MMA Hour with Ariel Helwani.
“I was interested in Invicta,” Espinoza said. “The reality is the UFC is very good at what they do. And for us to get back in the market — this is a conversation we’ve had ongoing — there’s gotta be a reason. Why are we back in the market? What are we providing that isn’t already provided?”
Invicta provided something special, Espinoza felt. It was the home for women’s MMA and Showtime had been ahead of the curve with the ladies. Strikeforce promoted the likes of Cris Cyborg and Gina Carano and later Ronda Rousey and Miesha Tate. Showtime was fully on the bandwagon and airing Invicta would have been the next step.
“What Invicta provided was something unique, it was premium,” Espinoza said. “It was different. You know what you were getting. And it generates a lot of buzz for a relatively, at that point, small promotion. They generated way more attention than any company of its size and its age had ever generated”
Invicta FC president Shannon Knapp told MMA Fighting that she had a meeting with Espinoza in May or June of 2013, just months after Strikeforce ran its final show. The two met again in December 2013.
Ultimately, though, Invicta signed a broadcast deal with UFC Fight Pass, where it remains today. According to Knapp, Showtime dragged its feet because it didn’t love the idea of Invicta standouts migrating up to the UFC regularly.
“I get it, there’s this thing when you are a big broadcasting network, if you're going to be in business with someone, you want to be able to build the stars on your network and those stars are going to stay around,” Knapp said.
Knapp felt then and still feels now that her fighters, for the most part, want to one day be in the UFC and she doesn’t want to stand in the way of their dreams.
“I was just not in a position to wait,” Knapp said. “I needed to move and I needed to find a home for Invicta. That’s what the athletes all wanted anyway. What more could I have done for my athletes than put them on the very same network that the UFC fighters are on?”
Espinoza said when the UFC purchased Strikeforce in 2011, it created an issue for the network. The UFC began poaching some of Strikeforce’s best fighters to use in its own promotion and taking them away from Showtime. Espinoza implied he didn’t want to get into that situation again.
“At a certain point, you’ve got that many mouths to feed and different objectives, it’s gonna be difficult,” Espinoza said. “We weren't happy at the end of what we were getting out of Strikeforce. We were not getting the best matchups and they were looking to take some of the talent up to the UFC.”
Soon after, Knapp brokered a deal to send some of Invicta’s top strawweights to the UFC to compete on The Ultimate Fighter 20, where the first UFC 115-pound champion was crowned in 2014. Knapp completely understands where Showtime was coming from, but also had confidence in her and her team’s ability to find talent and turn them into draws. There was also talks of a docuseries with Showtime on the table, she said, that would have helped bring the fighters’ great stories to life.
“I was very confident I could build them quicker and build stars quicker than anybody else,” Knapp said.
Over the last four years, Showtime has fully committed itself to boxing and has become the leader in that sport. Last month, Showtime was the broadcast partner on Floyd Mayweather vs. Conor McGregor and in 2015 the network had Floyd Mayweather vs. Manny Pacquiao. Those are the two biggest combat sports events ever.
Invicta has done well on UFC Fight Pass with a steady stream of fighters moving over into major roles in the UFC, like Cris Cyborg. The Ultimate Fighter 26, which is airing right now on FS1, will crown the first UFC women’s flyweight champion and Invicta veterans make up a good portion of the cast.
Knapp said she has no hard feelings at all toward Showtime. Just the opposite. She’s a fan of its product and interested to do business with the channel in the future. Knapp’s Invicta women’s boxing promotion should be off the ground before the end of the year, she said. And Espinoza might be getting a call.
“I love Showtime,” Knapp said. “And with the boxing, I hope to knock on that door again.”I’m gonna start by asking you about something that might not be that pleasant to talk about, but I saw Ring of Honor TV this week, and you got your head shaved by Adam Cole and the Young Bucks.
Yeah. (Sighs) Oh, well, I will say that it’s been a little weird around the house, just because for twelve years I’ve had those braids, and every time I walk past the mirror, I’m reminded of Adam Cole. Also, I’m reminded of the revenge that I need to get on Adam Cole, which is why I’m so happy that this match his happening on pay-per-view, so I can get revenge [and] the world can see it.
Read about Lethal’s upcoming Death Before Dishonor match here.
One of my earliest wrestling memories was seeing André the Giant getting his hair cut by Big John Studd. You’re in good company.
That’s the way I like to look at it. If I didn’t look it at it like that, I’d go crazy.
So, why else should people check out Death Before Dishonor?
Oh, very simple. First of all, let’s forget for a second that it’s Death Before Dishonor, and it’s live on pay-per-view. Ring of Honor is the greatest wrestling company in the world. I think we have the greatest locker room out there today, and that’s apparent because other wrestling companies constantly pluck wrestlers from the Ring of Honor roster. They have for years, because Ring of Honor constantly is changing and evolving to make sure it has the greatest roster out there … With a great roster comes a great, entertaining product.
And it’s not a secret to wrestling fans and wrestlers alike that on pay-per-view you naturally just step up your game. … And I think everyone on the Ring of Honor roster can remember when they were younger, ordering wrestling pay-per-views, and now they’re living their dream. … What you can expect is quite simply the best professional wrestling on the planet. Ring of Honor always delivers.
Which is harder—the physical or talking aspect of wrestling?
(Laughs) Oh, man. … For me, the in-ring wrestling aspect is harder because, growing up, I was such a huge fan of Ric Flair … I studied him, I wanted to be him, and if you watch anything that I do—especially the talking parts—you can, clear as day, see influences of Ric Flair. But for me, that part comes almost easy, and naturally, because I was such a huge fan of [his]. I idolized him, [so] it just made [talking] easier.
It wasn’t always the easiest part. It takes some courage to get up in front of a bunch of people, especially people you don’t know, and do your thing. But I got over that quickly. So I would say that the in-ring aspect, the wrestling, that would probably be the hardest part for me. Although, I think I’m doing a pretty good job at it.
You definitely are. Which of them is hardest to teach?
Oh, it’s definitely the promos. A long time ago, I had a tag match with my dad, and it was quite simply just a few days of showing him a few things … If you have enough time, you can master that, but some people never master the art of timing and when to say a certain thing, and how to say it, and even the volume of [their] voice, and you can’t fake being comfortable for promos. … If you have a shy person, then you gotta get them, first, to break out of their shy shell, and that can be very difficult, sometimes impossible.
You’ve filmed some great commercials for the Health Alert Hotline. Even though I don’t suffer from knee or back pain, I almost want to get a pain-saving brace.
I am so proud of what I’ve done with those commercials. And I don’t know if you know this, but my influence during [the] filming of those knee brace commercials was Hulk Hogan.
I remember commercials with Hulk Hogan that would last in my head for a very long time. So I was always like, “Something that he’s doing in these commercials make it stand out to me for a while.” So when they approached me with the idea to the do the commercial … I struggled with, “Well, how do I do this?” And I just, man, if I was Hulk Hogan, this is how I would I do it.
George Tahinos
Tell me what it felt like to hold in one hand the world television title, in the other hand the world title, while being covered with streamers as the audience chanted, “You deserve it.”
That was the greatest moment of my life. I used to think the greatest moment of my life was when I got to wrestle my idol, Ric Flair, live on pay-per-view when I worked for another wrestling company. But that moment was surpassed by my matchup at Best in the World with Jay Briscoe, when I won the Ring of Honor World Championship, because, growing |
because of a change in luck and a tougher schedule the 49ers win total should decrease. That doesn’t mean they can’t have a terrific season again though.
Two things that can’t be overlooked when forecasting the 49ers is their post-season success and their offensive upgrades. Let’s start with the latter first. All the weapons the 49ers have acquired at receiver and running back won’t make them a prolific offense, but it will make them experts at situational football and will give Harbaugh tons of options when it comes to play calling. The 49ers now posses a power back (Frank Gore), an all purpose back (Kendall Hunter), a short yardage back (Brandon Jacobs), and an elusive speed machine (LaMichael James). There is no denying their versatility at receiver either where names like Manningham and Moss provide serious upgrades to the team’s most talent-deprived position.
The last factor is how well the 49ers performed in the playoffs. Many people remember the 49ers as last year’s best team, but I think this is far from the truth. From beginning to end there were no teams that were even close to the Packers and Saints as a one-two punch. And it was the 49ers who took down the Saints in their first playoff game in spectacular fashion. The following week they played a pretty tight game against the eventual Super Bowl champ (and Packers defeater) New York Giants, coming up short in OT. The 49ers got some fortunate results early in the 2011 season, but by the end of the season they improved into a legitimate threat to any team in the league. This makes sense, too.
Last year was the lockout-shortened season and coach Harbaugh had only a few weeks to implement his system prior to the start of the season. This year he has had a full training camp and the results will show. The 49ers who return all 11 starters on defense will again be tough and battling for the division title in 2012.The reason I can’t forecast the 49ers to take down the NFC West for certain is because of the challenge they will face from the improved Seattle Seahawks. The Seahawks have a massive upgrade at QB, whether Russell Wilson or Matt Flynn plays. That upgrade from a bad QB to competent QB will give a huge boost to the offense that is already adept at running the football. I am still not impressed with their receivers as a unit, however. On the defensive side of the ball Carroll has assembled an impressive list of young players that make the Seahawks tough to run against. Expect the draft picks in the secondary to continue to improve also – especially future pro-bowler Earl Thomas. Seattle will be a tough team and Russell Wilson will be good. Expect the Seahawks to be right on the 49ers heels all season long.
For now I will take the ‘niners to win the division, but fully anticipate Seattle to be right there with them.Image caption Many traders from DR Congo and South Sudan People stock up on goods in Kampala
Businesses in Uganda's capital, Kampala, have closed their shops and are boycotting banks to protest at high interest rates.
Uganda's central bank raised rates last year when inflation hit more than 20%.
Shopkeepers in Kampala say interest rates of up to 27% are crippling their businesses.
A BBC correspondent says most shops are closed, leaving customers who travel to Kampala from across east Africa unable to stock up.
The Kampala City Traders' Association - which called the strike after two days of negotiations with the government broke down - say shops will stay closed for three days.
"We are not saying they should not increase interest rates," the traders' spokesperson Isa Ssekito told the BBC's Network Africa programme.
"What we are saying is that they should not increase rates on old loans," he said.
Business owners also say for the next three days they will withdraw all their savings from commercial banks and stop making any deposits into their accounts.
The Bank of Uganda increased its base rate last year in response to soaring inflation, prompting banks to increase rates on new and old loans and pushing up the cost of doing business.
Prime Minister Amama Mbabazi says the government is looking at ways to help people struggling to repay loans because of the rate hikes, but says striking may aggravate the problem.
"I don't think striking will save [traders'] property; I don't think striking will save your business," Mr Mbabazi told the BBC.
"In fact, striking will hurt you and hurt all of us as a country," he added.
The BBC's Ignatius Bahizi in Kampala says hundreds of people are standing around on street corners, with the police monitoring the situation.
Kampala is an east African trading hub and many of the people unable to shop have come from other parts of Uganda, as well as eastern Democratic Republic of Congo and South Sudan.
City traders have used this tactic before, in July last year, to protest over the country's weakened currency and the presence of cheap goods in Chinese shops.CLOSE A federal judge has ordered Apple to help the FBI break into an iPhone belonging to one of the San Bernardino shooters. Wochit
Syed Farook and Tashfeen Malik, the assailants in the San Bernardino, Calif., shootings in December. (Photo11: AFP PHOTO, HO)
WASHINGTON — Apple must help the FBI break into an iPhone belonging to one of the killers in the San Bernardino, Calif., shootings, a federal judge ordered Tuesday.
Tashfeen Malik and her husband, Syed Rizwan Farook, shot and killed 14 people in December. The couple later died in a gun battle with police. The iPhone was recovered from their vehicle in the aftermath of the attack.
The ruling from U.S. Magistrate Sheri Pym requires Apple to provide "reasonable technical assistance" to the FBI, namely, software that can disable the security feature that erases data from the iPhone after too many unsuccessful attempts to unlock it.
Federal prosecutors told the court they could not access the phone used by Farook because they don’t know his passcode. With the security feature disabled, they can attempt as many combinations necessary to unlock the iPhone.
The iPhone in this case was not the property of Farook, but of his employer, San Bernardino County, which consented to the search.
Apple CEO Tim Cook said late Tuesday that the company would oppose the ruling.
In a message to customers published on Apple's website, he said: "We can find no precedent for an American company being forced to expose its customers to a greater risk of attack. For years, cryptologists and national security experts have been warning against weakening encryption. Doing so would hurt only the well-meaning and law-abiding citizens who rely on companies like Apple to protect their data."
FBI director James Comey could not be immediately reached for comment.
Last week, Comey told a Senate panel that investigators still have not been able to unlock the encrypted cellphone of one of the terrorists who carried out the attack, which also left 20 others wounded.
"We still have one of those killer's phones that we haven't been able to open," Comey told members of the Senate Intelligence Committee during a hearing on threats to the homeland. "It's been over two months now. We are still working on it."
Comey made the comments in response to questions from senators about how encrypted cellphones and other electronic devices can hinder investigations because they cannot be unlocked, even by the companies that made them.
Comey could not be immediately reached for comment.
The encryption debate, which often pits security hawks against privacy advocates, has intensified in the wake of the terrorist attacks in San Bernardino and Paris.
Intelligence Committee Chairman Richard Burr, R-N.C., is working with Vice Chairman Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., on legislation that would compel tech companies to provide encrypted data to law enforcement agencies.
Following Tuesday’s ruling, Los Angeles U.S. Attorney Eileen Decker said the move to unlock the phone represented an attempt to “exhaust every investigative lead in the case.’’
"We have made a solemn commitment to the victims and their families that we will leave no stone unturned as we gather as much information and evidence as possible,’’ Decker said. "These victims and families deserve nothing less. The application filed today in federal court is another step — a potentially important step — in the process of learning everything we possibly can about the attack in San Bernardino.”
The Obama administration has held high-level discussions with Silicon Valley companies to press Apple, Facebook and others to do more to prevent terrorists from using the Internet to spread propaganda, incite violence and attract new recruits. Companies, sensitive to the fallout from government spying revelations by former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden, have been wary of being seen as aiding the government to spy on users.
A major point of contention: law enforcement's concerns that tech companies provide encrypted communications that terrorists can use to hide their activities.
Apple has five business days to respond to the order.
The Electronic Frontier Foundation is considering filing an amicus brief in support of Apple and expects other digital rights groups to do the same, said Kurt Opsahl, general counsel for the Electronic Frontier Foundation.
"If the U.S. government can force Apple to do this, why can¹t the Chinese or Russian governments? Other countries will ask for this same power. Do we want to have this be universal?" Opsahl said.
The risk? If Apple creates a program to break into this iPhone, it will essentially be a "master key" for other iPhones, he warned.
"It would be possible for the government to take this key, modify it and use it on other phones," Opsahl said. "That risks a lot, that the government
will have this power and it will not be misused."
CLOSE Apple CEO Tim Cook defended the company's use of encryption on its mobile devices, saying users should not have to trade privacy for national security. USA TODAY
CONTRIBUTING: Elizabeth Weise and Erin Kelly
Read or Share this story: http://usat.ly/1TpDldCSeason Three of the critically acclaimed fantasy comedy! To escape the machinations of the evil Wicked Kings, Perf (a dyslexic wizard), his companions, and his wise-cracking sword seek counsel from a mysterious oracle.
But why read paragraphs of us talking about the show when you can watch the first two seasons for free, right here?
Thanks to all of our backers and fans for an incredible campaign! We look forward to creating an incredible season of JourneyQuest for you. - ZOE, 2/19
*****NOTE: See below for important shipping information before you pledge!*****
===========================
Now available as add-ons:
$15 – Perf miniature
$25 – Fan-created Sword of Fighting Pendant
Or receive both for $30! Just increase your pledge by that amount and you can select your add-on in BackerKit when the campaign ends. See here for more details.
===========================
19 February – Miniature & Sword Add-ons [Read Update]
19 February – New Articles & Fan Art! [Read Update]
17 February – New Videos + How We Win [Read Update]
16 February – JQ Premieres on Steam [Read Update]
16 February – New Rewards [Read update]
13 February – "Leaf on the Wind" Video [View Video]
12 February – More "Many Talents" Videos [View Video]
11 February – Bardic Badge Design & Lore [Read Update]
10 February – "Many Talents of Christian Doyle" [View Video]
08 February – "Nara & the Backer Bus" [View Video]
08 February – Join the Cast on Twitter [Read Update]
05 February – "Roderick-Rolled" [View Video]
05 February – #15Days of JQ Launches [Read Update]
03 February – Anne Discusses Nara [View Video]
01 February – Backstory: The Wicked Kings [Read Update]
29 January – Emilie Writes About "Being Funny" [Read Update]
28 January – New "Carrow" Art Print Revealed [Read Update]
27 January – Kevin Discusses Glorion [View Video]
26 January – New Reward Levels Unlocked [Read Update]
25 January – Brian Lewis Discusses Carrow [View Video]
22 January – Exploring the Budget [Read Update]
20 January – Interview With Sculptor Jason Wiebe [Read Update]
19 January – First Day Thank You Message [Read Update]
WHAT IS JOURNEYQUEST?
Premiering in 2010, JourneyQuest is a global, fan-funded phenomenon. With the support of our passionate fanbase, we bring you a feature-length third season!
As the story continues, the search for an oracle brings our heroes to a dwarven mining town in which they are pursued by an assassin, orcs, Glorion (their former fighter), and Wren, a recently-fired bardic historian.
WHO ARE WE?
We are the team at Zombie Orpheus Entertainment. Since our inception in 2010, we've released award-winning shows and films like The Gamers: Hands of Fate, Humans & Households, Natural 1, Dark Dungeons, and most recently, The Gamers: The Series. And of course, two seasons of JourneyQuest!
With thousands of happy backers from prior Kickstarter campaigns, we have a track record of quality, project completion, and kick-ass storytelling.
Plus, as with our other shows, JourneyQuest Season Three will be released under a Creative Commons license, allowing fans everywhere to remix, share, and play in the world of the show.
OUR PRODUCTION TEAM
Executive Producer/Writer: Matt Vancil (The Gamers Series, JourneyQuest)
Producers: Rennie Araucto (Hands of Fate) and Tony Becerra (JourneyQuest)
Director: Christian Doyle (Dorkness Rising, JourneyQuest)
Director of Photography: Jeremy Mackie (JourneyQuest, Hands of Fate)
WHEN WILL IT SHOOT?
Thanks to the generous support of our core fans, writers Matt Vancil and Kate Marshall have already completed the script, which means that we can begin production in April 2016. The cast and crew are scheduled, locations are getting locked down, and we're ready to begin ramping up production as soon as this campaign succeeds.
In order to continue the story, this campaign needs to raise a minimum of $420,000 before February 19th. If we reach that threshold, our backers will be charged and we'll get to make the show. If we do not, no money will exchange hands and the show will not be made.
First and foremost, we have to build an epic fantasy world: locations, sets, costumes, props, makeup, prosthetics, set dressing. This season includes a dwarven mining town and tavern, the first appearance by ogres in the series, a secret mountain hideaway, and so much more.
We also want to pay our cast and crew a living wage. Film production is their career and we want to make sure their labor is compensated fairly.
This production budget is the minimum that we need to do right by the story, the cast and crew, and the fans. With $0.77 out of every dollar going directly in the show and $0.12 going directly to creating and fulfilling the cool rewards that we've put together for you, this is going to be one of our most cost-effective productions yet.
TELL ME MORE ABOUT THESE REWARDS
EDIT: Read all about the new rewards right here.
Every reward is designed with our historical attention to quality and detail.
First, every backer will receive access to our Backerkit store, where you'll be able to find add-ons and exclusives after the campaign, including DVDs of prior seasons, digital downloads, and (if unlocked) exciting new merch at a deep discount.
Our digital downloads are always DRM-free, which means you can play, edit, and share them anywhere. And we'll deliver them in the highest-possible quality. In addition to the download of the show itself, we'll also include a PDF of the Nethadric's Pranks Adventure Path, a ten-part, 154 page JourneyQuest tabletop adventure module compatible with Pathfinder and Savage Worlds.
We've also heard fan feedback and are including our collectible embroidered patches with every physical order: no need to wait for the stretch goal on this campaign!
At $100 and up, every backer will get to work directly with series creator Matt Vancil to coin a new Orcish word. Your contribution will become an official part of the orcish language and we'll commemorate it with an exclusive etched metal card (3.5 X 2 inch) that includes your name, your backer number, your word, and its definition.
At $250, you'll attend our Season Three wrap party for a night with the cast and crew. We'll have a bag of unique memorabilia for you, photo opportunities, food, games, and a first look at raw footage from the set. And an exclusive Perf miniature. You're responsible for your own transportation to Seattle and lodging, so plan ahead on this one!
At $500, you receive a much-coveted Red Card, which allows you to flag bad puns, off-color remarks, or other violations by our cast and crew, both from set and in-person at conventions. We'll send that person to time out, sub in somebody new, and film and upload the results for you. And now you can bring your Red Card with you, with a dual-color etched metal card (2.75 x 4.5 inch) that includes your name and backer number. Plus, we'll give you an exclusive cast & crew t-shirt.
At $1000 and above, we've designed our rewards to be an incredible experience: you'll spend time with us on set or at the game table, have opportunities to appear in the series, receive exclusive art, and have your name featured in the credits and on IMDB. Plus, by popular request, at $2500 and above we're also including full size Perf Hats. As always, you will be responsible for your own lodging and transportation, as well as to arrive on set on the day we schedule you. So check your April calendars now!
WHAT IF I ALREADY CONTRIBUTED?
If you contributed to JourneyQuest via the "Support JourneyQuest" button at FanSupported.net between 2013 and 2015, that amount will make you eligible for the equivalent reward level in BackerKit.
EXAMPLE 1:
You contributed $50 already and don't want to pledge any more. We will add you to BackerKit and you will automatically receive the DVD/BLURAY reward.
EXAMPLE 2:
You contributed $35 already and want to pledge more. We will add you to BackerKit and you will automatically receive the DIGITAL DOWNLOAD reward. If you pledge for the TIP JAR level and add $15 to your pledge we will upgrade you to the $50 DVD/Bluray reward in BackerKit. Or if you pledge for the TIP JAR level and add $65 to your pledge we will upgrade you to the $100 ORCISH reward in BackerKit.
If you were a Phase II backer or are a current Patreon backer, we'll have details for you soon about special reward levels in BackerKit. Thanks for your patience!
HOW DO I KNOW HOW MUCH I CONTRIBUTED?
If you contributed at www.fansupported.net, send us a message with your name and the email address you used. We will check our master spreadsheet and provide you with a statement.
WHAT ABOUT ADD-ONS?
Add-ons will be available in Backerkit after the campaign ends. Please do not add any money to your pledge unless you A) are a prior contributor (as discussed directly above) or B) you are making an additional contribution to support the show.
*****WHAT ABOUT SHIPPING?*****
This is really important, so read carefully:
We will charge for all shipping after the campaign in BackerKit. In order for your rewards to ship, you will need to pay shipping fees at that time. Do NOT add shipping fees to your pledge now.
The Short Version—
International Backers: expect to pay less than $9.00 in BackerKit for base shipping on the $50 reward.
expect to pay less than $9.00 in BackerKit for base shipping on the $50 reward. Domestic Backers: expect to pay less than $5.00 in BackerKit for base shipping on the $50 reward.
The Long Version, for people who like details—
International Backers: we are working with a third-party agency to fulfill your orders from warehouses in Europe, Canada, and Australia. This should help cut your typical U.S. shipping costs by a huge margin. However, please be aware that you may still be responsible for import duties, and that we must comply with international law and cannot mark your reward as a gift or as a zero-value item. Duties will not be included in your shipping charge.
we are working with a third-party agency to fulfill your orders from warehouses in Europe, Canada, and Australia. However, please be aware that you may still be responsible for import duties, and that we must comply with international law and cannot mark your reward as a gift or as a zero-value item. Duties will not be included in your shipping charge. Domestic Backers: we want to get the best-possible shipping and handling rate for you. Rather than over-estimating expenses now, we will charge actual rates when we are ready to ship.
we want to get the best-possible shipping and handling rate for you. Rather than over-estimating expenses now, we will charge actual rates when we are ready to ship. All Backers: by handling shipping this way, we reduce unknown costs now, which means we know exactly how much we can put into the production budget, and then we can use economy of scale to make specific shipping orders with exact details.
What will shipping cost, you ask?
International orders will average $.99 handling per item, plus local shipping costs. This should still be much less than you have paid in the past. (For example, in 2013 our cost to ship a DVD internationally began at $8.59 and went up from there as the weight increased.) Unfortunately, we cannot calculate this more precisely until we know our volume and can negotiate for the best rate possible.
will average $.99 handling per item, plus. This should still be much less than you have paid in the past. (For example, in 2013 our cost to ship a DVD internationally began at $8.59 and went up from there as the weight increased.) Unfortunately, we cannot calculate this more precisely until we know our volume and can negotiate for the best rate possible. Domestic orders will start at the current Media Mail rate for a five ounce parcel, plus a minimum of $.25 handling per item. You can estimate that shipping will begin around $3.99, plus more for larger or heavier packages that include more than a DVD and patch. Again, we'll use our volume to negotiate for the best-possible quote.
MORE WAYS TO HELP
Thank you for supporting JourneyQuest Season Three! We're excited to make these new episodes, with your help and encouragement!
Beyond pledging (and even a single dollar helps!) you can help spread the word in the following ways:June 25 (Reuters) - Commerce Department’s Bureau of Economic Analysis’ seasonally adjusted Gross Domestic Product data on a chain-weighted basis.
Following are annualized percent changes from prior quarters, in 2009 chain dollars:
Q1-F Q1-P Q4 2013 GDP -2.9 -1.0 2.6 1.9 Final Sales of Dom. Product -1.3 0.6 2.7 1.7 Final Sales to Dom. Buyers 0.3 1.6 1.6 1.6 PCE price index 1.4 1.4 1.1 1.1 Core PCE price index 1.2 1.2 1.3 1.2 Mkt-based PCE price index 1.3 1.3 0.8 1.1 Core Mkt-based index 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.2 GDP price index 1.3 1.3 1.6 1.4 Implicit Deflator 1.3 1.3 1.6 1.5 Consumer Spending 1.0 3.1 3.3 2.0
Durable Goods 1.2 1.4 2.8 6.9
NonDurable Goods -0.3 0.4 2.9 2.0
Services 1.5 4.3 3.5 1.2 Business Investment -1.2 -1.6 5.7 2.7 Structures -7.7 -7.5 -1.8 1.3 Equipment -2.8 -3.1 10.9 3.1 Intellectual property/software 6.3 5.1 4.0 3.1 Housing Investment -4.2 -5.0 -7.9 12.2 Exports -8.9 -6.0 9.5 2.7 Imports 1.8 0.7 1.5 1.4 Government Purchases -0.8 -0.8 -5.2 -2.2 Federal 0.6 0.7 -12.8 -5.2 State and Local -1.7 -1.8 0.0 -0.2 A-Advance (1st estimate). P-Preliminary (2nd). F-final (3rd.) Seasonally adjusted annual rates, in blns of 2009 chain dlrs:
Q1-F Q1-P Q4 2013 GDP 15,824.2 15,902.9 15,942.3 15,761.3 Final Sales of Dom.Product 15,764.9 15,840.2 15,815.0 15,669.7 Final Sales to Dom. Buyers 16,207.0 16,258.8 16,195.8 16,081.6 Consumer Spending 10,859.2 10,914.4 10,831.5 10,727.9
Durable Goods 1,362.0 1,362.6 1,357.8 1,333.3
NonDurable Goods 2,363.5 2,367.7 2,365.5 2,342.0
Services 7,150.7 7,200.5 7,124.8 7,067.7 Business Investment 2,016.6 2,014.5 2,022.5 1,984.4 Structures 427.7 428.0 436.4 426.9 Equipment 948.0 947.3 954.8 934.4 Intellectual property/software 642.9 641.1 633.2 624.8 Housing Investment 483.8 482.7 489.0 486.6 Business Inventory Change 45.9 49.0 111.7 81.5 Farm 16.1 15.8 20.2 19.6 Nonfarm 26.9 30.4 88.9 58.3 Net Exports of Goods -441.1 -418.9 -382.8 -412.3 Exports 2,016.3 2,032.1 2,063.7 2,010.0 Imports 2,457.4 2,451.0 2,446.4 2,422.3 Govt. Purchases 2,863.0 2,862.7 2,868.5 2,896.9 Federal 1,126.6 1,126.8 1,124.8 1,157.4 State and Local 1,736.0 1,735.6 1,743.3 1,739.2 A-Advance (1st estimate). P-Preliminary (2nd). F-final (3rd).
FORECASTS:
Reuters survey of U.S. economists’ forecast for Final Q1:
-1.7 pct for GDP
Unchanged for Final Sales
+1.3 pct for Implicit Deflator
+1.2 pct for Core PCE price index
+1.4 pct for PCE price index
NOTES:
Equipment, formerly combined with software, is now calculated separately. Software is now a part of the “Intellectual property products,” which also include research and development; and entertainment, literary and artistic originals, BEA said.After Ellen Pao filed her gender-bias suit against big-name venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, her peers rated her performance positively, but she received a negative performance review from senior members of management, according to court testimony.
Ted Schlein, a managing parter at KPCB, confirmed this on the witness stand in a San Francisco court today, and said that, as part of the team evaluating Pao that year, he was likely aware of Pao’s lawsuit against the firm as he was providing input for her review.
Schlein was testifying as the Pao case approached the end of its first week in a San Francisco court. His deposition provided another window into on the inner workings of one of the most prominent venture capital firms in Silicon Valley. As the trial continues to unfold, it provides an unusually detailed look at gender issues within the world of high-tech, and it could have far-reaching consequences over how the tech industry views and treats women in the future. Pao was later dismissed from the company—in October 2012—and with her suit, she said that gender bias played a role in her dismissal.
According to Schlein’s testimony, by the time Pao’s performance was being evaluated, he wasn’t the only member of senior management who was aware Pao might be suing the firm. Even board members of the companies Pao was working with had probably heard of the lawsuit in the media, he said.
In court, Pao's legal team tried to show a change in the way she evaluated. One bullet point in Pao’s review from that year read: “CEOs/board members of companies where EP is involved have asked other KP Partners for help because EP was not providing desired level of impact or leadership.” The year before, Pao’s boss and longtime mentor, John Doerr, had written: “I don’t know how a junior partner could have had a better year than Ellen had.”
In past years, according to court testimony, Pao had been able to ask for which of the board members of the companies she dealt with had rated her, but in 2012, when she put in the same request, she didn't receive that information.
Pao's legal team also tried to paint a picture of a firm that didn’t give women a seat at the table. At the 2009 CIOSE conference, a conference for chief information officers, which Kleiner Perkins routinely attends, Pao was asked to sit in the back with staff, while four Kleiner Perkins parters—Schlein, Murphy, Nazre, and Lane—sat at the front table.
At the trial, Schlein testified that the conference organizer had said someone from the firm had to sit in the back. “Why didn’t you go sit in the back?” Pao’s lawyer, Exelrod, asked Schlein.
“That’s not how the meetings work," Schlein responded. Later, Schlein testified that other partners, including some male Kleiner Perkins partners, didn’t always have a seat at the table.
Schlein, responding to an email in which Pao voiced her concerns about the move, wrote: “I really did not think it was a very big deal to us in who sits at a table or does not... Ellen is always sensitive to her ‘status.’ I actually think this is a personality flaw of hers.”
In its rebuttal, the Kleiner Perkins defense team tried to prove that there was no retaliation—and that Pao had received criticism for her performance throughout the years. In opening arguments, the Kleiner team showed slides from 2005 to 2012 that found fault with Pao for not creating trusting relationships with partners. Schlein, in his testimony, said he thought Pao’s skills were better suited for an operating role rather than an investing one, because she was good at “getting stuff done,” but that she didn’t have the ability to understand nuances and didn’t have the instincts required to succeed as a venture capitalist.
And, Schlein testified, there were actually very few promotions within the firm. According to Schlein, Kleiner had only promoted three people—Doerr in 1982, Joseph Lacob in 1992, and Doug Mackenzie in 1994—in its first thirty years. It promoted Aileen Lee in 2005. And, while there were no female managing members at the firm, there have only been 8 managing members at Kleiner Perkins in all of its history, according to Schlein’s testimony.
Correction 7:20 PM EST 02/27/2015: An earlier version of this article stated that, according to court testimony, there was a big change in the wording of Pao’s negative performance review in 2012, after filing a lawsuit with KPCB in that year. But performance reviews from 2005 to 2011 show Pao received some negative feedback from Kleiner Perkins management even during earlier years.As establishment Republicans join forces with the Obama administration to ram through a series of sweeping pseudo-“free trade” agreements with the European Union, critics are up in arms over various leaked provisions that would all but crush the principles of self-government. Especially alarming to opponents is the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership, or TTIP, which, among other concerns, would purport to limit the ability of voters and their elected representatives to enact laws interfering with the agenda of Big Business and Big Government. Another agreement being pursued in tandem, the Trans-Pacific Partnership, or TTP, would do the same, allowing unelected and unaccountable transnational bureaucrats to develop “harmonized” regulatory regimes for the bloc purporting to supersede federal and state laws. Critics from across the political spectrum say the plot must be stopped.
The negotiations on the controversial “free trade” deals — more properly described as managed or corporatist trade — have taken place almost entirely in the shadows. In fact, even the American people’s elected representatives in Congress have been out of the loop as the Obama administration hammers out the agreements with foreign governments, dictatorships, supranational bodies, and crony special interests. However, a series of explosive leaks surrounding both the TTP and the TTIP have confirmed critics’ worst fears about the real agenda. From setting up international kangaroo courts with purported powers to override national sovereignty for the benefit of crony corporations to laying the groundwork for further economic and political “integration,” the information that has emerged so far is sparking public outrage in all of the nations being targeted by the schemes.
Just this week, following a series of protests across Europe against the plan, fresh leaks surrounding the sought-after TTIP regime produced yet another uproar. Despite being written in deliberately opaque language, the text of the latest TTIP chapter to be leaked reveals a transparent agenda to empower supranational bureaucracies and Big Business at the expense of self-government and national sovereignty. The chapter focuses on “Regulatory Cooperation.” Cooperation, though, is a major understatement, as the document also makes clear that “divergent” regulatory requirements must be reduced in the name of “compatibility” and more. In other words, the EU and the United States must operate under a harmonized regulatory regime beyond the reach of pesky citizens or elected officials.
Toward that end, the TTIP agreement mandates the creation of a “bilateral mechanism” between the U.S. government and the EU to “support regulatory cooperation” and to “seek increased compatibility between their respective regulatory frameworks.” Both parties are supposed to promote “compatibility” by, among other means, “harmonization of regulatory acts” through existing or yet-to-be devised international agreements, or on a “bilateral basis.” While the details are still being ironed out behind closed doors, the draft makes clear that much of the work on merging the U.S. and EU regulatory regimes will be the responsibility of an unelected supranational outfit dubbed the “Regulatory Cooperation Council.” The agreement also makes clear that lobbyists will have a dominant seat at the table, while elected officials and the public will merely have to submit.
The harmonized regulatory regime that would emerge under the TTIP plan, meanwhile, is breathtaking in its scope. Among the realms covered by the proposed transnational regulatory scheme, the document explains, is supposed “protection” for “the environment; consumers; working conditions; human, animal and plant life, health and safety; personal data; cybersecurity; cultural diversity; preserving financial stability.” Virtually every human activity could arguably be included under such a sweeping mandate. On financial issues, the draft treaty goes on to explain that “any decisions concerning financial services should be taken by the competent authorities acting within the framework of the FRF [Joint EU/US Financial Regulatory Forum].” All of the scheming will be open to “stakeholders” — Big Business cronies, Big Labor, Big Green, lobbyists, tax-funded groups styling themselves “non-governmental organizations,” and more. Voters and citizens, though, will be brazenly stripped of their right to govern themselves.
The broader “world order” will also get a major boost from the plot — and not just because the new TTIP regulatory regime would ensnare about half of the global economy, thereby de facto imposing it on the rest. The leaked chapter also lists as a stated objective: “To further the development, adoption and strengthening of international instruments, and their timely implementation and application, as a means to work together more effectively with each other and with third countries to strive toward consistent regulatory outcomes.” Indeed, whenever the EU or the U.S. government consider a regulatory act, the first element listed in the document that must be considered is how it would “relate to relevant international instruments.” “International instruments” include United Nations treaties and other globalist agreements aimed at crushing national sovereignty.
In the leaked chapter, the U.S. government and the EU super-state would also commit “to cooperate between themselves, and with third countries, with a view to strengthening, developing and promoting the implementation of international instruments.” They also agree to “implement within their respective domestic systems those international instruments.” Put bluntly, supranational globalist outfits will be helping to dictate policy to the American people, whose own elected representatives would be largely shut out of the process. With the fast-expanding globalist wish list of the dictator-dominated UN — even individuals' thoughts and behavior are now in the crosshairs — the prospects for mischief and tyranny are essentially endless under the TTIP mandates.
However, while the public may be shut out of the process, supranational entities, crony capitalists, Big Business, special interests, and their legions of lobbyists will be in the co-pilot seat of the emerging regulatory regime. The leaked draft of the TTIP chapter was posted online by the Corporate Europe Observatory, which exists to “ex |
waves crossing the 400 yd (370 m) of no man's land and reaching the second trench, except for the works north-east of the Nab. The next two waves were pinned down and the advance towards the third trench 200 yd (180 m) on, slowed and only a few parties reached it. Reinforcements did not appear and the support battalion was engaged by machine-guns on the Thiepval Spur at 600–800 yd (550–730 m). The support battalion lost half of its men almost immediately and hardly any got across no man's land. The reserve battalion was moving forward and because it appeared that the attacks by the divisions on the flanks had succeeded, Gordon ordered it to attack. The troops had to pick their way through wounded and dead in the British trenches and the first wave was shot down in no man's land and on the German wire by German infantry, who appeared in the front trench and the second wave was shot down by machine-gun fire. A party of fifty bombers tried to advance along a sunken road from the Nab towards Mouquet Farm but a machine-gun fired down the road and stopped them 80 yd (73 m) short of the front trench. As time passed, the volume of German small-arms fire sweeping Ovillers Spur cut off communication with the troops in the German defences, even by visual signalling.
The 1st, 2nd and part of the 9th Company IR 180 and the 5th Company in support held the Nab, where the British bombardment had demolished the front trench and Fölkersamb sap in Sector P4. The British captured the first trench from Klinkowstrom and Kronen saps and pushed on but could not widen the breach, which enabled the Germans to concentrate their firepower against the break-in and help RIR 99 on the right. The defenders against the 70th Brigade benefitted from fire by a Belgian machine-gun and one in the Lembergstellung to the north. Some of the British got as far as Battle Headquarters North but were in such a narrow salient that the 1st, 2nd and 5th companies were able to repeat the tactics used further south. The penetration was contained and machine-gunners in the Leipzig Redoubt (Granatloch), on Thiepval Spur and the Nordwerk to the south fired into the area. British attempts to reinforce the men in Sector P4 were defeated and as the 32nd Division attack to the north was repulsed, more guns of RIR 99 began to engage the 70th Brigade, the support battalion losing 50 percent casualties as soon as it tried to cross from the British front line. The sunken road used by the party of bombers attempting to get forward was Naumann sap to the Germans and only 15 men of the party survived the attempt.
When the British reserve battalion attacked, few in the first wave reached the German wire and the troops in the salient up to the third trench were cut off. The Germans began systematically to overrun the area and the survivors eventually retreated to shell-holes near the German front trench. British observers saw troops on the German parapet bombing the Germans at 2:30 p.m. but the area was captured soon afterwards. Firing died down and after the 8th Division ceased attempts to reinforce the parties in the German front line, the Germans watched British stretcher-bearers collect wounded but there were still many men lying in no man's land as dark fell and many could be heard crying out in the night. Soldiers of IR 180 recovered British wounded close to the German lines but when British troops rose up and tried to get away they were fired on. The dead were buried where they fell, the wounded were moved back to dressing stations and non-wounded prisoners were taken further back for interrogation and despatched to prison camps. IR 180 had 280 casualties and RIR 110 35 casualties against the 8th Division.
2–3 July [ edit ]
Modern map of Ovillers and vicinity (commune FR insee code 80615)
Details of the costly defeat of most British attacks north of the Albert–Bapaume road had not reached GHQ on the evening of 1 July and Haig ordered that the attack resume as soon as possible. At 10:00 p.m., Rawlinson ordered the corps of the Fourth Army to attack as soon as possible, as long as artillery preparation had taken place. Pulteney was ordered to capture La Boisselle and Ovillers, then Contalmaison, establishing a defensive flank between the two villages. Gough was sent forward by Rawlinson to take command of the divisions north of III Corps and the 12th (Eastern) Division was sent from reserve to relieve the 8th Division. The divisional relief took so long that the 12th (Eastern) Division was unable to resume the attack at dawn on 2 July. A night attack on La Boisselle was arranged for 2/3 July and Ovillers was bombarded from 3:30–4:00 p.m. as a diversion, which attracted German artillery-fire during the attack. The 12th (Eastern) Division effort was put back to 3:15 a.m. on 3 July, after a one-hour preparatory bombardment. (The day dawned dull with high cloud and there was a thunderstorm in the afternoon.)
A preparatory bombardment began at 2:12 a.m. on 3 July, against the same targets as 1 July but with the addition of the artillery of the 19th Division to the south. Assembly trenches had been dug, which reduced the width of no man's land from 800–500 yd (730–460 m) at its widest. Two brigades of the 12th (Eastern) Division attacked at 3:15 a.m., with the left flank covered by a smokescreen. Red rockets were fired immediately by the Germans and answered by field and heavy artillery barrages on the British assembly, front line and communication trenches, most of which were empty, as the British infantry had moved swiftly across no man's land. The four attacking battalions found enough gaps in the German wire to enter the front trench and press on to the support (third) trench but German infantry emerged from dugouts in the first line, to counter-attack them from behind. At dawn, little could be seen in the dust and smoke, especially on the left, where the smokescreen blew back. Most of the battalions which reached the German line were overwhelmed when their hand grenades and ammunition ran out, carriers not being able to cross no man's land through the German barrage and machine-gun fire. The attack was reported to be a complete failure by 9:00 a.m. and the last foothold on the edge of Ovillers was lost later on. A company lost direction in the dark, stumbled into La Boisselle and took 220 German prisoners but the 12th division lost 2,400 casualties.
7–9 July [ edit ]
After a boundary change, an attack by X Corps, which took over from the III Corps at Ovillers, was delayed by a German attack after a bombardment fell on the 49th Division front near the Ancre. The British position in the German first line north of Thiepval was attacked and the survivors of the garrison were forced to retreat to the British front line by 6:00 a.m. The 12th (Eastern) Division Brigades and a 25th Division brigade advanced on Ovillers, two battalions of the 74th Brigade on the south side of the Albert–Bapaume road reaching the first German trench, where the number of casualties and continuous German machine-gun fire stopped the advance. On 8 July, German counter-barrage on the lines of the 36th Brigade west of Ovillers caused many casualties; at 8:30 a.m., the British attacked behind a creeping barrage and quickly took the first three German trenches. Many prisoners were taken in the German dugouts where they had been surprised by the speed of the British advance. IR 186, II Battalion, Guard Fusiliers and Recruit Battalion 180 lost 1,400 casualties and withdrew to the second German trench behind outposts and into the middle of the village.
In the early hours of 9 July, the 36th Brigade was reinforced by two battalions and tried to bomb forward but was impeded by deep mud. The attackers struggled forward 200 yd (180 m) into the village and the 74th Brigade bombed up communication trenches south-west of the village, reaching the church. At 8:00 p.m., the 74th Brigade attacked again and a battalion advanced stealthily to reach the next trench by surprise, then advanced another 600 yd (550 m) by mistake and found itself under a British barrage, until the artillery-fire was stopped and both trenches consolidated. Before dawn, the 14th Brigade of the 32nd Division relieved the 12th (Eastern) Division, which had lost 4,721 casualties, since 1 July. The German defenders took advantage of the maze of ruins, trenches, dug-outs and shell-holes to keep close British positions so that British artillery-fire passed beyond them. From 9–10 July, three battalions of the 14th Brigade managed to advance a short distance on the left side of the village.
10–17 July [ edit ]
A battalion of the 75th Brigade (25th Division) attacked from the south, as the 7th Brigade tried to get forward from the Albert–Bapaume road. The troops advanced along a trench which led behind the village and were counter-attacked several times. The 96th Brigade managed an advance overnight, into the north-west of the village. On the night of 12/13 July, two battalions attacked from the south-east and south as the 96th Brigade attacked from the west, got forward a short distance and took a number of prisoners. During the night of 13/14 July, the Reserve Army divisions of X Corps, either side of the Albert–Bapaume road, continued attacks at Ovillers. The 3rd Worcestershire, 7th Brigade, 25th Division, moved up a trench across the road, to try to close in from the north-east. From the south-east, the 10th Cheshire (7th Brigade) was repulsed but the 8th Border (75th Brigade) on the left managed a small advance and the 1st Dorset (14th Brigade (32nd Division), also managed to get forward on the west side. To the north-west, battalions of the 96th and 97th brigades, attacked with hand-grenades and took a small amount of ground.
The 10th Cheshire tried a daylight attack on Ovillers but was repulsed by machine-gun fire and the 1/7th Royal Warwick (48th Division), tried to exploit the success of the 3rd Worcester but failed. The Cheshire attacked again at 11:00 p.m. and captured the objective but casualties were so high that they had to withdraw. At 2:00 a.m. on 15 July, the 25th Division attacked Ovillers again, from the north-east, east and south, with the 32nd Division attacking from the south-west but the garrison repulsed the attack. German attacks on the Leipzig Salient to the north were defeated and during the night, the 32nd Division was relieved by 144th Brigade of the 48th Division. At 1:00 a.m. on 16 July, the 143rd Brigade (under the command of the 25th Division) attacked from the north-east, the 74th Brigade of the 25th Division and the 144th Brigade attacked from the east and south. During the evening the last Germans in Ovillers surrendered and 128 men of II Battalion, RIR 15 and the Guard Fusilier Regiment were taken prisoner. The 145th Brigade of the 48th Division took over and another 300 yd (270 m) of trench was captured on 17 July.
Aftermath [ edit ]
Analysis [ edit ]
The troops of IR 180 and parties from RIR 110 had defeated the 8th Division attack and restored the front line by the afternoon, only needing three platoons of the 8th Company from reserve. Co-operation within the regiment and with its neighbours had been a great success. The two machine-guns north of IR 180 fired 9,000 rounds at the 70th Brigade, which had great effect in defeating its attacks and prevented the 8th Division from holding any of its lodgements. Much of the German artillery fired in support of the defenders of the Thiepval Spur but some continued to fire in support of IR 180 all day, the ammunition expenditure being so high that empties got in the way of the guns. Ammunition supply was sufficient and from 24–30 June, the column supplying I Battalion, Reserve Foot Artillery Regiment 27 delivered 19,000 rounds of ammunition.
On 1 July, deliveries began after 8:00 a.m. despite British artillery-observation aircraft directing the British guns onto the German gun positions and another 4,400 shells were carried up. The trench lines at Ovillers area were the result of two years' work and dominated ground which had no cover from small-arms fire. The British made a tactical mistake in not attacking the most northern part of the IR 180 defences, which allowed the defenders to enfilade the 70th Brigade and the 32nd Division, unopposed. A lull came after the 8th Division attacks ended but IR 180 worked on the defences for another attack, repairing wire and trenches, linking shell-hole positions by saps. By 4:00 p.m. German supply parties had evaded British shelling and brought up enough hand-grenades, ammunition and rations to resist another attack.
In 2005, Prior and Wilson wrote that the III Corps artillery plan failed in all respects, because once the barrage lifted off the German front line, it played no further part on the battle. For the last thirty minutes before zero, only field artillery shells fell on the German front defences. The attempt by the 7th Brigade to lurk forward before zero hour failed, because the destructive bombardment had been ineffective and some units had 70 percent casualties before the attack began. When the defenders concentrated on the 8th Division battalions to the south and the 32nd Division to the north, the 70th Brigade got into the German positions but there the advance broke down. Once the attacks on the flanks had been destroyed, German machine-gunners resumed fire against the remnants of the 70th Brigade and prevented other battalions from crossing no man's land. Messages sent from the front line to get the barrage brought back never arrived and of 2,720 men in the 70th Brigade attack, fewer than 600 were left the next day. Losses in the battalions of the 23rd and 25th brigades, ranged from 53 percent to 92.5 percent.
Tuson wrote later that the attack failed because the brigade had lost its artillery support, it being pointless to bombard distant objectives when the infantry could not advance beyond the German first position. Tuson proposed to make the artillery plan dependent in the progress of the infantry
I have seen the "hooroosh" time-table programme tried upon several occasions in this war, and I have never seen it successful beyond the first two or three trenches. And never expect to. — Tuson
and in 2009, J. P. Harris called the attack an "unmitigated disaster". William Philpott described the operations on the Somme from the river to Ovillers after 1 July as a desperate fight "to the last man" by the Germans to hold back the British, while fresh divisions were moved to the Somme to man the second position; the beginning of the process which ground down the Westheer, the German army on the Western Front.
Casualties [ edit ]
In 2013, Whitehead recorded that on 1 July, the 8th Division had 5,121 casualties and that in the Ovillers sector, IR 180 lost 83 men killed, 184 wounded and 13 missing; the 10th Company, IR 110 had about 35 casualties against the 8th Division. From 1 July to its relief, the 12th (Eastern) Division suffered 4,721 casualties.
Subsequent operations [ edit ]
Ovillers was re-captured by the Germans on 25 March 1918, after a retreat by the 47th Division and the 12th (Eastern) Division during Operation Michael, the German spring offensive. In the afternoon, air reconnaissance saw that the British defence of the line from Montauban and Ervillers was collapsing and the RFC squadrons in the area made a maximum effort to disrupt the German advance. The German garrison in the village ruins and vicinity resisted an attack on 24 August but were by-passed on both flanks by the 38th Division two days later, during the Second Battle of Bapaume and retreated before they could be surrounded.
Notes [ edit ]
^ The III Battalion, RIR 110 assisted IR 180 by moving from reserve to the Mittelweg, recovering a machine-gun and firing into La Boisselle Mulde (La Boisselle Hollow: Mash Valley), as the support battalion tried to cross no man's land.
See also [ edit ]
References [ edit ]The White House has not commented on whether recordings exist. But Mr. Comey repeatedly baited Mr. Trump to produce them if they did. “Lordy, I hope there are tapes,” he said at the hearing. “The president surely knows if there are tapes. If there are, my feelings aren’t hurt. Release the tapes.”
Mr. Trump has offered changing reasons for firing Mr. Comey. The White House originally cited Mr. Comey’s handling of last year’s investigation into Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server, saying Attorney General Jeff Sessions and the deputy attorney general, Rod J. Rosenstein, had recommended he be dismissed. But Mr. Trump quickly undercut that argument, telling NBC News that he had been thinking about the Russia investigation when he fired Mr. Comey.
Asked why he was fired, Mr. Comey replied: “I take the president at his word — that I was fired because of the Russia investigation. Something about the way I was conducting it, the president felt, created pressure on him that he wanted to relieve.”
Mr. Comey questioned why Mr. Sessions had been involved in the discussions about his firing, given that Mr. Sessions had recused himself from the Russia case after his undisclosed contacts with the Russian ambassador to the United States were revealed. “If, as the president said, I was fired because of the Russia investigation, why was the attorney general involved in that chain?” Mr. Comey asked. “I don’t know.”
The Justice Department said Thursday that Mr. Sessions had been involved because the firing was related to concerns about Mr. Comey’s leadership and had nothing to do with any inquiry.
Mr. Comey also described his disappointment when the president asked that they be left alone after a meeting in the Oval Office with national security officials. Mr. Sessions stayed behind at first, but then left. “My sense was the attorney general knew he shouldn’t be leaving, which is why he was lingering,” Mr. Comey said. He testified that he later told Mr. Sessions to never again leave him alone with Mr. Trump.
Mr. Kasowitz said Mr. Trump had never sought a loyalty pledge, as Mr. Comey told the Senate. And he portrayed Mr. Comey as part of a stealth campaign to undermine Mr. Trump. “It is overwhelmingly clear that there have been and continue to be those in government who are actively attempting to undermine this administration with selective and illegal leaks of classified information and privileged communications,” he said. “Mr. Comey has now admitted that he is one of these leakers.”A new poll is more bad news for Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett.
The Franklin and Marshall Poll says only 26 percent of Pennsylvania voters think the state is headed in the right direction.
Poll Director Terry Madonna says the news is even worse when it comes to whether the governor has earned another term of office: only one in five thinks he’s doing an excellent or good job as governor.
“Gov. Corbett has been moving in the opposite direction, going down in this year when other governors have seen a rise in their job performance,” he said.
Madonna cautions that this does not mean Corbett’s eventual challenger will defeat him in next year’s election.
“There’s no doubt that the governor is vulnerable, I don’t think anyone should rule out some kind of a miraculous recovery, we don’t know what the health of the economy will be next year, what happens if it were to grow.”
The poll says Corbett’s track record on education funding accounts for much of his low numbers.A sixth grader in Utah told classmates yesterday his parents encouraged him to bring a gun to school in the wake of the Sandy Hook tragedy. He was apprehended by teachers after he was found with an unloaded.22 caliber handgun, according to local station, Fox 13.
The student remains unidentified, but is described as an 11-year-old boy at West Kearns Elementary School, in a suburb of Salt Lake City. He reportedly took the gun out of his backpack during recess Monday afternoon and showed it to classmates. Isabel Rios, a fellow student, told teachers he pointed the gun at her head and said he was going to kill her.
A spokesman for the school district told Fox 13 that although they were not notified immediately, teachers apprehended the student in “30 to 45 seconds” once they were alerted to the weapon. He was then taken to the principal’s office.
Local parents, however, aren’t satisfied with the school’s reaction. John Klaus, a father, complained, “There was no lockdown. No one was called. Nothing was done. And then we had to hear it from our kids.”
The administrators say there was no lockdown because the situation was resolved immediately and more importantly, they feared startling students. Police were called to determine the boy’s parents’ involvement in the incident and he was taken to juvenile hall.
Watch the full clip below, via Fox 13:
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>> Follow Anjali Sareen (@AnjaliSareen) On Twitter
Have a tip we should know? [email protected] 2:16 left in the game, a tired Washington Capitals first-line iced the puck after a flurry of activity in front of Braden Holtby‘s net. Marcus Johansson‘s stick had been partially broken during the previous play so he asked to get a new twig before the face-off. Officials denied him.
To prove his stick was broken, Johansson bowed down and put his weight on it. It broke. The officials ushered him to the box for delay of game. They thought Johansson was trying to buy time for his tired teammates.
Barry Trotz exploded. He literally exploded.
ANGRY POINTING. MENACING STANDING. LOUD WORDS.
EAR MUFFS!
Almost as intense as when Barry yelled at an official wearing a the helmet cam during the Winter Classic.
The Capitals killed off Johansson’s minor penalty. As he exited the box, Johansson scored the empty-net goal as he came out of the box. The Capitals won 5-3.
You can simmer down now, Barry.
Full RMNB Coverage of Caps at Blue Jackets
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PinterestToronto’s fast start fooled fans into thinking the rebuild was a little ahead of schedule, but a mediocre November (7-6-1) and an awful start to December (2-4-2) has dropped the Leafs from their once lofty perch among the Eastern Conference élite.
The Leafs were actually able to survive an injury to James Reimer and stay afloat in the Eastern Conference, an amazing fact considering Jonas Gustavsson at one point looked like he was on his way out of the NHL. Reimer has since recovered, but has not surprisingly taken a while to round back into the solid form many fans expect. If he can play at an NHL average level (.910-.915 SV%), the Leafs will have a legitimate shot at making the playoffs.
But the real weakness of this team, like of so many doomed teams before it, is the penalty killing. At this point the putrid play of the Leafs with a man in the box is laughable. There is nothing more to be written. Toronto took tentative steps to correcting their long-running problem, climbing as high as 27th in the league before falling right back down to their customary 30th overall spot. Something needs to change, either personnel or tactics.
Speaking of tactics… The preliminary discussions about extending Ron Wilson in October have predictably turned into cries to fire the coach in December. Realistically, Wilson is here until the end of the season barring any major death spiral. If the Leafs make the playoffs, he gets an extension. If the Leafs fail to make the playoffs for a sixth straight season, Wilson can start his media career with TSN because there’s no way he’s coming back to Toronto for any other reason.
People point to Chicago and Pittsburgh and how they turned their teams around through the draft, but everyone conveniently forgets that it took them excruciatingly long to do so. The only difference was that neither fan base really cared about their team during the down years, so nobody took notice when Chicago missed the playoffs five seasons in a row, and nine of their last ten before making the Conference Final in 2009. Likewise, Pittsburgh missed the playoffs four seasons in a row and Penguins fans don’t remember anything happening between Jaromir Jagr leaving and Sidney Crosby arriving.
Both Chicago and Pittsburgh were also aided by great luck during the draft. Sure, they held onto their lottery picks, but Pittsburgh had Sidney Crosby fall into their laps and even scored a player like Evegni Malkin without the first overall pick. Sometimes the league goes decades without players like that, and Pittsburgh scored both in consecutive years. Similarly, Chicago was only able to grab Patrick Kane because they won a draft lottery.
Previously, there was no way Luke Schenn would ever be traded because there was literally nothing else besides him, but now that there’s an actual group of young, talented players, the possibility isn’t as remote as it once was.
After 33 games, the Leafs are who we thought they were. They are in a dog fight for the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference, sitting tied with Ottawa (Ottawa!) for 7th place with 36 points. That puts them one point behind New Jersey for 6th, but only one point ahead of Washington, Buffalo, and Winnipeg. It’s a log jam that will likely continue for the rest of the season.The drop in the standings has coincided with some truly disastrous defensive play which leads to the age-old question in Toronto: does the defense look bad because the goaltending is bad, or does the goaltending look bad because the defense is so bad. That’s some real chicken or the egg stuff.However, all is not lost. Patience, Leafs fans. This team is slowly coming together.Sure it would be nice for the Leafs to become a dominant juggernaut over night, but this isn’t NHL 12, it doesn’t work that way.Sure, the draft is certainly a safer route to success, but for every Pittsburgh or Chicago, there is a Columbus or Florida. It’s safer, but it isn’t guaranteed.The Leafs didn’t have the luxury of lottery picks – they were either slightly too good, or they traded them – but Brian Burke has transformed the Leafs through his own unique method, which is finally starting to pay dividends. Toronto has already improved by eight points from this time last season, which is the 5th biggest jump of any team in the league, surpassed by only New Jersey, Chicago, Florida, and Minnesota.They are the youngest team in the league and for the first time in decades they actually have an enviable stable of prospects to either replace some of the current Leafs, or make up a package that Brian Burke can use to acquire an impact player at some point in the near future.The Leafs aren’t on the cusp of a Stanley Cup. They don’t simply need one more piece to put them over the top. But they are on the right track, and for the first time in years have a realistic shot at the playoffs. And with the misery Leafs Nation has suffered through all these years, it’s a start.Intro
Brown clustering takes a corpus and outputs clusters of word types.
It's a hard clustering, so each type only appears in one cluster. You choose beforehand how many clusters you want — this is c.
As well as grouping words into clusters, Brown also generates a hierarchy above the clusters, in the form of an unbalanced binary tree.
This makes it possible to represent each cluster using a bit string, where each bit indicates the choice of branch, starting at the root and going down. We'll see some examples in the next section.
Brown clustering performs representation learning through unsupervised hierarchical clustering. It's been used in thousands of papers, and is becoming more and more popular.
Here, we present our research into how Brown clustering behaves and how to tune it, from our paper "Tune Your Brown Clustering, Please" — details are below in the outro. If you want more details about the internals of Brown clustering, here are links to the original paper and to some slides describing the algorithm.
Examples
Longer common prefices between two paths mean more similarity. Here are some Brown clusters and their paths.
Path Terms 001010110 never neva nvr gladly nevr #never neverr nver neverrr nevaa nevah nva neverrrr letchu letcha ne'er -never neveer glady #inever bever nevaaa neever nerver enver neeever nevet neeeever nevva 001010111 ever eva evar evr everrr everr everrrr evah everrrrr everrrrrr evaa evaaa everrrrrrr nevar eveer evaaaa eveeer everrrrrrrr everrrrrrrrr evea eveeeer evaaaaa evur 01000010 does duz doess -does sayeth doez doesss d0es deos
Path Terms 0100 Monday 010100 Sunday 010101 Friday 0101100 Thursday 01011010 Saturday
(from: Chris Dyer's cluster viewer
The more clusters you choose to have, the more hierarchy there is above them. The theoretical maximum number of clusters, c, is the size of the vocabulary, V.
This means that Brown clustering gives us two kinds of information: clusterings, where similar words are placed together, and the hierarchy over these clusters.
Problems
If we don't have enough clusters, we'll end up putting words into the wrong clusters. This means the quality of the clusters becomes worse. For example, if we have to take the above illustration down from four to three clusters, where's this guy going to end up?
Maybe it would even be better to merge the currencies with the animals, and give "overflow" its own singleton cluster. And even though this is a toy example, you can really see this kind of decrease in cluster quality in large corpora, too. Let's look at the data. In this example below, does "apt-get" fit? Is this a coherent cluster? Not really!
Path Terms 001011111001 ii id ion iv ll iii ud wd uma ul idnt provoking hed 1+1 ididnt hast ine 2+2 idw #thingsblackpeopledo iiii #onlywhitepeople dost doan uon apt-get 2010/06 donn 2010/08 sont cyaa 2010/04 2010/10 neer letts 2010/12 #onlyuglypeople i-i-i #urgirlfriendever cani muz _i_ #confusingthingsgirlsdo ild ifi dontchu sge #onlyfatpeople #thingsiaintdoneyet 19t
That's cool, you might think, we can just generate more clusters, so there's enough room to make them coherent. But generating high numbers of clusters is slow, and gets progressively slower the more clusters c you ask for. So how can we pick a good value for c? And what role does our corpus, T, play? Let's see how sensitive Brown clustering is to these factors by evaluating it, using its output as features for recognising named entities (locations, organisation and people) in tweets — a difficult task.
We describe the size of the input with |T|; for example, the dark red trace is from a 64 million token corpus. From this, we can see that big corpora are better for almost any given c, and that big values of c are better than small ones. The default value of 1000 clusters is not best for any of the corpus sizes.
Analysis
Low cluster counts and small input corpora both lead to poor quality Brown clusterings. But this isn't very useful general advice. We need to look deeper. We'll change to recognising named entities in news text, because we have bigger and more reliable data in this area, which improves the stability and resolution of the performance scores.
Just as we did above conceptually, let's separate the contribution of Brown clustering into path information (paths in the tree) and class information (the clusters). Details of how we did this are in our paper (below).
Paths
First, the paths.
Click and drag 3D graph to rotate.
You can see that both cluster count increases and corpus size increases help performance. Note that the value of 1000 clusters, the default used by hundreds of papers each year, doesn't yield optimal results in a single case! Also look how steep the increase in performance is as c increases when the corpus is large, compared to when it's small.
Clusters
Next, the clustered classes of words.
Click and drag 3D graph to rotate.
From this, we see that too few clusters and too small a corpus lead to poor performance. A few other observations can be made. Too many clusters also decreased performance — this is where we're not grouping up enough data to make a useful impact. Also look at the line for extreme values of c — this is where there's one class per word, i.e., where we add no clustering information. These high values aren't as good for many input sizes, and the problem seems to get worse the more input we have. Here, for many fixed corpus sizes, lower values of c do better.
The sweet spot looks to be around 103.4 for corpora over about a million tokens (e.g. c=2500), and this trend continues up to the upper bound of our newswire dataset.
One interesting thing to see is that big corpora suffer more with low numbers of clusters than small corpora do. At any one time, Brown clustering only considers a certain number of words for merging. When we have a bigger corpus with more word types, this group of words represents a smaller proportion of the dataset. We can see from the results that this proportionally smaller decision space damages the quality of the results.
Advice Avoid default values of c
Getting a big corpus is more helpful than generating a high number of clusters, though watch out: very small numbers of clusters can be bad with larger corpora
If you care more about path information (maybe you're dealing with tweets or NER), make c as big as you can; if you care more about how words are clustered together (maybe you're doing text normalisation), avoid making c too big
as big as you can; if you care more about how words are clustered together (maybe you're doing text normalisation), avoid making too big Try random search for c, weighted away from very low and high values of c
, weighted away from very low and high values of To save time, start your parameter search using some of our pre-generated clusterings (download link below) For full details, see our paper, Tune Your Brown Clustering, Please — or visit us at RANLP in Hisasrya, during 7-9 September 2015.
Outro
If you found this page helpful, please cite the research of ours that it summarises!
Derczynski, Chester and Bøgh, 2015. Tune Your Brown Clustering, Please. Proceedings of the conference on Recent Advances in Natural Language Processing
This research was sponsored by the Pheme and WallViz projects.
Related links
By Leon Derczynski, Sean Chester and Kenneth S. Bøgh.Growing up, Jimmie Williams’ family and friends supported the Democrat Party. So naturally, he decided he too was a Democrat. But the older he got, the more he questioned the political path that seemed predetermined for him.
He suppressed his doubts, telling The College Fix in an email interview dissenters are branded traitors to the black community. In private, however, his concerns grew — even as he took on leadership roles within the University of Memphis College Democrats and the College Democrats of Tennessee.
Then, in 2014, Williams attended a meeting of the College Republicans at the University of Memphis as a sort of peace gesture. Hearing the Republican principles espoused at the meeting, and the friendliness of his conservative peers who welcomed him with “open arms,” ultimately began his journey to leaving the Democratic Party and registering as a Republican, he said.
“On April 1, 2015, I officially switched from the Democratic Party to the Republican Party and I never looked back,” Williams told The Fix.
“A lot of black people, if you ask them in private about how they feel on certain issues, the vast majority of them have a conservative mindset … when it comes to abortion, gun rights, education, the growth of the economy, and jobs — but they have to stick to the path or hell will rain on them,” Williams said, adding that’s exactly what has happened to him.
He said since his switch, he has been called “Uncle Tom, A House Negro, A Sellout, A Coon, A Dark Skin White Boy” and other names.
“I have lost friends and gained friends,” said Williams, 23, a junior majoring in political science.
Louis Focht, president of the College Republicans at the University of Memphis, said Williams has been a great addition to the group.
“I am not very sure how people saw Jimmie when he switched, but I do remember other College Republicans reacting in a positive way when he changed, and we were thrilled and surprised,” Focht said.
Williams said he does not like what he considers a certain level of hypocrisy within the black community.
“When it comes to racism from blacks to other blacks, many seem to live in a fantasy world where a lot of blacks can’t consider themselves to be racist,” he said. When black people dare challenge other blacks on this double standard |
are a threat to America. The so-called black lives matters groups have been far more dangerous to Americans than any white “militia” has been. Do we have big FBI alerts about these criminal, rioting, racist groups prone to violence? Not a word.
What we have here is the Democrat Party agenda and PCism forcing our security agencies to ignore the real threats we face. Worse, it is obvious that Obama has wiped 9/11 from the memory of those who are supposed to be keeping us all safe.
____________
“The only end of writing is to enable the reader better to enjoy life, or better to endure it.”
–Samuel Johnson
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Warner Todd Huston is a Chicago based freelance writer. He has been writing news, opinion editorials and social criticism since early 2001 and before that wrote articles on U.S. history for several American history magazines. Huston is a featured writer for Andrew Breitbart’s Breitbart News, and he appears on such sites as RightWingNews.com, CanadaFreePress.com, Wizbang.com, and many, many others. Huston has also appeared on Fox News, Fox Business Network, CNN, and many local TV shows as well as numerous talk radio shows throughout the country.
For a full bio, please CLICK HERE.
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commentsThe Runaway Slaves in Britain research project at Glasgow University is compiling a fascinating record of those who sought to escape their bondage after being brought here in the 18th Century.Here, Nelson Mundell, a PhD candidate on the project, tells the story of Caesar who disappeared deep into the Highlands after escaping from the mansion of his master, a MP for Inverness.
On the June 22, 1771, on page three of the Edinburgh newspaper Caledonian Mercury, amongst advertisements for glasses at Mr Moffat’s shop and “commodious” rooms at Corstorphine Grammar School, appears this advertisement:
Sir Hector Munro, MP for Inverness Burghs, who placed the advertisement looking for his slave Caesar. PIC: Creative Commons.
“ON the eleventh current, there run away from the house of Colonel M[u]nro of Novar, in Ross-shire, a BLACK SLAVE, a native of the East Indies, called CÆSAR. He is about 25 or 26 years of age, about 5 feet, 4 or 5 inches high, has long black hair, and was bred a Cook. Whoever secures the said slave, within any of his Majesty’s gaols in Great Britain, upon notice given to Colonel Munro, by Dingwall; or to John Fraser, Writer to the Signet at Edinburgh, shall receive FIVE GUINEAS REWARD. —— It is hoped Masters of ships, and others will be careful not to secrete or carry off the said slave, otherwise they shall be prosecuted in terms of law. —— If the slave himself shall return to his Master’s service, his offence shall be forgiven.”
READ MORE: Dani Garivelli: Facing up to the slavery past of the second city of the Empire
This is the only documentation we have of Caesar, an advertisement written by his Master, so we don’t know how his story ends. Working on the Runaway Slaves in Eighteenth Century Britain project, Caesar’s is the kind of story we encounter again and again. The enslaved and bound people of colour in Britain did not leave much evidence behind: often the ‘runaway’ advertisement is the only proof we have of their existence. It is unknown how many like him did not try to escape – did not generate a trail of evidence – and thus will remain anonymous to history.
However, let’s consider what we do know. Firstly, Caesar’s Master, Colonel, later General Sir, Hector Munro was just one of a number of Scottish sojourners during the 18th century. These men – often young and single – left Scotland to make their fortune in far-flung corners of the burgeoning British Empire, some with the intention of returning home and using their new-found capital as a means of increasing their standing in society.
Novar House in Ross-Shire, home to Sir Hector Munro. PIC: www.geograph.co.uk
READ MORE: A small Scottish town and its role in the slave trade
While many of these men went across the Atlantic, arriving in the North American colonies or in the West Indies, a smaller number chose instead South Asia; in Munro’s case, India. Taking advantage of kith and kin connections and his military nous, Munro left for India in 1761, returning in 1765 as a much richer man, with a fine martial reputation and an eye on Parliament.Historians have ascertained that much of this wealth was derived from the prizes he accepted from nawabs – Indian governors – after his success at the Battle of Buxar: could Caesar have been just another spoil of war?
Certainly, Caesar’s advertisement raises more questions than it answers: after his escape did he return to Munro, expecting the forgiveness promised by his Master? Did he manage to evade capture in the vast Highlands, or seek out a ship at nearby provincial ports?
Careful analysis of these 135 words can reveal a surprising amount. The very act of running away represents an accomplishment in itself. Here was a young man thousands of miles from his home, with English, at best, a second language, who decided he had had enough and, despite the potential dangers, had taken charge of his situation.
Caesar’s name is itself revealing. This was not the name the young man had been given at birth, but was rather a name applied by a European master, quite likely Munro itself. The very act of renaming an enslaved person was an assertion of power and ownership. Moreover, the name itself is revealing. Well-educated British masters often applied classical names to the enslaved, and this name was surely an in-joke, for a young enslaved man so far from home was about as far removed from an all-powerful Roman emperor as it was possible to be.
Caesar, being “bred a cook”, was trained from a suitable age in this vocation, and may have been born into servitude in India (which had its own system of slavery); his being brought to Novar House suggests Munro had taken a liking to Indian cuisine while abroad. If he had come to Scotland with Munro then, Caesar arrived on these shores as a 19-20 year old, and then waited five years before something happened that made him decide to escape.
We do know that a successful escape would not have been easy – historians cannot be certain on the racial mix of eighteenth-century Britain, but it was certainly unusual to see an Indian in the Highlands, and Caesar would have stood out immediately.
However, though the chances of triumph may have been slim, Caesar did have some things going for him.
According to the advertisement, Caesar left on the 11th of June, which meant he had close to the longest nights of the year to make his way around the countryside, and he was only around 8 miles from Dingwall, the (still) busy market town, where he may have found transport towards more populated places such as Aberdeen.
We can fairly safely assume the advertisement was placed on the 21st, to appear in newspapers published on the 22nd, which means the time between the escape and the placing of the advertisement was ten days. This suggests that Munro either thought Caesar would return, perhaps not even actively searching for the first few days, or had failed to have him captured; only after return or recapture appeared increasingly unlikely did he advertise, hoping that people further afield might spot and capture his former cook.
That Munro advertised in the Edinburgh press and also offered a contact point in the capital suggests he feared Caesar made it as far as the Central Belt which, with a ten-day head start, was more than feasible.
Munro’s warning to ships’ captains highlights his concern that Caesar, like many runaways in similar situations, may have made for a harbour – perhaps to make for India, or find work on the ships that were always desperate for sailors, including cooks, or simply to increase the distance between himself and his ex-Master.
He could have headed for Glasgow, which did a roaring trade with the Empire on vessels bound for destinations across the Atlantic, Asia, the Mediterranean and Continental Europe; or Edinburgh, which accommodated ships travelling down the Eastern side of the country to London (such as The Diligence) and sometimes further afield. The Mally was leaving Leith for Gibraltar on the 25th June, for example.
The final line of the advertisement is especially intriguing:
“If the slave himself shall return to his Master’s service, his offence shall be forgiven.”
Munro was one of the very few Masters who appealed directly to the runaway – had he given up hope of capturing Caesar? Or was he, now Member of Parliament for Inverness burghs, keen to portray himself to the wider audience as a benevolent and forgiving Master? Either way, this sentence implied that Caesar may have been able to read, and that his Master thought he might see the advertisement; or perhaps that Munro suspected that others were aiding or concealing Caesar and that they might see the advertisement and communicate this message to the runaway.
Finally, Munro labels Caesar’s escape an “offence” – the offence being that he stole himself away. Caesar, like many of the non-white, unfree labourers in Britain in the first three quarters of the eighteenth-century, was regarded as property, and by running away he, and hundreds like him, were judged to be stealing their Master’s property – themselves.
-This article first appeared on the website of the Runaway Slaves in Britain project.About
Here's the Story:
Growing up as a young kid I was always getting hassled by my parents because of all the dirt that I was tracking in and out of our cars and house. Now as a college student in Santa Barbara, I have come up with this great product called The Element.
The Element is the worlds first ultra portable and user friendly product to clean off your dirty feet and shoes. It is made out of high quality durable plastic that will withstand the elements. The bristles are tough enough to get off the dirt on your shoes but also soft enough to be used on your bare feet.
Close up of the Bristles
Dimensions
After several months of designing, we managed to get The Element to the exact dimensions we wanted, making it very easy/effective to use and portable at the same time. The Element also weighs in at a light weight of only 9oz!
Element Carabiner's
The Element is equipped with a metal ring, allowing a carabiner or any other sort of attachment to be used with The Element. This feature allows The Element to be be hung on a golf bag, your luggage, the wall, your belt loop and any other sort of hooking device. These awesome looking custom "The Element" Carabiners will be offered in-Red, Blue, Green, Black and Chrome!At an event in California earlier today, Volkswagen officially announced that upcoming 2016 VW models will be Android Auto-ready. Which models? For now, what we know is this: most model year 2016 VWs at "SE" trim and above will likely pack the generation two MIB infotainment system, which has Android Auto (and Apple CarPlay). There are 6.5" and 8" versions of MIB 2, but both offer the same Auto experience.
As far as actual cars, if you go to a VW dealership in the US with a 2016 Golf R in stock, you can drive away with Android Auto today. This is not to be confused with the 2015 model year Golf R, which does not have Auto. Volkswagen will not be upgrading any of its currently on-sale or previous models with Auto compatibility, mimicking what we've seen from most other automakers aside from Hyundai. The 2016 Tiguan, the smaller VW SUV, will also be showing up at US dealers shortly - in a matter of days - and will also have Android Auto on the SE trim levels and above. The 2016 Golf and Jetta should both launch later this summer (think end of September-ish) with MIB 2, as well, with Auto on SE-and-above trims.
Other models (such as the 2016 eGolf and Golf SportWagen) will come at later dates, but the vast majority of VW's 2016 model year lineup will be getting the requisite MIB 2 head unit (assuming you get the right trim level), so almost every VW launched in the US in the next year and beyond will have Android Auto available. Volkswagen will have basic trim levels without Android Auto that use a tiny 5" display, too, but VW claims these make up a minority of their US sales.
Volkswagen's implementation of Auto is pretty much what we've seen in other vehicles, though VWs do have a secondary infotainment control knob for their system, and this can be used as a rudimentary selector knob in Auto - something I've not yet seen on other cars. What extra control does this allow? Well, you can scroll through lists (say, of songs or cards), and in the Google Maps interface the knob acts as a zoom control. Pressing the knob, obviously, acts as a touch input would. This could make Auto a little more eyes-free if you become accustomed to the ins and outs of navigating it, though switching activities still requires you to touch an icon on the navigation bar below.
Volkswagen is unique in that their MIB 2 system supports not just Auto, but also CarPlay and MirrorLink (a standard championed by Microsoft, but also supported by Samsung and HTC).
Hopefully we'll be getting to spend some time with some of these cars in the next month!A new scientific analysis recently showed what most could have guessed: texting while driving is dangerous.
That's because not looking where you are going makes you more likely to crash. And because speedy vehicles bear destructive inertia.
Almost everyone texts in 2016, and a few glances at your surrounding comrades during the Houston rush hour would suggest that many of them habitually text while driving. That's because it's allowed in Houston.
RELATED: Editorial: A no-brainer bill
So lots of people are doing something that both science and commonsense says is very dangerous, even deadly. Shouldn't the authorities be doing something? Probably. Texas is way behind the times.
It was 1997 when the first federal study deemed screen time at drive time a bad idea. Back then more than 1 in 10 Americans were "using cellular telephones," according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
The first state ban on texting while driving in the U.S. passed in Washington in 2007, and since then 45 other states, plus Washington, D.C., Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands and Guam, approved similar legislation.
That leaves Mississippi, Missouri, Oklahoma and Texas without statewide bans. So what's the deal here? Turns out, Houston and Texas have toddled towards the idea of a ban for years but never managed to get it done.
Texas came closest in 2011, when a bipartisan bill to outlaw texting while driving landed on the desk of Gov. Rick Perry. He denounced the measure as "a government effort to micromanage the behavior of adults" and vetoed it.
Other opponents of the law called it pointless and impossible to enforce. Indeed, a study found that 660,000 U.S. drivers were texting at any given daylight moment in 2013, even after dozens of state bans had passed.
Proponents said it was important to get the law on the record anyway.
After Perry's veto, a handful of Texas cities stepped in to fill the void. Amarillo, Austin, Dallas, San Antonio, El Paso, Missouri City and others banned texting and driving. Houston tried, kind of, but the effort never really took off.
RELATED: 40 Texas cities that ban texting and driving
Mayor Annise Parker appeared beside local rapper Bun B in a 2013 promotional video for a citywide ban and held a news conference to push the cause if the state legislature failed to pass the measure that year.
"It is a big deal. It kills people," she said.
The Legislature failed to pass the measure. House Bill 63 would have made it a misdemeanor to twiddle with a cellphone and drive. It passed the house, but its Senate companion was never put up for a vote in the upper chamber.
Parker shifted her rhetoric away from a ban, finding little easy reception in City Council.
"We are really focused on the public awareness campaign," she said.
Efforts stalled, mired in complications over where to post the relevant road signs announcing the ban and how to pay for them. Parker warned that instating a ban on "piecemeal basis" in the Greater Houston would create confusion over where it would be enforced, according to Houston Public Media, even as other cities in the region, including Bellaire and West University Place, adopted their own bans.
It came up in the state Legislature again in 2015, again passed the House, and again it never made it to a vote int he Senate.
In November the Chronicle reported, "City could take up a texting ban before Parker leaves."
But it never happened.
Next hope is for the 2017 state legislative session to get Texas caught up with driving laws for the Digital Age.
An earlier version of this article said a texting while driving ban never made it to a legislative vote in Texas' 2015 session. The bill passed in the House but never made it to a Senate vote. This article has been updated.The government's theory — thoughtfully supported by the defendants' public relations strategy — is that occupiers agreed to an armed takeover of federal buildings, thus preventing U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service employees from carrying out their duties. There are a few references to unspecified threats against federal employees and some rumblings about how the occupiers would defend themselves against a raid, but the core of the complaint is modest and straightforward: These people got together with guns and took over federal buildings and now the employees can't do their jobs.
The defendants have a right to indictment by grand jury within a few weeks, and that indictment may include more charges and more creative theories. For now, though, it seems the government is taking a low-key approach.
Of course, even if the criminal complaint doesn't support a narrative of martyrdom, the occupiers may use the federal court proceedings as a stage. Expect to see the rhetoric of tax protesters and "sovereign citizens" seeking to elevate mundane prosecutions into constitutional conventions. If the judges and prosecutors are wise, they won't get drawn into that dialogue. A matter-of-fact and methodical application of constitutional rights and procedural safeguards is the best way to counter claims of tyranny.Goal runs through the best players in the Italian top flight in 2012-13 and picks out the top 11 players over the course of the campaign
GOALKEEPER
HANDANOVIC INTER APP: 34 CLEAN SHEETS: 9
TOTW APPS: 6
DEFENCE
BENATIA BARZAGLI RODRIGUEZ UDINESE JUVENTUS FIORENTINA APP: 18 GOALS: 2
APP: 34 GOALS: 0
APP: 33 GOALS: 6
TOTW APPS: 5 TOTW APPS: 6 TOTW APPS: 5
MIDFIELD
LICHTSTEINER VIDAL HAMSIK ILICIC JUVENTUS JUVENTUS NAPOLI PALERMO APP: 27 GOALS: 4
APP: 31 GOALS: 10
APP: 37 GOALS: 11
APP: 31 GOALS: 10
TOTW APPS: 4
TOTW APPS: 5 TOTW APPS: 10 TOTW APPS: 6
ATTACK
DI NATALE
CAVANI EL SHAARAWY UDINESE NAPOLI MILAN APP: 31 GOALS: 22 APP: 33 GOALS: 28 APP: 36 GOALS: 16
TOTW APPS: 7 TOTW APPS: 6 TOTW APPS: 6
A season of high drama in Italy has brought its usual doses of pain and pleasure in equal measure. And it has also seen the reputation of a great many players increased by their consistent high standards of excellence. There have been a number who have been particularly excellent and they find themselves included in theTeam of the Season for Serie A as a result.With star names such as Andrea Pirlo, Hernanes, Miroslav Klose and Francesco Totti all coming close but missing out, the strength of the chosen XI is simply phenomenal.Inter's decision to discard Julio Cesar was one of the more contentious transfer moves of last summer, but his replacement,, has ensured that the clamour over the Brazilian's exit was brief. The Slovenian has consistently had to bail the Nerazzurri out of difficult situations, and but for him their season could have been over much sooner than it was.With only 18 games under his belt this term,has appeared fewer times than any other player in our Team of the Season, yet his magnificent performances in that time have helped Udinese to yet another critic-defying league placing.has been a rock once more for Juventus, with his consistency one of the main reasons why the club have again won the Scudetto with by far and away the best defensive record in the top flight.Fiorentina's renaissance has been assisted by the form of. After leaving relegated Villarreal, the Argentine found Florence to be the perfect setting for a return to form, helping to ensure to Viola's return to European competition.has quickly become one of the world's most effective wing-backs and marked himself down as a first choice at Juventus for some time to come yet. A number of superb performances from the Swiss have been the platform for Bianconeri victories on their way to a second straight title win.If one player has been more influential than Lichtsteiner for Antonio Conte's side this term, it has been. The Chilean midfielder has again proven himself to be an irreplaceable cog in the Juventus wheel, helping to not only break up attacks but also finish them off, with his 10 goals making him the club's top scorer.Of all of our XI, nobody has featured as regularly in the GoalTeam of the Week series this season as. The Slovakian has made our shortlist no less than 10 times in the current campaign thanks to his consistent match-winning displays which helped Napoli to finish in second.The future may not be bright for Palermo after their relegation to Serie B, but one player who will be able to take some positives from 2012-13 once the dust has settled is. The Slovenian has at times been the Rosanero's only hope in an otherwise undistinguished season; his superb run in the second half of the campaign was so good that he almost dragged his side to safety single-handedly.
The magnificence of Antonio Di Natale simply knows no bound. Before 2009-10, the Udinese striker had never once hit 20 goals in a season, but he has now managed that particular feat for four successive years. At 35, he should by rights be running out of legs and luck in front of goal, but he continues to lead the Friulani from the front with bewildering brilliance.
Napoli would not have reached Europe without Edinson Cavani, let alone the Champions League. When the Parternopei have needed a star to lift them onto that extra level, the Uruguayan has been there every time. Hat-tricks against Lazio, Roma and Inter have boosted his goals tally to an unparalleled 28, and if he stays in Naples next season few would back against him replicating that figure.
When AC Milan lost Zlatan Ibrahimovic to Paris Saint-Germain and started the season in lacklustre fashion, their lack of a potential talisman seemed stark. Step forward Stephan El Shaarawy. Then 19, the Italy striker blasted his way into world football's lexicon with goals and performances that put so many older, more experienced players to shame. While finishing was not the primary reason for his signature two summers ago, his 16 goals speak of a man who has been ready to contribute however and whenever his side has needed him.Woodford Reserve is a brand of premium small batch Kentucky straight bourbon whiskey produced in Woodford County, Kentucky, by the Brown-Forman Corporation. It is made from a mixture of pot still spirits produced at the company's Woodford Reserve Distillery, and column still spirits from the Brown Forman Distillery in Shively, Kentucky.[2] Each 45.2% alcohol by volume (90.4 US Proof) bottle bears a unique batch and bottle number. The brand was introduced in 1996.
History [ edit ]
The Woodford Reserve Distillery, formerly known as the Old Oscar Pepper Distillery and later the Labrot & Graham Distillery, is approximately eight miles from the town of Versailles in north-central Kentucky, off U.S. Route 60 between Interstate 64 and Versailles.
Distilling began on the site of the current day distillery in 1812,[citation needed]. Although the site has not been continuously operational as a distillery since, the structure stands as one of the oldest distilleries in Kentucky. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, and is designated as a National Historic Landmark.
Originally established by Elijah Pepper, the distillery was passed on to his son and known as the Oscar Pepper Distillery when Dr. James Crow worked there in the mid-19th century. During this time Dr. Crow undertook a series of activities that improved and codified the understanding and quality of key bourbon-making processes such as sour-mash fermentation, pot still distillation and barrel maturation.[citation needed] After Oscar Pepper died in 1867 the distillery was passed to his son James E. Pepper. The Pepper family sold the property to Leopold Labrot and James Graham in 1878, who owned and operated it (except during Prohibition) until it was sold to the Brown-Forman Corporation in 1941. Brown-Forman operated it until the late 1960s, then sold the property and its accompanying acreage to a local farmer. Brown-Forman re-purchased the property in 1993, refurbished it, and brought it back into operation. The Woodford Reserve brand was introduced to the market in 1996.
The distillery produces: Woodford Reserve Bourbon, Woodford Reserve Double Oaked, Woodford Reserve Straight Rye Whiskey, and Woodford Reserve Straight Malt Whiskey. It also distills some limited edition releases, including Woodford Reserve Master's Collection, Woodford Reserve Master's Collection Batch Proof, a Kentucky-only Distillery Series, and a special commemorative bottle it releases annually in conjunction with its official sponsorship of the Kentucky Derby.
Reviews and accolades [ edit ]
The still room, where copper stills are used to produce spirits from the mash.
International Spirit ratings organizations and liquor review bodies have generally given Woodford Reserve solid scores. At the San Francisco World Spirits Competition, Woodford Reserve's best performances have been in 2005 and 2013, winning a double gold medal each time. It has also won gold (2006–2007, 2011-2012) and silver (2008, 2010) medals at this annual event. The Beverage Testing Institute has given the Reserve scores of between 90 and 91 and Wine Enthusiast awarded it a 90-95 point rating.[3] Spirits ratings aggregator proof66.com, which averages scores from the San Francisco World Spirits Competition, Wine Enthusiast, the Beverage Testing Institute, and others, ranks Woodford Reserve in its highest ("Tier 1") scoring category.[4]
Marketing activities [ edit ]
The Woodford Reserve Distillery offers tours and is part of the American Whiskey Trail and the Kentucky Bourbon Trail promotional programs.
In a contract arrangement with Churchill Downs, Woodford Reserve has been declared the "official bourbon of the Kentucky Derby" and is used in a $1,000 mint julep cocktail that is sold to patrons on Derby Day. (Although Woodford Reserve is the Derby's "official bourbon", its sister brand Old Forester serves mint juleps as the "official drink" and is featured in the more moderately priced juleps served at the event.)
Woodford Reserve's parent company Brown-Forman has entered into a 5 year deal with Churchill Downs to become the title sponsor of the Kentucky Derby after Yum! Brands pulled their sponsorship. The "Greatest Two Minutes in Sports will now be called "the Kentucky Derby presented by Woodford Reserve.” [5]
See also [ edit ]Share. Where no one has gone before. Where no one has gone before.
The EmDrive, an experimental propulsion device, may be producing a warp field.
According to posts on the NASA Space Flight forum, when lasers were fired into the EmDrive resonance chamber, it was found that some of the beams were travelling faster than the speed of light.
Exit Theatre Mode
If this is true, then it would mean that the EmDrive is producing a warp field or bubble. A forum post says that "this signature (the interference pattern) on the EmDrive looks just like what a warp bubble looks like. And the math behind the warp bubble apparently matches the interference pattern found in the EmDrive."
Nothing has been confirmed yet, but it could mean that NASA is one step closer to achieving faster than light travel. This will be especially useful if there are any developments in its renewed search for extraterrestrial life.
Matt Porter is a freelance writer. If you fancy reading endless Tweets about games and sports, follow him on Twitter: @Matt_Porter44.Well, what do we have here? It turns out that Ubuntu isn’t the only Linux distribution who took a left turn off the X.org highway, now driving on a road that will eventually lead to replacing X.org with Wayland. Fedora’s ‘graphics cabal’, as they call themselves, have explained themselves on Fedora’s devel mailing list. They also explain how network transparency can be added to Wayland in a number of different ways, making the mailing list thread intriguing reading material. Also, everybody happy with the headline? No panties in twists this time around…?
Fedora’s ‘graphics cabal’, consisting of Adam Jackson, Kevin Martin, and Dave
Airlie, discussed the whole Wayland thing at last week’s Plumbers conference, and they came to the conclusion that while Wayland is obviously anything but ready for prime time, the eventual advantages of moving to it are so great a switch is pretty much inevitable. Jackson added explicit permission to everyone to quote him, so here we go.
“Wayland’s not a usable default yet,” Jackson stated, “It’ll probably be packaged in F15 as something you can play with. We don’t even have a complete list of transition criteria yet, let alone a timeframe for switching the default. But it’s likely to happen eventually because it’s a serious win for a lot of things, and the downsides are pretty negligible despite the fear from the peanut gallery.”
In a later post, Jackson also handled some of these downsides in more detail, most notably X’ network transparency which is an extremely useful feature for server administrators (and for some desktop users as well, of course). While the protocol doesn’t have network transparency directly, there are options.
“You can still do vnc-like things trivially and with a modest amount of additional wayland protocol (or just inter-client conventions) you can do spice-like things,” he says, “This is good, not bad, because efficient remoting protocols do not look like X. Now we get to design a good one, and in the meantime vnc-style remoting sure does go a long way towards being good enough. (But, we can’t switch yet, because we don’t even have vnc-style remoting yet; so we’re not switching yet.)”
This message from Jackson is mandatory reading, though, as it explains what he means by ‘vnc-like’ and ‘rdp-like’. Since Wayland’s “fundamental object of composition is a whole window”, you could just scrape the pixels out of the buffer and shove them across the network to get per-application remoting. Rdp-like remoting is a bit more involved, but is potentially more useful.
“When I say ‘rdp-like’ I mean ‘install enough awareness of the possibility of remoting in the rendering system that remoting can send a rendering command stream instead of raw pixels if that seems to be a win’. Wordy, I admit,” Jackson details, “And, obviously, much more work than just vnc-like scraping. But it’s a serious win for WAN links, and is the only viable way to remote 3D, etc.”
I’m very happy Fedora is looking to eventually move to Wayland as well, since it’s about time the Linux world looks and moves beyond X to something that has been designed from the ground up to be modern, instead of something that consists of layer upon layer upon layer.
With both Ubuntu and Fedora now on the road to replacing X with Wayland, interest in Wayland will rise. NVIDIA may not have any plans to support it right now, but I’m pretty sure they eventually won’t have much of a choice.In case you don't know me, I was on the Commander VS series on SCG for a long time. I'm also a regular SCG columnist. I was a Buyer on the Open Series for a handful of years before moving to the content side of things, helping Cedric Phillips coordinate and demonstrate all the fantastic articles and videos you see every week on this very website.
Oh yeah, and I have cancer.
You can re-read that a few times. I certainly am.
If I'm not re-reading it on here, on this very page, I'm re-remembering it in the mornings when I wake up. That's the most difficult part. When you go to sleep and wake up for thirty years, your brain has a natural disposition to morning neutrality.
That's been different for a week or so now, because when I wake up, I remember that life is different now than it was before I got a few scary phone calls.
I now live with a constant reminder of mortality, percentages, fears and all that. Every little thing my body has done the entire time I've had it is a little more frightening now. Is that just a cough? Or does it mean something else? Is this sore lymph node fighting for the others or is it already another zombified version of them that is lowering my chances to live as long as someone in my position usually does?
I never smoked. I never chewed tobacco. Actually, I don't even drink and never have.
But I got unlucky. And I lost.
The odds of it happening to me? It's probably beyond one in a million truthfully. Spending time on the Internet trying to rationalize the odds as something better than they are is a waste of time. If I read something positive, I feel better. But if I read something scary? I feel terrible. What I read on the Internet or hear from people who aren't doctors won't change my outcome.
So yeah, one in a million it would happen to me. It might even be less so.
But the odds of it happening to someone? They were 100%. It just so happens that I'm the guy.
But this isn't therapy (at least not for you), and this is still a site that devotes itself to Magic strategy and coverage, so that's what I'm going to give you. By necessity, I don't want to write about this for long. I have other things I need to do and other people I need to enjoy. My odds are actually pretty decent when compared to much more unfortunate people, but for the first time, I'm living without the relative guarantees that most other people have. I'm living without the supposed guarantees that my former self had, that all of my former selves had.
I've played Magic for nearly twenty years. The reason I played it when I was thirteen was that it was fun and mechanically interesting. The reason it's interesting to me today is because it's a microcosm of the larger life we live.
Luck. Skill.
Fate. Choice.
We spend a lot of time analyzing these things because the perception is that they're binaries. Magic is either about luck or skill. Life is either about fate or choice. I'm not confident that's how it works; I simply think that's the way we try to look at it.
Is it unlucky that you lost most of your die rolls throughout the day? Not really. I mean, in a way it is, but if you brought a deck that breaks serve pretty well, it doesn't matter much. Did your opponent playtest more than you did? Is there any way to know? What kind of home are you going back to after the tournament? Would you rather have been born a mindless slug than a part of the dominant species of your planet? A species that, right here right now, has a better way of life than any other generation of anything we've ever known?
Yeah, maybe it's unlucky to have what I have in 2015. But it would've been much more unlucky to get it thirty or forty years ago.
When you sit down to play Magic, I don't care how unlucky you are. I don't care what your draws were or how bad you stumbled on mana. I don't care that you were one point away from Top Eight. Or Top Sixteen. Or Top 32.
And yeah, competition is fun. Competition is great. And Magic is fun.
But you've already won. You won a long time ago. An overwhelming majority of us did.
Yeah, I can be mad that I have a disease that by rights nobody my age and lifestyle should have. I exercise frequently. I eat well. I should be angry, and I should feel like one of the most unlucky people in the world right now.
But if I do that, I have to ignore my angelic wife and her unbelievable resolve in helping me cope with this and every other difficulty I've experienced since we partnered up so many years ago. I have to ignore that several people I knew when I was a teenager are already dead and didn't stay alive long enough to be this “unlucky.” I have to ignore the two greatest dogs in the world, two healthy little mammals that exemplify the rarest thing I know of: the manifestation of a fantasy, an ideal, which came to fruition in the exact way I wanted. (When my wife and I started dating, she told me she wanted a Weimaraner. I wanted an English Bulldog. Here we are.)
I could be angry that I have this, but then I'd have to somehow be angry at the fact that I have a voice and an outlet I |
into hadiths Stranger: and hadiths have chain Stranger: that's how you tell if they're authentic or not Stranger: chain as in, they know who said it, and who said that to who, and who said that to who... all the way to Prophet Muhammed You: the quranists would say that the quran is a complete book of guidance with no need for external factors that may have been tainted by humans You: for example, the bible and the torah are considered corrupted. why couldn't hadith be corrupted? You: (i'm only giving you what they tell me. i am not a muslim) Stranger: The corrupt hadith are called munkar(rejected) hadiths, there's classification of hadith Stranger: and btw, I'm not sure if they're apostates exactly because Stranger: maybe they didn't know about the verse about obeying Prophet Muhammed Stranger: but when evidence comes to them and they reject then they're apostates You: which one is that? You: i'd like to ask them about that verse and their response to it Stranger: one sec You: okay You: i would also add that the authentication was done by humans You: which is why the quranists would reject any claims that hadith are necessary You: humans can be wrong, even if they are sincere Stranger: there's many but here for example, Obey Allah, and obey the Messenger, and beware (of evil): if ye do turn back, know ye that it is Our Messenger’s duty to proclaim (the Message) in the clearest manner. (5: 92). So, it says to obey Prophet Muhammed's commandment Stranger: now Stranger: Quran is Allah's message, where it doesn't talk about Prophet Muhammed's commandment You: good one to know, thanks Stranger: where to find Prophet Muhammed's commandment, is in hadiths Stranger: the munkar hadiths, the Shias have it too, they say to worship Ali and stuff, they're weird Stranger: they do a lot of shirk, not all Shias, but most Stranger: that's why one needs to look if the hadith and the Quran link, and if the Hadith contradicts the Quran or not Stranger: and if the chain of the hadith is good or not You: but, as i understand it, all that the chain of narration's authentication says is that A told B told C for sure, not that what A said was true Stranger: Also, the thing about those liberal Muslims are that You: couldn't it be that A said something untrue, but which didn't misalign with the quran? You: which did misalign* Stranger: they try to mix Islam with Western values that goes against Islam. It's just not possible, you can't mix kufr laws or man made laws with Allah's laws You: wait, no, didn't* hahaha You: yeah, i'm an atheist, and i agree that sharia and secular values have very little overlap You: but, here's a question for you. what if one of the people you advocate killing might have one day come to islam? Stranger: About the chain, the Ulamas know it better You: but, quranists would say that ulama, as a concept is bid'ah You: i'm not familiar with anything in the quran or hadith that says that scholars are worth considering at all Stranger: bid'ah is something that is nothing to do with the sunnah, Prophet Muhammed himself was a Scholar, Ulama Stranger: Ulama just means a Islamic scholar You: yeah You: but, while muhammad might be considered a scholar, quranists would say, why do you get to say that someone from 700 years ago was, too? You: or that this scholar has any authority? Stranger: The thing is, we don't know who will die as Muslim or not, it's in Allah will's, including me, so we make dua(prayer) to Allah that we die as Muslims, that's best we can do and we take action to get there Stranger: Allah chooses the death and chooses who He guides and He knows best You: but, when you advocate death, you are choosing to kill someone You: and that person could have not killed that person and waited until they saw it your way, potentially You: why is it your business to get involved? Stranger: I didn't get the question about the scholar thing. I don't choose death, no one does, it's in Allah's hand Stranger: I can go try to kill someone and fail You: yeah, but you can also just not go kill anyone and let them come to islam Stranger: but you're saying why is it my business to kill him You: yes You: some of the earliest companions of muhammad were not muslim, even after being told about islam You: muhammad didn't kill his uncle who wasn't a muslim Stranger: I do the actions based on Quran and sunnah. Let's talk about a non Muslim, if he is droning and slaughering Muslims and I kill him because he is an enemy and Quran said so, they I can do that, whether he died as Muslim or not, who knows Stranger: but from apparent, he's kaffir Stranger: as in, we knew he is kaffir, he said it himself You: but he could change You: although, honestly, i agree. if someone is fighting you in combat, go ahead, no rules You: muslim/non-muslim, doesn't matter. if you sign up to go to war, you risk death Stranger: A Muslim could leave the religion, anything an happen, but who to kill or not, it's just done by Quran and sunnah. Just like any other law Stranger: even in democracy Stranger: you have lethal injections You: sure, though, we're working on erasing the death penalty for a variety of reasons You: anyway, my question is more about the people who aren't combatants You: but regular people who have no interest in killing others You: but who are not muslim Stranger: Well, this is more deep, but you've good background knowledge of Islam, right? You: not as much as you, so, try not to assume :p Stranger: alright, so, basically, let's choose an example, like are you talking about the France or Belgium attack? You: sure Stranger: That was done because of an eye for an eye, get what I mean? You: i know what you mean, but i don't think it's really justified You: because it's not like those individuals were responsible for hurting muslims You: in fact, you could argue they help a lot of muslims by taking in refugees of dictators like assad You: and, france was against the war in iraq Stranger: [Fighting in] the sacred month is for [aggression committed in] the sacred month, and for [all] violations is legal retribution. So whoever has assaulted you, then assault him in the same way that he has assaulted you. And fear Allah and know that Allah is with those who fear Him.- 2:194. I understand what you mean, but look in perspective of IS. They had their children slaughtered by drones, and women. And their women raped by Americans. And raped by Shias which the Americans aided...etc Stranger: so with all this, they wanted to take revenge Stranger: but Stranger: they used Uthaymeen's opinion Stranger: Uthaymeen said, you can kill their civilians if they kill your children and women, as a deterent Stranger: but I think they just targeted males cuz they're mostly to be a combatant Stranger: this also goes to a story Stranger: when a Jew tribe had covenant with Prophet Muhammed You: banu qurayza? Stranger: yup, you read it? You: yes You: it's one of the primary reasons i am not a muslim You: i think you could fairly say i am a kafir You: i help people leave islam You: i enjoy that Stranger: alright You: i think islam is evil, for this very reason You: you seem like a decent guy, honestly You: but with some very wicked values You: killing innocent people who had nothing to do with harming muslims is a wicked idea You: doesn't matter if some guy a long time ago said it's okay Stranger: look, this is about the afterlife, not what your desires think and do Stranger: everyone has desires Stranger: but what's right or not, what we want in afterlife is the main real deal You: well, if you can demonstrate with 0 doubt that there is an afterlife Stranger: if you think there's no afterlife, then too bad so sad You: i swear to you i will become not only a muslim, but a jihadist like you You: if you can't, then i will remain an atheist Stranger: it doesn't matter, once we die, we'll all know ether ways Stranger: and death will enter upon everyone You: we agree we will all die You: you asked me to see it from IS' perspective You: now consider it from the atheist's perspective You: we all agree that we got this life at least Stranger: I said from IS perspective because that's their argument, not that I agree or disagree, and because of the context of the example I was using You: ah, sure, okay Stranger: Sure? Stranger: You want my perspective or what? You: well, i understand their perspective, but i think it's trying too hard to justify wickedness, even by a jihadist's standards. killing random women who had nothing to do with the deaths of some muslim woman in syria. how can any ideology truly support that? You: i don't like how the west talks about the death of innocent muslims as "collateral damage" You: but, this is very much the muslim equivalent You: "collateral damage" You: and, yes, sure, go on with your perspective Stranger: Anyways, it's about the afterlife Stranger: but you don't believe in it, so it doesn't matter You: i would honestly love to believe in jannah You: but i haven't seen a good reason to yet Stranger: no you wouldn't You: why not? Stranger: you don't care about afterlife, you care about this world, that's it You: if you could show me that jannah exists, why would i deny it? You: why would i not want to be in jannah? You: the highest level of jannah (which is a weird concept to me, but whatever) Stranger: forget afterlife, do you know what will happen after death? Stranger: what's your view You: my view is what i can observe, and i don't know for sure what will happen after death, but i am unconvinced of what muslims say they "know" for sure will happen You: but, anyone who had solid proof of jannah and who didn't believe in it, is a total fool You: especially given what jahannam is described as Stranger: yeah, you won't know everything, nor will I. just like, people in the back days didn't know what pluto was, nor do some people these days. But anyways, there will be always truth, it's jsut about time when one will accept Stranger: but you rejected Stranger: and that's done You: i agree that truth is an objective thing You: if i am given undeniable evidence of the truth, i wouldn't deny it You: that's silly to do You: and dishonest Stranger: and no, there's no confusion or anything, Allah didn't put us here to be confused, and also Stranger: before you or I was born, He made us testify that there is only one lord and we'll worship Him, so we already had tawheed, but society and people corrupt us Stranger: so anyways, you'll not have any excuse whatsoever You: do understand that from my perspective, these just sound like empty threats You: there are so many issues i have with the theology and philosophy of islam that have nothing to do with dunya You: and everything to do with the nature of allah as described Stranger: I'm not threatening you lol, it's just beliefs Stranger: which you don't even belief You: i understand. i'm not saying you are threatening me You: i mean it's islam's ideological threat to non-muslims You: "believe or perish in hellfire" Stranger: No, it's warning to them, to stop their kufr(disbelief) acts and come to Islam You: but, when i ask philosophical questions about fundamentals beliefs in islam, i often get unsatisfying "allahu alim" sort of answers You: yeah, i'm oversimplifying to describe what i mean by threat Stranger: You won't know everything, that's self explanatory, even a Non Muslim knows this You: here's a fundamental issue i have with allah and free will that i wonder if you could address without deferring to ulama or "only god knows" Stranger: just like back then people didn't know pluto existed Stranger: but I'll say this to you clearly You: but, it's not about knowing everything. just simple answers to simple questions that shouldn't involve copouts Stranger: Islam is about faith, I didn't see Allah nor Prophet Muhammed nor Prophet Adam but I believe in them Stranger: therefore I've faith(imaan) You: ah, so that is the beginning of the end of discourse You: because faith is unreliable as a means of filtering truth from falsehood Stranger: but that doesn't mean there is no proof You: people believe on faith many things that are false Stranger: Quran is the proof You: okay, how is the quran proof? Stranger: it's just time when one wants to accept or reject, really simple Stranger: it's like You: i want to accept, but i don't want to delude myself into it. i want good reasons to believe things. otherwise, i am satisfying my nafs ;) Stranger: the sun, when you rise your head, you can clearly see the sun, you can't just say "oh, but I didn't know", it's clearly there and you saw it Stranger: it's so simple Stranger: it's just time, and that's it, Stranger: and then death Stranger: then judgement Stranger: but forget jdugemen Stranger: for you, just time Stranger: till death You: if the sun is like allah, in the sense that it is so easy to verify allah's existence, why do you need faith at all? You: faith is what leads christians to think jesus was the son of god You: or hindus to believe that shiva is the only god worthy of worship You: or even buddhists to believe that there is no god, just that life is a cycle of birth, suffering, and death that humans strive to break You: faith is what leads muslims to believe muhammad was a prophet and jews to believe muhammad was a false prophet Stranger: no, sun isn't like Allah, it was just an example, to show, truth is there on your face but you're rejecting it Stranger: no, Christians don't even believe that, not all, they just do what's told by their priest Stranger: without knowing what it is Stranger: if they do believe it, sincerely, they're pagan Stranger: they believe in Allah You: they do believe it sincerely. it's a cornerstone of their faith Stranger: but they associated partner's with Him, that's where the problem occurs You: but, i think my greater point is about faith being unreliable because it leads people to arrive at 100% certainty at mutually exclusive conclusions You: not the nitty gritty details here You: if you had proof, you wouldn't need faith Stranger: thing is, they already have tawheed, natural belief in one God, it's just the Christians try to mess with them, so now they've a choice, to accept or decline Stranger: some just do it cuz their parent's said without meaning to Stranger: that doesn't count Stranger: when one does it sincerly, that's when they left the fold of Islam Stranger: with you for example You: just like muslims who believe because of their parents. i understand what you're saying about christians and don't dispute that christianity is wrong either You: i was never a muslim You: my parents were never muslims either Stranger: you already have belief in oneness of Allah, it was natural, you don't need parents for it, but something wanted to make you reject Allah Stranger: simple as that You: well i dispute that Stranger: yeah, don't believe, but that's it You: this is just your belief that it was natural for me to believe in allah You: but it's certainly unfounded You: if you can prove to me that babies are born with this oneness of allah concept in mind, then i can change my mind You: until then, it's a type of a naf, isn't it? You: you're desire to believe this You: your* Stranger: lol You: not used to making that typo haha Stranger: trust me, you'll not know everything, trust me, even if you think you knew everything nor will I know everything nor will I know everything about Islam. I already said this is about faith in Allah, not man made laws, like scientist's and what not Stranger: science, it changes from time to time Stranger: it's not life Stranger: it's just used for materialistic reasons Stranger: if you want to know purpose Stranger: you should ask the creator which you rejected Stranger: that's it You: i don't think i will know everything about islam or anything in general, either, but, from what i understand about islam, i am not convinced that it is true You: i would wholeheartedly accept if i was given good reasons You: faith is a very bad reason as i demonstrated earlier You: faith can lead you to sticking to an erroneous conclusion in spite of evidence to the contrary You: it's pretending to know things you don't know and making knowledge claims on top of that Stranger: you have issue with killing Stranger: look You: yes Stranger: these are criminals Stranger: it's not an issue to kill them You: who are criminals? Stranger: the ones you can kill in Islam Stranger: like homosexuals Stranger: who cares You: well, before you can even say they are criminals, you must show that what you believe is true You: all the islamic laws, so far, are irrelevant as long as you keep invoking faith to justify islam Stranger: I don't think you care what is true or not, you just have issues with killing or something You: no different than a pirate colony proclaiming its righteousness Stranger: or that it's "barbaric" Stranger: or that it's "backwards" You: you're sidetracking from faith, which i find interesting You: i do care what is true Stranger: no you don't You: you're attacking me and making false assumptions You: stick to the issues You: you're making my point stronger that islam is not the truth Stranger: do you know how I know you don't You: if it was, you wouldn't have to do this Stranger: here, wait here You: no Stranger: "Stranger: it's one of the primary reasons i am not a muslim Stranger: i think you could fairly say i am a kafir Stranger: i help people leave islam Stranger: i enjoy that" Stranger: clear cut evidence You: yeah, well, i'm convinced islam is false You: but, if i am sorely mistaken, you could set me straight Stranger: you're just here to make sure people leave Islam You: show me i'm wrong Stranger: that's it, literally You: i would love to see more people leave islam, sure, because i believe islam is not only false, but also wicked Stranger: exactly Stranger: you made my point You: but, as we both said earlier, no one can know 100% You: no, you are making my point You: which is that if i am wrong, show me You: i am interested in being right You: i have no ego in this. it's all about wanting to believe true things Stranger: You're not here to see what's right or wrong You: sure i am You: you believe strongly in islam Stranger: you reject it and you want people to reject it You: make your case Stranger: that's it You: i reject it because people like you poorly defend it You: i reject it because it does not appear to be the truth You: if you think it's the truth, stick to proving it true You: rather than making silly attacks You: if you can't, then i will take that as tacit approval that islam is false Stranger: these are not attacks and I gave my proof already You: seems like you can't so far You: what proof? You: faith is not proof You: faith is foolish You: show me proof for allah You: show me proof for jannah Stranger: maybe, copy this whole conversation and read again Stranger: later You: lol You: typical You: this is why islam will crumble You: ex-muslims and their allies like me You: will win You: islam is doomed You: atheism is on the rise You: you can't make your case You: because islam depends on faith You: which is foolish Stranger: okay Stranger: you think I really care? You: you don't because you're brainwashed into the cult of a pedophile rapist who murdered people who pointed out his flaws Stranger: sure You: yes, marriage to aisha You: real clear winner you got there You: solid specimen of a man You: worthy of emulating forever You: with his ringing of his ears during "revelations" You: with his foaming at the mouth like a rabid dodg You: dog You: all in sahih hadith, too Stranger: you're proving my points, you don't like it because of marriage, the war rulings, the acts...etc You: how embarrassing Stranger: that's it You: nope You: islam is wrong You: allah's all-powerful/all-knowing/most-merciful attributes and free will are a contradiction Stranger: lol You: you have nothing You: when you are cornered, intellectually, you give up You: that's why people like you become jihadists You: you're losers You: you fail at this life so you hope for the next You: which is unproven You: if you're honest, you'll accept that You: anyway, you're a coward You: advocating the death of people who have done nothing wrong to you You: justifying things the so-called islamic state does You: using a website designed by the kufr, hahaha You: this is why the kufr are advanced You: we don't waste our time committing a bunch of useless garbage to memory You: i would encourage you to speak up on https://www.reddit.com/r/exmuslim You: your intellectual cowardice is hilarious You: your theology is flawed You: you have no proof, and faith is for fools You: keep up with empty threats Stranger: Where are my threats? You: the threats of violence are implicit in the mind of the believer You: believing in islam makes you complicit Stranger: Where are my threats? Stranger: you said I gave threats, where? You: the threats of hellfire Stranger: I didn't talk about the hell fire You: the advocacy of jihad against the kufr Stranger: anyways, you didn't show my threats Stranger: second You: those are the threats Stranger: "we don't waste our time committing a bunch of useless garbage to memory" then why are you talking here, to me? You: i must fear allah and believe in islam otherwise i will perish in hellfire You: to plant the seeds of doubt You: to get you to question You: to wake up You: and, even, to see your perspective Stranger: so you want to waste your time Stranger: ok You: to see if you have any real reason i may have overlooked Stranger: contradicts what you said You: no Stranger: sounds like a hypocrite You: i am not wasting my time by planting the seeds of doubt in the mind of a wicked person You: nah Stranger: Oh, you're trying to make me leave the religion? You: maybe that's the end goal You: i wouldn't mind if you were a peaceful muslim You: i think they are just dimwitted, but at least they aren't hurting anyone Stranger: So you're not trying to make me leave the religion? Stranger: "Stranger: i help people leave islam Stranger: i enjoy that" You: yes, that is one thing i do Stranger: hypocritical You: it's not hypocritical You: i didn't say it's the only thing i do You: you're trying too hard to find contradictions You: try harder with islam You: you'll find loads Stranger: anyways, how's it working, trying to make me leave Islam? You: it's not all i'm doing Stranger: lol Stranger: is your other goal that I become peaceful Muslim? You: that would be nice, sure Stranger: guess what You: you can't expect one conversation to change minds You: some people are childishly stubborn You: some people have been brainwashed for too long Stranger: I would kill you if I saw you, so, I won't be peaceful to a murtad, and my justification is, Islam says to kill the ones who insult Prophet Muhammed and Islam You: that's fine, if you tried to do that, do know that i wouldn't be some pacifist You: i would kill you as well Stranger: so, I won't leave Islam nor be peaceful by going against Allah. That's it. You: and i would enjoy mocking islam to your dying face You: because it deserves no respect You: also, doesn't murtad mean apostate? You: i was never a muslim Stranger: Ok, I won't be peaceful to a kaffir who insulted Prophet Muhammed and Islam, ruling is same, killing them Stranger: unless they are a child or insane You: sure, which is why islam is not the truth Stranger: but you're not that You: the truth doesn't fear scrutiny or even mockery You: islam does You: islam is not the truth You: you can't even make a compelling case for islam You: only these empty threats Stranger: that was a real threat Stranger: but anyways Stranger: that's it You: sure it was You: internet warrior Stranger: Have you seen the cartoonist who was stabbed? You: yes, pathetic of muslims Stranger: this is not something new Stranger: not internet warrior Stranger: it happens Stranger: but whatever You: i'm not talking about others You: but you in particular Stranger: that's it You: you're a coward You: guess why isis takes up land in iraq and syria? You: and not saudi arabia You: or qatar You: you're being played You: they are funding this insurgency to project more influence You: co-opted by the united states, too. why do you think obama was so willing to give funds and weapons to "moderate rebels"? You: these are geopolitical conflicts that have been going on for at least a century now Stranger: whoaceres, you're kaffir, whether you're Christian, Jew, Hindu...etc Stranger: all same You: keep the muslim sheep in constant stress and turmoil to keep control of resources. that's the strategy that you all have fallen for. divide and conquer You: atheist Stranger: I treat all kaffir the same You: i wouldn't be stupid enough to be a christian, jew, hindu, muslim, etc. outdated, backwards, silly beliefs founded upon the oldest con in the world: "revelation" You: how do you know muhammad wasn't a lunatic? You: sincere question You: he could have had a mental problem You: who goes to a cave to "hear voices" but a schizophrenic? You: who has ringing in the ears prior to or during "revelations except people who have epileptic seizures? Stranger: to be, all are the same, kaffir, meaning, one who rejects Islam You: yes, you said that over and over Stranger: I treat kafir harshly, the Muslims with mercy Stranger: kaffir is is one camp Stranger: the Muslim in another camp You: i understand mr. redundancy Stranger: I love Muslims but not kaffirs Stranger: because Stranger: not just because I hate them Stranger: I hate their kufr(disbelief) You: why You: also, you didn't address anything i asked You: so, once again, a coward Stranger: because you reject Allah and is against Islam You: give me good reasons to believe in those You: and i swear to you i will convert in a heartbeat You: if you can't, don't be surprised You: i will eat all my words and be as good of a muslim as possible if you prove to me that islam is the truth Stranger: the evidence, you're looking for is, science You: many former atheists became some of the strongest leaders of their respective religions You: i'm looking for something that proves to me that you aren't just wishfully thinking Stranger: Islam is one thing, science is another You: science is the reason you and i are talking right now You: so it works You: show me how islam works You: prove to me that it works You: if you can't, again, why are you so hateful that people don't take what you believe seriously? Stranger: exactly, you worship science You: i don't worship it Stranger: while I worship Allah You: this is a childish exaggeration You: christians say such things, too You: because implicitly they want to put people who don't believe in religion on the same silly playing field as themselves You: when we have wandered off and seen the confining noose that religion has often been for what it is You: it restricts your ability to critically think You: faith is the hallmark of that Stranger: and btw, nevermind, science isn't the "reason", the reason we're talking is because of Allah which you disbelief, from Allah, the people who created this with knowledge of engineering and science and other knowledge...etc Stranger: anyways You: you claim that You: but provide no supporting evidence for allah Stranger: Islam is one thing, science is another You: if allah interacts with this world at all, science should be able to detect some footprint allah has left Stranger: You can research science somewhere else You: how do you know that what you believe isn't just a bunch of comfortable lies? You: islam makes you feel powerful and righteous You: doesn't it You: you are right. you have the truth. the kufr are evil. they should be destroyed. You: that's what you like about it, in part You: what if you're wrong? You: what if all you have been doing is deluding yourself? You: how can you be sure that what you believe is truly real? Stranger: lol, it's really simple, you really want to know how Islam works? go find Quran, read, see if it makes sense, ask Allah for help, and see future, that's it You: i read it You: it doesn't make sense You: in fact, the quran is such a boring piece of literature Stranger: you don't have to do 100 experiments or have a degree or anything You: it's repetitive, like you Stranger: and you've choice of accepting or rejecting, it's not that, you must accept, to me, sounds like that's what you really want Stranger: it's ether you accept or reject Stranger: it's really that simple You: i reject it, but if you accept it, you must have good reasons You: so demonstrate those reasons You: if you don't, then just accept that you are just as deluded as christians or hindus or anyone else You: you just have a pet belief You: i don't have to be biased towards any religion You: i can truly say i investigate to find truth and reject falsehood You: can you? Stranger: reasons are in Quran, everything is in Quran and sunnah You: you can't even name them You: typical You: cowardly You: muslim Stranger: this is not jeopardy, everything is there Stranger: including reasons that I might not even have You: so, the sunnah includes the man who married a 6 year old girl Stranger: or not know about You: you're cool with that You: are you into children, sexually? You: don't get mad at me that i bring up the misdeeds of your prophet either You: if he was so lovely, i wouldn't have a list of his disgusting acts Stranger: I will marry a child, if the girl's father agrees, and consummate when she hits puberty You: that's disgusting You: predator You: no wonder Stranger: I'll do it anyways, if Allah wills You: yeah, so now i have another part of the puzzle You: you are not good with the ladies Stranger: I'll even marry my daughter off like that if I want You: losers become jihadists Stranger: and I'll let my sons do the same if I want You: misfits and dimwits You: anyway, do know that your theology is flawed You: faith is flawed You: if you have to pit islam against science, do know that science has accomplished a great deal over the last 150-400 years Stranger: are you a lady? You: whereas islam has given us people who mash their foreheads against the ground where smelly muslim feet have been. so hygienic, mashallah You: haha, wouldn't you like to know Stranger: yes, because you said I'm not good with the ladies You: which is true, you aren't You: admit it You: wanting to marry a child is pretty heinous You: the only reason you would do that, really, is because you can't handle an adult woman who hasn't been groomed by your sick tendencies You: it's about control You: islam is a religion by men, for men You: invented by a man who clearly had psychological issues Stranger: wait, what's your gender? are you insecure? You: i'm secure in who i am Stranger: exactly You: it's irrelevant Stranger: no you're not Stranger: you're excited to speak about Islam but can't say your gender, which isn't even a big deal You: my interest is islam You: not discussing who i am personally Stranger: but you're insecure You: if that makes you feel better about not getting an answer, so be it Stranger: I speak different to a guy and girl You: just as i know you're a dimwit who believes in islam Stranger: to me, they're not the same You: well, i speak differently to people who advocate genocide of groups of people and people who are sane You: i really wonder where your parents went wrong Stranger: their brain works differently Stranger: tell me what's your gender and I'll start giving you answer's, direct ones, even if it's repetitive You: you're not getting that, no matter how much you ask You: you haven't given me direct answers already, so i won't either You: you evade You: because you know i'm right Stranger: I'm going to brush my teeth, will be back, to hear your gender soon You: islam is not true You: lol Stranger: I'm back Stranger: I already know you don't believe You: you probably brushed your teeth with pig-related products by the way Stranger: lol You: i'm serious You: it's almost unavoidable, sadly Stranger: what brand of toothpaste you think I used? You: no idea You: what did you use Stranger: lol You: it's in many cosmetics and personal care products at this point though Stranger: but thanks for the advice, I'll make sure to avoid pig related products You: if you do, compile a list and post it online You: a lot of people would benefit Stranger: I don't do make up so it's not an issue for me Stranger: I'm a man You: a sad excuse for one, yes Stranger: you're a women I think lol Stranger: or you talk like one You: think as you wish Stranger: a man, is direct, and rigid with his answer Stranger: answers* You: so, surely, you're a woman then :p You: having evaded so many of my questions Stranger: women are soft, and too emotional as in the women can't really give the perfect answer Stranger: they'll say 100 different answers You: seems like you alright Stranger: lol Stranger: you've any idea how long you talked to me? wonder why you are still here You: to expose you You: fool You have disconnected.Though Seattle’s suburbs have often trended Republican in local races, and Democratic in nationwide races, Federal Way — a town of under 100,000 located just north of Tacoma — has historically been a mixed bag. And this election season, the results of the district’s two House races, could have an outsize effect on the balance of power in Washington, providing an indication of where Puget Sound politics are headed as the region's population and demographics change.
Control of the state’s House of Representatives will come down to less than 10 races this November, two of which are in Federal Way's 30th Legislative District, which also includes Auburn, Des Moines, Algona, Pacific, and Milton. In the district, incumbent Republicans Rep. Linda Kochmar and Rep. Teri Hickel both gained fewer votes in the primary than their respective Democratic challengers, Mike Pellicciotti and Kristen Reeves. The Olympian called the 30th Legislative District a “key battleground” for control of the Legislature.
While Republicans currently control the district’s seats, the district has traditionally been split, and consistently goes toward Democrats in presidential elections.
It’s safe to say that the only pattern in Federal Way is that there is no pattern. Republican Hickel, for example, was elected by a nearly 10 percent margin last year, but in 2014 the seat she stepped into had gone to Roger Freeman, a Democrat. In that same year, Kochmar, a Republican, demolished her challenger by a 13 percent margin. And, in yet another twist, State Senator Mark Miloscia ran as a Republican and won by a landslide in 2014 after serving the district for over a decade as a Democrat in the House.
Roughly 59 percent of Federal Way voters picked Obama over Romney in 2012, above the state average. That year, Republicans Kochmar and Hickel won or defended their seats.
However, given the strong primary showing this year of the district's Democratic challengers, the question is whether Seattle’s affordability crisis is starting to impact Federal Way’s political demographics, as people who would otherwise live in the |
eng (Panax quinquefolium L.). Panax ginseng cultivated in China, Japan, Korea and Russia has been used as a medicinal plant in China for thousands of years [1]. Panax quinquefolium L., grown in the United States and Canada and been used by Native Americans for hundreds of years [3], is a more popular herbal and nutritional supplement used throughout the world [2, 4]. Ginseng and its constituents, ginsenosides, are thought to possess antineoplastic, antistress and antioxidant effects. Ginseng is one of the most frequently purchased herbs in the US due to its potential as a chemopreventive agent or adjuvant treatment [5]. In 2002, a national survey of men and women in the US estimated that 4–5% of those aged 45–64 years used ginseng [6]. Two Canadian surveys found that 17–32% of patients with cardiovascular disease reported use of herbs and 6% of those using herbs reported ginseng use [7, 8]. Many H–V infected patients on antiretroviral therapy also take herbal medicines or natural health products. One survey found that 67% of HIV-infected patients on antiretroviral therapy were also taking a natural health product [9]. It was reported to be the 10th most used complementary and alternative medicine in HIV infected patients, used by 34% of those studied [10]. Ginseng is reported to have a wide range of therapeutic and pharmacological uses [11–14]. Researchers are now focused on using purified individual ginsenoside to reveal the mechanism of functions of ginseng instead of using whole ginseng root [11–16]. This may avoid discrepancies as previously reviewed [11, 12, 14]. Each ginsenoside may have different effect in pharmacology and mechanisms due to their different structures. Approximately 40 ginsenoside compounds have been identified, and the separation and analysis methods of ginsenosides are well reviewed [17]. Ginsenosides appear to be responsible for most of the activities of ginseng including vasorelaxation, antioxidation, anti-inflammation and anti-cancer. Among them the most commonly studied ginsenosides are Rb1, Rg1, Rg3, Re, and Rd. A detailed review about effects of ginsenosides Rb1 and Rg1 on anti-amnestic and anti-aging and the mechanism of action was published [16]. Nah et al. also reviewed the studies of effects of ginsenosides on the central nervous system and the peripheral nervous system [18]. A few years ago we reviewed the history of ginseng and the molecular mechanisms and cardiovascular clinical applications of ginseng root [15]. The molecular mechanisms and medical applications of ginsenosides have attracted much attention and hundreds of papers have been published in the last few years. Thereby, it is timely to update recent research progresses of ginsenosides as antioxidants, ligands of receptors and of medical effects on the cardiovascular, immune and neurological systems, signal transduction pathways, and clinical applications as well as pharmacokinetics and toxicity issues.
II. CHEMICAL STRUCTURES AND CLASSIFICATIONS Accumulating evidence suggests that ginsenosides, also called ginseng saponins, are the major pharmacologically active ingredients of ginseng. The ginseng root contains 2–3% ginsenosides of which Rg1, Rc, Rd, Re, Rb1, Rb2, and Rb0 are quantitatively the most important. American ginseng has a higher content of ginsenosides than other ginseng species such as Asian ginseng (Panax ginseng) [19]. Ginsenosides have a 4-ring, steroid-like structure with sugar moieties attached, and, thus far, more than 40 different ginsenosides have been identified and isolated from the root of P. ginseng [16, 20]. Each ginsenoside has at least 2 (carbon-3 and -20) or 3 (carbon-3, -6 and -20) hydroxyl groups, which are free or bound to monomeric, dimeric, or trimeric sugars. Ginsenosides also exist as stereoisomers depending on the position of hydroxyl group on carbon-20. Based on their chemical structures, ginsenosides are generally divided into 2 groups: protopanaxadiols (PD) and protopanaxatriols (PT). The sugar moities in the PD group attach to 3-position of dammarane-type triterpine including Rb1, Rb2, Rc, Rd, Rg3, Rh2, and Rh3 ( ), whereas the sugar moities in the PT group attach to 6-position of dammarane-type triterpine including Re, Rf, Rg1, Rg2, and Rh1 ( ) [21]. The pseudoginsenoside F11 belongs to PT group although the carbon chain at 20-position is replaced by a tetrahydrofuran ring ( ). Several new ginsenosides such as 25-OH-PPD and 25-OH–PPT were recently isolated from ginseng fruit and 25-OH-PPD shows a strong preventive effect to cancer cells ( ) [22–24]. Four malonyl derivatives of ginsenosides Rb1, Rb2, Rc and Rd have also been reported ( ) [25]. The malonyl derivatives and ginsenosides Ro are also called “acidic” ginsenosides while the others are named “neutral” ginsenosides [17]. Open in a separate window
III. GINSENOSIDES AND ANTIOXIDATION Reactive oxygen species (ROS) have been shown to play a key role in atherosclerotic plaque formation and to be involved in various vascular injuries. Extensive studies have been conducted on the protective effects of ginseng against free radical damage on the vascular endothelium. American ginseng has also been reported to have antioxidant activity in vitro [26]. American ginseng administration increased the activity of the antioxidant enzymes superoxide dismutase (SOD) and glutathione peroxidase (GPX) in rats [27]. Zhong et al. examined cellular structures of free radical damage on myocardial cells induced by xanthine [28]. They measured free radicals with an electron spin resonance technique and discovered certain ginsenosides (Rb1, Rb2, Rb3, Rc, Re, Rg1, Rg2, and Rh1) counteracting the action of free radicals induced by xanthine. In an animal model, Chen et al. [29] showed that ginsenosides protected against myocardial reperfusion injury with a concomitant increase in 6-keto-Prostaglandin F1a and a decrease in lipid peroxidation, and also protected the rabbit pulmonary and aortic endothelium against electrolysis-induced free radical damage. Additionally, Gillis showed the protective effects of ginsenosides on an injured rabbit pulmonary endothelium induced by a variant of ROS [12]. Ginseng prevented manifestations of ROS injury by promoting the release of nitric oxide (NO). We demonstrate that the endothelial dysfunction induced by homocysteine and HIV protease inhibitors was effectively blocked by Rb1 and other ginsenosides [30, 31] and these results proved that Rb1 and other ginsenosides fully blocked ROS production. Ginsenoside Re has shown antioxidant effects in cardiomyocytes [32], and neuroprotective effects on amyloid and serum free medium induced cellular damage [33]. Ginsenoside Rd can enhance astrocyte differentiation from neural stem cells [34]. Ginsenosides have proved to exert protective effects that are attributed to their antioxidant ability through increasing internal antioxidant enzymes and acting as a free-radical scavenger [32, 35–37]. The relationship between the structure of ginsenoside and its antioxidative or prooxidative activity has been studied in free radical-induced hemolysis of human erythrocytes by Liu et al. [38–41]. It was found that the individual ginsenoside (20(S)-protopanaxadiol or 20(S)-protopanaxatriol) behaves as an antioxidant if a glucose is attached to the 20-position of the triterpene dammarane, such as Re, Rd, and R1, but as a prooxidant if there are no sugar moieties attached to the 20-position of the ginsenoside such as Rg3, Rh2 and Rg2. If a glucose attached to the 6-position instead of 20-position sugar moieties, however, the ginsenoside still act as an antioxidant, that is Rh1. Liu et al. demonstrated that the positions of sugar moieties make the protective activities complicated. On the other hand, the electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) study of hydroxyl radical-scavenging of ginsenosides found that several ginsenosides showed strong hydroxyl radical scavenging activity and among them 20(S)-Rg3 showed the strongest activity [42–44]. It is not in line to the hemolysis study where the 20(S)-Rg3 act as a prooxidant which means Rg3 did not protect the radical-induced hemolysis or scavenge the radical. Therefore, there are still many unknown factors to be further investigated.
IV. EFFECTS ON THE eNOS SYSTEM Recently, we have demonstrated that highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) drugs may cause vasomotor dysfunction, endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS) downregulation and oxidative stress of the porcine arteries and human endothelial cells, while ginsenosides Rb1, Rc and Re can effectively block these detrimental effects of HAART in vitro [30, 45]. Recent studies from us and others indicated that the eNOS system and ROS may play a crucial role in HAART-associated side effects. Ginseng compounds have a potential to be developed for this purpose because of their history of therapeutic applications and recent discoveries of the molecular actions [30, 45]. For example, ginsenoside Rb1 can effectively block homocysteine-induced endothelial dysfunction and superoxide anion production as well as eNOS downregulation in porcine coronary arteries [30]. Ginsenoside Rb1 also has protective effects on oxidized low-density lipoprotein (oxLDL)-injuring human vascular endothelial cells [46]. Ginsenosides have been shown to stimulate NO production in several systems. Yu et al. examined the purified ginsenoside Rb1 inducing NO production in human aortic endothelial cells [47]. Leung et al. found that Rg1 increased the phosphorylation of glucocorticoid receptor (GR), phosphatidylinositol-3 kinase (PI3K), Akt/PKB and eNOS leading to increase NO production in human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) [48]. Kang et al. investigated the relaxation mechanism of ginsenoside Rg 3 using isolated canine corpus cavernosum [49]. These results indicate that the mechanism responsible for the relaxation by ginsenoside Rg 3 is not by stimulating eNOS for the canine corporal smooth muscle relaxation, but by increasing cyclic nucleotide levels through phosphodiesterases (PDE) inhibition [49]. Furukawa et al. provided compelling evidence that ginsenoside Re activates eNOS to release NO, resulting in activation of the slowly activating delayed rectifier K+ current [50]. Ginsenoside Rg1 enhances NO production and the expression of eNOS mRNA in TNF-α-stimulated HUVECs. Ginsenoside Rg1 regulates the expression of many genes in endothelial cells and protected endothelial cells from TNF-α-induced activation. Microarray analysis has provided with valuable insights into the atheroprotective mechanism by gingsenoside Rg1 [51]. Further studies on the functional roles of these genes in TNF-α-induced activation are warranted.
V. SIGNAL TRANSDUCTION PATHWAYS Although ginsenosides have been widely used as pharmacological agents for a long time, only a few reports have demonstrated their effects on signal transduction pathways in recent years [52, 53]. Ginsenosides are responsible for their effects on the central nervous system and the peripheral nervous system through the regulation of various types of ion channels, such as voltage-dependent and ligand-gated ion channels, in neuronal and heterologously expressed cells. For example, Xue et al. observed that ginsenosides Rg1 and Rb1 played a major role on the modulation of neurotransmission, where Rb1 promotes neurotransmitter release by increasing the phosphorylation of synapsins via the PKA pathway, while the Rg1 has no relation with the phosphorylation of synapsins [53]. Nah et al. reviewed studies of effects of ginsenosides on the central nervous system [18]. Ginsenosides also play a major inhibitory effect on signal transduction pathways. Ginsenoside Rg1 can block C-Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK) signaling cascade through the protective effect of Rg1 against the phosphorylation of JNK [54]. Ginsenoside Rh2 and compound K showed a significant inhibitory effect on TNF-α-induced expression of intercellular adhesion molecule-1 in human astroglial cells by suppressing TNF-α-induced phosphorylation of IκBα kinase and the subsequent phosphorylation and degradation of IκBα [55]. Additionally, the same treatment inhibited TNF-α-induced phosphorylation of MKK4 and the subsequent activation of the JNK-AP-1 pathway. Ginsenosides are involved in ion channel regulation. Ginsenoside 20(S)- but not 20(R)-Rg3 and carbohydrate portion of Rg3 play important roles in rat brain NaV1.2 channel regulations, which inhibits voltage-dependent brain Na+ channel activity expressed in Xenopus laevis oocytes [56]. A recent study by the same group found that reduction of double bond in aliphatic side of Rg3 cause an enhancement or loss of brain Na+ channel current inhibitions. These results provide evidence that the aliphatic side chain of Rg3 is involved in Na+ channel regulation and that the enhancement or loss on Na+ channel current inhibitions by Rg3 depends on chemical structures of the aliphatic side chain of Rg3 [57]. Jiang et al. [58, 59] examined the antihypertrophic effect of ginsenoside Rb 1 -induced by prostaglandin F 2α (PGF 2α ) in vitro and investigated the possible mechanisms involved in the calcineurin (CaN) signal transduction pathway. Their data imply that Rb 1 attenuates cardiac hypertrophy, and the underlying mechanism may be involved in the inhibition of the Ca2+-CaN signal transduction pathway [58, 59].
VI. INTERACTION WITH POTENTIAL RECEPTORS Most natural products can act as full agonist to activate the receptor and result in a maximal biological response. Ligand-induced changes in receptors result in physiological changes which constitute the biological activity of the ligands. Ginsenosides were demonstrated to exert beneficial effects on the cardiovascular system, in which ginsenoside-Re was reported to stimulate vasodilation and angiogenesis in vivo [60, 61]. Angiogenesis is a fundamental process in both physiological and pathological conditions. Therapeutic angiogenesis is now drawing more attention as a treatment of chronic wound or gastric ulcer as well as ischemic tissues [62, 63]. Ginsenosides have been used as ligands for receptors, and their activities and mechanisms were investigated. Ginsenosides Re, Rg1 and Rb1 were demonstrated being functional ligands of glucocorticoid receptor (GR) [48, 64–66], and androgen receptor [47]. They acted as agonists and induced rapid ion influx and NO production in endothelial cells as mentioned in the eNOS section above [48, 50, 64, 65]. For example, Rg1 can indeed serve as an agonist ligand for GR and the activated GR then induces a rapid NO production from eNOS via the non-transcriptional PI3K/Akt pathway [48]. Re acts as a specific agonist for the nongenomic pathway of sex steroid receptors, and NO released from activated eNOS underlies cardiac K+ channel activation and protection against ischemia-reperfusion injury [50]. Ginsenoside Re releases NO via a membrane sex steroid receptors, resulting in K(Ca) channel activation in vascular smooth muscle cells, promoting vasodilation and preventing severe arterial contraction [66]. Rhule et al. investigated the potential for notoginseng extracts to modulate Toll-like receptor (TLR) ligand-induced activation of cultured dendritic cells (DC2.4) and found that ginsenoside Rg1 and Rb1 effectively inhibited lipopolysaccharide-stimulated cytokine production [67]. Dendritic cells (DC2.4) play a central role in the regulation of both inflammation and adaptive immunity. Lee et al. demonstrated that ginsenoside Rg3 inhibited non-competitively 5-hydroxytryptamine 3A subunit receptor (5-HT 3A ) channel activity on extracellular side of the cell through interactions with residues V291, F292, and I295 in the channel gating region of TM2 [68–70]. Panax ginseng may inhibit tumor growth by affecting both cancer cells and their blood supply. Researchers have found so far that 3 purified ginsenosides are capable of affecting neovascularization and angiogenesis-related properties of endothelial cells. For example, ginsenoside Rb1 can potently inhibit angiogenesis in vivo and in vitro which is a crucial step in tumor growth and metastasis [71]. Its mechanism was that Rb1 suppressed the formation of endothelial tube-like structures through modulation of pigment epithelium-derived factor via estrogen receptor-β (ERβ) [71, 72]. Rg1 was found to be a phytoestrogen that exerted estrogen-like activity even without direct interaction with oestrogen receptor (ER) in human breast cancer (MCF-7) cells via phosphorylation of AF-1 domain in the absence of receptor binding [73]. These actions of ginsenosides may have potential value in anti-cancer and anti-angiogenesis therapy although some discrepancy still remained in these studies [72].
VII. THERAPEUTIC APPLICATIONS IN ANIMAL MODELS In animal models, ginseng is able to decrease platelet aggregation [15, 74, 75]. This inhibitory action may be mediated by raising platelet cAMP levels, decreasing production and release of thromboxane A2, and inhibiting prostacyclin (PGI2) production. The retardation of aortic atherosclerotic plaque formation was observed in the rabbit model after eight weeks of feeding ginseng orally [76]. Ginsenosides Rd and Rb were able to attenuate oxidative damage [77, 78], while Re to possess significant anti-hyperglycemic actions and to normalize effectively the impaired oxidative stress in the kidney and eye of the diabetic rats [79]. The preventive effect of ginsenosides on angioplasty-induced neointimal formation was seen in a rat model [80]. Animal studies suggested that ginsenoside Rb1 increased glucose uptake into sheep erythrocytes in a dose dependent manner, while another ginsenoside Rb2 increased the activity of the rate-limiting glycolytic enzymes that affect insulin secretion and modulate glucose disposal [81, 82]. Ginsenosides Rg1 and Rb1 enhance glutamate release in rat cerebrocortical nerve terminals [83]. They have also been shown to have beneficial effects on the central nervous system, especially cognitive function like learning and memory [14, 84]. It has been demonstrated, for example, that ginsenoside Rg1 or Rb1 administration is able to increase the performance in different animal models of learning/memory, such as passive avoidance and Morris water maze tasks [85–87]. In animal model studies, ginsenosides have shown protective or inhibitory effects on some diseases or reactions [77, 78, 83, 88–96]. Ginsenoside Rb1 can prevent the ischemic brain damage or ischemic injury to spiral ganglion cells [78, 90, 91, 93], possibly by acting as a neurotropic factor-like agent and by scavenging free radicals, which are overproduced in situ during and after brain ischemia [78]. The results suggest that gisenosides may be useful for the treatment of neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson disease and Alzheimer disease [93]. Rg1 has a protective effect on glutamate-induced lung injury in mice, indicating its clinical application in some lung diseases associated with glutamate toxicity [97]. Orally administered Rd has an immunological adjuvant activity and elicits a Th1 and Th2 immune response by regulating production and gene expression of Th1 cytokines and Th2 cytokines [96]. Ginsenosides potently inhibited the passive cutaneous anaphylaxis (PCA) reaction induced by IgE [95]. These ginsenosides also significantly reduced mRNA expression levels of cyclooxygenase (COX)-2, interleukin (IL)-1β, TNF-α and interferon-γ induced by oxazolone applied to mouse ears [95]. In a rat model with vascular dementia, ginsenoside Rg2 protects memory impairment via anti-apoptosis [89]. The capacity for ginsenoside Rg2 to modulate the expression of apoptotic related proteins suggests that ginsenoside Rg2 may represent a potential treatment strategy for vascular dementia or other ischemic insults [89].
VIII. CLINICAL APPLICATIONS Natural products and/or their synthetically developed active components have been used in medicine to prevent and treat a variety of disorders. Ginseng is one of the most commonly used natural products with a number of pharmacological effects including immunomodulatory, anti-inflammatory and anti-tumor activities. For example, clinical studies on the effects of ginseng supplements showed that ginseng, added to conventional treatment of diabetes, significantly improved glycemic control by lowering postprandial glycemia without precipitating preprandial hypoglycemia in type II diabetics [98]; treating impotent men with erectile dysfunction (ED) with Korean Red Ginseng (KRG) can effectively improve male ED [99]. Clinically, ginseng has been frequently used in combination with chemotherapy to reduce the side effects of anti-cancer drugs [100]. Furthermore, clinical trials have demonstrated certain therapeutic benefits of ginseng in treating hypertension, attenuating atherosclerotic processes, and improving cardiac function [14, 101–104]. Detail information about clinical studies of ginseng root can be obtained from several reviews [12, 13, 83, 98, 105]. Individual ginsenoside, however, due to incomplete pharmacokinetic parameters and unknown toxicities [106–109], has not been reported for the clinical study so far. There are only few pharmacokinetic studies about ginseng or ginsenosides in humans [110, 111]. Many studies about purified ginsenosides have been devoted to the investigation of their beneficial effects on the pharmacological activities by using animal models and cultured cells. In animal studies, ginsenosides had many protective activities as discussed above, which can be potentially used to treat human diseases. Ginsenosides Rg3 and Rh2 have been reported to have a cell-growth suppressive effect on various cancer cells [112, 113]. Ginsenoside 25-OH-PPD had significant, dose-dependent effects on apoptosis, proliferation, and cell cycle progression [114] and showed preventive effect to cancer cells [22, 23]. Ginsinosides Rh2 and Rb1 have also shown activity in reducing ischemic brain injury in rats after oral administration [78, 90, 91, 93, 115]. Researchers have studied safe dosage of ginsenosides used on animals. For example, a low dose (10 μM or 11.09 μg/ml) of Rb1 has significant preventive effect on HUVEC proliferation and superoxide anion production in vitro and found that Rb1 completely blocked the effect of homocysteine on endothelial cells [30, 46, 116]. Orally administered ginsenoside Re, Rg1, or Rg3 of only 25 mg/kg of the compounds in the Tg2576 mouse model results in a significant reduction the amount of Alzheimer’s Aβ peptide detected in the brains of these animals at 18 h post-drug administration [117]. Although results from animal teratogenicity study may not reflect the circumstances in humans, we should be careful with using ginsenosides [108]
IX. PHARMACOKINETICS AND TOXICITY ISSUES The investigations of the pharmacokinetics and bioavailability of ginsenosides can link data from pharmacological assays to clinical effects and also help in designing rational dosage regimens. The analytical methods for determining ginsenosides have been achieved using thin layer chromatography (TLC), enzyme immunoassay (EIA), high performance liquid chromatography with ultraviolet detection (HPLC–UV), high performance liquid chromatography with fluorescence detection (HPLC–FLD), liquid chromatography–evaporative light-scattering detection (LC–ELSD), and LC MS and liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC–MS/MS) [17, 118]. Among these methods, HPLC–MS and MS/MS techniques provide excellent methods for the simultaneous quantification of multiple ginsenosides in animal plasma and are successfully applied to the pharmacokinetic study of a multiple-constituent natural medicine even at a low dose There are a few reports on LC/MS analysis of ginsenosides extracted from biological samples [114, 118–124]. The only pharmacokinetics studies of ginsenosides in human are reported by Cui et al. [110, 111], which showed that ginsenosides are present in urine after oral ingestion. About 1.2% of the dose was recovered in 5 days. Further investigations are necessary to evaluate the pharmacokinetics and placental transfer of ginsenosides in humans. Generally, ginsenosides are very poorly absorbed following oral administration in vivo [114, 121]. Li et al. studied the pharmacokinetic of the oral administration of ginseng powder in rats and found that the absorption of ginsenosides was quick, but the maximum concentration of R1, Rg1, Rd, Re and Rb1 in rat plasma was from 1.5 to 6.4 μg/ml [122, 123]. The absolute bioavailability of Panax notoginsenoside R1, ginsenside Rg1, Rd, Re and Rb1 were of 9.29%, 6.06%, 2.36%, 7.06% and 1.18%, respectively. Wang et al. reported the absolute bioavailability of Rd in dogs was 0.26% [121]. It was reported the absolute bioavailability of ginsenoside Rg3 in rats was 2.63% [125] or undetectable in oral dosing samples [126]. Xu et al. reported the oral bioavailability of Rg1 was 18.4% in rats [127] and Li et al. reported the absolute bioavailability was 15.62% for Rg1, 0.28% for Rb1 and 0.34% for Rd [128]. Paek et al. reported the absolute bioavailability was 35.0% for a ginseng saponin metabolite compound K at the 20 mg/kg dose [129]. Several newly identified ginsenosides, such as 25-OH-PPD, 20(S)-25-methoxyl-dammarane-3β, 12β, 20-triol (25-OCH 3 -PPD) [22–24], had significant, dose-dependent effects on apoptosis, proliferation, and cell cycle progression. 25-OH-PPD, its IC 50 values for most cell lines were in the range of 10–60 μM, demonstrating a 5–15 fold greater growth inhibition than Rg3 [114]. The absolute bioavailability of 25-OH-PPD is 64.8±14.3% (range 44.1–75.9%) which is the highest among the reports in ginseng compounds, and it is very beneficial to the drug with anti-tumor activity in clinical applications in the future. Pharmacokinetic studies of selected ginsenosides in rats, dogs or human plasmas are provided in. Table 1 Ginsinosides Animal model Method Dosage Absolute bioavailability Ref. 25-OH-PPD rat plasma, oral HPLC/MS 10 mg/kg 64.8% [114] Rh2 Rat, oral, in vivo LC/MS, ESI/MS 100 mg/kg 0.25% [119] Rh1, Rg1 Rat plasma, i.v., or i.g. LC/MS 100 mg/kg 1.33% Rg1 [118] 20(R)-, 20(S)-Rg2 Rat plasma, i.v., HPLC 25 mg/kg - [120] Rd Human plasma, in vivo LC/ESI/MS 10 mg/kg - [124] R1, Rg1, Rd, Re, Rat plasma HPLC/ESI/MS 10 mg/kg Rb1 9.29%, 6.06%, 2.36%, 7.06% and 1.18% [122, 123] Rd Dog plasma, i.v., oral LC/MS 2 mg/kg (oral)
0.2 mg/kg (i.v) 0.26% [121] Rg1 Rat, oral, in vivo, in vitro HPLC 50 mg/kg 1.52–6.60% [130] Rg3 Rat plasma LC/ESI/MS 50 mg/kg 2.63% [125, 126] multiple Rat plasma LC/ESI/MS 300 mg/kg - [123] Rg1, Rb1 Rat plasma HPLC 50 mg/kg 18.4% (Rg1)
4.35% (Rb1) [127] compound K Rat LC/MS 20 mg/kg 35.0% [129] Open in a separate window The reasons of the poor bioavailability of ginsenosides include that these compounds may be destroyed in the gastrointestinal tract, metabolized by intestinal microflora and excreted from bile or urine [130]. On the other hand, low membrane permeability may be a more important factor in determining the extent of absorption [130]. The higher absolute bioavailability is found in the rats and it could be hypothesized that 25-OH-PPD possesses deglycosylated mother aglycone structure, lower molecular weight, higher hydrophobility than those of ginsenoside Rg3. Thus, 25-OH-PPD is well absorbed by the digestive tract [114]. These ginsenosides 25-OH-PPD, 20(S)-25-methoxyl-dammarane-3β, 12β, 20-triol (25-OCH3-PPD) also have low toxicity to non-cancer cells and no observable host toxicity in animals either alone or in combination with conventional therapies [22–24]. These compounds may have potential as novel prostate cancer therapeutic agents [22–24]. Furthermore, ginsenoside Rg3 in mouse model studies has a preventive effect on DNA damage and cell death induced by cyclophosphamide [131] and has an inhibitory effect on genotoxicity, chemical and histological changes induced by ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA), which is widely used in food [132]. The dosage used in these studies was 20 mg/kg and it was found that ginsenoside Rg3 alone did not induce any genotoxicity in mouse peripheral lymphocyte cells and bone marrow cells [131]. However, ginseng is commonly used by pregnant women and the most common reason for consumption is ‘good for pregnancy and fetus. Data concerning the potential beneficial and adverse effects of ginseng during pregnancy is sparse. As discussed in the clinical applications, individual ginsenoside has not been used on the patients due to its unknown toxicity. Researchers have investigated the toxicity of ginsenosides Rb1, Re, Rc, and Rh2 recently using a whole mouse embryo culture model and in intestinal Caco-2 cells [106–109]. Chan et al. reported that ginsenosides Rb1 and Re were embryotoxic. Rb1 or Re induced a strong embryotoxic effect at a concentration of 50 μg/ml. However, Rc did not demonstrate any adverse effect towards developing rat embryos at the same concentration as of Re. It seems that Re induced a severe developmental delay with significant reduction in morphological scores of all systems assessed, rather than a teratogenic effect on a particular organ system. Using the same model, Liu et al. found that ginsenoside Rb1 at 50 mg/ml affected allantois, flexion, branchial arch, and limb buds [108]. At this concentration, the embryonic crown-rump length, head length, and somite number were also reduced significantly compared to the control group [108]. Although results from animal tests may not reflect the true complexion in humans and the potential mechanism of developmental toxicity of ginsenosides remains unclear, these results suggest that ginseng compounds should be used with caution by pregnant women until more human data are available [107, 108].
X. SUMMARY AND FUTURE DIRECTIONS Ginseng is believed to be the most traditional medical herb contains many active constituent ginsenosides. It has extensive pharmacological effects and specific mechanisms of action in Chinese herb medicine. Ginsenosides can inhibit ROS production, stimulate NO production, increase immune function, enhance central nervous system function, and prevent cardiovascular or other diseases. Animal studies indicate that ginsenosides have different activities in both physiological and pathologic conditions. How these effects relate to the ginsenoside structures are not yet fully elucidated. Future research involving each ginsenoside should include the mechanisms of action, specificity, structure and function relationship, detailed pharmacokinetics and toxicity studies, and therapeutic studies in both animal models and human trials.
Acknowledgments This work is partially supported by research grants from the National Institutes of Health (Qizhi Yao: DE15543 and AT003094; and Changyi Chen: HL72716, EB-002436, and HL083471) and by the Michael E. DeBakey Department of Surgery, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas.
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS COX cyclooxygenase CaN calcineurin DC2.4 dendritic cells eNOS endothelial nitric oxide synthase EPR electron paramagnetic resonance GPX glutathione peroxidase GR glucocorticoid receptor HAART highly active antiretroviral therapy Hcy homocysteine HPLC high performance liquid chromatography HUVEC human umbilical vein endothelial cell IC 50 half maximal (50%) inhibitory concentration (IC) of a substance JNK C-Jun N-terminal kinase LC–MS/MS liquid chromatography-tadem mass spectrometry NO nitric oxide oxLDL oxidized low density lipoprotein PD protopanaxadiols PDE phosphodiesterases PGF 2α prostaglandin F 2α PI3K phosphatidylinositol-3 kinase PKB protein kinase B PT protopanaxatriols ROS reactive oxygen species SOD superoxide dismutase TLR toll-like receptor TNF-α tumor necrosis factor-alphaScotland held a referendum to leave Great Britain on Sept. 18, 2014. No fewer than three Parti Québécois MNAs departed for that windswept corner of the world to take in the results—and, perhaps, to generate some much-needed momentum for their own separatist cause across the ocean. “The effect is already positive because of the energy it’s given to the Quebec independence movement,” PQ MNA Jean-François Lisée told the Toronto Star at the time. “You can say, ‘It’s doable, look at them, they’re doing it.’ ”
The Scots ultimately voted to remain in the United Kingdom. Even in defeat, though, Quebec sovereignists were ecstatic, if only because the Scottish National Party followed the 1993-era Parti Québécois blueprint to attempted statehood. That is to say: run on a separatist plank, govern towards a referendum, then fly the flag and act as though you’ve already won. If you lose, there’s always next time. Failure is but a prelude to victory.
It’s why the Parti Québécois’s rather muted reaction to Britain’s referendum campaign, in which over 17 million Britons voted to leave the European Union, is so strange. After all, the Leave campaign’s push to get out of the European Union was predicated on a deep mistrust of what it considered a foreign government—much as Quebec sovereignists view Ottawa.
Britain, the Leave spiel goes, is less ruled by flesh-and-blood Britons than by nameless bureaucrats from Brussels. These bureaucrats, along with the 751 EU MPs, dictate everything from the number of pillowcase fibres under your head to the number of immigrants allowed through the border. By imposing European uniformity, the EU erodes hard-fought Britishness.
Debatable as all this is, the Quebec sovereignist arguments for leaving Canada are virtually the same. Whether in Quebec, Catalonia, or the United Kingdom, nationalist movements seek to free one’s people from the yoke of a foreign power. And in the U.K., it actually worked.
Oddly, though, not one PQ MNA visited the country during the campaign to soak up the enthusiasm. When the Leave side won last week, the PQ responded with a 135-word press release noting that the party “notes the results” of the U.K. referendum. In 2014, the PQ celebrated during and after what became a losing nationalist campaign. Yet the party and its faithful have remained silent on a winning one. What gives?
First, there’s history. Britain has long been the subject of fevered nationalist nightmares, and the antagonist in |
provincial government and you have a problem, what do you do? You blame the federal government. And for us, we cannot blame the Queen any more, so we blame the Americans once in a while.”
– Jean Chrétien, former Prime Minister of Canada.
Agricultural Minister James Gardiner: “What do you know about farming? You’re not a farmer.”
Saskatchewan Premier Tommy Douglas: “I never laid an egg either, but I know more about making an omelette than a hen does.”
Advertisements“Most A.L.S. patients don’t go to autopsy — there’s no need to look at your brain and spinal cord,” said Dr. Brian Crum, an assistant professor of neurology at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn. “But a disease can look like A.L.S., it can look like Alzheimer’s, and it’s not when you look at the actual tissue. This is something that needs to be paid attention to.”
The finding’s relevance to Gehrig is less clear. But the Yankees legend had a well-documented history of significant concussions on the baseball field, and perhaps others sustained as a battering-ram football halfback in high school and at Columbia University. Given that, it’s possible that Gehrig’s renowned commitment to playing through injuries like concussions, which resulted in his legendary streak of playing in 2,130 consecutive games over 14 years, could have led to his condition.
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“Here he is, the face of his disease, and he may have had a different disease as a result of his athletic experience,” said Dr. Ann McKee, the director of the neuropathology laboratory for the New England Veterans Administration Medical Centers and the lead neuropathologist on the study.
Gehrig’s name does not appear in the paper; his case was discussed in interviews merely as an illustration of the new uncertainty surrounding cases resembling his, said Dr. Robert Stern, who serves with Dr. McKee as co-director of Boston University’s Center for the Study of Traumatic Encephalopathy. The cause of his disease will most likely never be determined because his remains were cremated, and now lie in Kensico Cemetery in Valhalla, N.Y.
More significantly, both doctors said, the finding solidifies a long-suspected connection between A.L.S.-like motor disease and head trauma experienced in collision sports and combat.
“People are being misdiagnosed clinically while they’re alive as having A.L.S. when in fact they have a different motor-neuron disease,” Dr. Stern said. He added, “Scientists will be able to get at a faster understanding of the disease in general, and therefore effective treatments, by knowing more about who’s at risk and who’s not.”
According to the A.L.S. Association, up to 30,000 people in the United States currently have A.L.S., an incurably fatal disease among primarily 40- to 70-year-old men that results in the swift and steady atrophy of all voluntary muscle control. Gehrig was its first prominent victim, dying two years after his 1939 diagnosis; some others, like the British physicist Stephen Hawking, now 68, can live for decades with fully functioning brains inside bodies that have wasted away.
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The new finding could be double-edged for organizations fighting A.L.S.: it sheds some light on possible causes and research avenues, but also suggests that Gehrig might not have had it.
“It’s extremely interesting — it builds a more interesting picture, but what this all exactly means about how the disease plays out requires further investigation,” said Dr. Lucie Bruijn, the chief scientist for the A.L.S. Association. Dr. Bruijn described Gehrig as “an important fund-raising tool,” similar to the actor Michael J. Fox having Parkinson’s disease.
“It’s a name and a face that get people to understand what kind of a disease this really is,” she said. “It makes it more personal.”
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A.L.S. in the N.F.L.
A link between professional football and A.L.S. follows recent discoveries of on-field brain trauma leading to dementia and other cognitive decline in some N.F.L. veterans. Dr. McKee and her group identified 14 former N.F.L. players since 1960 as having been given diagnoses of A.L.S., a total about eight times higher than what would be expected among men in the United States of similar ages.
However, the doctors cautioned, the existence of the increased number of A.L.S.-like cases should not create the same level of public alarm as the cognitive effects of brain trauma, which affect hundreds of former professionals and perhaps thousands of boys and girls across many youth sports.
Recent epidemiological studies have suggested that brain trauma in sports can be a risk factor for A.L.S.; for example, a 2005 paper found that Italian professional soccer players had developed the disease at rates about six times higher than normal. Studies have also linked service in the United States military to higher risk for A.L.S., possibly because of battlefield collisions and blast injuries.
The study, to be published Wednesday on the Web site of the Journal of Neuropathology & Experimental Neurology, represents the first firm pathological indications that brain trauma results in motor-neuron degeneration, and that the resulting disease (at least in the three men studied) is actually not A.L.S. It is a different disorder with different markings, specifically a pattern of two proteins in the spinal cord that compromise nerve function.
Dr. McKee had already found 12 deceased N.F.L. veterans to have had chronic traumatic encephalopathy, a progressive disease in brain tissue that results in cognitive impairment and eventually dementia. Two of those men — Wally Hilgenberg, a longtime linebacker for the Minnesota Vikings in the 1970s, and Eric Scoggins, who played only three games at linebacker for the 1982 San Francisco 49ers — also had A.L.S. diagnosed by their physicians.
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When Dr. McKee examined the spinal-cord tissue of those men, as well as a former boxer who had A.L.S.-like symptoms, she found dramatically high levels of tau and TDP-43, two proteins known to cause motor-neuron degeneration. She said that they would appear in the cord as a result of blows to the brain, with the proteins probably traveling down the spinal cord, rather than direct injury to the spinal cord itself.
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Dr. McKee said that because she has never seen that protein pattern in A.L.S. victims without significant histories of brain trauma, she and her team were confident the three athletes did not have A.L.S., but a disorder that erodes its victims’ nervous system in similar ways. McKee added that finding the distinctive pattern in all three men with A.L.S. symptoms was more than enough pathological evidence to make her conclusion.
“If we can create this in laboratory mice, which are easily genetically altered and breed quickly, we can learn about the pathogenesis of this disorder, and then provide treatment,” Dr. McKee said. The consensus among experts is that brain trauma is almost certainly not solely responsible for diseases like this.
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Those afflicted probably have genetic factors leading to susceptibility, with concussions serving as catalyst. In that regard, some doctors said, years from now athletes could be tested for the gene that leaves them vulnerable, not unlike how some today check for sickle-cell trait.
The Gehrig Mystery
More than any other American athlete, perhaps even the player who eventually broke his consecutive games streak, Cal Ripken Jr., Lou Gehrig has come to symbolize a commitment to playing every day, especially through injuries. That renown partly derives from well-documented incidents in which he sustained significant concussions but continued to play in ways now known to be dangerous.
The most notable came in June 1934, when, in an exhibition game, Gehrig was hit with a pitch just above the right eye and was knocked unconscious for what was described in news reports as five minutes. (He was not wearing a batting helmet; such protection was not meaningfully introduced in the major leagues until the 1940s or required until 1958.) He was removed from the game.
Despite a headache, a doctor’s recommendation that he sit out and a bump on his head so large that he had to wear one of Babe Ruth ’s larger caps, Gehrig played the next day against the Washington Senators to continue his streak at 1,415 games. “A little thing like that can’t stop us Dutchmen,” Gehrig told a reporter, according to Jonathan Eig’s definitive biography of Gehrig, “Luckiest Man.”
In 1924, during a postgame brawl with the Detroit Tigers, Gehrig swung at Ty Cobb and fell, hit his head on concrete, and was briefly knocked out. While playing first base against the Tigers in September 1930, Gehrig was hit in the face and knocked unconscious by a ground ball. He was knocked out again by an oncoming runner in 1935.
Those are the four incidents in which Gehrig’s being knocked unconscious was notable enough to be reported in newspapers. He most likely sustained other concussions that were never noticed or considered meaningful — for example, when he was hit in the head with a pitch during a 1933 game against Washington but continued playing — either in baseball or while serving as a halfback for Commerce High School in New York and later Columbia University.
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“Obviously he played in the days before helmets, and he led with his head and with his shoulders, certainly on the football field,” said Mr. Eig, adding that he found no record of brain injuries in news reports of Gehrig’s football career. “On the baseball field he got knocked around a bit because he could be klutzy. Given the barnstorming he did in the off-season and his football career and style, there’s no telling how many additional shots to the head he took.”
Gehrig’s handling of injuries inspired reverence among fans and the news media. Concussions then almost resembled cigarette smoking, in that what is now known to be harmful was in Gehrig’s time considered benign, even charming. An advertisement for Camel cigarettes that filled the back page of Life magazine included various testimonials to “Larruping Lou’s” playing through injuries, including the 1934 incident.
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“Another time, he was knocked out by a ‘bean ball,’ yet next day walloped 3 triples in 5 innings,” the ad reads. “Gehrig’s ‘Iron-Man’ record is proof of his splendid physical condition. As Lou says: ‘All the years I’ve been playing, I’ve been careful about my physical condition. Smoke? I smoke and enjoy it. My cigarette is Camel.’”
The End, and Legacy
Gehrig showed the first signs of degenerative motor disease in 1938, when his hands began to ache and his legs and shoulders gradually weakened. Gehrig’s rickety spring training in 1939 indicated to even casual observers that something was quite wrong; after a poor April, on May 2, Gehrig told Yankees Manager Joe McCarthy that he would not play that day against Detroit, ending his streak at 2,130 games, dating back 14 seasons. He rested for a month before seeking some answers at the Mayo Clinic in June.
The diagnosis was amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, then a virtually unknown disease that doctors explained to the public as a form of “ infantile paralysis ” resembling polio. It had no known cause, and was not described as fatal. Gehrig’s baseball career was immediately over, and two weeks later, on July 4, he was honored at Yankee Stadium in an on-field ceremony between games of a doubleheader.
Speaking through microphones to more than 60,000 hushed fans, Gehrig took the scene and called himself “the luckiest man on the face of the earth” — a remark that quickly symbolized his humility and, of course, just how unlucky the slugger truly was. Gehrig’s once muscular frame, so seemingly perfect that only a few years before he had auditioned to play Tarzan in the movies, quickly deteriorated.
By the time Gehrig died two years later, A.L.S. was already commonly referred to as Lou Gehrig’s disease, a disorder known as much for the player as for the seemingly arbitrary way in which he was chosen to die from it.
The Mayo Clinic retains Gehrig’s medical records but has never disclosed them per institutional policy, a spokesman said. A neurologist who was allowed to inspect them years ago, Dr. Jay Van Gerpen of the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville, Fla., was not permitted by the clinic to be interviewed for this article.
In considering how Gehrig’s disease could be pinpointed, Dr. McKee of the Boston University group said that if Gehrig had been embalmed, rather than cremated, she theoretically could examine remaining tissue. He might have had A.L.S., like the more than hundreds of thousands of Americans who have had it since, and who have perhaps taken some solace in how such a famous and admirable man as Gehrig had it, too. Or, given his history of brain injuries, Gehrig might have been like Wally Hilgenberg and the growing number of athletes who, as science evolves, stand with increasing company as testimony to concussions’ shocking cost.
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“Lou Gehrig wanted to know everything possible about his own illness — he got to know his doctors, talked with scientists with obscure approaches, and volunteered himself as a guinea pig to find any way to combat the disease,” Mr. Eig said. “He wouldn’t stick his head in the sand and not want to hear about this. If he were around today, he would continue to have that same curiosity, and that burning desire, to help his situation, or to help others.”A new highly controversial 3-part news segment produced and aired by CNBC has been taking heat from the trucking industry due to claims it makes about truck safety, accidents, and who’s to blame for fatalities in truck crashes.
The segment begins with a shocking statistic, “up to 4,000 people killed out there every single year.” The death toll is then compared to a commercial airliner crashing every Friday of every week of every year. According to the NHTSA, that number is accurate, but it wasn’t the concrete number that ruffled feathers – it was the implication that appeared to some to accompany it.
“Your piece painted a picture where every fatality in a truck-involved crash was the fault of the truck driver,” wrote Bill Graves, President and CEO of the ATA in a letter to CNBC. “This just simply is not true.”
The ATA may have seen the message as anti-trucker due to a few other statistics as well. The segment claims that there are currently over 2 million trucks on the road that are dangerously unsafe. The reasoning behind that number comes from data that says that 20% of trucks inspected in 2013 had mechanical problems. The voiceover says that trucks “had problems like faulty brakes or bad tires and shouldn’t be on the road at all.” It appears that they extrapolated that since 20% of trucks inspected had mechanical problems, it must be true that 20% of all trucks have such mechanical problems.
Other reasons given as to why there are so many truck crashes are “any number of causes from driver error to fatigue and serious mechanical problems.”
As Graves’ letter to MSNBC points out however, about 70% of fatal truck-related crashes are actually not caused by the trucker. And though this point was brought up briefly in the segment, it was quickly followed by a statement from John Lannen, head of the Truck Safety Coalition, who placed the blame immediately back on drivers saying “unfortunately, there’s a cultural aspect that this industry has a tolerance – too high a tolerance level – for deaths and injuries.”
The segment discusses several other statistics in the first installment of the report that the ATA called “outrageously inaccurate.” You can also see further criticisms from the ATA, OOIDA, and other industry forces.
Next Story: Cargo Thieves Using Jammers To Defeat GPS Tracking
Source: overdrive, ttnews, ccjdigital
Image Source: cnbcYoung Mountain Tea, based in Springfield, Oregon, is launching the Global Tea Exchange to end the isolation of the communities that grow tea, the world’s most popular drink after water. The company is turning to Indiegogo, the popular online crowdfunding platform, to raise the funds to launch this program.
The 43-day, $35,000 fundraising campaign starts Sept. 26.
After four years immersed in the Indian tea industry, founder Raj Vable realized that the extreme isolation of tea farmers spells disaster for the industry. Tea grows high up in the mountains, far from the action of India’s exploding megacities such as Delhi and Mumbai. As a result, today’s Himalayan youth are leaving the tea gardens in search of more modern ways of living, ripping apart the tight-knit fabric of mountain families and rapidly draining the tea industry of its labor.
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The company realized that that it could solve the problem by connecting its Indian and Nepali partners directly to the U.S.
Vable notes, “People our age that are born in the Himalayas are facing a hard choice between being ‘mountain and stuck in the past’ or ‘urban and modern.’ We are launching this program to create a ‘mountain and modern’ option by connecting their communities to international people, resources and ideas. We want to create a vibrant future for the tea gardens and heal the fragmentation of mountain families.”
The Global Tea Exchange will create two-way cultural exchange between the Himalayas and the U.S.:
• Homestays in the Himalayas: The company is working with its Indian and Nepali partners to create a program for international guests to stay in mountain villages. This will give tea communities ways to interact with the outside world without leaving their homes, and also diversify earning opportunities for communities so they aren’t solely reliant on tea. The first trip across the mountains of India and Nepal will run April 2018 and spots will be available through the Indiegogo campaign.
• Fellowships to the U.S.: The company is also giving remote tea producers the opportunity to travel to the U.S., where Young Mountain Tea is organizing professional development trainings, networking events with American industry leaders and public talks that bring together tea producers and tea drinkers.
The Indiegogo campaign will raise the funds to retrofit homes for the homestays and bring the first Global Tea Fellow to the U.S. Supporters can choose from a range of rewards from a $15 box of tea to a $5,000 trip across India and Nepal.
Vable and Sales Director Ingrid Remak will lead the guided trips. On her first trip to India, Remak found that true cultural exchange has to go both ways—Americans like her should be able to visit the enchanting tea gardens of the Himalayas, and rural Indians should know the people who drink their teas.
“The bridge we’re building between the cultures will create the transparency and resources necessary for a sustainable future for the world’s favorite drink,” Remak said.
Young Mountain Tea was inspired by Vable’s experience as a Fulbright Fellow in 2013. While working in rural development in the Kumaon region of North India, he made a promise—if local communities would grow tea, he would buy it. Later that year he returned to Oregon, where he had previously completed his graduate studies, and set up Young Mountain Tea.
Learn more by visiting youngmountaintea.com.
Press release: Young Mountain Tea
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Related Posts:Robert Mueller would never make a mistake like this. Larry Downing/Reuters
The campaign by Trump loyalists to pre-emptively discredit Robert Mueller kicked into high gear this week. One line of attack has focused on the special counsel team, which has grown in the month since Mueller’s appointment to lead the FBI’s Russia investigation to include at least five extremely well-regarded investigators. Earlier this week, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich advised his Twitter followers to “look” at the people Mueller has hired and to “check” their political donation histories on the website of the Federal Election Commission.
Reporters obliged. On June 12, both CNN and the Hill published stories aggregating Gingrich’s complaints and listing four members of Mueller’s team who appeared to have given money to Democratic candidates and organizations. Jeannie Rhee, a former DOJ official, had made donations in support of Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. Andrew Weissmann, the head of the DOJ’s fraud division, had given to Obama in 2008 and the Democratic National Committee. James L. Quarles III, who served on the Watergate Special Prosecution Force, had been giving to Democratic politicians since 1987.
Then there was Michael Dreeben, the deputy solicitor general in the Justice Department and arguably Mueller’s most celebrated hire. According to the Hill, Dreeben had donated to an Obama PAC in 2008 and a Clinton for Senate PAC in 2006. According to a follow-up article from CBS News, Dreeben’s donations came to a total of $1,500.
There was just one problem: The Michael Dreeben who donated that money to Obama and Clinton is not the same one who is working for Mueller. As first noted by Daniel Hemel, an assistant professor at the University of Chicago Law School, the tell is in the middle initials. The Justice Department Michael Dreeben is Michael R. Dreeben, whereas Democratic megadonor Michael Dreeben is Michael W. Dreeben. The former, according to the FEC, appears to have made no political donations to either Democrats or Republicans.
The Hill and CNN both published corrected versions of their stories after the DOJ spokesman detailed to the Mueller probe alerted them to their mistake. But that didn’t stop the false claim about Dreeban from being repeated on NewsMax, Townhall, Laura Ingraham’s website LifeZette, Instapundit, Lou Dobbs’ show on the Fox Business Channel, and countless message boards.
Soon, according to National Law Journal, Michael W. Dreeben—a Chicago-based designer of fine furniture—was receiving emails from friends about his role in the Democratic conspiracy to dethrone Donald Trump. In an interview with National Law Journal, the furniture-designing Dreeben said the DOJ Dreeben had contacted him once about five years ago to see if they might be related. (There is apparently no indication that they are.)
To be clear, there’s nothing untoward about reporting on the political donations of Mueller’s investigators, even if it is deceptive to crow about how three of them supported Democrats without mentioning the fact that Mueller himself is a Republican who was appointed to the head of the FBI by George W. Bush. It’s also worth noting that the original error here seems to have been made not by reporters but by the FEC: If you look up Michael W. Dreeben in the agency’s database, you’ll see that he is listed, for reasons that are unclear, as an employee of the Justice Department. (Update, June 19, 2017: According to a spokesman for the FEC, the error can be traced back to Friends of Hillary, the PAC that Michael W. Dreeben donated to in 2006. As you can see in this filing, Dreeben was mistakenly identified as working for the Justice Department when Friends of Hillary reported his donation to the FEC.)Regardless of the circumstances of his "release," Josh Thomson sounds happy to be a part of Bellator MMA.
The 36 year-old veteran signed a multi-fight deal with the promotion last week following an 0-3 slide in the UFC's lightweight division, having only won his 2013 debut in a 'Knockout of the Night' performance over Nate Diaz.
UFC president Dana White claimed the UFC effectively released Thompson by opting not to re-sign him, but the lightweight says the promotion tried a few times during his skid.
"I was offered a contract extension [two fights ago]," Thomson told ESPN.com's Brett Okamoto. "They wanted to re-up me then, and I declined. I wasn't very happy with the numbers. After my next fight [a split decision loss to Bobby Green in July 2014], they came back and offered another contract and even upped the pay a little.
"I still declined. I was willing to go ahead and fight out my contract. I don't have a problem with the UFC. They run their business. I treated this like a business negotiation."
According to Thomson, the UFC's exclusive uniform deal with outfitter Reebok also played a role in his decision to join Bellator.
Thomson most recently dropped a unanimous decision to Tony Ferguson in July, earning $5,000 sitting in the second tier of Reebok's sponsorship program. Thomson says he was earning between $60,000 and $80,000 in sponsorship prior to the program's rollout last month.
"My understanding is that we have to wear Reebok with the UFC," Thomson said. "There's no other option. Well, you get paid to wear Reebok but you only get paid in their program, whatever their pay scale is. I took my negotiations over to Bellator, where there is no sponsorship tax, so my sponsors can sponsor me directly.
"So, if I have a company that is sponsoring me for $20,000 per fight, my sponsors aren't getting taxed by Bellator, which is more money in my pocket. You can't say that the UFC can match that. They just can't."
5 MUST-READ STORIES
MMA Beat. The panel discusses Anderson Silva's punishment, the heavyweight title picture, McGregor vs. Aldo and much more.
Grudge match. Tyron Woodley promises to beat Johny Hendricks 'like he's never been beat before.'
'Inconsistent value judgment.' Dave Meltzer talks Werdum vs. Velasquez 2 and getting UFC title shots coming off losses.
Cupcake. Miesha Tate wants a title shot, but if there's another contender then she'll 'take her out too.'
'I think she could beat Ronda now.' American Top Team coach Mike Brown says Amanda Nunes' striking is 'light years ahead' of Ronda Rousey's.
MEDIA STEW
Free Fight: Daniel Cormier vs. Antonio Silva.
Donald Cerrone briefly given access to a Jaw of Life.
Anthony Pettis aiming for 2015 return and would step in if Rafael dos Anjos or Cerrone gets injured.
Great interview with Renzo Gracie on BJJ, MMA and life.
Ben Askren crushing watermelons.
I may not look like a body builder but once I get a hold of you, then you know you are dealing with a special kind of strength! Evolve MMA ONE Championship Posted by Ben Askren on Thursday, August 13, 2015
Don Alejandro is back.
Long watches.
Submission Radio #62 Demetrious Johnson, Johny Hendricks, Ryan Bader
TWEETS
Good rant.
#nickdiaz Best pic anyone's ever shot of me never got photo shoots or the UFC trying to make me look... https://t.co/fpBGaFIbfn — nick diaz (@nickdiaz209) August 17, 2015
Not happy.
I was extremely criticized and judged by lack of respect due to a bad interpretation of the current... https://t.co/DU8WhaCe8D — Bethe (@bethecorreia) August 17, 2015
Beef.
Be Careful with your words Josh, I can give you the worst time of your life in side the cage. https://t.co/IOm4gr0CUC — rafael natal (@rafaelsaponatal) August 15, 2015
Sounds great but I can't confirm now, it's not about me but I let you know asap. https://t.co/MphdNZ6iqQ — rafael natal (@rafaelsaponatal) August 15, 2015
You guys should talk less and fight more, out side the cage is easy to talk that's what you guys are doing @UriahHallMMA @JoshSamman — rafael natal (@rafaelsaponatal) August 17, 2015
So ill start twitter beefs & start calling out people for no damn reason.That's the new era. Be nothing, do nothing...jus say somethin — Bubba Jenkins (@2sinsurrJenkins) August 17, 2015
Get well soon.
With my rehab doctors in Bahrain https://t.co/X3MfJP0D4U pic.twitter.com/kKGwD5WKS8 — khabib nurmagomedov (@TeamKhabib) August 16, 2015
WELL overdue to finally get this elbow taken care of! Surgery went well and i'm ready to make a speedy reovery! Thank you to my good friend and Dr. Erik Stark and his staff for taking such great care of me! Posted by Tiffany TimeBomb Van Soest on Thursday, August 13, 2015
EBI 4.
Eddie Cummings looked fantastic tonight. Only criticism of EBI is not so friendly time for their EST fans #EBI4 #SubOnly @eddiebravo — Cole Miller (@colemillerATT) August 16, 2015
#EBI4 watching these bad ass women put in work on the mat! Hoping one day to add this tournament to my resume! — Marion Reneau (@BelizeanBruiser) August 16, 2015
Please be careful.
Let them know.
Never too late.
#Repost @shaq・・・@natediaz209 teaching me that SHAQRAMENTO SLAP"only @6levels in orlando baby Posted by DIAZ BROTHERS on Sunday, August 16, 2015
Training with my dude @shaq at @6levels gym @dethrone A video posted by natediaz209 (@natediaz209) on Aug 14, 2015 at 10:16pm PDT
FIGHT ANNOUNCEMENTS
Announced this weekend (Aug. 14-16 2015)
NA
FANPOST OF THE DAY
Today's Fanpost of the Day comes via Emmery Myers.
Fedor will sign with the UFC, nothing else has ever been an option.
In mid July the mixed martial arts world, still smoldering from the now legendary UFC 189, was set ablaze once again with the news that "The Last Emperor" Fedor Emelianenko, the stone-faced killer of yore, was negotiating with multiple promotions in anticipation of his return. Almost immediately fan speculation shifted to Bellator....
Check out the rest of the post here.
Found something you'd like to see in the Morning Report? Just hit me up on Twitter @SaintMMA and we'll include it in tomorrow's column.New partnership will help protect threatened rainforest in the Democratic Republic of Congo by contributing to the establishment of Balanga Forest Reserve.
Rainforest Trust is pleased to announce a new partnership with Renew Financial dedicated to protecting threatened rainforest in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) by aiding in the establishment of the immense, nearly 1.2-million-acre Balanga Forest Reserve containing some of the highest levels of biodiversity on Earth.
“Celebrating 27 years of conservation achievements, Rainforest Trust has permanently protected more than 12.5 million acres of rainforests and tropical habitat all over the world,” said Dr. Paul Salaman, CEO of Rainforest Trust.
“With Renew Financial’s partnership, we will continue expanding our efforts in the DRC, saving crucial rainforest habitat for spectacular and imperiled wildlife while ensuring the future of a healthier planet for future generations.”
Each acre of rainforest protected at Balanga Forest Reserve will prevent the emission of about 227 metric tons of CO 2, which is equivalent to removing over 47 passenger vehicles from U.S. roads for an entire year. In addition to storing carbon and combating climate change, preserving this land will ensure the protection of crucial habitats for unique and endangered wildlife such as Okapis, Bonobos and a diverse assemblage of birds that find sanctuary in Balanga’s intact old growth rainforests—one of the most pristine wilderness areas in the Congo basin.
“We want to do our part to be good corporate citizens,” said Cisco DeVries, CEO of Renew Financial. “We’re excited to partner with Rainforest Trust to help conservation efforts in the Balanga Forest Reserve. Renew Financial is dedicated to providing homeowners with home improvement solutions that help preserve natural resources, and partnering with Rainforest Trust allows us to extend those efforts more broadly.”
The partnership to protect this area will commence with an initial donation by Renew Financial to preserve approximately 4,000 acres of land. The company will contribute an additional acre for every financed renewable energy project on an ongoing basis.
“Funds from Renew Financial will directly support the creation of Balanga Forest Reserve, an area that would not survive without environmentally responsible companies like Renew Financial,” said Salaman.
Find out more about Rainforest Trust’s work in the Democratic Republic of Congo and help protect the Balanga Forest Reserve.
About Renew Financial
Renew Financial is one of the nation’s leading clean energy financing companies. Founded in 2008 by Cisco DeVries, who created the concept of the Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) financing model, Renew Financial provides multiple financing products across the U.S.
Header photo: Rainforest Trust’s partnership with Renew Financial helps protect critical habitat in the DRC.Prepositions usually occur in front of a noun phrase, so the only way there can be more than one in a row is if the noun phrase itself is a prepositional phrase, as in the example He looked up from under the table, where under the table is the location that is the complement of from. Note that up here is not a preposition but a particle belonging to look up.
It might be possible to have contrived sentences where a large number of prepositional phrases are nested that way. However, it has been an old battle in linguistics to distinguish between what is possible from what occurs in reality, the Chomskyan competence vs performance distinction. So it might theoretically be possible to have an unlimited number of prepositions in a row, in reality there will rarely be more than two, and maybe three of four in contrived sentences.
The same reasoning applies to embeddings (The mouse that the cat that the dog that the boar that the man hunted attacked chased killed died.), where you can come up with really difficult and hard to understand sentences, which nobody in their right mind would ever say (apart from the authors of linguistics papers!), but which are nevertheless grammatically correct, as grammars don't usually put numerical limits on the number of relative clauses or prepositional phrases you can string together.
So my answer is: in theory, everything is possible, but it doesn't happen in practice apart from exceptional cases.Fly Ventures, a relatively new VC operating out of Berlin, has closed its first fund at $41 million, capital it will use to invest at seed-stage in startups across Europe. LPs in the fund include the European Investment Fund (EIF), Korelya Capital, and a number of unnamed family offices from Europe and the U.S.
Specifically, Fly Ventures will be writing cheque sizes of $400,000 to $900,000 into seed rounds of between $1 million and $2.5 million. It is targeting the whole of Europe, but I’m told that Berlin, Paris, and London will be a key focus. In terms of investment thesis, the firm is planning on investing in automation.
This includes vertical applications where the customer doesn’t really care about or notice the use of AI and machine learning in order to deliver a service, and horizontal AI technology that is more explicit and can be put to multiple uses.
Noteworthy, however, is that Fly Ventures itself is attempting to punch above its weight and scale by using what it claims is machine learning and AI to help generate deal flow, and in turn discover burgeoning tech startups, often before they’ve even begun fundraising. Using its technology, Fly Ventures claims it is able to find and approach startups with a digital footprint, and says its software currently finds more than 1,000 new companies a week.
On the surface, at least, that sounds like a similar approach to the one being taken by Roberto Bonanzinga’s InReach Ventures in London.
Supported by a software engineering team made up of ex-Googlers, the Fly Ventures’ tech is currently focussed on automating sourcing i.e. identifying potential investments. “Our platform pulls data from hundreds of sources including blogs, job boards, accelerators, and databases like CrunchBase,” Fly Ventures co-founder and General Partner Gabriel Matuschka tells me.
“Our algorithms then use a combination of structured and unstructured data derived from these sources to rank and filter the companies we find. The results are presented to the investment team in a Tinder like interface that lets us quickly decide whether we want to speak to a company”.
I’m told that so far about 60 percent of the startups Fly Ventures speaks to are approached cold, meaning that the VC firm reaches out to a team without a deal coming in via its own network or via founders approaching them.
Companies in its current portfolio that were discovered via cold outbound search include Side, a job-matching platform for students; and EF alumni Bloomsbury AI, which is developing technology to read and answer questions on legal, insurance and financial documents.
“We’ve found that founders are very receptive to us reaching out to them. Not once did it happen that founders didn’t want to speak to us, especially after we told them how we found their company,” says Matuschka.
The vertical sectors Fly has invested in to date include finance, HR and recruiting, and mobility and health. Recent investments include Finiata, the financing company for SMEs, freelancers and the self-employed, which this week raised €18 million; and Inato, an AI-powered patient recruitment platform for clinical trials.The Democratic Party is still flailing against the dominant political force in America, which is President Trump, his administration and the millions of voters who stood up to be counted in 2016. It’s normal for the losing party to have an identity crisis, and the protocols are always the same: The suffering party conducts an internal “autopsy,” issues mea culpas, vows to find practical answers, trots out a few new slogans, then schedules a retreat to the mountains or seaside, ostensibly for soul-searching. And maybe cocktails.
The Democrats have not reached this stage yet, however. They continue to call for “resistance” from loyal members, even as some of them question whether the old guard leadership is up to the task after some hair-raising defeats and |
up in Chicago, and they’re not going to lie down for us just because of what people expect out of us."
You could argue that the Bengals are ahead of the curve. It was only two years ago when Cincinnati began the season at the bottom of ESPN.com's NFL Power Rankings. Now, there's talk that the Bengals are better than the defending Super Bowl champions.
Has this turnaround happened more quickly than Lewis anticipated?
"I think the quarterback and the receiver accelerated things," Lewis said, referring to Andy Dalton and A.J. Green.
THREE HOT ISSUES
Bengals coordinator Mike Zimmer, rear, said linebacker James Harrison has "exceeded my expectations" in his move to a 4-3 defense from a 3-4. AP Photo/Al Behrman
1. Determine whether Dalton is the team's franchise quarterback. A former second-round pick, Dalton has exceeded expectations in his first two seasons. He's thrown 47 touchdowns in 32 career games. The only quarterbacks who have passed for more in their first two seasons in the NFL are Dan Marino (68) and Peyton Manning (52). There's no question that Dalton is good enough in the regular season to get the Bengals to the playoffs. But there are doubts whether he can take them to that next level.
Dalton is 0-2 in the playoffs and is a major reason for those defeats. He threw three interceptions in his first playoff game in the 2011 postseason (including a crucial pick returned for a touchdown by J.J. Watt) and failed to complete half of his throws in his second postseason game in the 2012 playoffs. That's not going to cut it in a division where quarterbacks like Joe Flacco and Ben Roethlisberger are measured by the postseason.
Judging by his performance in the first week of training camp, Dalton remains a streaky passer. He went from having a rhythm in the first two days to forcing throws into coverage over the next couple of practices. The Bengals, though, remain supportive.
"The way he’s commanded the offense, he knows it’s his team now," Green said.
2. Harrison's transition to a 4-3 defense. Harrison insists it's not much of a change going from an outside linebacker in Pittsburgh's 3-4 defense to Cincinnati's 4-3 one. But defensive coordinator Mike Zimmer disagrees.
"I don’t think it’s overblown because it’s a different position," Zimmer said. "He’s exceeded my expectations, to be honest with you. Typically, that transition is a little more difficult. Shoot, we’re finding a lot of things for him to do. The coverage part was what I was a little worried about. But he’s doing things really well. We’ll find a lot of ways to use him in all kinds of different packages."
The Steelers rarely asked Harrison to drop into coverage. He didn't have one interception or pass breakup in the past two seasons. What won't change is his ability to rush the passer. While some point out that last season was Harrison's least productive, his six sacks match the total of all of the Bengals' linebackers last year.
The Bengals aren't naïve. They're not expecting the NFL Defensive Player of the Year from five years ago. The Bengals are certain that Harrison is more of an impact player than Manny Lawson, last year's starter. Harrison's biggest contribution won't be measured on the stat sheet. His toughness and leadership alone will elevate a defense that has a lot of talent but has always lacked an edge.
3. Game plan for the running backs. Offensive coordinator Jay Gruden hinted before training camp began that there could be an equal distribution of carries between BenJarvus Green-Ellis, last year's starter, and Giovani Bernard, the first running back selected in this year's draft. But, barring injury, this is unlikely to happen. The Bengals have been impressed with Bernard. They're just not ready to reduce Green-Ellis' role. Remember, Green-Ellis averaged 92.8 yards rushing in his final six regular-season games last season.
The Bengals are hoping Bernard will produce big plays, especially in the passing game, and carry the ball enough to keep Green-Ellis fresh late in contests. According to ESPN Stats & Information, Green-Ellis ranked seventh in the NFL in fourth-quarter rushing yards last season. But his per-carry average was a less-than-stellar 3.9 yards. Bernard will eventually become the Bengals' starting running back. It just won't happen this year.
REASON FOR OPTIMISM
The Bengals have one of the top playmakers and top defenses in the NFL. Green can score from anywhere on the field and makes everyone around him better because of the attention that he draws. His 162 catches are the second-most in NFL history for a player in his first two seasons. With an underrated defensive line headlined by Geno Atkins, the Bengals defense finished No. 6 last season and should be more dominant this season. This is why Cincinnati is among the dark-horse picks for the Super Bowl this season.
REASON FOR PESSIMISM
How far the Bengals go this season falls on Dalton's play. He's the biggest question mark on a team primed to climb to the level of the Patriots, Broncos and Ravens. In the regular season, he turned the ball over 20 times (16 interceptions, four fumbles) and was one of two starting quarterbacks to complete less than half of his throws on third down. In two postseason games, he has thrown for a paltry 384 yards with no touchdowns and four interceptions. The Bengals have done everything to surround Dalton with playmakers, using their top two picks on Eifert and Bernard. It's up to him to deliver.
OBSERVATION DECK
Shawn Williams, a rookie out of Georgia, could start at strong safety for the Bengals. AP Photo/Al Behrman
The front-runner for the strong safety job is rookie third-round pick Shawn Williams. After watching two training-camp practices, it was apparent to me that he has more of a feel for that position than Taylor Mays. On one play, a breakdown in coverage by Mays led to a long touchdown pass. On the very next play, Williams jumped a route and made an interception. "He’s got a chance [to start]," Zimmer said of Williams. "He could end up being the guy."
Wide receiver Mohamed Sanu is running very well, and you wouldn't know he had a season-ending foot injury in late November. But the wide receiver who stood out the most was Marvin Jones. A fifth-round pick from a year ago, he has a knack for getting open and can take off after making the catch.
Here's the best stat a local reporter passed along to me: Nine of the 11 linebackers on the Bengals roster were undrafted. One of them is Vontaze Burfict, who is still carrying a large chip on his shoulder after every team passed on him in the 2012 draft. He takes out his frustration with each explosive tackle.
Eifert's position is listed as tight end, but the Bengals are moving him all over the field. To his credit, he's learning everything the team is throwing at him. The Bengals are trying to exploit mismatches with the 6-foot-6 first-round pick, as they did when he pulled down a jump ball in the end zone over Williams, who stands 6-0.THE cruelty of the live animal exports can only be avoided by banning the trade, say the Queensland Greens.
The Queensland Greens today reiterated its opposition to the "inhumane trade" in response to last night's Four Corners episode proving once again that appropriate animal welfare standards cannot be guaranteed.
The episode looked at a shipment of over 20 0000 Australian sheep that were bashed, stabbed and buried alive.
The shipment had been stranded off Bahrain in violation of our memorandum of understanding with that country, then diverted to Pakistan.
"Live animal exports must end, that's the only way to stop these horrific events from occurring," Queensland Greens Senate candidate Adam Stone said.
"No Australian ever claims that such suffering is acceptable. The only issue that needs to be resolved is whether it is preventable. The fate of those sheep demonstrates yet again that it is not.
"It is simply not within Australia's power to control what happens to our livestock once they are outside our jurisdiction."
Mr Stone said animals must be slaughtered in Australia.
"This will create jobs for abattoirs and meat processors, and the meat can be exported in frozen and processed form," he said.
Greens Senator Lee Rhiannon's Live Animal Export (Slaughter) Prohibition Bill 2012 aims to end the live animal export trade in Australia if passed into law.
It is presently before the Senate, and Mr Stone said "basic human compassion dictates that all parties must support it."A grassroots protest campaign dubbed "Blackout UK" is aiming to "push back" against the UK's new surveillance legislation – the Investigatory Powers Bill (IPBill) – by calling on websites operating in the UK to "block or restrict" access for 24 hours on 12 December.
Under the tagline "Stop internet censorship and fight back", organiser Jude Burns, a 28-year-old software engineer living in Southampton, is now urging privacy-conscious activists to email major websites about the campaign, contact politicians and sign an already-bustling petition.
"Fundamentally I believe the internet should be free," he told IBTimes UK. "It is one of the greatest tools that the ordinary person can use to make a difference in the world. I started the campaign to raise awareness about what the government is doing and to get people to push back."
The bill, which is often called the Snoopers' Charter, gives the government, police and intelligence agencies enhanced spying, hacking and bulk collection powers. It forces communications providers to store data for 12 months, including calls, emails, texts and internet browsing history.
Outlining the scope of the campaign, Burns said: "If we could generate enough interest and get a big company or internet service provider on board we could replace their website with an information page. Imagine if Google changed its background colour to support us, for example.
"You would reach millions of people with information they simply are not getting from the papers or mainstream media. There was a similar campaign in which Wikipedia and many others restricted access in protest a few years ago and I was hoping for a similar effect."
Indeed, back in 2012 a slew of websites – including Google, Mozilla, Wikipedia and Reddit – launched co-ordinated protests against an invasive US internet law – the Stop Online Piracy Act (Sopa). Some firms put large banners on the homepage, others shuttered access completely.
Burns admitted no internet providers are currently signed up to Blackout UK, but stressed it was "effectively day two" of it launching. He said: "I didn't really expect a response this large so I am currently working on consolidating all the resources people are giving me.
"This campaign really isn't about me or what I've done, it's the collective effort of thousands of people working together without knowing anything about each other except a common cause." If the protest petition is taken as evidence, over 150,000 people may agree.
After being granted royal assent, it seems inevitable the IPBill will be enacted before the end of 2016. While Burns' grassroots protest attempt is one way for opponents to voice opposition, another way to push back against the establishment will be through the legal system.
The latter avenue is currently being explored by Jim Killock, the executive director of the Open Rights Group, who outlined these plans during a Reddit "Ask Me Anything" session on 1 December.
"There will be a pushback through the courts," he said. "The EU courts have taken a much tougher line on this than the UK courts, because of the makeup of the judges, and the sensitivity they have to ensure that the EU is seen by domestic courts, especially Germany, to uphold fundamental rights."
He added: "Ultimately it is up to the public. Are we going to accept this? I say we don't."
Read our overview of the Investigatory Powers Bill here.Q. On the freeway, the carpool lane is often separated from other lanes by two sets of solid, double yellow lines with 10 to 20 inches between them. I cannot cross over these lines. But daily I see motorcycles using this area as their own lane, going past cars at an alarming speed. How can this be legal – is this their own personal lane?
C. Russ Miller, Westminster
A. It is not, but before we get very deep into the answer, Honk wants to point out that Mr. Miller has a motorcycle himself – he just wants riders to do what is right.
“No vehicle (motorcycles included) can cross over, drive upon or between the double solid-yellow (or -white) lines,” Paul Fox, an officer and spokesman for the California Highway Patrol, told Honk in an email.
“Motorcyclists are allowed to lane-split/lane-share as long as it is done safely,” Fox said. “If motorcycles are splitting lanes at an unsafe speed, then that would be illegal. If a motorcyclist is crossing the double solid lines, then that would be illegal.”
Now, an otherwise law-obeying motorcyclist might cross the double yellows to get around a large vehicle, such as a bus, and
Fox says those aren’t the riders the CHP is focused on. Rather, officers try to cite the rider who will “cross the lines at any time at unsafe speeds.”
Citations are at the discretion of the officer. The CHP has said in the past that motorcyclists, when lane-splitting, should not go faster than 30 mph, or 10 mph more than other traffic.
Lane-splitting has been tacitly allowed for years in California, which on Jan. 1 became the first state to legalize it.
Q. Honk: I am wondering why it has taken more than four months since I paid to receive those cool black retro license plates, with special lettering. I can’t imagine the prisoners tasked with stamping out these plates are allowed to go on strike. Any insight?
Wayne Kratzer, Westminster
A. Welcome to Insight Central, Wayne.
First, under state law, all personalized plates must pass review – the message must be tasteful and not vulgar or offensive.
“We receive 20,000 personalized (license-plate) requests each month,” said Artemio Armenta, a spokesman for the Department of Motor Vehicles.
Those yellow-on-black plates, the same style commonly used in the ’60s, have been wildly popular. A personalized license plate, of course, can’t be made at Folsom State Prison until the order is in.
“The California Legacy License Plates are in huge demand with record volumes unlike any other specialty plate before them,” Armenta said. “Delays of four months would be unusual. The median wait time (for the personalized Legacy plates) is approximately two months.”
To ask Honk questions, reach him at [email protected]. He only answers those that are published. To see Honk online: ocregister.com/tag/honk.Toothbrushes that operate with ultrasound are a revolution in the field of dental hygiene. Their crucial advantage over conventional manual toothbrushes or electric toothbrushes is that they function almost contactless and without mechanical pressure. This way, the cleaning process is especially gentle and reliably thorough. In combination with our special ultrasonic toothpaste you can effortlessly reach areas that are difficult to access. As a result, you can feel the significant improvement of your dental hygiene. Even after only one usage, your teeth will feel pleasantly smooth and clean – just like after a professional cleaning at the dentist’s.
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For a little better then a month we [the Hurricane fans] have had to sit by and listen to all of the trade speculation surrounding defenseman Tim Gleason. Sitting in last place in the Eastern Conference it was hard to shoot down the rumors that Gleason (who was set to become a UFA) wouldn’t be traded before the deadline. A lot of speculation on the internet was that the Philadelphia Flyers were [or should be] interested in bringing him in. Then as the month went along beat writers speculated that perhaps Gleason would be a good fit in Chicago, Boston, or even Washington. At the end of the day [perhaps I should say in the middle of the day] Tim Gleason ended up resigning with the team that he’d spent the majority of his career with.
Gleason ended up signing a four – year deal worth $16 Million dollars with the Hurricanes. He will make $3.5 Million in 2012 – 2013 [which is a good pay bump over his current $2.75M contract.] The following two years Gleason will make $4.5 M [’13 – ’14 and ’14 – ‘15] and in the final year [2015 – 2016] Gleason will make $3.5 M.
This is the first time since 2001 that Jim Rutherford [Hurricanes President and General Manager] has extended a contract in the regular season, a sign of just how important the organization feels Gleason is. GM Rutherford had this to say in the press release about Gleason: “He is one of our core players, someone who brings character and leadership to our locker room, along with being a key piece on the ice. This is a very important signing for our team going forward.”
The deal also solidifies the top four Hurricane defensemen for the next few seasons (Tim Gleason, Jamie McBain, Justin Faulk, and Joni Pitkanen.) By the time Pitkanen and Gleason’s deal runs through Ryan Murphy and Brian Dumoulin (in theory) will be ready to step in.
Click to here Gleason talk about resigning: http://www.xmhomeice.com/onair_audio/12-01-30%20Tim%20Gleason%20.mp3
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AdvertisementsThis Editorial comes to us from Everett Christensen
People make sacrifices based on how important things are to them, the most common component of that sacrifice is time. The true lifeblood of any hobby are hours and hours spent focused on either consuming or producing the work. Similarly, time is something that connects us all. No one can retry yesterday and once we die, well for most of us that’s it. We grow older and if we’re lucky, wiser. Continuity is the raw happenstuffs of time in comic book form and we as an audience ask for different things from continuity from different companies. But from the X-Men in specific there has always been a focus on legacy, passing on the torch to a new generation, and continuing the work of activism for the marginalized and oppressed. Instead of telling stories about the current generation of mutant leadership, Marvel Legacy is rolling back the status quo with a pair of resurrections. Bringing back both Logan and Jean Grey undermines the strength of every story built on their sacrifice, everything since Charles died.
Let’s recap, in 2010 after the destruction of the Xavier School, Scott Summers moved all of the mutants to an island off the coast of the Northern California. The narrative surrounding Professor X and Magneto changed, both acknowledging the time had come to pass on the mantle of mutant leadership. Wolverine decided to take as many kids as he could out of what he viewed as harms way, becoming the rival to Charles’ legacy. He would be justified in this suspicion as mutants squared off against The Avengers in a costly event that saw a Phoenix Force possessed Cyclops kill Professor X. At this point Jean Grey had already been dead for 7 years.
It was the moment that left only one heir to the dream, Logan. In the years before The Death of Wolverine Logan had the remit of mutant leadership, he was the Headmaster and Scott was the activist, a status quo at once new and very familiar to readers. Logan’s death left the question of leadership wide open and Storm stepped in as interim leader, as is her wont. Fast forward to now and what do we have? It’s the house that Wolverine built. Kitty Pryde is the Headmistress, Jubilee is the homeroom teacher of the ‘new class’, Laura is the Wolverine. These are the women mentored and raised by Logan and they are now the heirs of the dream. Cyclops is dead. Jean Grey has been dead for nearly 15 years.
In a franchise that began in the early 1960s with a mostly, sorta, unbroken line of continuity it is now the generation after the generation that assumed mutant leadership from Professor X. It’s 2017, the fact that we are only on the third generation of mutant leader is wild, but comics have that sliding timeline. Aside from the revolving door criticisms, editorial has given these characters no chance to grow into their positions or examine Logan’s legacy before derailing them with line-wide crossovers multiple times before bringing him back. Bringing Logan back calls into question Kitty Pryde’s position as headmistress and strips Laura’s primacy. This is a regression to the status quo and that wouldn’t be so bad, except for Jean.
Classic Jean Grey is the franchise leading lady, let’s not get it twisted. Originally by way of being the only girl on the team for the 60’s and later by leaving the biggest mark on the X-Men, perhaps of all time, in the Dark Phoenix Saga. She has led the team more than once and was the centerpiece of romantic plotlines time and time again. Bringing classic Jean back sets back the priority for stories centered on the current cast. This was largely inevitable. It was going to happen to some cast someday, it’s the Phoenix. But the cost today must be paid by a diverse and largely female-led line of comics. As a founding member classic Jean steals spotlight that might have been given to actually advancing the state of the line.
The timing is devastating to any momentum behind the stories that we have right now. It’s another one-two punch to a line of books that have been hurting since their launch. The fear is that by rolling back the status quo on the line as a whole it will damage the foundation of the entire line once again, damage that was already done in spades by the Secret Empire and Death of X crossovers. Consider that in the last year we’ve had stories about a large number of the once-again emerging mutant population being devastated by Terrigen Mists and those that survived have been rendered sterile. Though it has not been brought up since the involuntary sterilization of minority populations and reproductive autonomy in general are devastating civil and human rights issues being fought today and must be addressed. Hydra controlled America then concentrated all of the mutants not trapped in a giant Darkforce bubble in California, the opposite coast of the Jean Grey School. Then the newly reformed American government, now without being able to use Hydra’s fascism as an excuse for this behavior, used Sentinels, actual genocide machines, to burn New Tian to ashes. Traumatic is the only word that comes to mind! By once again bringing a renumbering and renaming of the books it is as if this past year of X-Franchise comics have simply been a placeholder, a gimmick to bridge between IvX, a shaky ResurrXion, and Marvel Legacy.
Placing the entire line of X-Men into an airliner like holding pattern for a year is madness. The sidelining of the mutants from the focus of the comics alone is bad enough, but this particular tactic has cost the franchise dearly both in readers and in the narrative itself. Marvel’s merry band of mutants doesn’t need its status quo reset, it needs time to rebuild and craft a narrative that will rejuvenate an exhausted fan base. Endless events and genocidal threats have left the comics anemic, let’s get back to basics and we’re not talking about baseball. Let’s have new mutants, new enemies, new ideological challenges to overcome. Let’s start talking about bigotry and how it gets expressed today.
Generation X by Christina Strain is better than just a good book, it’s great X-Men. It is the exact kind of book we need if we are going to evolve the franchise message about discrimination. It is laying the slow-burn groundwork that hasn’t been done for years, actually giving us space and time to grow to know a familiar cast in an unfamiliar lineup. It’s the natural progression of Jubilee’s story, from a ward of Wolverine to one of the caretakers of his legacy and his school, from student to teacher. What will become of this delightfully diverse book now that Legacy begins to unspool? It and Iceman have been under-promoted in favor of Secret Empire tie-ins and Marvel Legacy hype. This book used to be in the top 10 most sold of all comics 20 years ago, the whole X-Men line used to top the charts honestly, how far the line has fallen. It would be unfair to lose the most promising book in the line because of holding pattern mismanagement!
The X-Men line of comics would be rewarded for centering books like Generation X instead of bringing back classic Logan and classic Jean Grey because we don’t need the same things out of the franchise than we do out of, for example, DC properties. In our lives as comic book readers our grandparents will retire or pass, our parents will get older or pass, we will get older or die. This franchise is 54 years old, this year saw the celebration of Jack Kirby’s centennial and the passing of Len Wein. Buried in the X-Men story is a generational tale of the disenfranchised, each group of leaders passing the torch of activism to the young heroes that will change, threaten, and save the world. It is our responsibility to safeguard the message of tolerance, equality, understanding, and love, to ensure the legacy of our beloved franchise. If either one of these characters had returned individually it wouldn’t be as damaging. It must be demanded that the comic line continues to evolve and grow, not revert to old status quos that do nothing to further The Dream.
Liked it? Take a second to support Everett Christensen on Patreon!If you’ve been unlucky enough to be among the people who didn’t get sent an invite to participate in this weekend’s closed beta for the upcoming semi-MMO The Division, you are in luck! Ubisoft announced today on the official forums that they will be extending the closed beta, as well as inviting as much players as possible from the waitlist. The earlier you signed up, the bigger the chance that you’ll be getting an invite later today.
Over the last few days, we’ve seen an incredible amount of excitement for the game, leading to many of you registering on the waitlist for a chance to join our Closed Beta. We’ve been working very hard to let as many players as possible join, while still maintaining a smooth experience for everyone.
Earlier today, we announced that we were now inviting as many players as possible from the waitlist, in addition to those who had guaranteed pre-order access. We’ve started sending invites, with priority given to those who signed up first.
In order to allow everyone who has access to fully enjoy the Beta, we’re happy to announce we’re extending the duration by 24h for all players. As a result servers will remain open until Tuesday, February 2nd, 12pm CET | 6 am EST | 3 am PST.
Thank you all for your amazing support!
Note that these invites will be sent to people who have registered the code they got when they preordered the game. Interested players who signed up without preordering might have to wait until a second beta.
Ubisoft announced yesterday that they wouldn’t be able to guarantee access to the beta due to an “unprecedented” demand from the public leading to concern that some preorderers wouldn’t get a copy of the game. It appears that with these two moves they are doing their best to make sure that doesn’t happen and to involve others, making good on a promise to send out the remaining keys today.
I also played a fair bit of the closed beta over the weekend so if you want to know what to expect you can read my thoughts here.
Did you end up getting your key today? What are your thoughts on the beta? Sound off in the comments!
Share Have a tip for us? Awesome! Shoot us an email at [email protected] and we'll take a look!Embarking on their first-ever match in the MLS Cup Playoffs, Vancouver Whitecaps FC (11W-13L-10D in the regular season) head to Southern California to take on defending Major League Soccer champions LA Galaxy (16W-12L-6D in the regular season) in the Western Conference’s First Round Knockout match on Thursday evening.
A fifth-place finish in the Western Conference standings meant the Blue and White became the first Canadian club to qualify for the MLS postseason. What lies in front of Martin Rennie’s squad is a six-match journey to the MLS Cup title, starting with a fifth visit of 2012 to The Home Depot Center to face a Galaxy side that have yet to lose a competitive match to Whitecaps FC since Vancouver joined MLS in 2011.
Whitecaps FC versus LA Galaxy from The Home Depot Center in Carson, California, kicks off at 7:30 p.m. PT and can be seen live on TSN, RDS2, and Bell mobile devices. 'Caps fans can also listen to Thursday’s playoff match live on TEAM 1040 radio (change from TEAM 1410) and teamradio.ca, starting with the pre-game show at 6 p.m. PT. TEAM 1040 will also have a two-hour post-game show, which will begin following the match at around 9:30 p.m. PT. *Whitecaps FC fans on Vancouver Island can also listen to Thursday’s playoff match live on CFAX 1070 Victoria*. Fans can also follow Thursday’s playoff match on Twitter @WhitecapsMatch.
2012 MLS CUP PLAYOFFS
Whitecaps FC’s trip to LA Galaxy is one of two First Round Knockout matches to start this year’s MLS Cup Playoffs this week, with the top-five clubs in both the Eastern and Western Conferences set to contest the 2012 league title.
The two First Round Knockout matches and the MLS Cup final will be contested as single-match contests. Should a match be tied at the end of regulation, two 15-minute extra-time periods will be played in their entirety. Should a match be tied at the end of extra time, then a penalty shootout will be used to determine the winner.
The conference semifinals and conference championships will be contested as two-match, aggregate goals series, with the lower seed hosting the first leg and the higher seed hosting the second leg. If the aggregate score is tied at the end of regulation of the second leg, then two 15-minute extra-time periods will be played in their entirety. If the series remains tied after extra time, then a penalty shootout will be used to determine the series winner. *Unlike the Amway Canadian Championship, CONCACAF Champions League, or European club competitions, the 'Away Goals' rule is NOT in effect as an aggregate tiebreaker in the MLS Cup Playoffs*.
In the west, the winner of fifth seed Vancouver versus fourth-seed LA will face MLS Supporters’ Shield winners and top Western Conference seed San Jose Earthquakes in one of two Western Conference Semifinals, with second seed Real Salt Lake meeting third seed Seattle Sounders FC in the other semifinal. The winners will then contest the Western Conference Championship.
In the east, the First Round Knockout match between fourth-seeded hosts Chicago Fire and fifth seed Houston Dynamo on Halloween (Wednesday, October 31) will determine the opposition for top seed Sporting Kansas City in one of two Eastern Conference Semifinals. Second seed D.C. United will face arch-rivals and third seed New York Red Bulls in the other semifinal. The winners will then contest the Eastern Conference Championship. The two conference championship winners will then meet for this year’s MLS Cup on Saturday, December 1, with the final to be hosted by the club that finished the regular season with the most points in the MLS Supporters’ Shield standings.
WHITECAPS FC
The playoffs have arrived and Rennie’s side know anything is possible at this time of year. The build-up to Thursday’s match in LA has seen Whitecaps FC be written off as having any chance of claiming a result at The Home Depot Center by many MLS observers. As sweeping those predictions have been, the ‘underdog’ tag placed on the ‘Caps will not have come as a surprise to Vancouver and may be the type of scenario that inspires a big performance from the Blue and White.
Last weekend’s goalless draw at Real Salt Lake provided good grounding for what the ‘Caps can expect from the Galaxy. There will be confidence in the backline after three clean sheets were earned in their last four regular season matches, with captain Jay DeMerit striking up a very good understanding with summer acquisition Andy O’Brien in the centre of Vancouver’s defence.
A big decision for Rennie will be the midfield and attack line-up he employs for Thursday’s match. The speed and quickness of Darren Mattocks and Dane Richards gave Salt Lake’s defence several problems last Saturday, and that should have the ‘Caps head coach pondering his options. It is also the type of match that could bring out the talismanic qualities of Barry Robson and Kenny Miller, as the pair’s experience for the big occasion cannot be underestimated when considering what may occur in Carson, California.
One positive for Whitecaps FC is the overall fitness of the squad at this stage of the season. Only youngster Omar Salgado (foot) and fellow striker Etienne Barbara (lower back) are unavailable to face the Galaxy.
GALAXY
As MLS Cup holders, Bruce Arena’s side know now is time to put together a successful title defence. Part of those initial plans did not include Thursday’s match, as the Galaxy had their eyes on a higher finish in the Western Conference standings. Nonetheless, LA will be confident of claiming the expected result over Vancouver and mounting a strong playoff push. An undefeated all-time record of 4W-0L-1D versus Whitecaps FC tips the balance of this playoff match in LA’s favour, as does their postseason record at The Home Depot Center ( |
Batman is a symbol. He can be anybody, and that was very important to us. Not every Batman fan will necessarily agree with that interpretation of the philosophy of the character, but for me it all comes back to the scene between Bruce Wayne and Alfred in the private jet in Batman Begins, where the only way that I could find to make a credible characterization of a guy transforming himself into Batman is if it was as a necessary symbol, and he saw himself as a catalyst for change and therefore it was a temporary process, maybe a five-year plan that would be enforced for symbolically encouraging the good of Gotham to take back their city. To me, for that mission to succeed, it has to end, so this is the ending for me, and as I say, the open-ended elements are all to do with the thematic idea that Batman was not important as a man, he’s more than that. He’s a symbol, and the symbol lives on.”
Interesting. So, according to Nolan, he doesn’t necessarily believe what most fans have been saying, and that’s the fact that Batman isn’t Batman if it isn’t Bruce Wayne. And to go one step further, it feels like Warner agrees with this notion, if they’re exploring the idea of letting John Blake continue as Batman, the “symbol” protecting Gotham from evil.
Now, Gordon-Levitt’s reps have come out and denied the rumor, so there’s a chance Warner will go in a different direction with Justice League. But if they do extend what Nolan started in his trilogy, it’s clear that the director didn’t intend it, and he certainly didn’t rework his ending to accommodate the studio. We’re still anxious to see how this story plays out, but it gets more interesting by the day. The recent rumor that Joseph Gordon-Levitt is being considered for the Batman role in Warner Bros.’ plannedmovie had fans speculating about how the open-ended conclusion to Christopher Nolan’smight tie in to that superhero ensemble film. Is D.C. trying to build a universe the way Marvel managed to do with origin stories that lead into a bigger film? Was Nolan doing the studio a favor by setting JGL up as the next Batman, as some have floated this week?No. Well, at least, not exactly. The director sat down for a lengthy conversation with Scott Foundas of Film Comment, where they stretched all the way back to the days beforeto discuss what decisions influenced the storyteller over the course of the trilogy. And when it comes to the end of, Nolan says that the ending meant to just reiterate the notion that Batman was more of a symbol than a man, and the idea of JGL entering the cave was to suggest that the symbol was going to live on.Interesting. So, according to Nolan, he doesn’t necessarily believe what most fans have been saying, and that’s the fact that Batman isn’t Batman if it isn’t Bruce Wayne. And to go one step further, it feels like Warner agrees with this notion, if they’re exploring the idea of letting John Blake continue as Batman, the “symbol” protecting Gotham from evil.Now, Gordon-Levitt’s reps have come out and denied the rumor, so there’s a chance Warner will go in a different direction with. But if they do extend what Nolan started in his trilogy, it’s clear that the director didn’t intend it, and he certainly didn’t rework his ending to accommodate the studio. We’re still anxious to see how this story plays out, but it gets more interesting by the day. Blended From Around The Web Facebook
Back to topWomen’s group raises specter of ‘Speaker Boehner’ to motivate voters
A Democratic women’s group is warning voters that a Republican takeover of Congress would mean “a dangerous world.”
EMILY’s List President Stephanie Schriock on Thursday told a Washington audience that President Barack Obama’s health care overhaul would be scrapped and Social Security would be at risk if Democrats lose their majority in the House. She needled House GOP leader John Boehner of Ohio for anticipating a Republican victory.
“This year may be the first year in 30 years that the number of women in Congress decreases. And the possible result could be truly devastating: Speaker John Boehner,” she said. “Make no mistake — the minority leader may not be openly measuring the curtains in the speaker’s office, but he’s quietly planning where to put his furniture.”
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EDITOR’S NOTE — An insider’s view of this year’s elections based on reports from around the nation.
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“The American people — men and women alike — are asking, ‘where are the jobs?’ and Washington Democrats have no new answers,” Boehner spokesman Michael Steel said. “We need to stop their tax hikes, cut government spending and get our economy moving again — that’s an agenda everyone can embrace.”
EMILY’s List, which aims to elect women who support abortion rights, also launched a website, boehnersamerica.org, with its view of the Republican agenda. The group hopes to motivate women to vote in an election cycle that could sweep Democrats from office.
“I’m not going to pull out a whiteboard to draw you a picture, but I want to connect the dots very clearly for you: John Boehner can only take the speaker’s gavel from Nancy Pelosi, by defeating the Democratic women you and I have worked so hard to elect,” Schriock said. “And by discouraging women voters so much that they stay home on November 2.”
The group also plans an online advertising campaign around Boehner, similar to their drive against Sarah Palin, the GOP’s 2008 vice presidential nominee.
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President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama will make their first joint appearance of the midterm election season on Oct. 17 in Cleveland.
White House press secretary Robert Gibbs announced Thursday that Mrs. Obama would join her husband for a fundraiser for Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland. She’ll also join the president for a previously announced rally for young Democrats later that day in Columbus.
Less than a month before the Nov. 2 elections, Obama is stumping hard to try to minimize Democratic losses in Congress.
He headed to Maryland on Thursday to campaign for Gov. Martin O’Malley, followed by a Chicago event for Alexi Giannoulias, who is in a tight race for Obama’s former Senate seat.
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Florida Democratic Senate candidate Kendrick Meek rejected the endorsement of the Sierra Club after the environmental group also endorsed Gov. Charlie Crist, who is seeking the same seat as an independent.
The Miami congressman rejected the co-endorsement Thursday, calling it an insult to the state’s environmentalists.
Meek said he has constantly supported environmental causes, while Crist supported oil drilling off Florida’s beaches until the BP spill made that politically impossible.
The Sierra Club said it wouldn’t rescind the endorsement and said it would support Meek and Crist because they are stronger on the environment than Republican Marco Rubio.
Rubio has said he is open to offshore drilling and that he doesn’t believe humans are causing global warming.
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Two conservative groups opposed to abortion and gay marriage are teaming up in an effort to get more Latinos to vote for Republican Carly Fiorina.
The Susan B. Anthony List and the National Organization for Marriage are spending $200,000 on a television ad that will run on programs aimed at Spanish-speaking voters in Los Angeles, San Diego and Fresno.
The ad says that Sen. Barbara Boxer supports “abortion and homosexual marriage” and “doesn’t share our values.”
The groups also say in the ad that Boxer voted against immigration reform, but her campaign notes that she voted for bills in 2006 and 2007 that would provide legal status for those who complete various steps such as paying fines and passing a background check.
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Quick hits:
_ Senate hopeful Christine O’Donnell used her first ad to say she’s not a witch. In her second ad, the Republican candidate tells voters that she didn’t go to Yale — as her opponent, Chris Coons, did. O’Donnell’s ads tell voter’s “I’m you,” trying to push past admissions she dabbled in witchcraft and misrepresented her educational background.
_ The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is running a television ad against Wisconsin state Rep. Julie Lassa’s bid for Congress that includes what her campaign says is her home telephone number. The business group points to a state legislature’s public website that includes that number as her “district telephone.” Lassa is facing Republican Sean Duffy for the House seat being vacated by retiring Rep. David Obey, a Democrat.
_ New Hampshire’s Republican Senate candidate Kelly Ayotte says she raised almost $1.35 million in the third quarter, which ended Sept. 30. Ayotte said she has over $1 million in cash on hand to face Democratic Rep. Paul Hodes for the open Senate seat.
Source: AP News
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Rated 5 out of 5 by EricR from Some of my favorite Pops! I love Kingdom Hearts, and these variants are amazing! I'll use them to decorate around Halloween, but I love the sculpts and articulation. It gives me hope that they'll release the Christmas versions too!
Rated 5 out of 5 by Catfanman from Love this POP! I am a collector of pops and horror collectables. Weiner are both! Highly recommend!January 18, 1486 – Henry VII Marries Elizabeth of York
This is the anniversary of the marriage of Henry VII with Elizabeth of York – the union of the red rose of Lancaster with the white rose of York to create the Tudor Rose and finally end the Wars of the Roses.
Interestingly, the marriage occurred five months after Henry VII acceded to the throne – and after the man’s coronation. Henry VII needed to make a very important point to the world – that he ruled by his own right, not through his wife’s claim. After all, his claim – beyond the fact that he won the Battle of Bosworth – was somewhat tenuous (through illegitimate heirs etc.). By forcing people to fully recognize his legitimacy before his marriage, the union was transformed into a magnanimous gesture rather than a desperate grab. It was actually the right way to manipulate the optics of the situation.
Agnes Strickland describes the event as follows:
Their wedding day was, in the words of Bernard Andreas, ‘celebrated with all religious and glorious magnificence at court, and by their people with bonfires, dancing, songs and banquets, throughout all London.’ Cardinal Bourchier, who was at the same time a descendant of the royal house of Plantagenet and a prince of the church, was the officiating prelate at the marriage. ‘His hand,’ according to the quaint phraseology of Fuller, who records the circumstance, ‘held that sweet posie, wherein the white and red roses were first tied together.’”
It was said the marriage was a happy one – enough that Henry VII had a reputation for fidelity – a rare attribute for a king. She got pregnant right away, giving birth to Arthur Tudor on September 20, 1486. At that point her husband was thrilled to have her crowned: on November 25, 1487 she was anointed Queen of England. Everything was golden at that point, and it would remain that way for quite some time….
Still, I always wonder how Elizabeth felt about marrying Henry. I mean, she was raised as a princess, so she would have expected a marriage based on politics. But how did she really feel about her overbearing mother-in-law? And there were several instances of men claiming to be her long-lost brothers…did she ever question -even for a moment – whether they were? What must that have feel like? I need to go lose myself in some good books…feel free to suggest your favorites!
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Like this: Like Loading...Another day, another alleged fraud. But this one—brought to light by the federal indictment of Liberty Reserve, which prosecutors said was one of the world’s largest online money operations—sounded a little bit too familiar.
According to the charges, the operators of Liberty Reserve constructed an extremely complex international network for financial transactions that allowed its customers to transmit vast sums of money around the globe, all while operating under layers of anonymity. As a result, the indictment says, “Liberty Reserve was in fact used extensively for illegal purposes, functioning in effect as the bank of choice for the criminal underworld.”
If that rings a bell for any of you fraud aficionados, think back to 1991 and the virtual financial explosion of a shadowy international institution called the Bank of Credit and Commerce International, best known as B.C.C.I. While the two scandals have their differences, in both instances—if the charges against Liberty Reserve are true—the companies established virtual international spiderwebs of financial links, giving both the ability to avoid effective regulation of their operations.
Just read the descriptions in official documents. From the Liberty Reserve indictment: “Throughout its operation, Liberty Reserve and its principals sought to thwart effective regulation by anti-money laundering authorities and to evade the reach of law enforcement.” Then B.C.C.I. as described in a Senate report about the bank: “The structure was conceived... for the specific purpose of evading regulation or control by governments.”
Then the alleged crimes. Liberty Reserve, as described in the indictment: “The company grew into a financial hub of the cybercrime world, facilitating a broad range of online criminal activity.” B.C.C.I., from the Senate report: “(The principals) developed in BCCI an ideal mechanism for facilitating illicit activity by others.”
Many of the specific crimes described are identical: money laundering, investment fraud, narcotics trafficking, and the like. Each had alleged crimes that are not mentioned in the other case. For example, Liberty Reserve is accused of laundering money from child pornography, while investigators concluded that B.C.C.I. was doing the same for arms traffickers and terrorists.
The Liberty Reserve also links to E-Gold, another Internet currency used for money laundering. According to the indictment, two of the Liberty Reserve principals had operated an entity called Gold Age Inc. In December 2006, the two men—Budovsky and Kats—were convicted of operating the company as an unlicensed money transmitter. E-Gold was used in a variety of frauds, including one involving a criminal who conned thousands of small investors out of $50 million in a matter of weeks. Eventually, in 2008, the principals of E-Gold pleaded guilty to using the business as a money-laundering scheme.
Why do these similarities matter? Because these days, there are plenty of people who should know better singing the praises of online financial currencies and other broad operations that operate outside the controls and oversight of governments. This, the fans proclaim, prevents government manipulation. But, as B.C.C.I., E-Gold, and now, perhaps, Liberty Reserve show, avoiding government is exactly the goal of criminals.
So, before the honest folks engaging in financial transactions with unregulated entities continue to crow about their virtues, perhaps they should consider the fates of the innocents who proudly placed their money with other mysterious networks like B.C.C.I. and Liberty Reserve that have all come crashing down.The Industrial Internet faces perhaps it’s biggest challenge in space — though also some of the greatest opportunities for breakthroughs in machine-to-machine communication and Big Data analytics.
The explosion of data being emitted from everything from hospital monitors to deep-sea oil wells to jet engines is demanding increasingly robust Big Data analytical tools. But perhaps the greatest test for collecting and analyzing data is at the “final frontier,” with the challenges of beaming back information and images from space expeditions.
Just ask Adam Steltzner, lead landing engineer of NASA’s Curiosity rover mission, which captivated the public with images of the Mars landing in 2012. Images from the Curiosity often take days to travel the 140 million-mile distance to earth.
“In the exploration of space, we find particular constraints on machine-to-machine communication because of distance and time of flight of light-speed communications,” says Steltzner, a fellow at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, ahead of his panel discussion on the possibilities presented by the Industrial Internet at the annual Minds + Machines event.
Space exploration offers a tremendous opportunity to discover new ways of sharing and analyzing data, according to Steltzner. “Some Big Data techniques will likely be key in forming a deeper understanding of our world,” he says in an interview, in which he also discusses the challenges of data privacy and how the U.S. can stay competitive in today’s global innovation economy:
GE Reports: What do you see as the potential for machine-to-machine (M2M) communication — whether in space exploration or in more terrestrial pursuits?
Adam Steltzner: In the exploration of space, we find particular constraints on machine-to-machine communication because of distance and time of flight of light-speed communications. In fact, we design our systems with the assumption of they will function in the absence of communication — because communication can be so potentially unreliable, intermittent and subject to even days of transport lag.
The opportunity for M2M communication comes in the notion of constellations, or swarms of spacecraft that use communication to accomplish their science measurements en mass. We have flown such missions — including Grace and Grail — which use specific M2M communication and measurement to accomplish their goals using highly specialized communication techniques.
GER: One of the hallmarks of the Curiosity landing on Mars was the sheer magnitude of imagery and other data that was being beamed back to earth every second. What lessons were learned from having to process and analyze so much data?
AS: Bandwidth limitations! We receive data from Curiosity, primarily, through links with orbiting spacecraft around Mars beamed to one or more of three specialized radio antennae sites used for tracking and communication around the world, known as the Deep Space Network. We are frequently limited by our transition capability, and at times it can take days to get all of our data down. For Curiosity and our other rover missions, we do things like use thumbnails and only transmit images that appear worthy of the bandwidth.
As we plan our next major roving expedition to Mars, we have been continuously looking for ways to reduce the transmitted data by attempting to develop methods of turning that data into more concentrated information prior to transmission. An example that we are considering would be potential use of digital elevation and albedo maps rather than some sets of images.
GER: What do you see as the most promising breakthroughs to come in the era of Big Data and the Industrial Internet?
AS: Earth science data is being accumulated at a staggering rate. I think that there are great opportunities for understanding our planet through the synthesis of this data. Some Big Data techniques will likely be key in forming a deeper understanding of our world. Questions from weather and climate, water sequestration and aquifer replenishment will need the synthesis of broad and perhaps diverse sets of data.
I am particularly excited about the prospect for fusion of diverse data sets such as ground base distributed measurements and satellite data.
GER: NASA is a big proponent of open government. How do you ensure that open data policies can maximize opportunities while protecting privacy and security?
AS: Carefully.
GER: The private sector is becoming a bigger player in the space industry. What’s the potential for public-private partnerships for leveraging limited government resources?
AS: Private industry is breathing life and new competitive challenge into the civil space arena. I love it. I think there are opportunities for collaboration in ventures as near as Earth Science and as far-ranging in putting a human footprint on the surface of Mars.
GER: NASA has always been on the cutting edge of advanced manufacturing techniques. What do you see as the key for the U.S. to maintain its leadership in that area?
AS: Really, we have to keep making things. Building not only ideas, but stuff. Frequently it is the challenge of exploration — whether it be into a new market, or onto a far-off planet — that pushes us to develop new techniques of building things. I think that there are fantastic opportunities in the realm of additive manufacturing (3D printing) for producing engineering hardware that would otherwise not be manufacturable. It is an exciting time.
GER: You’ve mentioned the concept of using a sort of 3D printing of people to accomplish the mission of visiting distant planets. What kind of technological and other challenges would we need to overcome to be able to print humans?
AS: Well travel through space to almost all of our universe involves distances too great for me to imagine human traveling, or at least traveling as we think of it today.
George Church and his colleagues play with the idea of using humanity out of our localized region of space using more abstract forms of human travel. Essentially, transmitting the information of what we are at the speed of light or near it — either as code in ones and zeros, or perhaps encoded into the genes of other simple organisms. In both these ideas, humans are re-assembled at some destination by a machine (additive manufacturing) or by a yet to be understood process of genetically guided evolution.
This is all pretty far out stuff they are playing with. Additive manufacturing of biological elements is still a great challenge, DNA really does it best.
The hardest part of 3D printing a human might be printing the soul….
(Top GIF: Video courtesy of NASA)
Adam Steltzner is a Fellow at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory and Chief Engineer of Mars2020.
All views expressed are those of the author.Official: Matri joins Milan
By Football Italia staff
Juventus have sold Alessandro Matri to Milan for approximately €11m, as confirmed by Milan Channel.
The deal had been in the works for some time, but negotiations stepped up a gear after the Rossoneri qualified for the Champions League group phase last night.
This evening Milan Channel celebrated the move by flashing this message: ‘Matri. Welcome back Alessandro.’
That’s because Matri grew up in the Milan youth academy, but was loaned out to several sides before his sale to Cagliari in July 2007 for €2.3m.
It is believed the deal was done for €11m, slightly less than the €12m asking price. The 29-year-old will undergo a medical on Friday.
Milan Vice-President Adriano Galliani had confirmed last night that Coach Massimiliano Allegri requested a new centre-forward.
It is not clear when Giampaolo Pazzini will return from injury after his knee surgery in May.
With Matri's arrival, Milan also loan Andrea Petagna to Sampdoria.WatchMojo/YouYube screenshot by Chris Matyszczyk/CNET
When I think of the future, I think of large, lazy people all hypnotized by Google to remain large, lazy people.
The people of America, however, aren't necessarily as optimistic.
I base my case on research that has loomed exclusively before my eyes that Americans aren't even familiar with the term "Internet Of Things."
This may be because Americans are rarely familiar with terms invented by engineers until it's too late.
However, this survey of 2,051 humans aged 18 and over, performed only two weeks ago, offers that a fulsome 73 percent of Americans have never even heard the phrase "Internet Of Things."
They don't even conceive it to be some sort of modernistic follow-up to "Game Of Thrones."
This research was performed on behalf of SOASTA, a company that exists, coincidentally, to ensure that your things perform perfectly on the Internet.
When the researchers patiently delved into what things might be Internetted, there was special excitement about cars (39 percent), home appliances (34 percent), heart monitors (23 percent), and pet monitors (22 percent) being controlled from your little phone.
This reveals Americans' sense of personal priorities. Who can be surprised that we care about our pets almost as much as we care about our hearts?
Poring over the numbers, I wanted to see whether Americans have a true vision of the future. So I was moved to see that these respondents had been asked which sci-fi stories most accurately depicted how Americans see the world becoming.
The leading light was "Star Trek," with 12 percent saying, yes, we will soon be accompanied by people with pointy ears and flying off on journeys to meet our friends and enemies in outer lands.
To my past-addled mind, this was interesting news.
Especially as just this week we have heard about NASA making progress toward a warp-drive ship. Then there was the development of a matter scanner, not at all dissimilar to one seen many years ago in the hands of Bones on "Star Trek."
I had thought that, given our unstable but sweetly romantic world, "Star Wars" might live large in American imaginations. However, a mere 3 percent said they thought this movie depicted our future.
More preferred were "The Jetsons," "Minority Report," "1984," "Her," "Wall-E," and "Total Recall."
You must decide how many of these offer a hopeful view of the future and how many have, at their heart, the utter destruction of humanity as we know it.
It's always useful to ask whether technology improves our lives, rather than merely making them easier.
Thankfully, this research asked which areas of personal life could be most improved by the Internet of Things.
Thirty-one percent said "working out." A mere 8 percent said "religious services."
Yes, if technology is to truly take over our souls, it's got to work even harder than Google is working on it right now.All segments of our population can benefit from cannabis in some way, whether they are children using cannabis extracts under parental and doctor supervision or middle-aged people using cannabis treat the aches and pains of decades of physical activity.
But perhaps the age group of our population that could benefit the most from cannabis is seniors. No one has more ailments than seniors, for obvious reasons: a longer life means more wear and tear on your body.
And recent reports seem to confirm that seniors are discovering and enjoying marijuana, with use by people 55 and older increasing significantly. This means that not only are cannabis users getting older and continuing their cannabis use, but that many are learning about the wonders of cannabis later in life. They are discovering that what they had been told about cannabis wasn’t true; you weren’t going to kill your brain cells or get lung cancer or ruin your life. They could have been smoking all along if they had only known the truth.
In the category of someone who started smoking relatively young and kept at it into their golden years is our patient for this profile, Ken B. Ken is 67 years old and retired, living in Florida. He doesn’t mind if we use his real name because he’s “retired and at the stage in life when I really don’t have a need to hide my cannabis use or past experiences.”
The Marijuana Times: What ailments do you use cannabis to treat? How do these ailments affect your daily life?
Ken B: I experience moderate discomfort from lower back arthritis. An Indica strain will remove the pain quickly. It calms me at the same time and I forget about the pain. Doctors offered me a narcotic pain reliever. I tried them in the beginning and became ill and there was no relief. However, I typically consume cannabis moderately throughout the day. Not for any ailments, but I enjoy the calm state I receive for both body and mind.
MT: What were you told about cannabis growing up?
KB: Nothing. I am 67. I grew up in a small town in Colorado. There were never discussions about cannabis. It didn’t exist in my world during the school years. I graduated high school in 1967 and was introduced to my first cannabis experience when I joined the Navy. I was aware of the negative press regarding marijuana, but I dismissed it. During the Nixon years and the inception of “War On Drugs”, I just never gave it a thought. I enjoyed it as often as possible.
MT: What do you have to go through to obtain the cannabis you use and how does it make you feel to have to rely on the illegal market?
KB: I always have cannabis. There are zero challenges in obtaining it. The “Black Market” functions very well and if you personally know the grower, you know how it’s been treated. Especially the extracts. I know the process that is followed and feel more comfortable buying it from an illegal friend than from a legal vendor I do not know.
MT: What is your preferred method of cannabis ingestion and why?
KB: The Toro Percolater when I’m home. I use small glass pipes when I’m away from home. A good percolator used with high quality cannabis delivers a very smooth and tasty delivery.
MT: How is your life different now that you have found cannabis?
KB: Well, I found cannabis at 19. It has been like a good friend throughout my life. I was married at 27. My wife and I made a decision to stop while we were building the family, so we didn’t consume for over 20 years. Ironically, it was my adult son that re-introduced us. Looking back, I believe I would have been easier to live with had I consumed during those years.
MT: What prescription drugs, if any, were you able to stop using because of cannabis? How does cannabis work better than the prescriptions?
KB: I have never gone down that path.
MT: What strains have you found to helpful to your specific aliment?
KB: They are all good however, I prefer Indica in the evening or whenever a deeper body relaxation is desired. Sativa works better for me if I have a lot of things to get accomplished or know I will be engaging in conversation.
MT: Have you have any encounters with law enforcement over your cannabis use?
KB: I was raided by a marijuana task force swat team in 2008. I was growing a small amount in Florida. It was an unpleasant experience and life changing.
MT: Are you involved in any sort of activism in your area or state?
KB: I moved from Colorado back to Florida in 2015. I wanted to position myself to be involved in the industry should medical marijuana become legalized in the November election. For me, the passion is on the patient. They need a stronger voice. Currently, the industry seems to be guided by the growers and the investors. I have launched a website http://www.cannabiscaregiversandpatients.com. The purpose is to bring patients together with caregivers throughout the state. Once they are aligned with caregivers (each caregiver will be allowed to treat 5 patients.) they will be positioned to register with the state if Amendment 2 is passed. We will assist them in getting registered and ready to purchase. At that point, we will have leverage to negotiate with growers around the state to cultivate high quality and clean cannabis, test all product for residuals and cannabinoid profiles as well as THC %, and offer product to caregivers at a fair price so they may pass the reduced cost to their patients.
While in Colorado I was diagnosed with prostate cancer. I wanted to try cannabis therapy as opposed to removal which was the suggested path by physicians. It was then that I learned how difficult it was to obtain good clean medicine that had been tested. How can a patient properly treat their condition if they are not aware of what is being ingested? This situation is changing in Colorado but other states that is just becoming legal seem to go through that.
For the most part, growers are in it for the money. It is more costly and challenging to cultivate cannabis in an organic fashion. Testing is also expensive. If they are not required to test product, they won’t. If we can offer a large amount of business to the grower in return for cultivating practices that meet the needs of patients, we will meet our objective.
MT: Have you ever thought about moving to another state to gain better access to medical cannabis?
KB: NO. It’s available everywhere and unless you have a very regimented medical requirement, I don’t see the need. I moved to Colorado after our legal challenges were resolved. I was broke and it was very challenging to secure work. Colorado provided a sanctuary while we rebuilt our lives.
MT: How important is it to you that legalization comes to your state?
KB: For me personally at this stage of life, it wouldn’t make much difference. I will always have access. However, it is important for the patients that do not. No one should have to feel like a criminal and more importantly, so many people could experience relief from various conditions in a fashion that is superior to the alternative drugs prescribed.
Are you a medical marijuana patient who medicates illegally? I want to tell your story (anonymously, if you prefer)! Email me at [email protected] and I’ll send you our set of questions.
Your story could help others in the same situation and help spread the truth about the amazing abilities of the cannabis plant! Help me spread the word!Read it FREE as part of your PRIME or Kindle UNLIMITED membership
Want tasty vegetarian meals in just 15 minutes or less?
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Whether you are a novice or an expert in the kitchen, you won’t need more than 15 minutes to make these recipes! Impressing your family and loved ones has never been easier!
Time may be precious, but so is food. We need it not only to survive but also to bring us joy and great taste experiences, to challenge our taste buds with new flavors, and, last but not least, to nourish us. But what do you do when you only have 15 minutes at your disposal? Time management is the answer. And that is what this book offers you”"recipes that don’t take more than 15 minutes to make, without sacrificing any of the taste.
What’s your part in all this? Just put on that apron and go to the kitchen. Have fun and enjoy cooking! Believe me, food that took hours to prepare but was done without any kind of passion won’t taste better than food prepared in just 15 minutes with all the love in your heart.
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During the "Mare Do Well" episode I initially thought the Mane 6 got Luna to be the Mysterious Mare Do Well since she presumably had wings AND a horn. I mean why the heck not? She may control the night but that doesn't exempt her from doing other stuff during the day. Celestia could handle all the royal duties when she was gone; why change that? If Season 3 ever rolls around they gotta stuff more Luna in there; holding a character like that back would be like taking Uncle Iroh out of the Avatar: The Last Airbender series.
Come to think of it Cadence and Shining Armour need more exposure. The season was about to end, and out of nowhere Twilight suddenly has a big brother and a babysitter. No seriously what the fap. Its like what happened to Mass Effect 3's ending.FORTUNE — In remarks made Friday on the sidelines of the Chinese Communist Party’s 18th Party Congress in Beijing the chairmen of two of the country’s leading mobile carriers indicated that they may be selling Apple’s (AAPL) iPhone 5 even earlier than expected.
China Telecom’s (CHA) Wang Xiaochu told the
Wall Street Journal
that the phone should be available in early December, if not sooner.
China Unicom’s (CHU) Chang Xiaobin, aware that there is still one more regulatory hurdle to mount, was more circumspect. “We hope to offer it this year,” he told the Journal. “But what I say doesn’t matter.”
During Apple’s October conference call, CEO Tim Cook told analysts that he expected China to get the device before the end of the year. A late November or early December launch in the world’s largest mobile phone market could have material effect on the company’s fiscal Q1 2013 earnings.
Meanwhile, RBC Capital’s Amit Daryanani issued a note to clients on the impact of an eventual deal with China’s “800 pound gorilla”: China Mobile (CHL), with 699 million subscribers the country’s — and the world’s — largest mobile carrier. He expects Apple and China Mobile to finally come to terms in 2013 — perhaps even before Chinese New Year.
“Assuming a 13% iPhone penetration rate with 3G customers,” he writes, “we estimate that the addition of China Mobile would add ~$3 to Apple’s annual EPS or $45 to its stock price. “The rA?ckrunde began with a bang two weeks ago and the German top division has been on fire ever since. Dortmund have a new found spark, while the likes of Freiburg and Mainz continue to impress with their sturdy performances. Hannoverai??i??s inability to defend hasnai??i??t been rectified and Bremen seem keen to join the same boat. So what can you expect on matchday 20 of the Bundesliga?
Top 3 Games To Watch Out For
Mainz 05 vs. Bayern Munich
Remember this very fixture from last season, Mainz 3-2 Bayern Munich? A repeat of that is going to take a monumental effort from Thomas Tuchelai??i??s side but given Bayernai??i??s sluggishness off late, Mainz cannot be written off. The home team has been heavily reliant on their rock solid defense and the in-form Adam Szalai but will have to do without the Hungarian striker this weekend. Their injury list isnai??i??t too much of a worry with three of their long term injuries, Elkin Soto, Choupo-Moting and Niko Bungert, |
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Take home a Stickman pet, who will show off its moves as it joins you on your adventures in Reboot World!The Cowboys have an almost surefire lock to be a Hall of Famer in Jason Witten. That in and of itself cements the tight end position as one which isn’t a top priority for Dallas in the 2017 draft. One can safely assume once Witten retires, and he just signed a four-year extension, the Cowboys offense will likely not rely on the position as much as they do currently. In his 14th season, Witten was targeted over 90 times for the 11th straight year in 2016. There’s no need to draft a TE high because he simply is not going to get much burn in the Cowboys offense.
Rico Gathers wants to convince the Cowboys coaching staff whatever snaps are available behind Witten are already claimed and in capable hands.
The second-year conversion from basketball player is doing everything possible to make his case, starting with the offseason workouts Dallas is currently holding.
On Monday, Gathers released a short Instagram video, showing a mashup of several drills he’s doing without coaching — no coaches are allowed to work with players during these workouts. In it, fans can see him work on his footwork, over the shoulder catches and getting in and out of breaks.
His caption, “All the extra dedication gon pay off. Sharpening that knife everyday” exemplifies his dedication to proving he can take the role.
Gathers will compete with Geoff Swaim, James Hanna and whomever else the Cowboys bring in over the next several weeks to earn so of the snaps Witten leaves behind.Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption The struggle for control of the future of Egypt continued in Cairo
Three people have been killed and at least 600 wounded during fierce clashes in Cairo between supporters of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and anti-government protesters, officials say.
Gunfire was heard as rival groups of stone-throwing demonstrators fought pitched battles in and around the city's Tahrir Square.
The army has urged people to go home.
The protesters are demanding President Mubarak's resignation. He has vowed not to seek re-election in September.
Wednesday's violence came after more than a week of demonstrations that have left about 300 people dead, according to UN estimates.
Counter-protests
Up to 2,000 anti-Mubarak demonstrators had spent Tuesday night in Tahrir Square, the main focus of the protests, saying the president's pledge was insufficient and chanting: "We will not leave!"
At the scene Pro-Mubarak groups have been pushing their way to the edges of Tahrir Square all afternoon. Fights have been breaking out and large numbers of missiles - bricks, stones and bits of ironwork - have been flying through the air on both sides. During the day, about half the demonstrators in the square slowly filtered out. There are too few soldiers here to keep any kind of order. The most they can do is prevent the big numbers of Mubarak loyalists from getting into the square, bottling them up into huge groups on the edges. From time to time in the side streets, big pro-Mubarak groups gather around people who have left the square, shouting at them and punching them. There have been reports of people being knifed, but the casualties you mostly see are from the bricks and stones which have been raining down indiscriminately. The net effect of the arrival in force of groups of Mubarak supporters seems to have been to strengthen the resolve of the hard-line demonstrators to stay inside the square. The gradual drift away from the square seems to have stopped. For now, it is the only place where the demonstrators can feel more or less safe.
On Wednesday, thousands of supporters of President Mubarak arrived in buses and surged into the square, dismantling barricades.
"Let the man (Mubarak) take care of you until his time is up," Mohamed Shafik, 51, told Reuters news agency. "Mubarak wants stability and we want stability as well."
One anti-government protester told the BBC that pro-Mubarak activists had initiated the violence.
"They started throwing stones at us," the man, named as Zaccaria, said. "Then some of us started throwing stones at them and then we chased them out of the square. They returned once again with the horses and the whips and the thugs."
Opposition supporters say many in the pro-government camp were paid by the authorities to demonstrate, and allowed into the square by the troops surrounding it.
Repeated bursts of gunfire have been heard. Some reports say troops fired warning shots to disperse the crowds.
Ibrahim Zadran, co-ordinator of the opposition National Association for Change, told the BBC that some pro-government activists had used firearms and shot 15 protesters.
BBC Middle East editor Jeremy Bowen, who has been to Tahrir Square, said he had seen people with nasty wounds.
Egyptian Health Minister Ahmed Sameh Farid told the Associated Press news agency a member of the security forces died when he fell off a bridge.
Two other people died from unspecified wounds in hospital, he added. It was not clear whether they were critics or supporters of Mr Mubarak.
As darkness fell, people were seen throwing rocks and petrol bombs from rooftops on to the protesters below.
The clashes later died down, although there were petrol bomb incidents into the night. Many anti-government protesters remain in Tahrir Square.
The BBC's Yolande Knell in Cairo says the situation remains tense there as fires continue to burn outside the museum building.
International reactions
Clashes between the rival groups were also reported in Egypt's second city, Alexandria.
Late on Wednesday Vice-President Omar Suleiman urged "all citizens to return to their homes and abide by the curfew".
The violence drew condemnation from British Prime Minister David Cameron.
"If it turns out that the regime in any way has sponsored or tolerated this violence, that is completely unacceptable," he said after meeting UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon in London.
Mr Ban said: "Any attack against the peaceful demonstrators is unacceptable and I strongly condemn it."
In Washington, the state department reiterated a call for all sides to show restraint.
In its earlier statement, Egypt's army called for demonstrators to return to their homes.
"Your message has arrived, your demands became known... you are capable of bringing normal life to Egypt," said a spokesman in a message broadcast on state television.
With these'supporters' Mr Mubarak can deny that he has ordered a crackdown Read Mark's blog in full
In a speech on Tuesday night Mr Mubarak - who has been in office for nearly 30 years - promised to leave at the next polls and pledged constitutional reform.
He said he would devote his remaining time in power to ensuring a peaceful transition.
US President Barack Obama responded by saying an orderly transition "must begin now".
Opposition leader Mohamed ElBaradei dismissed Mr Mubarak's move as "a trick" to stay in power, and Tahrir Square protesters have vowed to continue their demonstrations until Mr Mubarak quits.
Abdelhalim Kandil, leader of Egypt's Kifaya (Enough) opposition movement, said Mr Mubarak's offer not to serve a sixth term was not enough.
"I will tell you very simply that there is an unprecedented popular movement that rejects the presence of the president on a scope that has not been seen before, that is calling for the will of the people to be imposed," he said.
If Mr Mubarak does not step down, demonstrators have planned to march on the presidential palace.
Meanwhile, internet services were returning to the country, having been cut off for days by the government.Iran says Pakistan should stand accountable for letting armed bandits operate on its soil after they killed nine Iranian border guards on the country’s southeastern frontier.
“The Pakistani government should be held accountable for the presence and operation of these vicious groups on its soil, ” Foreign Ministry spokesman, Bahram Qassemi, said in a post on the Telegram messenger channel on Thursday.
“Carrying out subversive and terrorist operations by armed bandits and grouplets operating as proxies for those known for promoting violence, extremism and Takfirism on the Iranian-Pakistani border is condemned and unacceptable,” he said.
Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman, Bahram Qassemi
On Wednesday, nine Iranian border guards were killed and two others injured in clashes near the Iranian town of Mirjaveh in the province of Sistan-and-Baluchestan. The Jaish ul-Adl terror group claimed responsibility for the attack in a statement.
“The countries that are after joining anti-terrorist coalitions must answer how they are incapable of countering armed bandits and terrorist groups on their own soil,” Qassemi asked.
He was apparently referring to Pakistan's participation in a Saudi-led coalition, which has been pounding Yemen for more than two years now under the pretext of fighting terrorists, as well as Islamabad's cooperation with the US.
Read more:
Pres. Rouhani urges rapid punishment of perpetrators
Iran's President Hassan Rouhani on Thursday expressed his condolences over the death of the Iranian border guards, urging rapid steps to identify and punish the perpetrators.
“I ask the government of friendly and neighboring Pakistan, which this blind and cowardly act has taken place on their side of border, to take a responsible step and identify, introduce and punish members of the terrorist and Takfiri groups, who are behind this crime, as soon as possible.”
President Rouhani also ordered Iran's Supreme National Security Council and Ministry of Foreign Affairs to follow up on this issue with diligence so as to prevent repetition of such “unmanly acts” of terrorism.
'Terrorists not to go unpunished'
Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said his ministry "will spare no effort in following up the case through diplomatic channels and punishing terrorist thugs.”
In a message on Thursday, Zarif also expressed sympathy with the families of the victims and those wounded in the attack.
In a related development, Iran’s First Vice President Es'haq Jahangiri issued a statement on Thursday, saying "the perpetrators of this inhumane and abhorrent crime will be brought to justice for their despicable deeds.”
Terrorists and mercenaries should know that “they cannot make a dent in the Islamic Republic’s firm resolve to fight terrorism and banditry through such inhumane and perfidious acts,” he said.
Meanwhile, Iran's Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani said, "The black-hearted enemies have repeatedly tried to damage the security and authority of the Islamic Republic of Iran."
"However, the brave children of this nation have vigilantly stood up against evil groups to guard and protect the country’s borders, having regarded martyrdom as a great honor for themselves,” he added.
Interior Minister Abdolreza Rahmani Fazli also paid tribute to the memory of "the heroic youths, who fell down in their blood at the hands of terrorist Takfiri-Zionist groups while they were safeguarding security, welfare and peace for the Iranians."
“This tragic loss once again underlined the need for all people to be vigilant against the plots and seditious schemes of the enemies to divide the honorable Iranian nation,” he said.Bernie Sanders has built his campaign on vilifying Wall Street and any politician who tries to court its support.
Needless to say, the powers that be on Wall Street have not taken kindly to the Vermont Senator’s characterization of their industry. The most recent evidence for this dismay is a client letter penned by J.P. Morgan Chase’s (jpm) Michael Cembalest, who is the chairman of investment strategy at the bank’s asset management division. In the letter, Cembalest says Sanders’ tax plans are so far out of the mainstream of U.S. history they are “in a league of their own.”
Cembalest studied the major tax increases of the past seventy-five years, and produced this chart, obtained by Zero Hedge.
Here’s how Cembalest explains the chart:
The revenue raised by each bill is shown on the Y axis, alongside prevailing Federal tax receipts (individual taxes, corporate taxes and excise taxes) before passage of each bill on the X axis... Sanders’ proposals are in a league of their own. The only bill that comes close was passed in 1942, except there were two big differences: the US was in the middle of WWII, and at the time, total Federal tax receipts were much lower. Even tax increases in the 1.5%-2.0% of GDP range have not been seen since the Korean War, when tax receipts were also lower than they are today... Democratic socialism has a high cost, and in all likelihood, it would probably not just be borne by billionaires and millionaires, campaign rhetoric notwithstanding.
This criticism is a preview of what Sanders can expect if he were to secure the Democratic nomination. But the above chart is not a helpful way to understand the radical nature of Sanders’ proposals.
As I have written before, the one truly transformative idea of the Sanders’ campaign is his plan to nationalize healthcare by providing Medicare for all. This is his only proposal which requires raising direct taxes on anyone making less than $250,000, and it would require putting a lot of money that used to go to health insurance companies in the coffers of the federal government.
What makes Sanders proposal stand out the most on this chart, and push his bubble way to the right, is that he is calling for increases in tax receipts when government receipts are already historically high. But there is no agreement from economists on whether high government receipts, at least as a percentage of GDP, is necessarily a bad thing.
What’s more, nationalizing healthcare is not the same thing as taxing people to subsidize the military or the poor. The traditional economic argument against moving an industry from private hands to a public one is that the private sector is more efficient than the government. But in the realm of healthcare, this is simply not true. The United States spends more on healthcare as share of GDP, with worse outcomes, than any other industrialized country. It’s also the country where private industry has the most power.
Take away the massive tax increases needed to fund Medicare for all, and the Sanders agenda looks a lot like a traditionally left-wing Democratic party platform. He wants to create a modest insurance program so that workers can take off for medical emergencies and to care for newborn babies. He wants to tax financial transactions to subsidize public education. And he wants to expand Social Security benefits $65 per month on average by raising payroll taxes on wealthy earners.
What will likely unsettle actual voters about the Sanders platform is not that Sanders wants a more active government, but that the 49% of Americans who get their health insurance through their employer will have to instead go onto Medicare. This may ultimately be a better deal for these folks, but it’s a big change nonetheless, and human beings are naturally inclined to prefer protecting what they already have over getting something new.
Of course, if Sanders does win the nomination, none of these facts will matter. Industries like Wall Street, for which Sanders has shown nothing but disdain, will pull out all the stops arguing that the Sanders agenda is far out of the mainstream. And if history serves as guide, they’ll probably be pretty effective at getting this message to stick.If Steve Keener truly wants to run a progressive organization like he says, sooner than later the CEO of Little League Baseball will do what he suggested to Yahoo Sports could be possible in the future: give back some of the $76 million in television rights fees the organization is reaping over the next eight years to the kids whose names, images and likenesses fill up flat screens every summer.
After years of staunch opposition to the idea, Keener's consideration comes on the heels of the historic O'Bannon v. NCAA ruling that could have far-reaching effects on amateur athletes everywhere. In the future, if you're like Mo'ne, you may get some money.
"I've always felt we need to be as progressive an organization as we can," Keener told Yahoo Sports. "We don't know what's coming. If at some point in time that would be deemed to be appropriate, we'll consider it. At the moment, I don't see the necessity and don't think we should be compensating kids right now.
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"Whether at some point down the road any funds could be put aside to help them with college I don't know. Down the road that's something we might take a look at even if it's feasible."
Doing so would right a wrong decades in the making. Little League has grown into a business with more than $80 million in assets and nearly $25 million in revenue, and every August it runs out a fresh batch of kids in hopes of captivating the country. Mo'ne Davis, the 13-year-old from South Philadelphia, did just that, and the last game she pitched drew a higher rating for ESPN than any MLB game since April 2007, according to Sports Media Watch.
Autographs from Mo'ne Davis are already selling on eBay. (AP)
Story continues
For this, Davis received transportation to Williamsport, Pa., lodging, meals and a uniform. Her Taney Little League team gets to keep its equipment. And that's it. As Mo'ne Davis juices ratings and gives Little League a recognizable name and memory against which to sell corporate sponsorships next year and those thereafter, she sees not a penny of it. Instead, she gets something else to cherish.
"The experience we're providing them," Keener said.
Here is where Keener lapses back into antiquated thoughts and public-relations drivel. The experience is wonderful. It is great. It is far from commensurate with what the kids provide, almost belittling considering ESPN sees the event worth nearly $10 million a year because of those who play in it.
As the kids enjoyed their experiences, Keener made $430,844 in salary and benefits between October 2012 and September 2013, according to tax records. Over the last decade, his compensation package nearly has doubled from the $228,869 he made in 2005, a number far closer to that of other nonprofit CEOs. An analysis by the Nonprofit Times showed CEOs for similarly sized organizations to Little League, which operated last year with a $23.5 million budget, averaged $184,926 in pay. In its most recent study, Charity Navigator said the median salary of a large-sized nonprofit CEO in the Mid-Atlantic area was $267,724.
Keener, whose salary is set by Little League's board, was one of seven employees with six-figure compensation packages, according to Little League's 2012 tax filings. Little League is technically a charity, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, though perhaps more accurately it is a business wearing charity clothes. True charities take everything offered them. Little League paid a Connecticut company called SJX Partners $472,062 last year for a "corporate sponsor search," according to its tax filings. Charities don't spend nearly half a million dollars so a company can find which multinational is willing to pay the most to be the exclusive whatever-it-may-be of the Little League World Series. Businesses do.
Know what else businesses do? Pay their labor. And during the two weeks of the World Series, the kids playing the games are just that: the stars of the show, the alluring unknowns, the raison d'être of the event.
Every day, Disney talent scouts comb the world for the next 13-year-old they can manufacture into a star. Even though plenty of teenage girls would do a TV show for free, Disney knows the industry doesn't work that way. So the kids get paid, often quite handsomely.
DJ Butler and Chicago advanced to the U.S. championship game by beating Mo'ne Davis' team. (AP)
Somehow sports never got the memo and abided by the romantic, if entirely misguided, idea of amateurism, as though value for a talent exists only at a certain age. Disney owns ESPN. If only it applied the same standards to its uniformed stars as it does those who sing, dance and act.
There is a market for a girl like Mo'ne Davis, a big one that would love to pay her lots of money because she compounds her talent with a combination of personality and wonderment that enthralls people. The specter of the NCAA ruling her ineligible half a decade down the road dissuades her from cashing in now, and it's a policy behind which Keener hides as well.
"We wouldn't want to do anything that would jeopardize any of these kids' future eligibility," he said. "We're always cautious that we're not going to do anything the NCAA would deem as compensation."
During the O'Bannon case, the NCAA attorneys brought up Little League during questioning, asking the former UCLA basketball star whether he believed the kids should be paid. He said yes. O'Bannon later backtracked, regretting his words. He shouldn't have. Right now, Little League hands out $8,000 total in scholarships to five girls and five boys who played baseball or softball. Surely it could afford a $1,000 educational grant for all of the players with $2,500 each going to those who play in the finals and a $10,000 bonus for the MVP of the final game. The total cost of that would be $276,000 – or less than Little League paid for a "computer consultant" last year, according to its tax records.
As the NCAA's stranglehold on college athletics crumbles, the next few years will test Keener's commitment to progressiveness. Right now, he is a highly paid CEO whose organization is taking in more money than it ever has and using it to lower league affiliation fees, from $18 to $16 to $13 next year. And while that does impact the 7,500 leagues around the country Little League oversees – in the same way a major college football program subsidizes non-revenue sports – it ignores the next Mo'ne Davis.
"Little League Baseball is a public trust," Keener said, "and we should justify what we're doing."
Considering his salary, the country-club membership that comes with his job and the years of dismissing the pleas of playing for pay, Keener doesn't fit the profile of the CEO likely to put his money where his mouth is. Then again, the right side of history is sitting here, waiting for him, hoping he's the first to grab the reins. All it takes for Steve Keener to ensure Little League remains a public trust is the great sense of fairness and a check with a few zeroes at the end, each loop more than deserved.Today we added Patch v1.1.3. You can review the patch notes here. This patch is the first wave of our new scenario and map generator system. With this patch players can now select what kind of experiment they would like to run as well as set the difficulty. These settings will come with bonuses or drawbacks to your mutability and mutation rarity rewarding players for completing more difficult game modes. We have not yet implemented the rule change that you must win a scenario in order to keep your discovered genes. We felt it would be better to get more testing from the community before we make such a big change to the leveling process. We want the higher difficulty levels to be very challenging without a decent amount of genetic engineering to your units.
We will be adding additional scenarios in the near future as well as improving current scenarios. We are still working on the balance of the map generator, so and feedback you can give us on how the different map sizes and resources amounts feel would be greatly appreciated. We have decided to concentrate on improving our game mechanics, so for the near future we will not be working on adding and new environments to CURE.
Along with adding more scenarios we are going to be working on improving the AI to have different and more appropriate strategies depending on what scenario you are in. In the future we have also discussed adding in more variety to the AI that will be reflected in the units of that enemy. For example an enemy AI could have a strategy of quick resource acquisition, so would have fast units capable of spreading out and scouting for nutrients very easily. However another AI could have a more hunker down approach and build strong units that will move from one resource hub to another creating defenses as it slowly moves. These new strategies will probably not be added until we have added more Units to the game.
We will be releasing more content soon so keep your eyes peeled, and as always your feedback is greatly appreciated. Some of you may have noticed we have added a link to a wiki page that was started by one of our dedicated players z0mbiesrock who has been very active on our subreddit, so a big thanks to them for all of their help and feedback! We of course welcome you to stop by the wiki and drop in some of your thoughts and observations.It had been one of those mornings for West Memphis, Ark., police officers Brandon Paudert and Bill Evans. By 11:00 on May 20, they'd already spent three hours monitoring a suspicious rental truck and vehicle with Arizona license plates parked at a local motel, trying to determine whether the truck contained a shipment of illegal drugs. As members of the West Memphis Police Department's drug interdiction team, their job was to stop the seemingly endless flow of narcotics that passed through their town on busy Interstate 40. Officer Paudert called it in, and the West Memphis chief of police arrived at the scene to assess the situation.
When it was discovered that the truck and car was nothing more sinister than a grandmother moving her family, the good-natured ribbing began.
After all, the chief of police was not just the officers' boss; he was Brandon Paudert's father.
"I told them to get off their butts and get back on the interstate," Chief Bob Paudert recounted later. "They were really laughing."
Chagrined, Paudert and Evans returned to I-40, watching for signs of drugs on the move through their jurisdiction. When Evans spied a white minivan with unusual Ohio license plates, he pulled the van over at the exit near Mile Marker 275, and called his partner for backup. Safety came first, and in the dangerous world of drug trafficking, there is no such thing as a routine stop.
Inside the white minivan, a 16-year-old boy named Joseph Kane remained in the passenger seat, while his father, Jerry, age 45, stood in front of the police SUV and argued with the officers. There was a tussle, and Jerry Kane pushed Officer Evans into a roadside ditch. The boy quickly emerged from the minivan with a loaded AK-47 and aimed at Evans. The officer put one hand on his pistol, and held the other up to the boy as if to signal "Stop." The boy shot Evans several times and turned his attention to Paudert, who took cover behind the police vehicle.
A package delivery man, exiting the highway at Marker 275, stopped his truck to witness the horrific scene. He called 911, and the alert went out: "Officer down!"
While Paudert was able to fire his pistol seven times, he was outgunned and the police vehicle offered little protection from Joe Kane's assault rifle. The boy chased Paudert around the police SUV, shooting him several times in the back of the head before returning to Evans in the ditch. There, he fired again. The Kanes then rushed to the minivan and pulled away, while Joe continued to shoot at the downed officers.
Another alert went out: "Two officers down!"
According to a preliminary investigation report, Brandon Paudert was struck 11 times and died at the scene; Evans was hit by 14 rounds and died at the hospital.
In the next 90 minutes, there was a frenzy of activity around West Memphis. The highways were closed, law enforcement from various agencies converged on the area looking for the white minivan with odd Ohio plates, and calls started coming in from alert citizens. The van was spotted at a local country club, a commercial truck terminal, and an apartment building. One witness claimed that Jerry Kane had asked for directions to the nearest Walmart. As seen in Walmart security videotapes of the parking lot, Joe Kane walked into the store and made a purchase, while his father removed the license plates from the vehicle.
The first to spot the van was an Arkansas wildlife officer who rammed into the Kanes' vehicle to prevent it from leaving. The Kanes fired more than a dozen rounds at the officer's truck, but he wasn't hit. As police converged on the scene, two more officers were wounded in a frenzied shootout before the Kanes were both killed. Crittenden County Sheriff Dick Busby was shot once in the shoulder, and W.A. Wren, West Memphis' chief of enforcement, was hit multiple times in the abdomen. Both men survived.
Over the next few days, West Memphis mourned the loss of its officers. At the same time, the department, other law enforcement officials, and the public at large began to question exactly what had provoked the violence.
Who are the 'Sovereigns'?
It would be tempting to dismiss the violence that took place that day as an isolated event — an unstable father and son who exploded in a moment of vicious, unexplained fury. The truth, however, is more frightening. Jerry Kane and his young son were active participants in the sprawling subculture of "sovereign citizens" in America: hundreds of thousands of far-right extremists who believe that they — not judges, juries, law enforcement or elected officials — get to decide which laws to obey and which to ignore, and who don't think they should have to pay taxes. While law enforcement officers may disagree on how to deal with or even label this extremist subculture, one thing is certain: it's trouble. The sovereign movement is growing fast, and its partisans are clogging up the courts with their indecipherable filings. When cornered, many of them lash out in rage, frustration and, in the most extreme cases, acts of deadly violence.
It is difficult to say precisely how many sovereigns there are in the United States today, in part because there is no central leadership and no organized group that members can join — instead, there are a variety of local leaders with individualized takes on sovereign citizen ideology and techniques. Those who are attracted to this bizarre subculture typically attend a seminar or two, or visit one of the thousands of websites and online videos on the subject, and then simply choose how to act on what they've learned. Some start by testing sovereign ideology with small offenses such as driving without a license, while others proceed directly to taking on the IRS as tax protesters.
With their finances in shambles, Jerry Kane and his son Joe traveled the country giving sparsely attended seminars on avoid foreclosure while clad in white suits.
In the 2008 criminal tax trial of actor Wesley Snipes, whose tax filings made clear that he was a sovereign tax protester, IRS senior technical adviser Shauna Henline testified that the agency receives between 20,000 and 30,000 frivolous returns each year, along with roughly 100,000 letters from tax protesters. Earlier, in 2001, the U.S. Senate's Finance Committee held hearings on the growing movement and, by 2008, the Department of Justice had decided to introduce the National Tax Defier Initiative in a bid to target key movement leaders. "Simply stated," then-Assistant Attorney General Nathan Hochman said in announcing the DOJ initiative, "we want to pull back the curtain and show the public that the promoters of these tax and bogus schemes are not some wizards that have revealed the tax-free universe to America, but instead are nothing more than garden variety hucksters and modern day snake oil salesmen, peddling their bogus tax products."
Not all tax protesters are sovereign citizens, and many newer recruits to the sovereign life did not start out as tax protesters. But based on the available evidence, a reasonable estimate of hard-core sovereign believers today would be 100,000, with another 200,000 just starting out by testing sovereign techniques for resisting everything from speeding tickets to drug charges, for a total of 300,000. As sovereign theories go viral throughout the nation's prison systems and among people who are unemployed and desperate in a punishing recession, this number is likely to grow.
Redeeming the 'Strawman'
While many sovereign citizens own guns, their weapon of choice is paper. A simple traffic violation or pet-licensing case can end up provoking dozens of court filings containing hundreds of pages of pseudo-legal nonsense. For example, Donna Lee Wray, Jerry Kane's "common-law wife," was recently involved in a protracted legal battle in a dog-licensing case. She filed 10 sovereign documents in court over a two-month period, then declared victory when the harried prosecutor decided to drop the case. A three-year dog license in Wray's Pinellas County, Fla., costs $20.
Police officers Brandon Paudert (left) and Bill Evans, seen here during an April drug bust, had worked together frequently. On May 20, at the hands of a father-son pair of "sovereign citizens," they died together.
It isn't just the number of pages that is causing courts to sag under the weight of these filings. The documents are written in a kind of special sovereign code language that judges, lawyers and other court staff simply don't speak. Sovereigns believe that if they can find just the right combination of words, punctuation, paper, ink color and timing, they can have anything they want — freedom from taxes, unlimited wealth, and life without licenses, fees or laws, are all just a few strangely worded documents away. It's the modern-day equivalent of "abracadabra."
At its core, the current sovereign belief system is relatively simple and is based on a decades-old conspiracy theory. At some point in history, sovereigns believe, the American government set up by the founding fathers — with a legal system the sovereigns refer to as "common law" — was secretly replaced by a new government system based on admiralty law, the law of the sea and international commerce. Some sovereigns believe this perfidious change occurred during the Civil War, while others blame the events of 1933, when America abandoned the gold standard. Either way, they stake their lives and livelihood on the idea that judges around the country know all about this hidden government takeover but are denying the sovereigns' motions and filings out of treasonous loyalty to hidden and malevolent government forces. Under common law, or so they believe, the sovereigns would be free men. Under admiralty law, they are slaves, and secret government forces have a vested interest in keeping them that way.
The next layer of the scheme is even more implausible. Since 1933, the U.S. dollar has been backed not by gold, but by the "full faith and credit" of the U.S. government. According to sovereign researchers, this means that the government has pledged its citizenry as collateral, by selling their future earning capabilities to foreign investors, effectively enslaving all Americans. This sale, they claim, takes place at birth.
When a baby is born in the U.S., a birth certificate is issued, and the hospital usually requires that the parents apply for a Social Security number at that time. Sovereigns say that the government then uses that certificate to set up a kind of corporate trust in the baby's name — a secret Treasury account — which it funds with an amount ranging from $600,000 to $20 million, depending on the particular variant of the sovereign belief system. By setting up this account, every newborn's rights are cleverly split between those held by the flesh-and-blood baby and the ones assigned to his or her corporate shell account.
The clues, many sovereigns believe, are found on the birth certificate itself. Since most certificates use all capital letters to spell out a baby's name, JOHN DOE is the name of the corporate shell "strawman," while John Doe is the baby's "real," flesh-and-blood name. As the child grows older, most of his legal documents will utilize capital letters, which means that his state-issued driver's license, his marriage license, his car registration, his criminal court records, his cable TV bill, and correspondence from the IRS will all pertain to his corporate shell identity, not his real, sovereign identity.
The process sovereigns have devised to split the strawman from the flesh-and-blood man is called "redemption," and its purpose is two-fold. Once separated from the corporate shell, the newly freed man is now outside of the jurisdiction of all admiralty laws. More importantly, by filing a series of complex, legal-sounding documents, the sovereign can tap into that secret Treasury account for his own purposes. Over the last 30 years, there have been hundreds of sovereign promoters packaging different combinations of forms and paperwork, attempting to perfect the process. While no one has ever succeeded, of course, they know with the religious certainty of a true cult believer that they're close. All it will take is the right combination of words, say the promoters of the redemption scam.
Jerry Kane was one such promoter.
Why Do They Do it?
Newcomers drift into the movement in a variety of ways. Originally, the sovereign citizens movement mostly attracted white supremacists and anti-Semites, mainly because sovereign theories originated in groups who saw Jews as playing a behind-the-scenes role in manipulating financial institutions and controlling the government. Most early sovereigns, and some of those who are still on the scene, believed that being white was a prerequisite to becoming a sovereign citizen. They argued that the 14th Amendment to the Constitution, which gave blacks U.S. citizenship, also made black Americans permanently subject to federal and state governments, unlike themselves.
Police surround the Kanes' vehicle after the final shootout in a Walmart parking lot. The Kanes had removed their license plates less than half an hour earlier.
In times of economic prosperity, sovereigns typically rely on absurd and convoluted schemes to evade state and federal income taxes and hide their assets from the IRS. In times of financial hardship, they turn to debt- and mortgage-elimination scams, techniques to avoid child support payments, and even attempts to use their redemption techniques to get out of serious criminal charges. Jerry Kane, who'd suffered a series of personal defeats in life, specialized in teaching a mortgage-elimination technique that had no basis in the actual law.
Once in the movement, it's an immersive and heady experience. In the last three decades, the redemptionist subculture has grown from small groups of like-minded individuals in localized pockets around the nation to a richly layered society. Redemption |
1 ability score by +1 4 Add 1 Hit Die 5 Increase proficiency bonus by +1 6 Add 1 Hit Die 7 Increase 1 ability score by +1 8 Add 1 Hit Die 9 Increase proficiency bonus by +1...... Source Conditions A creature can be affected by any of the following conditions, possibly even several conditions at once. A blinded creature can't see, and fails any ability check involving sight. A blinded creature has disadvantage on its attack rolls, and attacks against it are made with advantage.
creature can't see, and fails any ability check involving sight. A blinded creature has disadvantage on its attack rolls, and attacks against it are made with advantage. A charmed creature won't attempt to harm the creature that charmed it. The creature that charmed it has advantage on any social ability check involving the charmed creature.
creature won't attempt to harm the creature that charmed it. The creature that charmed it has advantage on any social ability check involving the charmed creature. A defeaned creature can't hear, and fails any ability check involving hearing.
creature can't hear, and fails any ability check involving hearing. A frightened creature has disadvantage on attack rolls and ability checks while it can see the source of its fear. The frightened creature won't willingly move closer to the source of its fear.
creature has disadvantage on attack rolls and ability checks while it can see the source of its fear. The frightened creature won't willingly move closer to the source of its fear. A grappled creature has a movement of 0. The grapple ends if the grappled creature falls unconscious, or if the grappled creature makes a successful Strength or Dexterity check against the grappling creature's Strength check. The grappling creature can drag its grappled creature at half speed.
creature has a movement of 0. The grapple ends if the grappled creature falls unconscious, or if the grappled creature makes a successful Strength or Dexterity check against the grappling creature's Strength check. The grappling creature can drag its grappled creature at half speed. An incapacitated creature can't take actions (it can move, though).
creature can't take actions (it can move, though). An invisible creature cannot be seen (but can be heard, smelled, etc.). An invisible creature has advantage on its attack rolls, and attacks against it are made with disadvantage.
creature cannot be seen (but can be heard, smelled, etc.). An invisible creature has advantage on its attack rolls, and attacks against it are made with disadvantage. A paralyzed creature is incapacitated and can neither move nor speak. The paralyzed creature fails Dexterity- and Strength-based saving throws, attacks against it have advantage, and any melee attack against it is an automatic critical hit.
creature is incapacitated and can neither move nor speak. The paralyzed creature fails Dexterity- and Strength-based saving throws, attacks against it have advantage, and any melee attack against it is an automatic critical hit. A poisoned creature takes disadvantage on ability checks and attack rolls.
creature takes disadvantage on ability checks and attack rolls. A prone creature can crawl at half speed, or use half its speed to stand up. A prone creature takes disadvantage on attack rolls; melee attacks against it have advantage, and ranged attacks against it have disadvantage.
creature can crawl at half speed, or use half its speed to stand up. A prone creature takes disadvantage on attack rolls; melee attacks against it have advantage, and ranged attacks against it have disadvantage. A restrained creature has a movement of 0. The creature attacks and makes Dexterity checks with disadvantage, and attacks against it are made with advantage.
creature has a movement of 0. The creature attacks and makes Dexterity checks with disadvantage, and attacks against it are made with advantage. A stunned creature is incapacitated, can't move, and can barely speak. It fails Strength and Dexterity saving throws, and attacks against it are made with advantage.
creature is incapacitated, can't move, and can barely speak. It fails Strength and Dexterity saving throws, and attacks against it are made with advantage. An unconscious creature is incapacitated, can't move, can't speak, and is not aware of its surroundings. It drops whatever it's holding, falls prone, and fails Strength and Dexterity saving throws. Attacks against it have advantage, and any melee attack against it is an automatic critical hit.
Sample Monsters Following are a few sample monsters. Many more are available online and in the Dungeons & DragonsTM 5th Edition Monster Manual. Caveman Medium humanoid, unaligned Armor Class 11
11 Hit Points 15 (2d10 + 5)
15 (2d10 + 5) Speed 30ft. STR DEX CON INT WIS CHA 14 (+2) 12 (+1) 14 (+2) 5 (-3) 7 (-2) 9 (-1) Senses passive Perception 13
passive Perception 13 Languages none
none Challenge 1/4 (50 XP) Pained Frenzy. If the caveman has less than 5 Hit Points and is hit by a melee attack, it takes a free attack against the creature that hit it as its reaction. Actions Club. Melee Weapon Attack: +4 to hit, reach 5ft., one target. Hit: 5 (1d6 + 2) bludgeoning damage. Stone. Ranged Weapon Attack: +2 to hit, ranged 40/120, one target. Hit: 3 (1d4 + 1) bludgeoning damage. Leopard Medium beast, unaligned Armor Class 13
13 Hit Points 10 (1d10 + 5)
10 (1d10 + 5) Speed 40ft. STR DEX CON INT WIS CHA 12 (+1) 15 (+3) 6 (-2) 12 (+1) 16 (+3) 4 (-3) Senses passive Perception 13
passive Perception 13 Languages none
none Challenge 1/4 (50 XP) Actions Bite. Melee Weapon Attack: +4 to hit, reach 5ft., one target. Hit: 4 (1d6 + 1) piercing damage. Claw. Melee Weapon Attack: +3 to hit, reach 5ft., one target. Hit: 5 (1d6 + 2) piercing damage. Source
Stone Age Culture You're free to come up with your own culture, of course, but here are a few ideas for the structure of a stone age culture. To be clear, these are not accurate representations of any stone age culture; they're just ideas to get you started. Organization Intelligent beings organize themselves into tribes. Some tribes are large enough to build a full settlement that functions as a simple village. These settlements will have up to a dozen mud or wood buildings, possibly surrounded by a stick fence. Other large tribes live in temporary housing that they move from one hunting ground to the next. Smaller tribes live in caves or other natural shelter. Some tribes have conquered others and established (tiny) empires spanning a dozen or more settlements. Many settlements and "empires" have established trade between them, with (for example) coastal villages trading fish and salt for meat and fruit from inland tribes. Religion Each tribe has its own religious rites and worships gods that vary from region to region. Neighboring tribes might worship similar gods, but the farther you travel, the more different the gods become. There are three common theologies: Worship of a pantheon of named, distinct gods, each with power over a certain domain Worship of a large variety of gods, some named and some unknown Worship of a vast variety of natural spirits and gods; each tree might have its own Most tribes mark out a sacred space within their settlement, often with a circle of unusually-colored stones. This sacred space might contain offerings, an altar, sacred objects, or some combination thereof. In the wild, hunters and some tribes mark off remarkable natural phenomena as sacred, either with stones or by tying ropes to nearby trees to "rope off" the sacred area. Special ceremonies are sometimes performed at these places to worship, placate, or offer sacrifices to the god(s) who live there. Few tribes practice regular human sacrifices; there aren't enough people to support it (though a human sacrifice may be called for in rare circumstances). Animal sacrifices are common and crop sacrifices ubiquitous. Nearly all tribes of more than a dozen or so contain one shaman-like member. This individual is often more scientist than cleric, observing natural phenomena for patterns and reacting with an appropriate ritual or offering. To build a tribe's religious practices, define the following: 3 popular gods or spirits
How the gods or spirits are prayed to (falling to knees, clapping hands, swaying, bowing, whispered prayers, loud requests, drawing on the ground, etc.)
The most common rite of worship (nightly prayer, morning ritual, weekly burnt offering, dance, etc.)
A major festival and what makes it special Petitioning the Gods or Spirits An individual may, very rarely, go through a public rite to petition a god or spirit for a favor, such as insight into a major crisis or a cure from a crippling disease. As part of the rite, the god or spirit will take something very precious from the petitioning character. The character might consciously sacrifice a particular item or person, or may let the god or spirit choose. If the character has nothing precious, the god or spirit will simply not respond. Source
Gritty 5E: The Short List If you're already familiar with Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition, this page is a "cheat sheet" for adapting 5E for gritty fantasy. Character Creation Roll for the six standard ability scores (4d6, drop lowest) or do point-buy, and calculate modifiers. Give the character a proficiency modifier of +1. Choose one saving throw for which the character adds his/her proficiency bonus. Every character starts with a 1d8 Hit Die. Roll for Hit Points, adding 4 (so, 1d8+4 starting HP). Calculate passive Perception (10 + Wisdom modifier). Choose one simple melee or ranged weapon and calculate attack and damage as in standard 5E. Choose any one armor that costs less than 50 gold and calculate AC as in standard 5E. Every character has a speed of 30 and proficiency with simple weapons and light armor. There are no classes, races, skills, feats, or spells. This is all that makes up a character. Running the Game You should be able to use the rest of the 5E rules as they are: advantage/disadvantage, short rest healing with Hit Dice, cover, grappling, etc. They won't be particularly gritty, but they'll work. Leveling Up "Level up" at the end of each adventure, as follows: Level Effect 1 Character creation 2 Add 1 Hit Die 3 Increase 1 ability score by +1 4 Add 1 Hit Die 5 Increase proficiency bonus by +1 6 Add 1 Hit Die 7 Increase 1 ability score by +1 8 Add 1 Hit Die 9 Increase proficiency bonus by +1...... Hit Points will increase at roughly half the rate of standard 5E, to reflect the grittiness of the setting. Equipment For a Stone Age setting, the only equipment available is as follows. Bronze Age settings have all equipment available. Stone Age Adventuring Gear Item Cost Weight Ammunition Arrows (20) 1 gp 1 lb. Sling bullets (20) 4 cp 1½ lb. Bedroll 100 cp 7 lb. Blanket 50 cp 3 lb. Fishing tackle 100 cp 4 lb. Grappling hook 200 cp 4 lb. Hammer 100 cp 3 lb. Hunting trap 500 cp 25 lb. Pole (10-foot) 1 cp 7 lb. Pot, iron 200 cp 10 lb. Pouch 50 cp 1 lb. Quiver 100 cp 1 lb. Rations (1 day) 50 cp 2 lb. Rope (50 feet) 100 cp 10 lb. Sack 1 cp 1/2 lb. Torch 1 cp 1 lb. Waterskin 20 cp 5 lb. (full) Whetstone 1 cp 1 lb.
Monsters This game completely throws off 5E monster math, naturally, but then you're not going to be using the same kinds of monsters anyway. After first level, keep monsters at about half the standard difficulty. Following is a list of monsters appropriate to a bronze age setting. "Real creatures" are actual, real-world animals or people, like wolves and pantehrs. "Grounded Monsters" are just different enough than real animals that they could have existed in our world, like dire wolves and giant rats. "Fantastic monsters" are pulled from classic myth, and thus could be just around the bend; creatures you might meet once in a lifetime in a fairy tale, like hags and harpies. Real Creatures Monster CR Reference Ape 1/2 MM p317 Archer 3 Volo's p210 Auroch 2 Volo's p207 Axe Beak 1/4 MM p317 Baboon 0 MM p318 Bat 0 MM p318 Bear 1/2 to 1 MM pp318-319 Boar 1/4 MM p319 Camel 1/8 MM p320 Champion 9 Volo's p212 Constrictor 1/4 MM p320 Crocodile 1/2 MM p320 Deer 0 MM p321 Dinosaur 1/4 to 8 MM p79 Draft Horse 1/4 MM p321 Eagle 0 MM p322 Elephant 4 MM p322 Elk 1/4 MM p322 Hawk 1/4 MM p330 Hyena 0 MM p331 Jackal 0 MM p331 Killer Whale 3 MM p331 Lion 1 MM p331 Mammoth 6 MM p332 Mule 1/8 MM p333 Octopus 0 MM p333 Owl 0 MM p333 Panther 1/4 MM p333 Poisonous Snake 1/8 MM p334 Polar Bear 2 MM p334 Pony 1/8 MM p335 Real Creatures, continued Monster CR Reference Reef Shark 1/2 MM p336 Rhinoceros 2 MM p336 Riding Horse 1/4 MM p336 Sabre-Toothed Tiger 2 MM p336 Scorpion 0 MM p337 Spider 0 MM p337 Swarm of Bats 1/4 MM p337 Tiger 1 MM p339 Vulture 0 MM p339 Warlord 12 Volo's p220 Wolf 1/4 MM p341 Grounded Monsters Monster CR Reference Blood Hawk 1/8 MM p319 Death Dog 1 MM p321 Dire Wolf 1 MM p321 Fungi 0 to 1/2 MM p137 Giant Badger 1/4 MM p323 Giant Bat 1/4 MM p323 Giant Boar 2 MM p323 Giant Centipede 1/4 MM p323 Giant Constrictor 2 MM p324 Giant Crab 1/8 MM p324 Giant Crocodile 5 MM p324 Giant Eagle 1 MM p324 Giant Elk 2 MM p325 Giant Fire Beetle 0 MM p325 Giant Frog 1/4 MM p325 Giant Hyena 1 MM p326 Giant Lizard 1/4 MM p326 Giant Octopus 1 MM p326 Giant Owl 1/4 MM p327 Giant Snake 1/4 MM p327 Giant Rat 1/8 MM p327 Giant Scorpion 3 MM p327 Giant Sea Horse 1/2 MM p328 Giant Shark 5 MM p328 Giant Spider 1 MM p328 Giant Vulture 1 MM p329 Giant Wasp 1/2 MM p329 Giant Wolf Spider 1/4 MM p330 Hunter Shark 2 MM p330
Grounded Monsters, continued Monster CR Reference Swarm of Rot Grubs 1/2 Volo's p208 Winter Wolf 3 MM p340 Yeti 3 MM p305 Fantastic Monsters Monster CR Reference Centaur 2 MM p38 Cyclops 6 MM p45 Dryad 1 MM p121 Flying Snake 1/8 MM p322 Fomorian 8 MM p136 Ghost 4 MM p147 Ghoul 1 MM p148 Giant 5 to 13 MM p149 Hag 2 to 5 MM p176 Harpy 1 MM p181 Hydra 8 MM p190 Medusa 6 MM p214 Minotaur 3 MM p223 Ogre 2 MM p237 Roc 11 MM p260 Satyr 1/2 MM p267 Shadow 1/2 MM p269 Stirge 1/8 MM p284 Treant 9 MM p289 Troll 5 MM p291 Vampire 13 MM p295 Will-o'-wisp 2 MM p301 Worg 1/2 MM p341 Wraith 5 MM p302 Zombie 1/4 MM p315
Appendices License This material is being released using the Open Gaming License Version 1.0a and you should read and understand the terms of that license before using this material. OPEN GAME LICENSE Version 1.0a The following text is the property of Wizards of the Coast, Inc. and is Copyright 2000 Wizards of the Coast, Inc ("Wizards"). All Rights Reserved. 1. 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Reformation: If any provision of this License is held to be unenforceable, such provision shall be reformed only to the extent necessary to make it enforceable.Intel today admitted its Management Engine (ME), Server Platform Services (SPS), and Trusted Execution Engine (TXE) are vulnerable to multiple worrying security flaws, based on the findings of external security experts.
The firmware-level bugs allow logged-in administrators, and malicious or hijacked high-privilege processes, to run code beneath the operating system to spy on or meddle with the computer completely out of sight of other users and admins. The holes can also be exploited by network administrators, or people masquerading as admins, to remotely infect machines with spyware and invisible rootkits, potentially.
Meanwhile, logged-in users, or malicious or commandeered applications, can leverage the security weaknesses to extract confidential and protected information from the computer's memory, potentially giving miscreants sensitive data – such as passwords or cryptographic keys – to kick off other attacks. This is especially bad news on servers and other shared machines.
In short, a huge amount of Intel silicon is secretly running code that is buggy and exploitable by attackers and malware to fully and silently compromise computers. The processor chipsets affected by the flaws are as follows:
6th, 7th and 8th Generation Intel Core processors
Intel Xeon E3-1200 v5 and v6 processors
Intel Xeon Scalable processors
Intel Xeon W processors
Intel Atom C3000 processors
Apollo Lake Intel Atom E3900 series
Apollo Lake Intel Pentiums
Celeron N and J series processors
Intel's Management Engine, at the heart of today's disclosures, is a computer within your computer. It is Chipzilla's much maligned coprocessor at the center of its vPro suite of features, and it is present in various chip families. It has been assailed as a "backdoor" – a term Intel emphatically rejects – and it is a mechanism targeted by researchers at UK-based Positive Technologies, who are set to reveal in detail new ways to exploit the ME next month.
The Management Engine is a barely documented black box. It has its own CPU and its own operating system – recently, an x86 Quark core and MINIX – that has complete control over the machine, and it functions below and out of sight of the installed operating system and any hypervisors or antivirus tools present.
It is designed to allow network administrators to remotely or locally log into a server or workstation, and fix up any errors, reinstall the OS, take over the desktop, and so on, which is handy if the box is so messed up it can't even boot properly.
The ME runs closed-source remote-administration software to do this, and this code contains bugs – like all programs – except these bugs allow hackers to wield incredible power over a machine. The ME can be potentially abused to install rootkits and other forms of spyware that silently snoop on users, steal information, or tamper with files.
SPS is based on ME, and allows you to remotely configure Intel-powered servers over the network. TXE is Intel's hardware authenticity technology. Previously, the AMT suite of tools, again running on ME, could be bypassed with an empty credential string.
Today, Intel has gone public with more issues in its firmware. It revealed it "has identified several security vulnerabilities that could potentially place impacted platforms at risk" following an audit of its internal source code:
In response to issues identified by external researchers, Intel has performed an in-depth comprehensive security review of our Intel Management Engine (ME), Intel Server Platform Services (SPS), and Intel Trusted Execution Engine (TXE) with the objective of enhancing firmware resilience.
The flaws, according to Intel, could allow an attacker to impersonate the ME, SPS or TXE mechanisms, thereby invalidating local security features; "load and execute arbitrary code outside the visibility of the user and operating system"; and crash affected systems. The severity of the vulnerabilities is mitigated by the fact that most of them require local access, either as an administrator or less privileged user; the rest require you to access the management features as an authenticated sysadmin.
Intel ME controller chip has secret kill switch READ MORE
But as Google security researcher Matthew Garrett pointed out in the past hour or so, the aforementioned AMT flaw, if not patched, could allow remote exploitation.
In other words, if a server or other system with the AMT hole hasn't been updated to kill off that vulnerabilities, these newly disclosed holes will allow anyone on the network to potentially log in and execute malicious code within the powerful ME coprocessor.
"The ME compromise presumably gives you everything the AMT compromise gives you, plus more," said Garrett via Twitter. "If you compromise the ME kernel, you compromise everything on the ME. That includes AMT, but it also includes PTT."
He explained, "PTT is Intel's 'Run a TPM in software on the ME' feature. If you're using PTT and someone compromises your ME, the TPM is no longer trustworthy. That probably means your Bitlocker keys are compromised, but it also means all your remote attestation credentials are toast."
Garrett said if an exploit allows unsigned data to be installed and interpreted by the ME, an attacker could effectively trigger the reinfection of malware after every ME reboot. Were that to happen, the only way to fix things would be to reflash the hardware by hand. At that point, he said, it would probably be cheaper just to get new hardware.
Intel said systems using ME Firmware versions 11.0, 11.5, 11.6, 11.7, 11.10, and 11.20, SPS Firmware version 4.0, and TXE version 3.0 are affected. The cited CVE-assigned bugs are as follows:
Intel Manageability Engine Firmware 11.0.x.x/11.5.x.x/11.6.x.x/11.7.x.x/11.10.x.x/11.20.x.x CVE-2017-5705: "Multiple buffer overflows in kernel in Intel Manageability Engine Firmware 11.0/11.5/11.6/11.7/11.10/11.20 allow attacker with local access to the system to execute arbitrary code." Logged-in superusers, or high-privilege programs, can execute code within the hidden Management Engine, below the OS and any other software. CVE-2017-5708: "Multiple privilege escalations in kernel in Intel Manageability Engine Firmware 11.0/11.5/11.6/11.7/11.10/11.20 allow unauthorized process to access privileged content via unspecified vector." Logged-in users or running apps can slurp confidential information out of memory. This is very bad news on a shared system. CVE-2017-5711: "Multiple buffer overflows in Active Management Technology (AMT) in Intel Manageability Engine Firmware 8.x/9.x/10.x/11.0/11.5/11.6/11.7/11.10/11.20 allow attacker with local access to the system to execute arbitrary code with AMT execution privilege." Logged-in superusers, or high-privilege programs, can execute code within the AMT suite, below the OS and any other software. CVE-2017-5712: "Buffer overflow in Active Management Technology (AMT) in Intel Manageability Engine Firmware 8.x/9.x/10.x/11.0/11.5/11.6/11.7/11.10/11.20 allows attacker with remote Admin access to the system to execute arbitrary code with AMT execution privilege." People with network access to a machine, and can log in as an admin, can execute code within the AMT suite.
Intel Manageability Engine Firmware 8.x/9.x/10.x CVE-2017-5711: "Multiple buffer overflows in Active Management Technology (AMT) in Intel Manageability Engine Firmware 8.x/9.x/10.x/11.0/11.5/11.6/11.7/11.10/11.20 allow attacker with local access to the system to execute arbitrary code with AMT execution privilege." Logged-in superusers, or high-privilege programs, can execute code within the AMT suite, below the OS and any other software. CVE-2017-5712: "Buffer overflow in Active Management Technology (AMT) in Intel Manageability Engine Firmware 8.x/9.x/10.x/11.0/11.5/11.6/11.7/11.10/11.20 allows attacker with remote Admin access to the system to execute arbitrary code with AMT execution privilege." People with network access to a machine, and can log in as an admin, can execute code within the AMT suite.
Server Platform Service 4.0.x.x CVE-2017-5706: "Multiple buffer overflows in kernel in Intel Server Platform Services Firmware 4.0 allow attacker with local access to the system to execute arbitrary code." Logged-in superusers, or high-privilege programs, can execute code within the hidden Management Engine, below the OS and any other software. CVE-2017-5709: "Multiple privilege escalations in kernel in Intel Server Platform Services Firmware 4.0 allows unauthorized process to access privileged content via unspecified vector." Logged-in users or running apps can slurp confidential information out of memory. This is very bad news on a shared system.
Intel Trusted Execution Engine 3.0.x.x CVE-2017-5707: "Multiple buffer overflows in kernel in Intel Trusted Execution Engine Firmware 3.0 allow attacker with local access to the system to execute arbitrary code." Logged-in superusers, or high-privilege programs, can execute code within the hidden Management Engine, below the OS and any other software. CVE-2017-5710: "Multiple privilege escalations in kernel in Intel Trusted Execution Engine Firmware 3.0 allows unauthorized process to access privileged content via unspecified vector." Logged-in users or running apps can slurp confidential information out of memory. This is very bad news on a shared system.
Chipzilla thanked Mark Ermolov and Maxim Goryachy at Positive for discovering and bringing to its attention the flaw CVE-2017-5705, which sparked the aforementioned review of its source code for vulnerabilities.
Intel advises Microsoft and Linux users to download and run the Intel-SA-00086 detection tool to determine whether their systems are vulnerable to the above bugs. If you are at risk, you must obtain and install firmware updates from your computer's manufacturer, if and when they become available. The new code was developed by Intel, but it needs to be cryptographically signed by individual hardware vendors in order for it to be accepted and installed by the engine.
Lenovo was quick off the mark with patches for its gear ready to download.
We'll give you a roundup of fixes as soon as we can. It's not thought Apple x86 machines are affected as they do not ship with Intel's ME, as far as we can tell.
Today's news will no doubt fuel demands for Intel to ship components free of its Management Engine – or provide a way to fully disable it – so people can use their PCs without worrying about security bugs on mysterious secluded coprocessors. ®Transport Minister Gerry Brownlee is refusing to rule out nationwide petrol tax increases to help pay for a $12 billion shortfall in funding for major transport projects in Auckland.
He is also hinting that rail users may help fund a greater share of the cost of public transport or have passenger subsidies eased as public transport usage rises.
Yesterday a report commissioned by the Auckland Council on future transport funding concluded that one form or other of road tolling was inevitable to make up the $12 billion gab between the expected cost of committed projects and allocated funding.
Brownlee has already ruled out a series of options raised in the report, including a regional fuel tax, congestion charging and tolling on existing motorways.
However he was not ruling out an increase in nationwide fuel excise, on top of the three years of 3c/litre increases committed for 2013-2015.
''No one can do that [rule out excise increases],'' Brownlee told Radio New Zealand this morning.
''We've made it very clear that we think that's what's necessary and these things have come in annually or bi-annually for quite a long period of time,'' he said, adding fuel prices were ''quite confused'' by discounting.
Brownlee played down the significance of the apparent shortfall because the projects would be delivered over an extremely long timeline, with uncertainty over the start date of key projects.
''The gap is somewhat notional'' and was derived using assumptions over rail subsidies and public transport patronage calculations.
''But when you're looking at it over such a long horizon I think you've got to be careful that you don't knee jerk into positions that are very costly in the long term.''
Significant analysis would need to be conducted to work out funding options, but Brownlee signalled that be believed public transport could pay a larger share of the costs of the projects.
''At the moment there's quite a heavy subsidy on the rail. If you're taking a trip from West Auckland into Britomart, at the present the passenger subsidy is approaching $10,'' Brownlee said.
''So there's a lot of opportunity there as you see the new services coming on with a much more frequent interval and the possibility of those trains filling up, there's quite a big revenue stream that could potentially come from public transport.''Fonterra has lowered the forecast payout to dairy farmers for the current season.
Photo: 123RF
The dairy company reduced the farmgate milk price for the 2015/2016 season to $4.15 per kilogram of milk solids, down from $4.60 per kilo.
Combined with the earnings per share range of 45-55 cents, the total payout would be $4.60-$4.70. After retentions the forecast cash payout would be $4.50-$4.55 per kilo.
Chairman John Wilson said global economic conditions continued to be challenging and were having an impact on demand for a range of commodities, including dairy.
"Key factors driving dairy demand are declining international oil prices which have weakened the spending power of countries reliant on oil revenues, economic uncertainty in developing economies and a slow recovery of dairy imports into China.
"In addition, the Russian ban on European Union dairy imports continues to push more product on to the world market.
An imbalance between supply and demand continued to put pressure on global milk prices, said Mr Wilson. Since last September, prices on GlobalDairyTrade for whole milk powder had fallen 12 percent, and skim milk powder prices were down 8 percent.
"Although New Zealand farmers have responded to lower global prices by reducing supply, that has yet to happen in other regions, including Europe, where milk volumes have continued to increase."
Chief executive Theo Spierings said while global demand remained sluggish, Fonterra supported the general view that dairy prices would improve later this calendar year.
A key factor was when they EU would reduce supply in response to lower global prices. "These prices are clearly unsustainably low for farmers globally and cannot continue in the longer term."
Fonterra is the third dairy company to cut its forecast milk payout in the past two weeks. Open Country Dairy reduced its forecast payout last week, and Westland Milk followed suit earlier this week.A personal time management approach known as The Pomodoro Technique is becoming quite popular with agile practitioners. Pomodoro includes a number of practices similar to those used by an agile team: time-boxing, frequent opportunities to inspect-and-adapt, estimation, a preference for low-tech tools, and an emphasis on maintaining a sustainable pace.
Francesco Cirillo began developing the technique in the 80's, while he was a student. He was looking for a way to improve the quality of his study time and cut down on the distractions and interruptions that kept him from focusing.
So I made a bet with myself, as helpful as it was humiliating: “Can you study – really study - for 10 minutes?” I needed objective validation, a Time Tutor, and I found one in a kitchen timer shaped like a pomodoro (the Italian for tomato).
Over the next few years the technique evolved until about 1992, when it took the basic form that it still holds today. In Pomodoro, work is accomplished in uninterrupted 25-minute sessions called Pomodoros. At the end of each Pomodoro, there is a |
look and sustainability; others have said it may be striking but is architecturally unremarkable.
Image copyright charles hosea
The house replaced an existing two-storey cottage and although the new building has a much larger footprint, partly because of the owners' requirement for work space, it has been built with environmental considerations in mind.
"What we wanted was a very energy efficient house, which you can achieve much more easily if you build from scratch," said owner Michael Dunwell.
Cutting into the side of the hill and building underground has also greatly reduced the home's visual impact and grass planted on the roof helps it blend into the landscape.
Image copyright charles hosea Image caption Outhouse has a green roof and low visual impact on its surroundings
"Probably the biggest challenge of this project was how to fit a substantial piece of architecture into such a beautiful landscape," said architect Chris Loyn.
"It made sense to bring the top meadow over and have it as a planted roof. It's not an architectural green roof - this is a field on top of a house."
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If you are viewing this page on the BBC News app, tap here to see the full result.Netflix has made a “discovery.”
The streaming giant has nabbed worldwide rights to the film “The Discovery,” starring Robert Redford, Jason Segel and Rooney Mara. The movie will premiere on Netflix then hit select U.S. theaters next year.
Directed by Charlie McDowell and written by McDowell and Justin Lader, the sci-fi love story is set in a world with an afterlife, where millions are now taking their own lives in the hopes that committing suicide is akin to pushing a reset button.
Redford plays the man responsible for the scientific discovery, Segel portrays his son and Mara is the woman Segel’s character falls in love with who’s haunted by a tragic past.
“To describe the story as original doesn’t begin to capture the world that Charlie has created that will envelop you,” said Netflix COO Ted Sarandos. “Our global viewers are going to love this film.”
The pic also stars Jesse Plemons, Riley Keough and Ron Canada.
“The Discovery” was produced by Alex Orlovsky of Verisimilitude and James D. Stern of Endgame Entertainment, and was co-financed by Endgame Entertainment and Protagonist Pictures. Executive Producers are Mike Goodridge and Dimitra Tsingou for Protagonist, and Julie Goldstein and Lucas Smith for Endgame.
“The Discovery” joins Netflix’s growing slate of original films debuting this year, including “The Fundamentals of Caring,” starring Paul Rudd, Craig Roberts and Selena Gomez (premiering on June 24); “Tallulah,” toplined by Ellen Page and Allison Janney (July 29); “The Little Prince,” featuring the voices of Rudd, Jeff Bridges, Rachel McAdams, Marion Cotillard and Benicio Del Toro (August 5); and David Michôd’s “War Machine,” starring Brad Pitt, Anthony Michael Hall, Topher Grace and Will Poulter (fall of 2016).The White House will hold its first on-camera press briefing in nearly a month on Friday in the wake of press secretary Sean Spicer’s reported exit.
Deputy press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders will brief reporters on camera at 2 p.m., the White House said. It’s the first on-camera briefing since June 29.
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The briefing comes hours after Spicer reportedly resigned in the wake of President Trump hiring Anthony Scaramucci as his new communications director.
Trump reportedly asked that Spicer stay on, but Spicer declined to do so and told the president that hiring Scaramucci was a major mistake.
The White House has faced major criticism for barring cameras from briefings so frequently.
Trump's press staff says the change is meant to draw more attention to Trump's remarks, but in recent weeks staff members have held off-camera briefings on days when the president has no public events.South Carolina and Tennessee will continue its closely-contested rivalry on October 29 with kickoff set for 7:15 p.m. on either ESPN, ESPN2 or the SEC Network at Williams-Brice Stadium. It will be the fourth straight home game for the Gamecocks (2-4, 1-4), which step out of conference play this week to take on UMass.
Tennessee is riding a three-game winning streak over South Carolina with each victory, including one in overtime, coming by three points or less. The Gamecocks had a three-game winning streak of their own prior to UT’s run, which included an average margin of victory of 9.3 points per game.
The Volunteers (5-2, 2-2) currently sit tied for second place with Kentucky in the SEC East standings behind Florida (5-1, 3-1). Tennessee has a bye this week.
South Carolina, coming off of a bye week, will face UMass this Saturday at noon at Williams-Brice Stadium. The game will be televised on the SEC Network.Jackie Stewart's home in Geneva could hardly feel more removed from the mad swirl of the Formula One circus.
The oldest living world champion's abode, shared with his wife of 55 years, Lady Helen, is perched on a mountainside in Geneva, and is so serene it is almost silent. It is stifling hot when we visit, yet Stewart - now 78 - still shows all the vigour and zeal that made him a three-time winner of the most illustrious prize in motor sport.
He retains a keen interest in the modern-day championship, attending 10 races a year, and is far from a rose-tinted nostalgic. Yet there is regret in his voice when he contemplates the question of whether the sport has lost its soul in its aggressive pursuit of commercial riches.
Stewart won his first title nearly 50 years ago, battling with luminaries such as Graham Hill and Jim Clark, rivals but also close friends. And it is this loss of camaraderie in the modern-day paddock which makes him wince.
"There was a huge joint care for each other - we all knew each other well, the media included, because we all travelled together, we all ate together and in those days there was no motor homes. In the early days we would eat in the back of a transporter on little tables," he recalls.A photo of the author I was wrong about the Second Amendment: Why my view of guns totally changed I used to think calls for gun safety reform were overblown. Then the world changed -- and with it everything I knew
Noah Pozner did nothing to change my mind, except die. Before he died, I believed a few sensible gun laws could save children like Noah Pozner. After he died, after he and his Sandy Hook classmates were mowed down by a man with a gun, I changed my mind.
After he died, I realized an old custom had to die with him, so a nobler one could take its place. Before Noah Pozner died, I thought there was nothing wrong with the Second Amendment a little common sense couldn’t fix. After he died, I’ve come to believe “the right of the people to keep and bear Arms” no longer promotes our life, liberty and pursuit of happiness, but daily threatens them. How free are we when more people are shot and killed each year in America than populate the towns in which many of us live? How free are we when a backpack that unfolds into a bulletproof covering is a must-have item for schoolchildren?
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"A well-regulated Militia being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms shall not be infringed."
While I concede that a well-regulated militia might be necessary to the security of a free state, that role is now ably served by our military, professionally trained and highly disciplined, drawn from the ranks of our families and friends, from whom we have nothing to fear. We no longer need Minutemen. The British have not surrounded Concord. This is not "Independence Day" and we’re not under alien attack. I cannot imagine any circumstance in which our government would urge us to arm ourselves in defense of our country. Our nation has outgrown its need for an armed citizenry. The disadvantages of widespread gun ownership far outweigh any perceived advantage. Ask the parents of Noah Pozner. Ask African-American residents of Ferguson, Missouri. Ask what America’s love affair with guns has meant to them.
The merit of a position can be gauged by the temperament of its supporters, and these days the NRA reminds me of the folks who packed the courtroom of the Scopes monkey trial, fighting to preserve a worldview no thoughtful person espoused. This worship of guns grows more ridiculous, more difficult to sustain, and they know it, hence their theatrics, their parading through Home Depot and Target, rifles slung over shoulders. Defending themselves, they say. From what, from whom? I have whiled away many an hour at Home Depots and Targets and never once come under attack.
They remind me of the Confederates who fought to defend the indefensible, sacrificing the lives of others in order to preserve some dubious right they alone valued. They would rather die, armed to the teeth, than live in a nation free of guns and their bitter harvest. You can have my gun when you pry it from around my cold, dead fingers, their bumper stickers read. How empty their lives must be if life without a gun is not worth living.
The first thing Hitler did was confiscate guns, the gun lovers warn, a bald lie if ever there was one. But let’s suspend reality and imagine it was true. Where is the Hitler in Canada, in England, in Sweden, in every other civilized nation whose citizens have resolved to live without guns? Let the NRA trot out its tired canard about the housewife whose husband thoughtfully armed her, who shot the intruder and saved her family. I will tell you about the father who mistook his son for a burglar and shot him dead, about the man who rigged a shotgun in his barn to discourage thievery and accidentally slew his precious little girl when she entered the barn to play with her kittens.
What drives this fanaticism? Can I venture a guess? Have you noticed the simultaneous increase in gun sales and the decline of the white majority? After the 2010 census, when social scientists predicted a white minority in America by the year 2043, we began to hear talk of “taking back our country.” Gun shops popped up like mushrooms, mostly in the white enclaves of America’s suburbs and small towns. One can’t help wondering if the zeal for weaponry has been fueled by the same dismal racism that has propelled so many social ills.
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When I was growing up, our schools and colleges were unmatched, our medical care unrivaled, our infrastructure state-of-the-art, our opportunities unlimited. America set the gold standard. We can be great again, but not without addressing the fear and ignorance that feed our gun culture, for no nation can ascend until it cures the virus of violence. We cannot let the most fearful among us set our nation’s tone, lest we descend to that sorry state we labored centuries to rise above. It is time for America to grow up, to become adults, so that children like Noah Pozner have a fighting chance to do the same.Our BCP Patio Makeover + Big Savings!
*Disclosure: I did receive products and compensation to facilitate this review, these opinions are my own and were in no way influenced by another person.
I have recently shared with you a few deals from Best Choice Products and I have to tell you, I have been so impressed with this site that I have started a partnership with them and I will be sharing more and more of their deals with you. We recently did a patio makeover and I am excited to share the results with you!
Here’s a peek at how this HUGE set arrived at my house:
I can’t get over how easy this thing was to set up right out of the box! I had literally been shopping these sets for a few weeks and was having a hard time figuring out how I was going to get a set home from the store, they are HUGE. BCP solved that problem! Not only was the price cheaper on their site, but they also deliver for FREE and no joke, we had this thing unboxed and set up in about 20 minutes. (there are some clip hardware pieces that need to be attached to keep the sections together, and that took an additional 10 minutes).
Here’s a look at the very empty and boring spot that this set inspired me to make over:
And, here is a peek at the final results:
Here’s a fun video to show you the unboxing 6pc Outdoor Patio Garden Furniture Wicker Rattan Sofa Sectional set:
It really was super easy and what I love most of all is how affordable it was!! Plus, I didn’t have to spend a ton of time putting something together or dragging something home from a store. It all arrived in those 3 boxes and was set up in no time at all!
SAVE on Best Choice Products
The folks at Best Choice Products have offered me the chance to pass a GREAT deal along to you! Right now, you can save on TWO styles of these wicker patio furniture sets, including the one that I received which is the 6 pc. set.
Now through July 5th, the 6pc Outdoor Patio Garden Furniture Wicker Rattan Sofa Sectional Set (the set that I reviewed) is on sale for when you use coupon code: BCPSHESAVED3281 at checkout. Remember, shipping is FREE!
They are also offering a sweet deal on the The 7pc set (shown below)
Order the 7pc Outdoor Patio Garden Furniture Wicker Rattan Sofa Set Sectional just $599.99 shipped!! Just use coupon code: BCPSHESAVEDPATIO to get this awesome pricing.
I literally just shopped similar sets locally and not only were they more expensive, but they didn’t include the cushions or a table.
Sign Up for the BCP Rewards Program
When you sign up for the BCP Rewards program here, you instantly receive a coupon that will save you 10% on your first purchase but you will also instantly receive 50 points in your rewards account. (you should instantly receive a savings code).
These rewards add up quick, and a great way to stretch your shopping dollars even more! Here are some ways that you can earn points:
Once you acquire points, you can easily exchange them for products on the site. And I love that it’s not a skimpy rewards program either, they actually give you some pretty great rewards:
So, there you go! A new site and a new way to shop and save. I’ll be sharing more of my Best Choice Products experiences with you in the near future but make sure to take a peek around the site. I’m so impressed with this site and I think that you all will be too!
Make sure to sign up for the BCP Rewards program before you start shopping, to maximize your savings and start earning rewards, and then let me know what YOU find on the site!
The Giveaway
One lucky She Saved winner (US only) will win this fun Best Choice Products Deluxe Padded Cotton Hammock Hanging Chair!
I will leave this giveaway open until July 14th(mnt time) … once closed, I will select one winner who will have 48 hours to contact me to claim their prize! GOOD LUCK!!Educators from across the US who attend the ARRL’s Teachers Institutes on Wireless Technology enjoy the challenge and camaraderie of these professional development workshops. More important, they acquire knowledge and skills to help their students grasp the essentials of radio science, basic electronics, robotics, space and satellite communication technology and, of course, Amateur Radio. Funded through the generosity of donors, the ARRL Education & Technology Program (ETP) created the Teachers Institutes to offer educators hands-on training and experience with wireless technology fundamentals that will enable them to integrate wireless technology instruction into their classrooms. According to the teachers attending, they did just that.
“I have never come away from a professional development feeling like the course was designed to actually get us to use what was taught,” said recent workshop participant Glen Hanneman, KJ6BQK. “The amount of training, resources, and networking opportunities the TI workshop afforded me is astounding! Having vertical integration with colleagues from fifth grade to junior college gave me a great perspective on how the technology instructional progression runs.”
ARRL Headquarters in Newington, Connecticut, and Parallax Inc in Rocklin, California hosted “Introduction to Wireless Technology” sessions this year, and two dozen teachers from 14 states took advantage of the opportunity.
“Educators from around the nation seem to have the same challenges getting [technology] into the classroom as I have, no matter the grade level,” said Hanneman, who took part in the California workshop. Nine participants at that session already had Amateur Radio licenses, but a ham ticket is not a requirement for enrollment.
Tommy Gober, N5DUX, an instructional technologist at LeTourneau University in Longview, Texas, taught the California workshop, held July 15-18. He kept a journal that detailed the day-to-day activities and discussions that the TI inspired. The first day of class Gober reviewed the basics of electronics, and that quickly generated the first of many discussions within the group.
On day three of his TI session Gober demonstrated a ham radio “fox hunt” and a successful ham radio contact with the SaudiSat-1C (SO-50) satellite. Workshop participants also got a bird’s eye view of Earth via the NOAA-19 (NOAA-N Prime) satellite. “Several [teachers] were instantly hooked as soon as you could make out the peninsula in the Baja Mexico and the Gulf of California,” Gober recounted.
Teacher Elizabeth Frank, who attended the TI-1 session at Parallax, appreciated the hands-on aspect that Gober’s workshop provided, as well as his attitude. “[In] a powerful response to a student’s complaint, ‘This is too hard,’ [Gober] said that the truth is that, ‘It’s not hard, it’s just new.’ This viewpoint was extremely encouraging,” said Frank.
ARRL Education & Technology Program Director Mark Spencer, WA8SME, instructed the TI session at ARRL Headquarters July 8-11. Eight of the participants at that session were hams. “It’s fast-paced, but in the end, it kinda gels together,” Spencer said about the TI session. Within their allotted four days the workshops cover an ambitious curriculum. The differing levels of knowledge among the teachers helps shape each session’s progress. Sometimes Spencer finds he can’t cover everything he’d like to. Spencer’s group of educators was eager to learn and interact with each other, and that sometimes drove them off topic. As one TI attendee recalled, “[Spencer was] accessible and open to all questions, even when they went in the ‘wrong’ direction or ended up making us dwell on a given topic for ‘too long.’”Spencer didn’t let such “bird walks” hinder him from returning to the main agenda to cover microcontrollers, programming and robotics.
In the workshops’ robotics section teachers build and program a Parallax Boe-Bot®. On the floor of ARRL Headquarters’ main hallway, Spencer created a black electrical tape maze in the shape of the letter “E.” Teachers practiced programming the Boe-Bots to stay within the lines, in the process learning the fundamentals of BASIC programming.
Spencer said feedback from teachers and instructors alike is imperative to keep the TI seminars attuned to teachers’ needs. “Attending the TI has been one of the best experiences of my life,” Frank said at the end of her workshop. “I signed up in order to learn more about the science behind wireless communications and to gain confidence in introducing ham radio into my classroom. The Institute has surpassed my expectations for both of these goals.”
For his part, student Gordon Romney, AG2G, said he was grateful to have been selected to participate in a TI. “I learned new concepts in so many areas. Please thank the donors, ARRL and Parallax for making this program possible.”
Your support of the ARRL Education & Technology Program will help ARRL to continue this important educational initiative.Still gun-shy after her bitter divorce from bad-boy biker Jesse James, SANDRA BULLOCK, 47, was pinning her hopes for true love on close pal RYAN REYNOLDS, sources say.
But the 34-year-old hunk – who’s become a father figure to Sandra’s adopted son Louis – is still holding a torch for his ex-wife Scarlett Johansson, insiders say.
“Ryan and Sandy have been spending a lot of time together – even vacationing in Jackson Hole, Wyo., in mid-August,” a source told The ENQUIRER. “She was hoping the relationship could move to the next level.
“Ryan told Sandy she’s the best friend a guy could have, but that he could never see her as anything more than that.
“And when he told Sandy he’s still got a place in his heart for Scarlett, she was devastated and in tears.”
Ryan and Sandra played an on-screen couple in the 2009 rom-com “The Proposal,” and Sandy leaned on the “Green Lantern” star for support after Jesse’s cheating ended their five-year marriage, sources say.
The couple even spentNew Year’s Eve together with friends at Sandra’s restaurant in Austin, Texas, and Ryan toted little Louis on his back during their family-like hike in Wyoming.
“Ryan is the only father figure Louis has ever known,” said the source.
“He even calls Ryan ‘da-da’ when they’re together. Every time Sandy hears that, her heart melts.UPDATE: The Wood County Sheriff's office says Audrey Smith, was found safe.
The Wood County Sheriff is searching for a missing juvenile who was last seen on Monday, June 19th.
Audrey Lynn Smith, 15, was last seen at her home in Grand Rapids around 10P.M. Monday night.
The sheriff's office says there is no evidence of foul play and it appears she left from her home voluntarily.
Audrey has long brown hair, brown eyes, is 5ft. 3 inches tall and weighs 135lbs. She does not have any tattoos or birthmarks, and there is no description of what she was wearing when she was last seen.
It is believed that Audrey is in the Grad Rapids, Weston, or Toledo area. Anyone with information is asked to call the Wood County Sheriff's Office: 419-354-9001.Description
From Healthy Recipes to tangy Appetizers and choco cookie recipes to vegetarian yummz, COOK endless delish and easy recipes with ChefChili. This is not all, ChefChili brings you with recipes of polar extremes of the line whether it's Easter, Christmas cooking or simply preparing Grilled chicken recipes for New Year's Eve and Thanksgiving treat. We know that you love your dear ones, so prepare special Menu planner for them with healthy breakfast recipes, healthy dinner recipes and even healthy desserts. You always want to see them fit and fine. Isn't it? Also check for Food, HouseHold, Remedy, Wellness and Miscellaneous TIPs. In addition, refine your search with Turbo search. Get a chance to showcase your recipes across the globe with us. Your kitchen is not boring anymore, so just cook to your heart's content with none other than ChefChili.Screenshot via BBC video
Thousands of octopuses have washed up on the shore of northern Portugal and scientists are stumped about why. They're calling it an environmental disaster, and are issuing a rather strange warning. BBC reports that while no cause is known, officials are warning the public not to eat the animals. Because staring at thousands of mysteriously dead octopuses would cause people rush to assume they make a safe dinner?
At this point, we don't have much information, but we'll keep an ear to the ground for what is going on.
Here is a video showing the beach where the octopuses were discovered.
More on Octopuses
Octopus Is First Invertebrate to Use Tools, Turning a Coconut Into Mobile Home (Video)
Rare Antarctic Sea Life Photographed by ResearchersIt’s easy to get sidetracked in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. Whether it’s the Worm Guard, the Berimbolo attack or some crazy submission, there’s always the temptation to train the latest, greatest technique to the exclusion of all other moves.
I’m actually OK with some degree of shiny object syndrome.
Most people doing BJJ are doing it for fun. And if you’re having fun trying to incorporate a one-handed-cartwheel-sleeve-choke-entry into your game then who am I to judge!
But it’s a question of degrees…
Spend 20% of your training time on the one-handed-cartwheel-sleeve-choke entry, AND spend 80% of your training time on the tried-and-true techniques, making sure to round out your skill set.
But which specific skills should you work on?
Well, that’s what this email is all about!
Early in your BJJ development you should be a generalist.
This means developing basic skills in ALL areas of BJJ. (Eventually you’ll probably specialize a little bit more, but that comes much later, usually around purple belt).
So for now you need to make sure that you’re covering all your bases. You really don’t want there to be severely underdeveloped areas of your game!
One way to figure out whether there are major holes in your game is to use a checklist like the one below.
Here are the 6 major positions (with 3 sub-positions) in BJJ. Try ranking them in order of how much you know about them:
1a) Closed guard
1b) Open guard
1c) Half guard
2) Side mount
3) Knee mount
4) Full mount
5) Rear mount
6) Turtle position
(If you want a more detailed breakdown of these positions please download my free book A Roadmap for Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu)
This ordered list of 8 positions then becomes a handy tool to decide which techniques to practice, and what positions you should start your sparring in.
Remember, usually you make your fastest progress by working your weakest area!
But if you want to get even more organised in your training then subdivide these positions even further.
Lets split each of the above positions into three technical areas:
Submissions from that position. Transitions from the position to an even better position. Escapes/guard passes if you’re caught in that position.
When we take consider those three types of skills for each of the major positions, we end up with 24 skill sets:
Closed guard submissions Closed guard passes Closed guard sweeps Open guard submissions Open guard passes Open guard sweeps Half guard submissions Half guard passes Half guard sweeps Side mount submissions Side mount transitions Side mount escapes Knee mount submissions Knee mount transitions Knee mount escapes Full mount submissions Full mount transitions Full mount escapes Rear mount submissions Rear mount transitions Rear mount escapes Turtle submissions Turtle transitions Turtle escapes
Normally I don’t assign homework, but I want you to try this. Go down this list of 24 skills and figure out if you know at least two techniques for each area.
To be able to flow and spar and play and feel comfortable on the ground you need to have at least a few good options for each one of the above 24 areas.
This approach also helps you identify areas for improvement.
Hypothetically, let’s say that you know 17 different sweeps from the open guard, but you’re completely lost when you get stuck in the half guard.
Question for you: if that’s the case, should you work on more open guard techniques, or spend some quality time on the half guard?
I bet you just answered the question yourself, didn’t you?
P.S. On pages 29 to 31 of my Roadmap for Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu book there are lots of examples of specific techniques for each of the 24 skills mentioned above.
Click here to download the Roadmap for BJJ book for free from Grapplearts.com
Comments ( )A week after a series of attacks on Africans in Delhi, India's external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj was trolled for a tweet asking Indians to shake hand and say "India loves you" every time they met an "African citizen".
The tweet came a week after a Congolese man was beaten to death in Delhi, with two other attacks on people from Nigeria, Uganda and South Africa in the national capital and Hyderabad a few days later. The Indian government has promised action against the attackers after numerous African diplomats asked the government to take immediate steps to ensure the safety of their citizens, most of them students.
I appeal to fellow Indians. Next time you meet an African citizen, pl shake hand and say 'India loves you'.
Pl RT — Sushma Swaraj (@SushmaSwaraj) June 2, 2016
The attack comes a few months after a mob assaulted a group of Tanzanians in Bengaluru in February. The state government had denied that the attack was racist.
Yesterday, Swaraj had said that the attacks were "criminal" rather than "racial" in nature. "These were not premeditated acts against a particular community, rather these were spontaneous attacks perpetrated by anti-social and criminal elements,” Swaraj said in a statement. In another tweet, she promised to start sensitisation program "to reiterate that such incidents against foreign nationals embarrass the country."
However, several Twitter users pointed out the problems in her latest tweet.
"African citizen"
I don't have an updated map like Sushma ji has. Please point me to the country called Africa. pic.twitter.com/GjtM0VW917 — Maharana Brumby (@brumbyOz) June 2, 2016
Dear Jonty Rhodes, India loves you — Ajith (@ajith27) June 2, 2016
"India loves you."
African citizen: "Can you locate Malawi in the map of Africa?"
"Umm... Look, let's just stop at India loves you." — Pushkar (@Pushkarr) June 2, 2016
India Loves You*.
*Conditions apply. — Krupakar Manukonda (@krupakar_m) June 2, 2016
Or shake fist, beat crap out of him (or strip her, depending) and say India loves you https://t.co/E6XPIN9ptQ — Prasanto K Roy (@prasanto) June 2, 2016
Barack Ji, India loves you pic.twitter.com/m1Cq4H4aLd — Ajith (@ajith27) June 2, 2016
Next time you receive an email from a Nigerian Prince, immediately reply 'India loves you' — Sidvee (@sidvee) June 2, 2016
Have something to add to this story? Share it in the comments.Electronic Arts claimed fans would drive development of the newly minted free-to-play Command & Conquer and, for now at least, the publisher is living up to its word. Originally announced as a multiplayer only game, Command & Conquer will now include a single-player campaign thanks to fan feedback.In mid-August, EA announced that in-development Command & Conquer Generals 2 would become part of the RTS franchise's transition to free to play. As part of that transition to F2P, the single-player campaign of Generals 2, which BioWare Victory had been working on for well over a year, would be scrapped.If GameSpy's comments section is any indication of fan reaction to the announcement, EA should have, at the very least, carried the Generals 2 campaign over to F2P C&C. Well, in an interview with The Verge, EA Labels President Frank Gibeau said that feedback came through loud and clear. There may be no going back from F2P for C&C, but a new single-player campaign will be included."Our intention with Command & Conquer is to create a triple-A experience," Gibeau told The Verge. "And by that I mean we're using Frostbite tech, we're using very high-end graphics. Does that mean it's not going to have single-player? No, that's something we've obviously heard loud and clear that is important to people.""The beauty of free-to-play, is that we can adjust and adapt to what we're hearing as opposed to, 'I'm sorry, it's two months from ship and it is what it is.' It's a very different model because you don't have to build as much. You build in response to your audience."'The problem with this government is they have all the laws and they don’t enforce the law,’ Richard Gordon says at Rappler’s ‘The Leader I Want’ senatorial debate
Published 4:42 PM, April 15, 2016
MANILA, Philippines – Senatorial candidate Richard Gordon slammed the government on Friday, April 15, over a deadly farmers’ protest linked to drought in the southern Philippines.
“That’s all lack of vision,” Gordon said during the second #TheLeaderIWant senatorial debate organized by Rappler. (READ: The Leader I Want: Richard Gordon’s to-fix list)
Gordon was referring to the Kidapawan protest that killed at least two people and injured hundreds. (READ: Kidapawan and the rice riots)
The farmers staged the protest to demand the release of calamity funds and 15,000 sacks of rice, among other things.
Gordon, a long-time Olongapo City mayor who now chairs the Philippine Red Cross, said that “what happened in Kidapawan could have been predicted.”
To address the effects of the El Niño, for instance, the government could have “converted” the land.
Gordon hits ‘boutique politics’
“What we need is vision,” said Gordon, who said he authored the national disaster risk reduction law and put the words “risk reduction” there.
Gordon was later asked by senatorial candidate Leila de Lima, the Philippines’ former justice chief, what “legal infrastructure” he wants to put in place to address the problem.
Gordon responded, “The problem with this government is they have all the laws and they don’t enforce the law.”
He also criticized “boutique politics in our legislation.”
The Kidapawan protest was tackled, too, in the first #TheLeaderIWant senatorial debate organized by Rappler.
In the first debate, senatorial candidate Lorna Kapunan said, “The Kidapawan incident will happen again because this government has not addressed the issue of climate change and climate justice.” – Rappler.comOrganised crime gangs dealing in fake goods, drugs, human trafficking, and the illicit wildlife trade earn nearly $90 billion annually in East Asia and the Pacific, a UN report showed Tuesday.
A nurse looks after a baby, rescued from human traffickers, in a hospital in Xichang, southwest China's Sichuan province, December 18, 2012. Organised crime groups dealing in fake goods, drugs, human trafficking and illicit wildlife trade earn nearly $90 billion annually in East Asia and the Pacific, a UN report showed Tuesday.
"Transnational Organised Crime in East Asia and the Pacific: A Threat Assessment" is the most comprehensive study ever undertaken of the subject, the UN Office on Drugs and Crime said.
It estimates that the top money-makers for criminal groups are the trade in counterfeit goods ($24.4 billion), illegal wood products ($17 billion), heroin ($16.3 billion) and methamphetamines ($15 billion).
Fake medicines ($5 billion), the black market trade in used electronics components to avoid legitimate recycling ($3.75 billion) and the illegal wildlife trade ($2.5 billion) also rank highly.
Migrant smuggling and the trafficking of women and girls for prostitution or general labour also earn crime bosses hundreds of millions of dollars each year.
UNODC deputy executive director Sandeep Chawla said the report opened the window on "the mechanics of illicit trade: the how, where, when, who and why of selected contraband markets affecting this region".
"It looks at how criminal enterprises have developed alongside legitimate commerce and taken advantage of distribution and logistics chains," he said at the launch in Sydney.
Chawla highlighted the growing problem of heroin. Consumption is rising across the region -- estimated at 65 million tons in 2011 -- with Chinese the main users and Myanmar the key producer.
"Myanmar is the principal source of opiates in Southeast Asia. Doing something about tackling opiates in Myanmar is a very important thing for the region," said Chawla.
"Clearly that is something that more attention can be given to with the change in government that's happening in the country at the moment.
Jeremy Douglas, the UNODC regional representative for Southeast Asia and the Pacific, said many of the organised criminal activities could have serious global health implications.
"Between one-third to 90 percent of anti-malarial drugs tested in Southeast Asia are fraudulent," he said, with China and India the main culprits in production.
"They do not contain what they say they do. Sub-standard drugs have two serious public health consequences: One: people get sicker or die; Two: drug-resistant strains can develop and cause a global health threat."
With rapid economic growth leading to a proliferation of criminal networks, he said the threat was now so great that it has the ability to "destabilise societies around the globe".
"Illicit profits from crimes in East Asia and the Pacific can buy property and companies and corrupt anywhere," he said.
"We need to talk about this, and organise a coordinated response now. It takes a network to defeat a network."
The trade in counterfeit goods is the most lucrative activity, despite being considered a "soft" form of crime, with China the worst culprit.
According to the World Customs Organisation, 75 percent of all fake products seized worldwide from 2008 to 2010 were from East Asia, primarily China, with the industry accounting for some two percent of world trade.
"The key players in counterfeit markets are brokers and logisticians who connect supply and demand," the report said.Gerd Mueller has paid tribute to Lionel Messi for breaking his record of most goals in a calendar year.
Mueller scored 85 times for Bayern Munich and West Germany in 1972 but Messi has eclipsed that with 86 goals for Barcelona and Argentina in 2012.
Messi's goals by minute
"My record stood for 40 years - 85 goals in 60 games. Now the best player in the world has broken it," Mueller told German newspaper Sport1.de.
"I'm delighted for him. He is an incredible player, gigantic."
Former striker Mueller was 27 when he scored 72 for Bayern Munich and 13 for West Germany, setting the previous record.
Three-time World Player of the Year Messi, 25, has two league matches and one King's Cup tie to |
flexible, not restrictive, merely functioning as a backbone for support.
9. Consistency is always key
It’s easy to simply say you’re going to do something. Perhaps its Saturday and you’ve set yourself the task of starting an assignment.
But suddenly its 8pm on a Sunday night and you haven’t left your bed yet.
More often than not, starting something may just very well be the hardest part.
Well begun is half done. Use the oldest trick in the book: Set a timer to 20 minutes, in which you force yourself to start. Watch yourself break the ice and discover it might not be as hard as you’d imagined it to be. Even if it is, you’ll be happy you ended up getting something done and left with more knowledge than you had at the start, perhaps in terms of following steps.
You may discover you need to ask for help or allocate more time for the task in your schedule than you initially thought. That way you won’t abandon it, then surprise yourself with an unmanageable workload one day before the deadline.
10. Learn From Others
You’re never alone when you’re struggling with your work.
Active communication is a discipline that concurs with comprehension. Your school community is filled with people who’ve either dealt with this experience or are there to help. Perhaps, your friends are equally as stuck? Get together and form a study group, in which the exchange may raise new insights into a task you didn’t understand before. Not only that – vocally reviewing notes and quizzing each other will reinforce your understanding of the material.
Ask your teachers. They’ll be happy to explain anything you might not have understood during that one class. Visit youtube. There’s a multitude of qualified educators which might explain a subject better than your teacher did, and your understanding will consolidate naturally.
11. A Balancing Act
Remember, the I.B shouldn’t enslave you or rob you of your social life.
It’s simply excessive and altogether unsustainable to stay on top of your work without weaving in a mental break during the IB. It’s at your discretion what you make of it, and it’ll only treat you as such if you don’t prepare and stay organized.
There’s enough time for friends and family on the weekend, fun during holidays and activities after school. Just make sure you avail yourself to the time you’ve allocated to studying as well. If you feel overwhelmed, take a break and do something fun. If you’re of the over-achieving kind, keep in mind that overworking yourself is counterproductive.
Nobody will execute you for having a bit of fun.
12. Go on Hiatus
I positively ascribe my I.B results to bursting my social media bubble just before the exams. Trust me, I have this one pegged.
Although undoubtedly a nightmare for most millennials, ridding yourself of the social media is easier than you think. I deactivated what I considered the most distracting of social apps for weeks before my exams and almost instantaneously, felt a vast expanse in time to spare for leisure activities still within the realm of my study plan.
I got in hours of work daily, simply eliminating the accumulated sum of moments in my day, otherwise spent checking social platforms, then rescheduling accordingly. Ridding yourself of the unnecessary mental clutter also frees up bandwidth for enhanced concentration. You’ll be finding yourself subconsciously recycling study material mentally, as opposed to social media related thoughts. This translates into an effective technique to reinforce your memory so you can recall things with greater ease during exams.
Once you get to the actual exam, you’ll notice a strengthened ability to focus and less distraction when recalling information.
13. Mix up the scene
It’s worth separating your study space from space for recreation. When it came to final exam preparation, I spent days in the library as an alternative to working at home.
Your room is an environment rife with distractions. Its subconscious capacity to lure the brain into a state of relaxation is a direct assault on productivity.
Additionally, a cluttered desk is said to foster a cluttered mind. If you’re not one to enjoy tidying up, find a study space elsewhere, perhaps your local library or a quiet area in school. Each night before you go to sleep, re-read the study material of that day in the comfort of your bed.
A host of research suggests, that strengthened memory retention is directly correlated to sleeping right after learning, as your brain rewires neural connections when you sleep to process and cement new memories. Simply put, success hinges on sleep. However, this only counts for memorizing: struggling to grapple with new concepts late at night, cramming or prioritizing studying over sleep is altogether ineffectual. If you didn’t manage to complete your studies that day simply accept it, sleep and move on.
Give yourself time to recover and let your brain solidify that which you were able to cover during your studies that day – don’t stress about what you didn’t cover.
As aforementioned, balance is a vital aspect of your lives, especially when it comes to maintaining an active social and productive work To study well, you need the freedom to think well – and that’s not within the comfort of your personal space of relaxation, with a bed inviting you for a nap.
AdvertisementsHitting fat, thin, and topped shots isn’t any fun. But it’s what happens when you fail to make solid contact with your irons. You probably know this. You probably also know the feel of a solidly struck ball, which requires swinging down and through the back of the ball.
Unfortunately, most of us don’t make solid contact consistently enough. Instead, you’re like the golfers we work with in our golf instructions sessions. They make poor contact way too many times and generate far too many fat, thin, and topped shots.
These miscues are costly. They can prevent you from breaking 80 and from shrinking your golf handicap. Making solid contact more consistently, however, boosts ballstriking and reduces scores. That’s fun.
Key To Making Solid Contact
The key to making solid contact is creating lag in your swing—as we tell students in golf lessons. Poor swings have a “one-two swing” tempo. This tempo occurs when you rush through the transition at the top. Rushing prevents you from swinging down and through the ball—a necessity in iron play.
Tour players’ swings, on the other hand, have a one AND two swing tempo. The AND is really a slight almost imperceptible pause at the top of their backswing. It occurs just before their lower bodies shift their weight and rotate their arms as you begin your downswing motion.
This effort is called creating lag. It does four key things. It:
• Shifts your weight onto your front leg before impact
• Allows you to narrow the bend in your right elbow and right wrist that you need to hit down and through.
• Lets your legs and hips reach maximum speed before your shoulders and arms
• Allows your shoulders and arms to reach top speed well before your wrists and club do
Put simply, creating lag stores tremendous energy and then transfers that energy to the ball through your swing. That’s where power comes from.
Three Drills That Teach Solid Contact
Creating more lag eliminates fat, thin, and topped irons shots. Use the following three drills to grove a swing that creates lag:
Right Arm Drill
Grip a 7-iron with only your right hand and assume a normal setup position. Now swing the club down and through as if you’re hitting a golf ball. If you have room, you can use a plastic ball in this drill.
Swinging one-handed forces you to power the club by pivoting your lower body. As you do, feel the bending of your right arm and wrist increase as the lower body rotates. Remember this feeling when on the course.
Step Drill
Set up to the ball as you normally would with a 7-iron. Move your front foot back so it’s almost touching your back foot. Next, swing the club back until your left arm passes parallel to the ground, then lift your front leg off the ground and step toward the target. Swing all the way through the ball and into the finish.
Having to wait until your front foot hits the ground creates the “AND” you need to generate lag in your swing. It’s a critical “feel” to remember.
Pivot Drill:
Place a club across your chest and assume your normal setup position. Turn your upper body away as if starting your swing. Before completing your swing, shift your lower body onto your front foot and continue rotating to the finish.
The Pivot drill teaches you to rotate your lower body before allowing your shoulders to move into the downswing. That’s critical to making solid contact with your irons. Do this drill slowly at first.
Working on these three drills improves ballstriking? They’ll teach you to imitate the one AND two swing that creates more in your swing, improving your ball striking.
Hitting thin, topped, and fat shots isn’t any fun. Making solid contact is. The more often you make solid contact with your irons the better your chances of breaking 80 and shrinking your golf handicap to single digits.Excuse me, what?
WHAT?
WHAT!?!?!?!
This is really a thing on tumblr apparently. Blogs upon blogs upon fucking blogs of people who have outright and boldfacedly said that they have HIT THEIR SIGNIFICANT OTHER? I’m not talking about like “Oh haha I smacked his head for being a dork” or “I’ma little rough when we play punchbuggy.” No these are girls talking about how they have physically beaten- BEATEN their boyfriends. The people they claim to care about. The person they claim is “up to their standards” (which can be ridiculous standards mind you.) These same girls who have posted endless blogs about domestic abuse, who have never once shut up about how life is so SCARY for women because we could be beaten or raped or murdered at any fucking time- THESE WOMEN… Are beating their boyfriends. What is more disturbing than the hypocrisy it presents, is the MENTALITY behind it. They claim without any kind of hesitation that they DESERVED it, that for reasons ranging from saying something mildly offensive to not doing something correctly they have HIT their lovers with a CLOSED fist and had them AGREE that they deserved it. They are beating and breaking these poor men while preaching about being OPRESSED?
God dammit that is like a KKK member saying they’re oppressed while lynching a black man. Okay well maybe not quite that extreme but you get the idea. These men aren’t their boyfriends anymore. in fact they have ceased to humanize them completely. they’re misbehaved pets. They’re abused property. These men deserve just as much support and sympathy and help as the women who go through the pain because they are feeling the same fear,the same hurt, and sadly the same love. They might even be bigger or stronger than these women and they aren’t putting a hand back at them which tells me something really serious-
BEING PHYSICALLY BIGGER ISN’T THE SOURCE OF ALL POWER, ASSHOLES.
Just because you are smaller does not mean you always get to be the victim. You can be an abuser at any size. Just like you can be a victim at any size. You can be an abuser at any gender. You can be a victim at any gender. You are not a special snowflake or a warrior you are not teaching men anything other than the fact that you will never be a nurturing or supportive partner. you will never be an equal partner you will always bee a controlling abusive cocksucker. The same kind of controlling abusive cocksucker that you see on episodes of cops. the same kind you read about in the paper. if you hit your men you will hit your children. if you hit your woman you will hit your children. It doesn’t matter if you’re in a same sex relationship either. there is nothing more redeeming about he abuser being the female.I really hate this term and I HATE using it but you bitches have force me to use it.
Fuck you and your pussy-pass.
Thats what you’re doing. you are proving yourselves to be unequal by exploiting special social treatment given to you for being women. Fuck you all. you’ve set us back 50 years with this wicked-wife bullshit. Go back to sitting in your castle towers with plots to murder your step daughters you cackling witches.
(P.S. I also love how these same women reblog hate against BDSM. Where people CONSENSUALLY beat he crap out of each other but when its not consensual its just fine right because you’re a girl and that’s smashing the patriarchy? Right? lololololol god I’m done with this gay earth.)So you’re putting together a scientific conference. You’ve chosen your topic, location and date. You’ve booked a venue and lined up sources for coffee, lunch and cocktails. You have all your podiums in a row. You’re scouring the planet for the top experts in the field, hoping that you can get enough of them in one room at one time to spark a great conversation, launch a new initiative, maybe even shift a paradigm or two. Here’s something that might help you accomplish that: invite an artist.
Why should conferences invite artists? What do they bring to the table? I asked Regina Holliday, who has been live-painting at health care conferences for three years. “I disrupt them,” says Holliday. “I give them a different worldview,” adding that her “very visual” take on the proceedings of large meetings can cut through the massive pileup of verbal information that most conferences provide.
That outsider perspective is key, says Ben Lillie of TED, noting that “inviting people who engage with culture is crucial if a field wants to be relevant.” Some conferences have already figured this out. One of the most innovative meetings in the science field, TEDMED, an offshoot of TED that focuses on the future of health and medicine, featured not only top researchers, but a songwriter, a poet, and a dancer at its 2013 conference. Students and faculty from the Rhode Island School of Design painted portraits of all the speakers, which were used in printed materials and on-site.
The AAAS (American Association for the Advancement of Science) took the theme “The Beauty and Benefits of Science” for its 2013 meeting, which featured panels such as Art as a Way of Knowing and Integrating Art and Design into STEM Education. ScienceOnline 2013, a major gathering of science communicators, featured a broad range of panels on science-related art ranging from cartooning to video to rap. But these are exceptions. Most scientific conferences follow a predictable format: presentations by researchers, panel discussions and poster sessions. Breaking the mold requires a leap of imagination.
Regina Holliday was already painting murals about her own and others’ bruising experiences with the medical system, when Kevin Kruse of ePatient Connections asked her to speak at a meeting in 2010, and suggested she live-paint her interpretations of other speakers’ messages and auction off the finished paintings for charity. She hasn’t stopped since, attending dozens of meetings and conferences, including TEDMED, and generally producing a canvas a day based on the proceedings. At many such meetings, “the people on stage get to speak, but the people in the audience don’t. But I’m in the audience painting, so people talk to me,” says Holliday. She says that her role enables her to express the content of the people in the crowd as well as those on stage.
Of course, not every artist can whip up a masterpiece on-site. What works for Holliday, who paints with acrylics, would clearly not be practical for an artist working in clay, glass or fiber. However, less portable types of art can easily be incorporated into conferences in other ways, via projections or video, for example. If the venue allows, large-scale art can be installed ahead of time or exhibits coordinated at nearby spaces which could then host lunches or cocktail receptions for conference-goers.
Biology professor and frequent conference attendee Jonathan Eisen notes, “Art added to talks can be very powerful and allow or force people to think differently about the topic.” Instead of (or in addition to) text-based slides, presenters can show artwork relevant to their topics. For example, biologist Jack Gilbert of Argonne Labs often shows this piece that I painted based on his microbiome work when he speaks at meetings, and Eisen suggests that artwork could also be shown alongside research posters.
Certainly, there are areas of science in which art is directly relevant to the research. Visual and auditory processing, for example, are fields that practically demand art and music as an integral part of presentations of the science. But artists are working on many topics that would also fit easily into conference programs. I could see Jessica Beels’ sculpted paper neurons and viruses at SfN or ASM. Rebecca Kamen’s Elemental Garden, based on the periodic table, at ACS. Laura Moriarty’s geologic strata in encaustic at AGU. And imagine Angela Mele’s gorgeous paintings of slime molds presented to a room full of mycologists. Bliss!
Which brings up another point: Inviting artists to scientific conferences is not only good for scientists, it’s good for artists. Major scientific meetings like AAAS, ASM and ACS are attended by around 10,000 people every year. The mammoth SfN annual meeting brings in nearly 30,000. Meanwhile, an artist might work for years on a gallery show that only attracts a few hundred. Online exposure can expand the audience, certainly. But scientists continue to travel and pay to attend conferences in person, even when they can stream them live on their laptops for free. Why? Because the experience of being there – the conversations, the introductions, the total immersion in their chosen field – is worth the time and effort. This is true for artists too.
Artists at scientific conferences can do far more than show and discuss their work. They can talk about the science that inspires them, or in some cases the science they have developed to carry out their work. Some examples might be Franziska Schenk’s work on iridescent paint chemistry or Charlotte Jarvis’ development of a bio-engineered bacterium for an art project. They can explore ways that artwork can be used to communicate science to new audiences or to evoke a sense of wonder.
“Scientists desperately need to interact with artists more,” says Jonathan Eisen, who attends up to 10 scientific conferences a year. “One good way to do that is to have an artist invited to the meetings.”
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Need some more suggestions for artists to invite? Start hereDespite the radio blackouts, the blast is unlikely to cause major issues here on Earth, researchers said.
"Given the impulsive nature of this event, as well as the source location on the eastern limb of the sun, we are not expecting a radiation storm at Earth," scientists with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Space Weather Prediction Center wrote in an update Tuesday evening.
Wednesday's outburst clocked in at X2.7, outranking the previous flare champion of 2015 — an X2.2 storm that erupted March 11 from a sunspot known as AR12297.
The space weather forecasters said more solar storms could be coming soon. "We are expecting several active regions to be rotating onto the visible disk later this week and into the weekend," they wrote in the update.
This is a condensed version of a report from Space.com. Read the full report. Follow Mike Wall on Twitter and Google+. Follow Space.com on Twitter, Facebook or Google+.We all associate the Adirondack Park with being a pristine wilderness area full of endless opportunities for outdoor recreation. But, like all places, there is more to these small towns and villages in Upstate New York than simply what fits on a postcard. From "The Boob" to conspiracy theories, the Adirondacks has its share of oddities. Don't believe me? Then, check out this list of weird things that are sure to leave you wondering.
7 Weird Sites in the Adirondacks
1. Hoss's Country Corner
If you have ever been to Long Lake, NY than you probably recognize this iconic Adirondack store. From first glance everything seems normal about Hoss's County Corner... but then you do a double take.
From this angle it is easier to see what's a "little off" about this store. On the left hand side of the building do you notice the tree coming out of the roof? This is not an illusion... it is in fact a live tree growing up through this entire portion of the store. I know that this area of the Adirondacks is the birth of the Great Camp style of architecture, a style of architecture that is known to be the first to co-exist with nature; but this is really taking it to a whole new extreme!
According to Jules Pierce, who manages the family business, "The tree is actually a live tree. There is a false building built around the tree so that the tree lives in the ground. It is just one of the many things my father has done over the 43 years that they have owned the business to put a little bit of the Adirondacks into the store."
2. Pig Rock
When you are driving north along NYS Route 30 from Speculator to Indian Lake you might suddenly think you are in the middle of a giant game of Angry Birds. Don't be alarmed, the elevation is not making you hallucinate! You are also not about to be hit by wingless birds being catapulted in your direction via a giant slingshot... you simply just passed Pig Rock!
This big piggy came to life sometime in the 1960s after the daughters of a Whitaker Lake resident painted the giant boulder that was created by NYS DOT during a road construction project that took place in 1955. For years to follow the rock has been cared for & maintained by camp residents of nearby Deerfoot Lodge, a boys Christian summer camp on the lake. A 1991 article in The Gazette stated that DOT wanted to demolish the Pig in order to widen the shoulder of the road. Protesters gathered at this iconic roadside landmark to "support Pig Rock." Today, thanks to their efforts, visitors are still able to enjoy this Adirondack oddity.
3. Cardboard Isn't Just for Recycling
In the Adirondacks, we never get too old to play with a cardboard box.
Nothing screams "good old-fashioned fun" more than an action packed competition using non-other than a trusty cardboard box and some duct tape. From Speculator and Indian Lake to Inlet and Long Lake, each community in Hamilton County seems to find some way to bring more fun to the Adirondacks with a simple cardboard box. In the winter they are used for sled races and in the summer cardboard turns into floating water vessels. Oak Mountain even takes them to the extreme with their annual Dummy Big Air Competition.
So, if you are looking for an fun activity that is "inside the box," be sure to keep an eye on the events calendar because an activity using cardboard is sure to pop up soon in the 'dacks.
4.The Indian Lake Project
This next weird thing has left some of my colleagues (and I am not going to name names) unable to sleep at night. Conspiracy theory buffs will be happy to know that even the Adirondacks has its own creepy conspiracy theory.
In October of 2005, a mysterious blog appeared online discussing the eerie contents found inside a weathered metal box. John (or what the blogger claims his name to be), stated that in 1997 his uncle was out for a hike in the woods near Indian Lake, NY when he stumbled upon the half buried metal box. Within the box he found a bunch of weathered photos, three reels of 8mm video and a few documents that all reveal the existence of the Indian Lake Project. John set out on a mission to uncover the truth behind the Indian Lake Project (also known as I.L.P.) and kept readers updated on his adventures by using the blog that he created.
From the evidence John uncovered, he reveals that in the 1950s Indian Lake was home to a military research facility called The Indian Lake Project, which performed mind control experiments on children. His research indicates that I.L.P. was a branch of the CIA's project ARTICHOKE which was later renamed MKULTRA (both real CIA projects). As John begins to piece together information from the assortment of items found in the box, he begins to receive photographs in the mail which contain some of the same people as those found in his images. The people sending these photos to him claim to be the relatives of the people in the images from the mysterious box. Meanwhile, John is spending a considerable amount of time exploring the wooded area around where the box was found and uncovers some even more unusual finds...
John continued to research the Indian Lake Project and update readers on his findings on and off until February of 2013. During the time of his active investigation, he reported to have been followed, received haunting phone calls, and even had his house broken into in a haphazard attempt to recover the items from the metal box. One of his last blog entries stated that he was starting a new Twitter account to keep followers updated, but soon thereafter all activity on his behalf ended. Did John just lose interested in investigating the Indian Lake Project, or did he come too close to uncovering a piece of history that was meant to remain buried for eternity and something or someone came after him?
Real, or simply internet fiction? That is not the only question that this weird Adirondack "thing" leaves me wondering about. What I also want to know is how no one seems to know who is behind this mysterious blog that seemed to appear out of nowhere.
5. Kunjamuk Cave
Hidden just out of eyesight from an old logging road in Speculator, New York, you will find Kunjamuk Cave.
The cave is not large, it is about 15-20 feet deep and about 8 feet wide. At the top of the cave is an approximately 1-2 foot diameter circle that seems to create a natural chimney. It certainly makes a nice shelter from the elements. Folklore states that the famous hermit, French Louie was known to stay in Kunjamuk Cave.
So what is so weird about this cave? The fact that no one can agree on whether it is natural or man-made. Was it formed from water run off coming down the cliff wall that is built into? Was it carved by Native Americans or a lone miner? These are just some questions that arise about this cave. Half of the fun of this Adirondack site is getting there and determining for yourself. The other half of the fun is how you choose to get there, in the summer you can hike, mountain bike and even kayak pretty close to the cave. In the winter the trail is a haven for snowmobilers and cross-country skiers.
6. THE BOOB
With so much water, the Adirondacks is home to a countless number of beautiful beaches and cool, unique, swimming holes. Each hamlet has their own favorite swimming spot and these locations take on the identity of being a time-honored tradition that you "must do" each and every summer. But I challenge you to find a swimming hole with as weird a name as the one in Long Lake. Seriously, where else do you go swimming off of "The Boob?" Really, you can't make this up... ask a local where their favorite swimming spot is and odds are you will hear them say "The Boob." The only question left here is: "Is it the right boob or the left?"
7. In The Middle of Nowhere...
One of my favorite things about the Adirondack Park is that you never know what you will find around the next corner. You can be hiking through Cathedral Pines in Inlet, NY, which is a beautiful wildness area where you are surrounded by gigantic virgin pines and then suddenly you stumble into a touching monument for a WWII soldier.
You can be at a boat launch in a seemingly remote area and suddenly you find a phone booth! Yes, I said phone booth, remember they were contraptions that you put a coin into a slot and then dial a number (from memory, not off a contact list) and place a call. Speaking of phone booths, you will actually find quite a few them sprinkled throughout the Adirondacks, I think that per-capita Hamilton County might have the highest number of phone booths still in operation in New York State. This is just one of the reasons our crime rate is so low, unlike the rest of the world, Superman still has a place to change!
But seriously, one of the cool, wonderful and weird things about the Adirondacks is that you never know what you might find next. There are 6 million acres of fascinating places to explore and even locals are still amazed by what we can find.
Plan a Wacky Adirondacky Vacation!
So there you have it... a whole lot of weird things that simply don't fit on an Adirondack postcard. But what is weird to us might be different than what is weird to you. So we in invite you to plan your next trip to the Adirondacks and discover what is weird and wonderful about our 6 million acre playground. You might find that it is weird that the night sky is so dark that you never realized how many stars there are. You might think that it's weird that it can be so quiet and peaceful that you can actually hear yourself think. Who knows, it might be weird to you that when you meet someone at the diner over a cup of coffee and a stack of flap-jacks that they will look you in the eye and sincerely ask you how you are doing or how they can help. In the Adirondacks the pace is slower, the people are wonderful, and the trail to adventure never ends! So start planning your trip today and soon you can learn for yourself what you just might find around the next corner.At long last, we have a clear visual on the next major Battlefield title, with developer DICE unleashing a full wave of Battlefield 4 details last week in its whopping 17-minute Fishing in Baku trailer. Visually, this extended cut of in-game footage succeeds in its mission to dazzle like few other games can, and crucially it shows us what results the latest Frostbite 3 engine can achieve on both high-end PCs and, presumably, next-gen consoles. This isn't just about first-person shooters, however: with Bioware also keen to chip in that this technology forms the basis of follow-ups to its Mass Effect and Dragon Age series, its advances represent much more as we look to the future.
But what exactly has changed since the second Frostbite engine, unveiled in 2011's Battlefield 3? Its roots in DirectX 11 are once again extended to allow for improved tessellation tech on characters and geometry, new rain and fog effects, plus a revised destruction engine. The trailer also makes a big point of demonstrating a breadth to the campaign's level design that the third-entry notoriously lacked. Battles now play out across vast expanses of terrain, with an emphasis on carving out your own route by blasting through walls, riding vehicles or calling in air-strikes. Set-pieces and chases down tight corridors are still fixed into the game-flow to funnel players through its story, but even so, Battlefield 4 sets out to throw you back into the sandbox wherever possible, bringing it much closer to the multiplayer side of the experience.
The trailer itself runs at 1080p (though DICE reckons it's downscaled from a 3K rendering resolution), running at 60FPS, tracking the Tombstone squad's journey through flooded, graffiti-spoiled corridors to swampy jungle pathways, before emerging to a horizon of developing skyscrapers. As a technical declaration of intent, it's a bold one, and aesthetically comparable to the Operation Swordbreaker mission used to break the ice at Battlefield 3's reveal - only this time pushing past the focus on rooftops, stairwells and market-stall alleys.
"Visually, BF4 succeeds in its mission to dazzle like few other games can, crucially showing us what results Frostbite 3 can achieve on high-end PCs and, presumably, the next wave of consoles."
Alternative 720p60 version: Capable hardware required for smooth playback
One of the biggest draws of the demo is the quality of the facial animation shown at the very start. The motion capture is far beyond what we've seen before from the series, with the new tessellation tech allowing for a closer mapping of actor's faces. Lip-sync looks closely matched as a result, and body captures are convincing too as your squad interacts with the environment - putting to use the same in-house ANT capture tech wielded by the FIFA series. For all its successes here, the lack of eye movement gives the game away somewhat during close scrutiny, but animation stands as a big leap forward that brings Battlefield 4 almost up to par with LA Noire's heavy-handed MotionScan approach.
In scenes where lighting is in full effect, the level of texture detail on characters' faces and clothes goes one step further than Battlefield 3: skin shaders react to the conditions of the environment, with sunlight bringing out fleshy, red tones on character cheeks, while a reflection map layer is used to reflect sweat during the first underwater sequence. It's very convincing in motion - recurring faces in the last game's earlier levels, such as Montes', appear less richly textured compared to what we're seeing here.
This heightened sense of detail also extends to objects across urban terrain, with jungles making a brief but impressive showing in the demo. Trees sway as before when left untouched, but now foliage dynamics have been expanded, allowing fern bushes to bend and snap upright as soldiers pass by. Environmental draw distance is unflinching on arriving at the final industrial area, where level-of-detail (LOD) pop-in can only be spotted on reflection maps on the mud-tracks as you run forward. There is a subtle use of instancing for repeated geometry like buildings, too, allowing for significant savings on RAM, plus the culling of minor assets based on your proximity to them. Even so, compromises are hard to pick out, and the engine once again avoids performance spikes thanks to the use of a dedicated thread for texture and vertex streaming.
"The dynamic sandbox arena and emphasis on team tactics brings more of the essence of the multiplayer game into the solo campaign."
Destruction physics play a larger role in Battlefield 4's single-player adventure as well, reprising one of the core tenets of the series. Where before you could only chip away at predefined chunks of scenery to diminish cover in Battlefield 3, or blow away the iron shielding on bridges, the latest entry gives the impression that players more fully engage with the environment. If structures or barricades are involved, it's possible to smash through entire surfaces with explosives to expose the enemy AI or open up a route for yourself. This is much like its implementation in the series' Bad Company off-shoots. Air-strikes also cause larger structures to topple over outright, though it remains to be seen whether this can be achieved by weakening ground supports of buildings with your own fire-power.
The focus on terrain deformation is supported by the excellent effects work, with high-quality particles and alpha adding to these explosive spectacles. Rubble bursts from newly-forged openings in walls and spark and fire effects ripple upwards from ignited vehicles - casting per-pixel lighting across environments. Much of this is achieved in the previous game, but having the campaign play out in such a dynamic, sandbox arena means we finally get to see these effects put to more impressive use. Newly added weather effects are also in evidence during the drizzly driving segment near the coast. We'd love to see this extend to a dynamic system that could affect the multiplayer mode, with fog impacting visibility over distances.
The game's slew of lighting effects also weighs heavily on this notion of player visibility. We see lens flare and light shafts flickering through distant smoke plumes, and also a bokeh distortion effect on light sources just out of focus. Along with the flocks of crows circling the construction site, these tiny details add hugely to the aesthetic appeal of the scene, and also serve a tactical purpose for drawing the eye. For Battlefield 3, this took the form of an exaggerated lens flare on guns equipped with laser sights and flashlights, both of which shone brightly to obstruct a player's view when looking directly. It worked well to showcase Frostbite Engine 2's advances in lighting, but here it appears toned down to support a more realistic aesthetic.
With regards the graphical setup of the demo, everything points to the settings being absolutely optimal and maxed out. Shadows are at the highest filtering setting with no flickering in sight, and horizon-based ambient occlusion (HBAO) is locked in to avoid the excessive halo effect of the screen-space alternative. In terms of post-processing effects, we have both per-object and full-screen motion blur making the cut and the 1080p image is very likely being treated to the anti-aliasing options offered by Battlefield 3's 'ultra' preset. This includes a mixture of deferred, multi-sample AA for geometric edges, plus a high-quality FXAA pass to clear up jaggies on 2D elements such as foliage. Some level of super-sample anti-aliasing is presumably in place too, assuming an internal 3K rendering resolution.
"The demo ran on a £700 AMD graphics card to spectacular effect, but with BF3, DICE has already proven that its top-end visuals scale back effectively onto less capable platforms."
1080p shots comparing Battlefield 3 (right) and Battlefield 4 (left). Facial animation is much improved in Battlefield 4, with improvements to its tessellation tech and skin shaders making up the difference. In the bottom two shots, we see more options to destroy the surrounding environment in DICE's latest campaign, rather than allowing it at only select moments.
All this you can inevitably expect from the PC version running on a cutting-edge setup. Following the GDC demo, AMD was keen to let the world know that this play-through had been powered by its flagship tri-slot Radeon HD 7990. Costing in the region of £700 this is clearly super-enthusiast territory, with the game harnessing the card's two GPU cores clocked to 1000MHz and 925MHz, taking command of a colossal 6GB of GDDR5. On talking about ideal specs for next-gen console hardware, DICE's lead rendering architect Johan Andersson even placed 8GB of RAM at the top of his wish-list - a need taken care of by PlayStation 4 and the next-gen Xbox (though Durango's system reservation might compromise that to a certain degree). However, considering the more ambitious approach to single-player map design and physics, the fates of the 360 and PS3 versions of Battlefield 4 are less clear, and are likely poised to see similar nips and tucks to resolution and frame-rate as per the previous entry.
No doubt Electronic Arts is ready to crank up the marketing dial to 11 in the build-up to Battlefield 4's late-2013 release. The good news is that much of the hype so far appears warranted, with a very strong technical showing here, boding well for the other Frostbite 3 titles in development |
consistently, however the exact explosiveness of the deck can be very volatile and if it’s hand texture is a bit too slow – can often feel underpowered.
The deck likewise has reasonable degrees of resistance to sweeper effects as it can opt to play Shadowlands Guide on top of Assembly Line for refuel, it can add more explosive high roll potential with Lurking Sanguars, or it can rely on a more consistent board-focused playstyle with Cinder Yeti. While it does not have a lot of slots to work with as the hyper-linear nature of the deck makes it difficult to alter too much, the alterations that are possible change important aspects of the deck.
As it has many strengths which are very pronounced, so too are Rally’s weaknesses just as pronounced. It folds extremely hard to multiple form of sweeper effects, it relies on fast starts, and it can lose steam very quickly. It’s also a deck which is relatively absent from the tournament scene as it’s sideboarding is extremely limited. In many ways, Rally is the epitome of a deck which if you are prepared for does not feel that powerful and thrives instead on people disregarding it’s game-plan for long term success.
To break it down.
Shiftstone Cost: ~27,000
Big Burn/Maulers: Who needs early-game when I have Burn
Summary
This is another deck much like Burn Queen which is in some ways more of a historical reference than a topical deck list, however TheSkeeJay was able to pilot a Mauler-style build of the deck to Rank 1 during the November Season and hold Rank 1 for the majority of the season.
Big Burn is very much stretching the definition of Aggro, the deck does not have a particularly fantastic earlygame and is even more reliant on individual card threats than Burn Queen. What it does have, is an absolutely astounding amount of direct damage. Original incarnations of the deck would play the full suite of Flame Blast, Umbren Reaper, and Obliterate – coupled with a few Soulfire Drakes. This amounts to on average about 74 points of direct damage.
The weakness of the deck was generally that due to how slow it was in developing it’s earlygame it gave Control decks ample time to assemble a defense, and a great vulnerability to lifegain and silence effects or cards such as Auric Runehammer which allowed efficient dispatching of it’s midgame damage sources in Umbren Reaper.
An alternate build of this deck would instead use Stonescar Mauls as it’s curve topper and this is the build which seems the most promising now. After the Influence adjustments on Soulfire Drake and Umbren Reaper it become unreasonable to play both of these in the same shell. Due to this Stonescar Maul is a lot more appealing as well as being a bit more reliable of a damage source than Umbren Reaper and playing better against opposing removal heavy decks which may not have an adequate answer to a Relic Weapon.
The strength of the deck is ultimately similar to Rally decks, if you are not prepared for the continuous direct damage which the deck outputs it can be very difficult to win outside of presenting a powerful counter-clock. Outlasting the damage that Big Burn can do is not a very reliable strategy without the prior mentioned large lifegain.
The weaknesses however in my opinion outweight the benefits. The deck can often be very clunky and very slow. It doesn’t make the best use of the tempo tools which the rest of the Stonescar decks use to such great effect, and opens itself up to a disastrous Aggro matchup. However, against decks which prefer to skimp on interaction and rely on their own linear gameplan – Big Burn will win a great amount of the time via it’s evasive must-answer threats and direct damage.
To break it down. Matchup breakdown omitted due to lack of conclusive contemporary data.
Shiftstone Cost: 40,250
Part III
Skycrag Aggro: The Yeti are angry
Summary
The latest addition to the Fire Aggro family and probably the most impactful deck from Omens of the Past, Skycrag manages to play a lot of different style at the same time depending on it’s hand but the crux of the deck remains a unique and powerful way of utilizing Fire’s powerful aggressive cards.
What Skycrag lacks in the removal of it’s brethren, it makes up for by presenting massive headaches to decks relying on removal while being fast enough as to get in under non-spell based Control decks such as Chalice and Armory. The bevy of Aegis makes the deck difficult to focus fire down, while the quanity of Quickdraw makes it a headache to fight in combat.
Skycrag likewise has the best suite of direct damage in the game now with playsets of Mortar and Obliterate giving it great reach. The combination of having a difficult to interact with earlygame and a way to make every point of damage that much more threatening combine to make Skycrag in my opinion the best Aggro deck in the game right now.
There aren’t too many things that give it great problems except for the Elephant in the Room, or should I say Titan. Skycrag has absolutely zero great ways to get past a Sandstorm Titan and given how ubiquitious that card is to the format, this means that Skycrag has a weakness to every single Time multifaction. Yes, even Elysian tends to perform relatively well. Skycrag has a lot of ways to complicate combat but if the units are simply too large it relies solely on Permafrost to continue it’s offensive.
One way that certain players have been experimenting with to bypass this gigantic is to utilize the card Steelfang Chakram as this piece of equipment on any Quickdraw unit allows it to attack into a Sandstorm Titan while producing a reusable ‘threat’ in the sense that any unit with Steelfang Chakram produces a sizeable clock.
In practice however, this has shown to be rather clunky and forces the deck to slow down a bit more than it is comfortable with while also conflicting with it’s Burn slots. The other issue with Skycrag Aggro is that it has pretty terrible sideboarding options, Primal is very reactive in general with it’s cards while Fire simply does not have a very deep pool. A lot of what Primal offers that makes it amazing for other archetypes simply are not usable or do not fit the gameplan of an Aggro deck.
This has led to Skycrag Aggro largely being relegated to an extremely good ladder deck, but a continuous under-performer in the tournament metagame. Finally, while Skycrag is great at punishing slow decks which rely on dragging the game out – it can often be outraced by faster aggro decks.
To break it down.
Shiftstone Cost: ~24,000
Conclusion
Well, this was shorter than Time Midrange but still quite a doozy. As you can tell, the differences between the flavors of Fire Aggro are in a sense more subtle than those between the different Time decks where there are very overt and noticeable shifts in not just play style but strengths with each one. In the case of Fire Aggro, due to the game plan being largely the same – the decks tend to operate on a very similar axis. The differences however, become far more pronounced because of this. While Rally decks will tend to under-perform in a Metagame heavy on Lightning Storm, Skycrag or Rakano Plate will flourish instead.
This means that knowing just what is the best form of Fire for what you are facing can often produce a more noticeable change in your own win-rate and ranking than shifting in other archetypes. I hope you enjoyed reading this discourse on one of my personal favorite playstyles and I look forward to continuing this regular column!
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FacebookShots and Chasers This week in America’s crazy abortion laws: Texas, South Dakota, and Missouri
Have you ever done a Big American Road Trip? I haven’t, really. There was the drive I took out to Seattle when I moved here, crossing over endless miles of snowy tundra in North Dakota and Montana, and one sweltering summer week spent driving up the northeastern coast, but that’s about it. As for the rest of the gorgeous weirdness that makes up this bizarre country of ours, well, I’ll have to try to see it for myself eventually.
But I do know that the mind-blowing geographical variation across the United States mirrors its extreme political disparities — which means reproductive rights deviate wildly across state lines. A woman seeking reproductive healthcare living in Texas, for example, has an extremely different experience from one living in Washington.
So, this week we’ll explore exactly what regressive reproductive health legislation looks like in some of our reddest states. And to chase that upsetting information, we’ll show you a weird, beautiful thing from that state — without ever having to get in a car to see it!
SHOT: In Missouri, where a 72-hour hour waiting period for abortions has recently been signed into law, a state senator is trying to block a master’s student’s dissertation examining that ban’s effect on pregnant women.
CHASER: As if Missouri’s abortion laws weren’t terrifying enough, the state is also home to the World’s Largest Goose. Have you ever encountered a normal-sized goose? Already terrifying! So I want to know who is responsible for this nightmare:
SHOT: Today, the Supreme Court announced it would hear a case concerning the constitutionality of limiting access to abortion clinics in Texas. Lots of abortion providers have been forced to close their doors due to new, highly restrictive state standards for facilities. Meanwhile, “crisis pregnancy centers,” which attempt to dissuade pregnant women from getting abortions, are proliferating across the state. (For more on how this case got to the Supreme Court, check out this timeline.)
CHASER: Don’t worry, (heterosexual) Texas ladies — you may have to travel hundreds of miles and fight off anti-choice evangelists if you want to get an abortion, but you can enjoy the male version of Hooters. The tastefully dubbed “Tallywackers” is located in Dallas and staffed entirely by scantily clad dudes. However, I did some research on the restaurant, and found this most concerning and bewildering fact via Yelp: “They don’t have regular pickles?!” What kind of pickles do they have? The imagination runs wild.
SHOT: South Dakota’s abortion laws are so regressive that there are actually no doctors in-state that provide voluntary abortions — they have to fly in from Minnesota. From Minneapolis-St. Paul’s alt-weekly City Pages: “Think of it as Haiti after the earthquake. South Dakota has legislated itself into the Third World.”
CHASER: If you need something to cheer you up after THAT fun fact, look no further than South Dakota State University, whose dairy program allegedly invented the “Cookies ‘n Cream” flavor of ice cream in the 1970’s. While it’s hard to confirm who decided to mix Oreos into ice cream for the first time, it’s not hard to confirm that this was a great idea. Say what you will about their unsavory politics — this state knows its sweet treats!
EXTRA FUN FACT OF THE WEEK! Do you have an IUD? Congratulations — in terms of popularity, your chosen form of birth control is the fastest-growing in the United States. Fun fact: The only other forms of birth control that are becoming more popular are the contraceptive ring and patch and … withdrawal?Grief is physically painful and completely draining. It wears you down, makes you feel weak, restless, and overwhelmed. With so many things happening to your body during grief, it’s helpful to understand that the emotional reaction is also accompanied by physical reactions as well. These can include…
Loss of pleasure
Anorexia and other gastrointestinal disturbances
Apathy
Decreased initiative
Decreased motivation
Decreased sexual desire of hypersexuality
Lethargy or agitation
Sleep difficulties (too much or too little; interrupted sleep)
Tearfulness and crying
Tension and anxiety
Weight loss or weight gain
The tendency to sigh
A lack of strength
Physical exhaustion
Feelings of emptiness and heaviness
Feeling that something is stuck in your throat
Heart palpitations and other indications of anxiety
Nervousness and tension
Restlessness and searching for something to do
Shortness of breath
Taken from Grieving How to Go on Living When Someone You Love Dies by Therese A. Rando
AdvertisementsWhile there are plenty of critics of President Trump’s approach and style, many of his foreign policy decisions have been strong and decisive and stand in stark contrast to those of the Obama administration.
The Trump White House relishes American exceptionalism and enjoys promoting Western values. It clearly understands that there is no such thing as leading from behind when it comes to tackling the most pressing international security issues.
One clear difference can be seen with how the two administrations have gone after ISIS. After withdrawing all U.S. troops from Iraq and naively referring to the terror group as a “JV team,” President Obama found himself scrambling for a new strategy and was forced to send thousands of American soldiers back to the war-torn nation.
When President Trump became commander in chief, he decided to take a new approach and unleashed the generals to crush the enemy. From dropping the largest non-nuclear bomb in our arsenal to hit ISIS tunnels in Afghanistan to the American-backed liberation of Mosul in Iraq, President Trump is making good on his word to go on offense in the war on terror and destroy ISIS.
An “America First” foreign policy should not be confused or conflated with promotion of an isolationist view. Instead, it is a way to unite our allies to pursue common goals that are American priorities.
Another contrast has come from how each president has handled Syria. President Obama chose to draw an imaginary red line as a “stern warning” to stop Syrian President Bashar al-Assad from using chemical weapons. Ignoring this warning, the Assad regime used chemical weapons in August of 2013, killing an estimated 1,400 people, many of them children. Team Obama then walked away from its red line and left Assad unpunished. Sadly, chemical attacks continued.
Testing a new White House, Assad used chemical weapons again in April and President Trump responded by hitting a Syrian airfield used in the attack with 59 Tomahawk cruise missiles. A new standard was set; tyrannical dictators cannot use weapons of mass destruction without serious repercussions.
In President Obama’s first year in office he canceled a missile defense shield that was set to be stationed in Poland and the Czech Republic. This was part of his failed “reset” policy to warm relations with Russia and the beginning of his outreach to Iran. Ironically, by the end of his second term, President Obama was sanctioning Russia for invading Ukraine and meddling with our presidential election. And President Obama was defending a disastrous nuclear deal with Tehran.
Conversely, President Trump has tightened sanctions on Iran and deployed the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) missile defense system in South Korea to protect that nation, Japan and others in the region from North Korea’s growing missile and nuclear program.
The regime in North Korea is racing to develop intercontinental ballistic missiles that can deliver a nuclear weapon to our homeland. The deployment of THAAD is one of several decisions to demonstrate that the era of “strategic patience” is over.
The Trump administration has also taken other actions to bolster the defense of our allies around the world.
A newly signed $110 billion arms sale to Saudi Arabia will help an important regional partner upgrade its military, act as a check on Iran and defeat Islamist extremism while creating American jobs. More recently, the Trump administration announced a $1.3 billion arms deal with Taiwan, an island democracy and ally under constant threat from China.
None of these developments was welcomed by Russia, North Korea, China or Iran. However, it was very important to send a new signal to the rest of the world: America will no longer sacrifice the security of our allies to placate the wishes of our adversaries.
The Trump administration’s notable actions have not simply been relegated to deals or deployments. It has also requested a $54 billion increase in military spending, conducted aggressive counterterrorism operations, and routinely called for each NATO member countries to spend 2 percent of its GDP on national defense.
All this is important, because unmatched military power is not just a necessary asset to winning wars – it is a key to preventing wars.
In May I led a congressional delegation and met with security officials in France, Poland, Estonia, and Ukraine. The topics of our meetings included counterterrorism, cybersecurity, missile defense and NATO, and varied with each stop. There was a consistent theme throughout: American leadership and strong allies are needed to defeat our most serious threats.
Under President Obama, many allies did not trust us, and enemies did not fear us. President Trump has clearly reversed that course.
President Trump repaired strained relations with Israel, our great friend that was embarrassed by the Obama administration at the U.N. Security Council in December. Our new president called for the United States to stand with the Cuban people and not the oppressive Castro regime. And President Trump’s impressive national security team is not only embracing, but strengthening our leadership role on the international stage.
An “America First” foreign policy should not be confused or conflated with promotion of an isolationist view. Instead, it is a way to unite our allies to pursue common goals that are American priorities.
I may not agree with President Trump on each and every issue, but his administration has clearly demonstrated that the world can be a much more peaceful and prosperous place when America leads from the front.lightbar
Officer Daniel Chastain of the Portland Police Bureau was "on call" when he was involved in a crash in Clackamas County on April 25, 2016. He was driving a City of Portland vehicle, police said.
(The Oregonian/OregonLive/file)
Update: Motorist stunned, shaken after surviving crash with allegedly drunken Portland cop
An off-duty Portland police officer was arrested Monday on an accusation of drunken driving, police said.
Police said Officer Daniel Chastain was "on call" and driving a city-owned car when he was involved in a crash in Clackamas County. Alcohol was a factor in the crash, Portland police said.
Chastain is facing accusations of driving under the influence of intoxicants, reckless driving, reckless endangerment and first-degree criminal mischief, police said.
The Clackamas County Sheriff's Office said callers reported Chastain was driving "at a high rate of speed," hit a pickup truck and rolled over near the intersection of Southeast 172nd Avenue and Big Timber Court near Clackamas.
The crash happened at about 1:30 p.m. Chastain was taken to a hospital as a precaution, deputies said. They said there isn't a booking photo available for Chastain.
Police said Chastain is a 17-year Portland police veteran and has been put on paid administrative leave, per standard protocol. He was most recently assigned to the police bureau's Tactical Operations Division.
The bureau will conduct an internal review of the incident after the sheriff's office investigation is complete, police said. The incident will be presented to the Police Review Board, as well.
The Clackamas County District Attorney's Office will also review the case, deputies said.
Portland police issued the following statement about Chastain's arrest:
"The Portland Police Bureau cannot comment further on a personnel matter because it could interfere with the process of conducting a neutral, objective internal investigation and the Bureau must protect public employees' privacy interests consistent with the Oregon Public Records Law and relevant collective bargaining agreements."
Excessive speed may have been a contributing factor to the crash, deputies said.
-- Jim Ryan
[email protected]
503-221-8005; @Jimryan015Wildlife Conservation Society, the International Fund for Animal Welfare, Save the Elephants, the Conservation Land Trust, Oceans 5, Tree People and the World Wildlife Fund" as beneficiaries.
ould be donating states:
"The destruction of our planet continues at a pace we can no longer afford to ignore. We have been able to support organizations that are working to solve some of today's most pressing environmental issues. Throughout today, I'll post about a few of them and share the incredible work they do."
Leonardo Dicaprio Donates $15 Million To Environmental Help
Leonardo Dicaprio Donates $15 Million To Environmental Help! Dicaprio announced on Tuesday that he was going to be donating $15 million for the better of the environment worldwide, a cause he firmly believes in. According to reports, Dicaprio named "TheDicaprio's statement on the large amount of money he wWe have to comment Dicaprio for such an amazing feat!What do you think of the huge donation by Dicaprio!Google has just released a port of its Analytics app for those on Apple’s iOS, packing in most of the features currently found in the pre-existing Android version. Having launched a couple of new apps for iOS during the past week including YouTube Creator Studio and AdWords Express, the release of Google Analytics seemed inevitable, and just a few days after those apps manifested over at the App Store, here it is. Full details, as well as the download link, can be seen below.
The new Google Analytics app allows you to check and monitor your Web data as you would using the traditional version, but with the UI now tailored conveniently to the mobile interface, you can easily keep track of this important information wherever you may be.
At the moment, this is an iPhone app, and so while its optimized for the smaller iOS devices, it won’t take full advantage of the added real estate of the more sizeable iPad. That’s not to say that the Analytics app won’t go universal at some point in the future, but for the time being, you’ll enjoy the best experience on an iPhone or iPod touch.
This recent push to bring native apps to iOS shows that Google holds its iOS-owning contingency in high regard, and although YouTube Creator Studio, AdWords Express and Google Analytics have been knocking about the Play Store for quite a while now, the Big G has finally leveled the playing field in these key areas.
So, if you want to be able to check your Analytics data on the fly, be sure to grab the new app from the direct link below, and as ever, don’t hesitate to let us know of your thoughts and early impressions by dropping a comment or two via the usual channels.
And oh, the app is absolutely free, so it won’t harm your wallet in any way.
(Download: Google Analytics for iPhone on the App Store)
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Related StoriesThree officers got a happy meal and some candy for the little boy, who was still in his car seat during the arrest (courtesy: Knoxville Police Dept.)
A kind, comforting act from a couple of Knoxville police officers has quickly gone viral after the arrest of a mom for driving drunk.
The woman had her small child with her in the car at the time. While the little boy was uninjured, the officers wanted to make sure he was taken care of during the scary ordeal.
The Knoxville Police Department posted photos from the scene as the three officers comforted the boy with a happy meal, toys, and snacks like apple juice, goldfish, and gummy sharks.
Police say the boy was later turned over to the custody of his grandmother.A top Democratic flack in one of the country’s most Democratic state capitals became the first victim of the Obamacare defunding campaign Friday night when he was fired for filthy and reckless tweeting.
Allan Brauer, Communications Committee chairman for the Democratic Party of Sacramento County (DPSC) had his resignation accepted Friday following a series of unhinged tweets directed at an aide to Texas Republican Sen. Ted Cruz.
“@amandacarpenter May your children all die from debilitating, painful and incurable diseases,” Brauer tweeted to Cruz speechwriter and senior communications advisor Amanda Carpenter early Friday afternoon, after Carpenter tweeted a gung ho message in support of using the Congress’ power of the budget to shield the American people from the ill effects of the unpopular 2010 Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.
Ten minutes later Brauer hinted that the first attack had proven to be taxing work, tweeting, “Busy blocking the tapeworms that have slithered out of hellspawn @amandacarpenter’s asshole. How’s your day so far?”
But within another four minutes, all the laughter had died in sorrow as Brauer reported, “I’m being attacked on Twitter for wishing one of Ted Cruz’s pubic lice to experience the pain her boss is inflicting on Americans.”
Independent Journal Review collected some prior work from Brauer, highlighting the public relations specialist’s use of the epithet “cumrag” to describe an interlocutor who was guilty of tweeting while female.
California Democratic party communications director Tenoch Flores initially fed the trouble by telling Yahoo’s Chris Moody, “The problem with this kind of rhetoric is that it lets fringe characters—those who are actively trying to shut down the government—like Ted Cruz, off the hook.”
But by sunset on the West Coast, Brauer’s flagrant violation of the public relations code of honor could no longer be ignored. He had brought scandal to his client and had to be dismissed.
“The comments by our volunteer communications chair are appalling and inexcusable,” DPSC chairwoman Kerri Asbury announced early Friday evening. “No matter what our political disagreements may be, wishing harm is never an acceptable response during heated public debate or any other time. Mr. Brauer has apologized for his comments and expressed his remorse.”
Sacramento County is slightly less monolithically Democratic than most of California. In the 2012 election, President Obama carried the county by 58 percent to Mitt Romney’s 39 percent, while incumbent Sen. Dianne Feinstein got more than 60 percent in her race against novice Elizabeth Emken. However, two out of the county’s four U.S. congressmen are Republicans, as are all of its state senators.
Follow Tim on TwitterLONDON—Turkey’s Recep Tayyip Erdogan came to power in 2002, a year after the formation of his AK party. But spending 11 years as prime minister wasn’t enough. In 2011, Erdogan changed the system, clearing the way for him to become the country’s first directly elected president in 2013.
True to all incremental power grabs, he initially sold this move to Turks as merely “ceremonial.”
That facade has now ended.
After this month no one was left in any doubt as to Erdogan’s neo-Ottoman delusions of grandeur, as he pushed out Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu while maneuvering to replace him with a long-time crony. At one point his own son in law seemed a likely appointee.
To use the cliché “palace coup” would not even be metaphoric on my part. Perched atop a hill on the outskirts of Ankara sits Erdogan’s specially commissioned 1,000-room White Palace, or AK Saray. Bigger than the White House and the Kremlin, this Sultan-like extravagance cost even more than the budgeted $615m. And as Erdogan’s sultanate grows, so too does Erdogan’s sultan-like caprice.
Freedom House reports that Erdogan has been eroding freedom of the press in Turkey at an alarming rate over recent years. This unhinged crackdown on journalists culminated last month in the seizure and state takeover of opposition newspaper Zaman, which is now embarrassingly owned and operated by the Turkish state. Such has been Erdogan’s assault on journalists that even President Barack Obama felt the need to warn the authoritarian Erdogan to back off.
But this is all run-of-the-mill for tinpot strongmen, who so often mistake their ability to retain office as a demonstration of popularity and power. The truth is, it's also a weakness. Power is a weapon. And like a domestic firearm, it is a weapon that is likely at least as dangerous to you as to others.
Nothing highlights this weakness, this manic insecurity, and this puerile obsession with control in a more darkly comical way than the stunt Erdogan just pulled in Germany.
The president of Turkey, this once great leader of that proud and historic nation, filed a criminal complaint against Jan Boehmermann, a German satirist for… writing this poem about him.
The origins of the truly serious offence that was taken are found in the peculiar incident of Germany’s ambassador to Turkey, Martin Erdmann, being summoned to the Turkish Foreign Ministry over an ‘Extra 3’ satirical video about Erdogan. There, Erdmann was asked to explain—yes, explain— the video, and to ensure that it was taken off air. It was this incident that inspired Boehmermann’s poem.
You see, the Great Leader was butt-hurt.
But he won. Due to Germany’s archaic laws against offending organs of “foreign states,” one of Germany’s most intelligent satirists has been ordered by a Hamburg court to censor his song about Erdogan’s brutal assault on Turkey’s press.
Boehmermann responded on Twitter by linking to the iconic Beastie Boys song, “(You Gotta) Fight For Your Right (To Party!).”
From there, it was the reaction of the traditionally irreverent British liberal press that stole the show. The Spectator’s Douglas Murray responded to Erdogan’s cry-bully tactics by introducing an “insult Erdogan” poetry competition. That magazine even offered a £1000 ($1,448) prize for the most insulting limerick. The more offensive the better, they said, and the winning entry is worth repeating here:
There was a young fellow from Ankara
Who was a terrific wankerer
‘Till he sowed his wild oats
With the help of a goat
But he didn’t even stop to thankera.
One suspects that this prize entry was noted less for its lyric virtues, and more for its author. Deliciously, it was uttered ad-lib by London’s former mayor Boris Johnson, of part-Turkish ancestry himself. One would be forgiven for tweeting the insulting lines under hashtag #OffendErdogan.
Mockery aside, there is a very serious and very dark element to Erdogan’s megalomania. Article 299 of the Turkish penal code—barely used in the past—states that anybody insulting the head of state can be jailed for up to four years.
Under Erdogan, between August 2014 and March 2015 alone, 236 people were investigated for "insulting the head of state.” From 2003 to 2014, 63 journalists were sentenced to a total of 32 years in prison. A 16-year-old boy was indicted earlier this year for calling the president a thief during a demonstration. If convicted, he faces a four year sentence. Even a former Miss Turkey has been charged for posting a poem on her Instagram account that the “Sultan” found offensive.
This is how the great Turkish Republic, long a bastion of pluralist secular Islam, is slowly being reduced to the midlife crisis of one man hunting down comedians in foreign countries.
Once upon a time—a couple of election cycles ago and before he kept changing the system to ensure he stayed in power—I used to defend Erdogan. I drew hope from the way he wrestled the Turkish economy from ruin to an expansion of 68 percent. That’s an average annual growth rate of 4.5 percent, second only to China. I was impressed by the way in which he pushed the perpetually interfering, habitually undemocratic Turkish military back into base camp. I was optimistic about his post-Islamist direction of travel towards religiously inspired secular democracy.
No longer. I was wrong, and I wholeheartedly apologize to liberal Turks everywhere.
To say that Erdogan has become drunk on power would be an understatement. The man is more like a crack addict. The sooner he is retired, the better. Indeed, the whole “Turkish Model” is dead, overdosed on Erdogan."Primordial element" redirects here. For a concept in algebra, see Primordial element (algebra)
Relative abundance of the chemical elements in the Earth's upper continental crust, on a per-atom basis
In geochemistry, geophysics and geonuclear physics, primordial nuclides, also known as primordial isotopes, are nuclides found on Earth that have existed in their current form since before Earth was formed. Primordial nuclides were present in the interstellar medium from which the solar system was formed, and were formed in the Big Bang, by nucleosynthesis in stars and supernovae followed by mass ejection, by cosmic ray spallation, and potentially from other processes. They are the stable nuclides plus the long-lived fraction of radionuclides surviving in the primordial solar nebula through planet accretion until the present. Only 286 such nuclides are known.
Stability [ edit ]
All of the known 253 stable nuclides occur as primordial nuclides, plus another 33 nuclides that have half-lives long enough to have survived from the formation of the Earth. These 33 primordial radionuclides represent isotopes of 28 separate elements. Cadmium, tellurium, neodymium, samarium and uranium each have two primordial radioisotopes (113
Cd
, 116
Cd
; 128
Te
, 130
Te
; 144
Nd
, 150
Nd
; 147
Sm
, 148
Sm
; and 235
U
, 238
U
).
Because the age of the Earth is 7017144533808000000♠4.58×109 years (4.6 billion years), this means that the half-life of the given nuclides must be greater than about 7015315576000000000♠1×108 years (100 million years) for practical considerations. For example, for a nuclide with half-life 7015189345600000000♠6×107 years (60 million years), this means 77 half-lives have elapsed, meaning that for each mole (7023602000000000000♠6.02×1023 atoms) of that nuclide being present at the formation of Earth, only 4 atoms remain today.
The four shortest-lived primordial nuclides (i.e. nuclides with shortest half-lives) are 232
Th
, 238
U
, 40
K
, and 235
U
. These are the 4 nuclides with half-lives comparable to, or less than, the estimated age of the universe. (In the case of 232Th, it has a half life of more than 14 billion years, slightly longer than the age of the universe.) For a complete list of the 33 known primordial radionuclides, including the next 29 with half-lives much longer than the age of the universe, see the complete list below. For practical purposes, nuclides with half-lives much longer than the age of the universe may be treated as if they really were stable. 232Th and 238U have half-lives long enough that their decay is limited over geological time scales; 40K and 235U have shorter half-lives and are hence severely depleted, but are still long-lived enough to persist significantly in nature.
The next longest-living nuclide after the end of the list given in the table is 244
Pu
, with a half-life of 7015254985408000000♠8.08×107 years. It has been reported to exist in nature as a primordial nuclide, although later studies could not detect it.[1] Likewise, the second-longest-lived non-primordial 146
Sm
has a half-life of 7015214591680000000♠6.8×107 years, about double that of the third-longest-lived non-primordial 92
Nb
(7015110451600000000♠3.5×107 years).[2] Taking into account that all these nuclides must exist for at least 7017145164960000000♠4.6×109 years, 244Pu must survive 57 half-lives (and hence be reduced by a factor of 257 ≈ 1.4 × 1017), 146Sm must survive 67 (and be reduced by 267 ≈ 1.5 × 1020), and 92Nb must survive 130 (and be reduced by 2130 ≈ 1.4 × 1039). Considering the likely initial abundances of these nuclides, possibly measurable quantities of 244Pu and 146Sm should persist today, while they should not for 92Nb and all shorter-lived nuclides. Nuclides such as 92Nb that were present in the primordial solar nebula but have long since decayed away completely are termed extinct radionuclides if they have no other means of being regenerated.[3]
Because primordial chemical elements often consist of more than one primordial isotope, there are only 83 distinct primordial chemical elements. Of these, 80 have at least one observationally stable isotope and three additional primordial elements have only radioactive isotopes (bismuth, thorium, and uranium).
Naturally occurring nuclides that are not primordial [ edit ]
Some unstable isotopes which occur naturally (such as 14
C
, 3
H
, and 239
Pu
) are not primordial, as they must be constantly regenerated. This occurs by cosmic radiation (in the case of cosmogenic nuclides such as 14
C
and 3
H
), or (rarely) by such processes as geonuclear transmutation (neutron capture of uranium in the case of 237
Np
and 239
Pu
). Other examples of common naturally occurring but non-primordial nuclides are isotopes of radon, polonium, and radium, which are all radiogenic nuclide daughters of uranium decay and are found in uranium ores. A similar radiogenic series is derived from the long-lived radioactive primordial nuclide 232Th. All of such nuclides have shorter half-lives than their parent radioactive primordial nuclides. Some other geogenic nuclides do not occur in the decay chains of 232Th, 235U, or 238U but can still fleetingly occur naturally as products of the spontaneous fission of one of these three long-lived nuclides, such as 126Sn, which makes up about 10−14 of all natural tin.[4]
Primordial elements [ edit ]
There are 253 stable primordial nuclides and 33 radioactive primordial nuclides, but only 80 primordial stable elements (1 through 82, i.e. hydrogen through lead, exclusive of 43 and 61, technetium and promethium respectively) and three radioactive primordial elements (bismuth, thorium, and uranium). Bismuth's half-life is so long that it |
, Mike Carey, Stefano Ceri, Bruce Croft, David DeWitt, Mike Franklin, Hector Garcia Molina, Dieter Gawlick, Jim Gray, Laura Haas, Alon Halevy, Joe Hellerstein, Yannis Ioannidis, Martin Kersten, Michael Pazzani, Mike Lesk, David Maier, Jeff Naughton, Hans Schek, Timos Selis, Avi Silberschatz, Mike Stonebraker, Rick Snodgrass, Jeff Ullman, Gerhard Weikum, Jennifer Widom, and Stan Zdonik, "The Lowell Database Research Self-Assessment," CACM 48(5):111–118, May 2005. (pdf)
Richard T. Snodgrass and Merrie L. Brucks, "Branding Yourself," ACM SIGMOD Record 33(2):117–125, June 2004. (pdf)
Richard T. Snodgrass, "Why I Like Working in Academia," SIGMOD Record 31(1):118–121, March 2002. (pdf)
Richard T. Snodgrass, "The Inefficiency of Misalignment," ACM Computing Surveys 28(4es), Article 89, December 1996. (html)
Avi Silberschatz, Stanley Zdonik, José Blakeley, Peter Buneman, Umeshwar Dayal, Timos Imielinski, Sushil Jajodia, Hank Korth, Guy Lohman, David Lomet, David Maier, Frank Manola, Timos Özsu, Raghu Ramakrishnan, Krithi Ramamritham, Hans Schek, Richard T. Snodgrass, Jeff Ullman, and Jennifer Widom, "Strategic Directions in Database SystemsBreaking Out of the Box," ACM Computing Surveys 28(4):764–778, December 1996. (pdf)
Richard T. Snodgrass, "An Object-Oriented Command Language," IEEE Transactions on Software Engineering SE-9(1), January 1983, pp. 1–8. (pdf) Reprinted in Tutorial: Object-Oriented Computing by G. E. Peterson, Vol. 2, Computer Society Press, Washington, D.C., 1987, pp. 251–258.
Richard T. Snodgrass, "A Sophisticated Microcomputer User Interface," In Proceedings of the Third Symposium of Small Systems, Palo Alto, CA, September 1980, pp. 97–107. (pdf)
Richard T. Snodgrass, "Managing Temporal Data: A Five-Part Series," TimeCenter TR-28, September, 1998 (pdf)
Richard T. Snodgrass, "Temporal Support in Standard SQL," 11(10):44–48, October 1998.
Richard T. Snodgrass, "Transaction-Time State Tables," 11(9):46–50, September 1998.
Richard T. Snodgrass, "Modifying Valid-time State Tables," 11(8):72–77, August 1998.
Richard T. Snodgrass, "Querying Valid-time State Tables," 11(7):60–65, July 1998.
Richard T. Snodgrass, "Of Duplicates and Septuplets,"11(6):46–49, June 1998.
Richard T. Snodgrass, "Sequenced Modifications," February 1999.
Richard T. Snodgrass, "Current Modifications of Time-Varying Tables," January 1999.
Richard T. Snodgrass, "Modifying Time-Varying Tables," December 1998.
Richard T. Snodgrass, "Temporal Coalescing," November 1998.
Richard T. Snodgrass, "Referential Integrity over Time-Varying Tables," October 1998.
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John Wiley & Sons Ltd. Copyright Notice: Wiley grants back to the Contributor... the right to share with colleagues print or electronic "preprints" of the unpublished Contribution, in format and content as accepted by Wiley for publication in the Journal. Such preprints may be posted as electronic files on the Contributor's own website for personal or professional use, or in the Contributor's internal university or corporate networks/intranet, or secure external website at the Contributor's institution, but not for commercial sale or for any systematic extension distribution by a third party (eg: a listserver or database connected to a public access server).... The Contributor agrees not to update the preprint or replace it with the published version of the Contribution.Almost unnoticed, Australia has reverted to a forward defense doctrine abandoned during the Cold War in the 1960s.
The change is all the more remarkable because the earlier policy did not threaten the profitability of the country's biggest businesses, while the resurrected policy appears to be aimed at its biggest trading partner, China.
Although the specifics are classified, there is now backing across the political spectrum for preparations for the forward deployment of ground troops, ships and planes equipped for high-intensity warfare. Key components include large destroyers equipped to contribute to an anti-ballistic missile shield against China and North Korea; frigates that could help enforce a trade blockade; and big new submarines capable of firing cruise missiles into China. This may suit countries near China, but it represents a huge change for a more distant Australia.
The switch began five years ago with the insistence by then-Labor Prime Minister Kevin Rudd that the defense White Paper should ditch the established doctrine defining the Australian military's area of operational interest as rarely extending beyond the archipelagic chain of Indonesian and Melanesian islands to its near north. Prime Minister Tony Abbott now enthusiastically promotes the new approach adopted in 2009.
For the previous 40 years, there was bipartisan support for a "Defense of Australia" doctrine whose primary focus was on preventing hostile forces intruding past the island chain. Disillusioned by Australia's involvement in the Vietnam War, coalition governments in the late 1960s replaced forward defense with the more immediate defense of Australia. The doctrine did not mean that Australian military units would not be capable of operating further afield, as occurred during the 2003 invasion of Iraq. But it did mean that Australia should not plan for large-scale involvement in another land war in Asia, or major naval or air battles in north Asia.
Intertwined fates
Since the 2009 White Paper, Australia has become more deeply enmeshed in forward defense following subsequent U.S. initiatives, such as its air-sea battle doctrine for fighting China. Leaked details show that this involves deep airstrikes into mainland China and a naval blockade on trade. Under Abbott, Australia is willing to supply navy ships to the South China Sea for a trade blockade that would stop vessels carrying Australian iron ore and natural gas to China.
Despite the diversion created by jihadists in Iraq, Abbott is keen to reinforce President Barack Obama's military "pivot" to Asia. He recently agreed to integrate the operational control of Australia's new anti-ballistic missile destroyers with similar U.S. and Japanese ships in North Asian waters.
Australia-U.S. ministerial talks in Sydney on Aug. 12 discussed anti-ballistic missile cooperation and related support from new space-surveillance equipment in Western Australia. Ministers also signed a Status of Forces Agreement the same day to facilitate the rotation of a full Marine Air-Ground Task Force through a base in Darwin, and greater use of other Australian bases by U.S. ships and planes.
In his recent book "Dangerous Allies," Malcolm Fraser, the coalition prime minister from 1975 to 1983, warns that growing military integration with the U.S. could see Australia sucked into an unwanted war with China. He says last year's decision to "embed" the frigate HMAS Sydney in a U.S. aircraft carrier strike group operating out of the Japanese port of Yokosuka could have denied Australia discretion about joining a war over disputed islands such as the nearby Senkakus.
Fraser noted that the ANZUS Treaty between Australia, New Zealand and the U.S. does not require the U.S. to help Australia militarily. But the contrary assumption underpins Abbott's eagerness to back the U.S. in disputes that would otherwise have no strategic importance to Australia. Fraser recalled that during Indonesia's policy of "confrontation" in 1963, the U.S. flatly rejected then-Foreign Minister Garfield Barwick's insistence that the treaty meant it must help Australia.
Despite Barwick's candid recognition that ANZUS provides no guarantees, his government tried to please the U.S. with a forward defense strategy that ended in the Vietnam quagmire. Abbott's reinvigorated version of that policy could involve Australia in a clash with China over uninhabited islands that escalates into a major war. For Fraser and several former military leaders, returning to a more manageable focus on defending Australia is the safer option.
Brian Toohey is a Sydney-based commentator on defense, economic and political issues, and was editor of the former National Times. He is co-author of "Oyster: the Story of the Australian Secret Intelligence Service."Highlights of the Sky Bet Championship match between Fulham and Blackburn Highlights of the Sky Bet Championship match between Fulham and Blackburn
Lucas Joao struck deep into stoppage time to secure a 2-2 draw for Blackburn at play-off chasing Fulham.
Joao's finish extended Blackburn's unbeaten run under new manager Tony Mowbray to six games and moved the club out of the bottom three in the Championship.
Fulham had looked on course to claim the victory that would move them into the top six when substitute Gohi Cyriac scored his first goal for the club five minutes from time after connecting with Ruan Fredericks' cross.
That came shortly after Craig Conway had cancelled out Sone Aluko's 45th-minute opener when he converted from the penalty spot in the 76th minute after Tomas Kalas had brought down Marvin Emnes.
Fulham made one change to the side that beat Newcastle so emphatically on Saturday, with Fredericks returning at right-back in place of Denis Odoi.
For Blackburn, Sam Gallagher and Charlie Mulgrew both failed late fitness tests on the hamstring strains that kept them out of the weekend draw at Norwich.
Conway did return, however, having missed the trip to Carrow Road to attend the birth of his daughter and took his place on the left-hand flank in place of Liam Feeney.
Fulham's win at Newcastle had confirmed Slavisa Jokanovic's side as one of the form teams in the division and they immediately took the game to the visitors.
Ryan Sessegnon, the 16-year-old who scored twice on Saturday, was once again employed in an advanced position on the Fulham left and was quickly involved as the home side attempted to make their early pressure felt.
But it was striker Aluko who had the best chance in the opening exchanges, with the Cottagers' forward unfortunate to see a close-range effort deflected wide after being set up by Tim Ream's header.
There were more signs the visitors may be beginning to crack when centre-back Darragh Lenihan's mistake gifted Fulham a corner and the defender was relieved to see Tom Cairney fire over the bar from the set-piece.
Jokanovic's side had lacked a cutting edge, though, so they were relieved to see Aluko connect with Stefan Johansen's cross on the stroke of half-time.
However, Blackburn responded well after the break and applied plenty of pressure before Conway eventually got the chance to level from the penalty spot.
Fulham appeared crushed, but responded positively when Cyriac, who has yet to start a game for the Cottagers, matched Aluko's earlier finish.
Blackburn deserved a share of the spoils, though, and got their reward when Joao dramatically turned home Derrick Williams' cross.
Fulham boss Slavisa Jokanovic:
"It's frustrating but it's a part of the competition, we have scored many times in the last moments of games. In the first half we dominated and scored the goal. Second half we didn't dominate the game, we didn't control them and at the end we made some mistakes.
"And at the end we didn't stop the cross, they scored - and it's not easy to always score three goals to win the game. We didn't have enough experience to kill the game when we scored the second goal, we tried but then we gave them the chance to come back.
"We lost two points, we have one point more. There are nine games in front of us. You cannot be satisfied when you concede the goal but we lost a chance for now. We're going to fight to be in this top six at the beginning of May. We have to keep going and push hard."
Blackburn boss Tony Mowbray:
"I think there's a decent group of footballers there, they have galvanised themselves into a group that refuse to get beaten. We've had different types of games, we've been in front and had to hang on and dig in, we've had games where we've had to go chasing a game. The desire not to lose is huge.
"I think the choices from the bench are really good. There's a group of 18 players who can all impact the first team. I've enjoyed it immensely. I hope they're enjoying the different messages they get and how I construct a football team."WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Federal Reserve released on Thursday the economic scenarios, including a hypothetical sharp slowdown in China, that the biggest banks will use in the next round of stress tests to determine how they would withstand a financial shock.
Regular stress tests are part of a more rigorous regime required by the 2010 Dodd-Frank financial oversight law. They are designed to that ensure banks have enough capital cushions and are not being overly aggressive in returning cash to shareholders.
In the toughest of the three scenarios, banks would face a severe recession in the United States, with the unemployment rate spiking up to about 12 percent, and recessions in Europe and Japan. The Fed said this is similar to last year’s test.
In addition, a sharp weakening of economic activity in China would spill over into the rest of developing Asia under the severely adverse scenario this year, the Fed said.
Analysts said the test scenarios should come as no surprise to banks.
“If the U.S. and China have a recession, so goes the world. It’s not unexpected,” said Walter Young, a director with Deloitte’s governance, regulatory and risk strategies group.
“There’s really no curveball thrown to the banks from the Fed here.”
In addition to testing for economic stress scenarios, six big bank holding companies with significant trading activities will be checked for their ability to withstand a specific global market shock.
Those banks are Bank of America Corp, Citigroup Inc, Goldman Sachs Group Inc, JPMorgan Chase & Co, Morgan Stanley and Wells Fargo & Co.
The market shock scenario features a broad increase in interest rates, particularly long-term rates, which would knock down the value of bank holdings of investment grade bonds, such as Treasury securities.
Unlike last year, banks will get one opportunity to adjust plans to repurchase stock or boost dividends after the regulator’s initial assessment of the capital plan, the Fed said last week.
Citigroup ran into trouble after last year’s stress tests when the Federal Reserve turned down its plan to return capital to shareholders. The firm had been expected to be able to raise its quarterly dividend.
Experts said banks now have a better sense of what the Fed is looking for, and the chance to revise capital plans should help banks avoid failing this time around.
“The Fed is going to have a much more open dialogue than they have had in the past when it was just pass-fail,” said Paul Miller, an analyst at FBR Capital Markets. “I am not expecting anybody to fail.”
Young said regulators are giving banks a boost by offering them a shot at revising their plans, but he said the Fed has also asked for more documentation of the assumptions banks use in their stress test models.
The Fed said it worked with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency to craft the scenarios.
Banks with more than $50 billion in assets must conduct tests this year. Smaller banks will have another year.
The banks must submit their capital plans to regulators by January 7.In what seems like an Alan Partridge sketch gone supernova, a man has allegedly severed his genitals on a railing.
Unfortunately for the unnamed Russian geezer, Lynn was not there to come to his aid and the spike didn't pierce his foot. As previously stated, it went through his nadgers.
genitals on fence
Credit: Vkontakte/east2west News
His intentions are unknown, however it has been reported that he attempted to scale the fence while drunk, which was never going to end well.
Luckily, unlike Partridge, the fella didn't have to muster the courage to head to a presentation while bleeding profusely. Instead, he wormed his way off the spike, leaving a good chunk of his manhood behind, and made his way to a local hospital in south west Russia, the Daily Mail reports.
hospital
Credit: Vkontakte/east2west News
In a grim alternative to what his pissed mind no doubt envisioned - a heroic jump into a poetic vault, mimicking urban Parkour wannabes, before landing via an epic swan dive - he lessened his chances of having kids by 100 percent. He also needs new jeans.
Such was the severity of the incident, many locals rushed to the aid of the man, helping him on his journey to hospital. Oh, wait, no. That's not right. They rushed to take pictures of the severed penis, which hung from the spike in Kuznetsk, Penza Oblast.
"The man said no-one else was involved in the accident," a Russian police officer told Progorod58, a local news website. "He impaled himself while climbing over the metal fence."
Eurgh. Let's just watch the Partridge sketch, shall we?
Credit: BBC/I'm Alan Partridge
It could be worse. Actually, I don't know; it's debatable whether the following incident is worse, just as bad, or slightly better - last year, one man from Honduras gave all his love to a homemade sex toy, which was literally just a plastic bottle, but ended up getting his penis stuck in it for four days.
Unfortunately for the 50-year-old, who didn't bother to seek medical help for obvious reasons, he was told he'd have to his manhood amputated.
The ghetto sex toy turned man trap caused his middle stump to get necrosis, which is a type of injury which causes cells to die. When rushed to hospital, with the bottle still attached to him, his penis had began to decay and had turned black. His penis died. Ouch.
RIP both of these guys' members.
Featured Image Credit: BBC/PAHullabaloo
Sunday, September 05, 2010
Smite Him!
by digby
Somehow I think the Founders would find the fact that Americans are being told they shouldn't criticize them rather alarming.
[Ezra]Klein also made a statement at the end of his attack on the idea of States Rights that is offensive to those who revere our Founding Fathers. Klein made an offensive comment that he is wiser than men who spilled their own blood to form our union.
At about 1:33 into this clip Klein trashes our Founding Fathers.
I think our veneration for the Founders is something that occasionally perplexes me.
This is a truly outrageous statement and is evidence of Progressives distain for our Founding Fathers.
Pass me the smellin' salt's Miss Mellie, why I like to faint! "Distain" for our Foundin' Fathahs?
Somehow I doubt that the Founders expected that Americans two hundred years hence would be worshiping them like Gods and revering their words as if they were handed down by God himself. That, after all, is what defines Kings. And unless I'm mistaking my history, the Founders had some fairly strong opinions on that sort of thing.
But the right sees itself essentially as a patriotic priesthood, assigned by God and the ghosts of the Founders to be the only interpreters of the ancient texts. It is not for us to question, merely to submit.
*And anyway, it was the Black Robed Regiment who really led the revolution:
These patriot-preachers were staunchly patriotic, seriously independent, and steadfastly courageous. They were found in almost all of the various Protestant denominations at the time: Baptist, Presbyterian, Congregational, Anglican, Lutheran, German Reformed, etc. Their Sunday sermons — more than Patrick Henry’s oratory, Sam Adams’ and James Warren’s “Committees of Correspondence,” or Thomas Paine’s “Summer Soldiers and Sunshine Patriots” — inspired, educated, and motivated the colonists to resist the tyranny of the British Crown, and fight for their freedom and independence. Without the Black Regiment, there is absolutely no doubt that we would still be a Crown colony, with no Declaration of Independence, no U.S. Constitution, no Bill of Rights, and little liberty.
It doesn't sound like this fellow is properly venerating the sacred Founders either.
.
.
digby 9/05/2010 03:30:00 PMGECO,.223 (5.56x45mm), FMJ, 55 Grain, 250 Rounds is rated 5.0 out of 5 by 3.
Rated 5 out of 5 by jeff from Geco 5,56 FMJ 55 gr. I've been buying Geco ammunition for about 4 years now. I have nothing but positive experiences from their 9mm, 45 ACP,.223 and 5,56 ammunition. I built my first AR rifle earlier this spring and decided to try 4-5 different brands of ammunition to see what it liked. After a break in period of around 200 rds. I've decided the Geco 5,56 in 55 gr and the Hornady Black 62 gr. shoot the best with no jams or issues. Geco makes a great product and is reasonably priced. Good brass for reloads too.
Rated 5 out of 5 by boatpete from Great practice ammo In my Delton sport this ammo shoots great, better groups than 62 grain fodder. Still getting used to the gun.Aaeon’s ruggedized, 158 x 95 x 20mm “Boxer-6403” PC offers Celeron or Atom SoCs, plus four USB ports and double helpings of GbE, serial, and mini-PCIe I/O.
Aaeon managed to create its smallest Boxer computer yet, and “one of the most compact embedded box PCs on the market,” at just 158 x 95 x 20mm, by replacing the traditional heatsink in favor of a full aluminum die-cast enclosure for cooling, says the company. The fanless, Linux-ready Boxer-6403 is “ideal for applications in confined spaces, such as on production lines or at the back of digital signage monitors or video walls,” says Aaeon.
Boxer-6403, front and back
(click images to enlarge)
AEC-6403
According to Aaeon, the Boxer-6403 won a 23rd Taiwan Excellence Award. We don’t see it on the awards website or Aaeon’s own press release on the awards. However, both sources show that Aaeon did win six awards in the industrial computing category, including one for an AEC-6403 computer that appears to be a similar, but stripped down version of the Boxer-6403.
Aaeon often releases similar, or even identical embedded computers under both the Boxer and AEC labels, such as the Boxer-6614, which is identical to an AEC-6613 model. The AEC-6403, which appears to furnish half the external ports of the Boxer-6403, updates the earlier, Intel Atom N2600 based AEC-6401. This similarly styled computer is even smaller, at 125 x 77 x 20mm, so while the Boxer-6403 may be the smallest Boxer yet, it’s possible the AEC-6403 is not the smallest AEC model to date. We await more details from Aaeon.
Like the larger, more feature rich Boxer-6614, the Boxer-6403 offers extended temperature support (-20 to 40°C without airflow). It also similarly provides ruggedization features, although at a lower level (see details below).
Also like the Boxer-6614, the Boxer-6403 is designed to run Linux or Windows on Intel Celeron processors of the 22nm Bay Trail generation. In addition to two quad-core Celerons that are available with up to 8GB of DDR3 RAM, you can choose one dual-core Celeron or one dual-core Intel Atom E3825, each with up to 4GB of RAM.
Aaeon touts the Boxer-6403 for offering two features that are uncommon on tiny embedded PCs: dual RS232/422/485 ports, as well as six DIO connections. The computer also features dual gigabit Ethernet ports, an HDMI port, and internal single-channel LVDS.
Boxer-6403 detail views, front and back
(click images to enlarge)
Four external USB ports are available, including one USB 3.0 port. A half-size mini-PCIe slot offers another storage option by providing mSATA support, and a full-size mini-PCIe slot supports a SIM slot for wireless options.
Specifications listed for the Boxer-6403 include:
Processor — Intel Celeron or Atom (Bay Trail) with Intel HD Graphics: Celeron J1900 (4x cores @ 2.42GHz), 10W TDP Celeron N2930 (4x cores @ 2.00GHz), 7.5W TDP Celeron N2807 (2x cores @ 1.58GHz, 5W TDP Atom E3825 (2x cores @ 1.33GHz), 6W TDP
Memory — up to 4GB (with N2807 or E3825) or 8GB (J1900 or N2930) DDR3L 1333MHz via 1x SODIMM
Storage — mSATA (via mini-PCIe)
Display — HDMI port; LVDS interface (18/24-bit single-channel)
Wireless — Optional wireless module via mini-PCIe; 2x antenna holes; SIM card slot (via mini-PCIe)
Networking — 2x gigabit Ethernet ports
Other I/O: 3x USB 2.0 ports USB 3.0 port USB 2.0 header 2x RS232/422/485 ports 6x DIO (4x in, 2x out) supporting dry or wet contact LPC interface
Expansion — Full-size mini-PCIe slot with SIM card support; half-size mini-PCIe slot with mSATA support
Other features — VESA wall and DIN-rail mounting; power button; 5-year availability; optional anti-heat kit
Power — 12V DC input with lockable jack; ATX mode
Ruggedization: Operating temperature — -20 to 55°C or -20 to 40°C (without airflow) Vibration resistance — 3Grms, 5-500Hz Shock resistance — 20G (11ms)
Weight — 2 k (4.4 lb)
Dimensions — 158 x 95 x 20mm (6.22 x 3.75 x 0.79 in.)
Operating system — Linux (Fedora with Linux 2.63); Windows 7/8.1; WES7/8.1
Further information
The Boxer-6403 appears to be available now, at an unstated price. More information may be found at the Boxer-6403 product page.WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Forty percent of the global workforce was employed full time for an employer in 2009 and 2010, according to Gallup surveys from 129 countries and areas. Nineteen percent were underemployed, including 7% who were unemployed.
These are the first results Gallup has released from its newly developed global unemployment measures. Based on a series of employment questions Gallup asks respondents in surveys conducted at least once per year in most countries, Gallup quantifies the percentage of the global, regional, and country-level workforce that is employed full time for an employer, underemployed, and unemployed. Together, these metrics paint an unprecedented picture of the state of employment worldwide based on data that are easily comparable across countries. The results reported in this article represent an aggregate of data collected in 2009 and 2010.
Gallup's Employed Full Time for an Employer Index quantifies the percentage of workers in good jobs, rather than subsistence jobs that do little to raise individuals out of poverty or contribute to the country's formal economic output.
The Employed Full Time for an Employer Index has a strong, positive relationship with GDP per capita, meaning that countries with a higher percentage of workers employed full time for an employer tend to have higher GDP per capita. Gallup's Underemployment Index also has a strong negative relationship with GDP per capita. That is, countries with high underemployment tend to have lower GDP per capita. When examined across countries, Gallup research has found no relationship between unemployment rates and GDP per capita.
In many developing countries, unemployment is often relatively low, particularly compared with that in developed economies, because it takes into account people who are doing whatever work they can find to get by or are self-employed in subsistence jobs. Economically developed countries are more likely to have larger percentages of the workforce employed for an employer, but these percentages vary by country.
Regionally, sub-Saharan Africa has the smallest percentage of its workforce working full time for an employer, with nearly one in five reporting that they have a full-time job with an employer. Asia follows, with more than one-third of its workforce working for an employer. Countries in the former Soviet Union region have the largest percentage of the workforce working full time for an employer.
Underemployment is highest in sub-Saharan Africa. The relatively low number of individuals working for an employer and high number of underemployed underscores the economic woes in the region and that good jobs are needed.
Gallup's Underemployment Index captures traditional unemployment, as well as those who are employed part-time but seeking additional work. Traditional unemployment measures classify an individual as employed if he or she works for even a few hours a week. However, this does not tell the true story of employment status. The availability of part-time work may disguise an underlying lack of full-time jobs, which goes undetected with unemployment measures. Gallup's underemployment measure is a truer depiction of the percentage of the workforce that is not working at its desired capacity.
Implications
Global leaders today are making job creation a top priority. But until now, they did not have the measures they needed to determine whether they are creating good jobs.
Gallup's new Employed Full Time for an Employer Index measures the availability of quality jobs, and Gallup's Underemployment Index provides a true picture of the global workforce working at its desired capacity. Worldwide leaders can use these measures to track their progress toward increasing the number of quality jobs available, the percentage of workers employed in those jobs, and, in turn, their nation's GDP.
Explore the complete data in Gallup's Global Employment Tracking Interactive.
For complete data sets or custom research from the more than 150 countries Gallup continually surveys, please contact [email protected] or call 202.715.3030.
Survey Methods
Results are based on telephone and face-to-face interviews with approximately 1,000 adults, aged 15 and older, per survey administration. Interviews were conducted in 129 countries throughout 2009 and 2010. In many countries, the data have been aggregated. For results based on the total sample of national adults, one can say with 95% confidence that the maximum margin of sampling error ranged from a low of ±1.4 in India to a high of ±4.7 in Latvia. The margin of error reflects the influence of data weighting. In addition to sampling error, question wording and practical difficulties in conducting surveys can introduce error or bias into the findings of survey data.The knockout stage of the 2010 FIFA World Cup is about to begin in South Africa. At the time of writing, every team has one group stage match remaining, and most teams still have a chance to finish in the top two places in their group and progress to the knockout stage (see the tournament schedule and group stage standings).
There are different approaches to ranking world football teams. The most well known is FIFA’s official world rankings, which are derived from points gained and lost in each match according to a heuristic set of rules that generally reward winning against higher-ranked opponents in more-important tournaments.
A simple alternative with a more statistical basis is an Elo rating system (described in more detail below). A handy property of Elo rating systems is that they directly provide an estimate of the probability that a given team will perform better than another. We can use Mathematica with that to set up simulations of the knockout stage of the World Cup. This lets us estimate things like the chance of each team winning the tournament. We’ll also generate some nice visualizations of the results, such as the following simulated knockout stage (based on the current top two teams in each group):
Elo rating systems are used in many other sports and games, including international Chess and Go competitions. The World Football Elo Ratings website (www.eloratings.net)* maintains up-to-date Elo ratings for all national football teams. The following table compares the top 10 national football teams according to the official FIFA rankings and the alternative Elo ratings, showing some significant differences.
An Elo rating system works by assuming that the performance of a team in a match is a random value drawn from a certain probability distribution. The mean of the distribution is called the Elo rating for that team. The particular shape of the distribution may be freely chosen, but a common choice is ExtremeValueDistribution[α,400/Log[10]]. This is the distribution assumed for the stats we will use from World Football Elo Ratings (see details of how those ratings are calculated).
Here are the expected performance distributions for Slovakia and Brazil, whose latest Elo ratings (at the time of writing) are 1605 and 2100 respectively. The plot shows that Brazil is expected to usually, but not always, have a greater performance.
The assumption that performance follows an extreme value distribution leads directly to the probability that one team outperforms another, as a function of their rating difference.
We can verify this by computing the probability that p1 > p2, where p1 and p2 are the performances of two teams, and r1 and r2 are their Elo ratings.
To simulate knockout stage matches, we will take this Elo probability of one team outperforming another to be the probability that they win the match—hence the function name WinExpectation.
We can import the latest ratings directly into Mathematica:
(Due to web traffic, www.eloratings.net may be down during the tournament. You can import ratings from Google’s cached version or from Wikipedia instead—see the downloadable notebook near the end of this post for an example.)
We’ll also define a function TeamElo that looks up the rating of a given team:
It works like this:
Now we are in a position to simulate the result of a match between teams a and b.
This SimulateMatch function returns a symbolic representation of a completed match, Match[{a,b},winner], indicating which teams played and who won. I defined a custom appearance for Match objects, which you can see at the bottom of this post.
We can define properties of symbolic objects, such as this simple one:
The winner is not always the same in our random simulated matches.
Next we’ll simulate each round of the knockout stage.
Some synonyms help standardize |
distributed to charity. Newman's airplane and race cars are to be sold and the proceeds will revert back to the estate.
Newman retired from acting in May 2007 and was diagnosed with cancer in March 2008. He died at home in Westport, Connecticut, surrounded by family on September 26, 2008.
Paul Newman was survived by his wife Joanne Woodward, daughters Susan and Stephanie from his first marriage, daughters Nell, Lissy and Clea with wife Joanne, and two grandsons. He was preceded in death by his son Scott.
Check out the photo gallery of Newman's movie roles here.VANCOUVER – A judge has granted BC Hydro an injunction to remove people protesting the Site C dam project at a tent camp near Fort St. John.
The ruling means demonstrators have no right to obstruct the hydroelectric project, which has regulatory approval from both the federal and provincial governments.
The utility argued last week that the actions of a group of Peace Valley farmers and First Nations were illegal and could cost millions of dollars.
BC Hydro lawyers told court the protesters set up camp in late December and have prevented workers from clearing the area for construction, even building camp fires near tree-felling and excavation operations.
Yvonne Tupper of the Saulteau First Nations said outside court that BC Hydro is violating Treaty 8 Tribal Association’s rights and that the project should be put on hold while legal challenges make their way through the courts.
The $8.8-billion dam will flood agricultural land and First Nations archeological sites, as well as hunting and fishing areas.
The Federal NDP is calling on the Prime Minister to make good on his promise to stand up for local First Nations who oppose the project.
“Premier Christy Clark, with the help of Justin Trudeau, is forcing the project through despite opposition by locals and First Nations in the area that hold some significant title,” says Environment Critic Nathan Cullen.
“We want Mr. Trudeau to live up to his word, which is [that] the relationship with First Nations, in particular, would be different. That his government would show respect for local voices and we don’t have to fight every resource project out in the courts,” he explains.
“His ministers at first said that they had done their consultations on this and then we quickly heard from the head of the First Nations groups that was not true so, not a good start and let’s do better. Mr. Trudeau will be under some pressure not to permit this dam that is so directly opposed by the people who live there.”
He adds other concerns include the high cost of the mega dam, what the power will be used for and the way the project is moving forward.Last month, when Ball Don't Lie's Dan Devine told you about LeBron James' new exorbitantly priced sneakers, quite a few of you took to our comment section to rail against James and Nike for selling shoes that started at $180, moving all the way up to $315 for pairs that were sure to sell out no matter the cost. On top of that, we're sure, some of you possibly brought up the potential for children to be robbed and/or assaulted by thieves attempting to steal such "valuable" shoes. Few of you, we're sure, thought that your comments would eventually lead to the attention of your local police department, and possible arrest.
Then again, none of you apparently made the boneheaded decision to muse on record about killing children, as 21-year old Eric Yee allegedly did, even referencing the tragic movie theater shootings in Aurora, Colo., along the way. Yee is being accused of making his comments underneath an ESPN article of a similar nature, detailing James' new signature shoes, and authorities moved in on Monday to arrest the Yale dropout.
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[Jalen Rose admits trying to hurt Kobe during the 2000 NBA Finals]
We have no idea how serious Yee's threats really were, but considering his proximity to a local elementary and middle school and the fact that several guns were found at his current residence, it's clear that he could possibly be the LeBron James of poor judgment. From the Associated Press:
Story continues
An employee at ESPN headquarters in Bristol, Conn., notified local police the same day and they linked the posting to Yee's home in Santa Clarita in northern Los Angeles County. Sheriff's investigators said they were contacted Sunday and began surveillance on the home where Yee, 21, lives with his parents until a search warrant was obtained. Experts said the bail amount was very high for a person suspected of making terrorist threats. "To put it in perspective, $1 million is the presumptive bail for murder," said Hanni Fakhoury, an attorney for the Electronic Frontier Foundation and a former federal public defender who is not involved in the case.
For over a decade it's become apparent that an Internet connection and the seeming anonymity that goes with it tends to turn even the weakest of minds and muscles into a snorting web presence that boasts of the ability to take on all comers. Now, you might have to think twice before flexing that imaginary e-muscle.
[Metta World Peace has shocking goal for Lakers]
Again, we don't know if Yee is an example of such — if this was an isolated incident, or the latest in a series of worrying posts that set ESPN off one too many times — but it's worth repeating that the same common sense you might use when bagging your produce at the local supermarket amongst strangers might be also best utilized while pretending to be a tough dude in comment sections that can reach thousands.
Did ESPN overreact? Did the authorities, with that outrageous $1 million bail, overreact? Is this a concerted effort to send a message to comment section kids — be they chatting about sports, entertainers, politics, or Internet memes of all types — using Yee as a scapegoat? Or, as most comment section types write it, "escapegoat?"
Possibly, at least in the early going and before we're privy to the evidence against Yee.
Any movement on this front, though, is a good thing. Violent threats against anyone should be taken seriously, because nearly two decades into this Internet fad (and it is a fad, kids, soon to be eclipsed by virtual reality or whatever the next cool CD-ROM will hold) a bit of responsibility has to be in order for those that get to duck down in front of that laptop and just spew away irrespective of any semblance of tact, poise, and reason.
It's not Big Brother. It's your big brother, slapping you on the back of your head and telling you to stop acting like such a damned punk.
Fantasy Football video from Yahoo! Sports:
Other popular content on the Yahoo! network:
• Outside the Game: Lamarr Woodley gives back to his Michigan hometown
• Rangers' Josh Hamilton will have many suitors
• Michelle Obama tries to 'Gator Chomp' her way into the University of Florida's heart
• Y! TV: 'Saved by the Bell's' Mr. Belding now a pro wrestlerWe have noticed a steady trend of declining support through flattr, especially compared to a year ago when there was a significant drop of support. Last month we received our lowest amount so far with 2.44 Euros from four unique supporters. This level is below our monthly cost for web hosting and would become a significant problem if it continued. We noticed that there has been technical problems for some linux users trying to flattr us, hopefully it will be solved and we also hope that more of the persons that supported us in the past will find back to us again. Thanks to those people who continue to support our work!
On the positive side we enabled Bitcoin donations about a 6 weeks ago. Shortly after we announced it we received 0.661 Bitcoins (172.15 Euro) from five transactions in January. The majority came from one generous supporter giving us 0.5 Bitcoins. February resulted in no donations through Bitcoin which may show that it’s a harder channel to get a steady stream of donations through.
Over the last two months we refilled 20 Euros for future web hosting costs. We also decided to pay the transportation costs for one of our team-members to travel by train to Brussels and establish more contact with Julia Reda’s office (not a cost incurred yet but money, ~40E, has been reserved for it). We also have a significant cost for our translation software that needs to be payed to continue receiving updates.
Flattr is a microdonation service that allows you to give a small amount of money each month to content you would like to give support. It can be compared to a “Facebook super-like” with money attached. Users act like patrons of work and ”many small streams” adds up to something larger. The flattr button can be found at the bottom of each of our articles or you can support us directly on our flattr profile.
In January 2015 we had 30 things flattred by 7 unique users. In total we were flattred 42 times last month and received 6.65 Euro in support for our work.
In February 2015 we had 12 things flattred by 4 unique users. In total we were flattred 18 times last month and received 2.44 Euro in support for our work.
You can see more statistics broken down by year: 2012, 2013, 2014English Word
M
R
R
Edenic Word
N
R
H
Hebrew Word
נ
ע
ר
ה
Transliteration
Pronounciation
Conversion
Meaning
Roots
Noon-Ayin-Resh-HeyNa-a-RAH[NR → MR]young woman
MARRY is from Latin maritus (married), from Indo-European root mari (young woman). M-R for a young man of MARRIAGE age is among the oldest and most universal words known to historical linguists see below.
נערה N[Ah'RaH (young woman - Genesis24:14). No offense, but there is a MORON/MARRIAGE connection see MORON.
Branches
MARRY is linked to Altaic miarra (marry a man), majr (man, young male) in Nostratic, mjr and mr (man) in Asiatic, and mer-io (young man) in Indo-European. A נער Na'[A]R, young man (of marriagable age Genesis 22:12) is a nasal shift M/N away. Only the Edenic young man/young woman word explains why the AHD has feminie words, while research in other language superfamilies focus on the masculine.
MARITAL is a cognate of MARRY. The boy and girl nasal-liquid words infer a young man or woman of marriageable age. That age used to be much younger than post-graduate school age.
MAY is from Old Norse maer (girl). NA'AR(OOT) means youth. Na[A]R means young lady, young man, older girl or boy.
Greek meirax (boy), Sanskrit marya (youth) and Latin maris (a man) are official etymons for MALE. R shifts to L. See MALE. Finnish nuore means young. Linguists working on reconstructing a proto language called Nostratic arrive at the root majr (young male). The Altaic (Japanese-Korean-Mongolian) counterpart is miarra (to marry a man), the Asiatic is mjr, mr (man).
More youthful folly at MORON.
Bible Verses
Genesis 24:14 והיה הנער אשׁר אמר אליה הטי־נא כדך ואשׁתה ואמרה שׁתה וגם־גמליך אשׁקה אתה הכחת לעבדך ליצחק ובה אדע כי־עשׂית חסד עם־אדני׃
So let it come to pass, that the damsel to whom I shall say: Let down thy pitcher, I pray thee, that I may drink; and she shall say: Drink, and I will give thy camels drink also; let the same be she that Thou hast appointed for Thy servant, even for Isaac; and thereby shall I know that Thou hast shown kindness unto my master.
Strong
Related Words
(5291)When I first picked up Diablo 3, after years spent in the depths of its predecessors and siblings, I felt like D3 managed to distinguish itself from sufficiently from D1 & D2. The third installment had taken its cues from modernized, post World of Warcraft game design, clearly. Vital elements were designed very differently, although they were still the same elements that constitute a brilliant time sink of an action RPG. The changes were met with some ire from hardcore D2 fans (what sequel isn’t). Yet overall, the general architecture of the games was the same.
On paper, everything looked the same, but it clearly wasn’t.
Torchlight is a favorite branch of this particular genre, and there it became clear how much the little things matter in creating a unique offering. It was the façade, the flavor, that made all the difference. The same goes for Marvel Heroes, and you can bet your oversized clicking finger that the flavor here is tastier and more addictive than In-and-Out and Five Guys at once.
All the parts required to build this kind of experience are here in Marvel Heroes.
The randomly generated environments are present, even more so than in Diablo. The loot is given a great variety as each item only fits one of the twenty heroes available, with more heroes to come after release. The stats are there, the plethora of unique foes, beautiful environments, the complex abilities choices fleshing out interesting heroes to encouraging various strategies. There is great variety in hero type and customization options. The gameplay is precise, engaging and diverse. The story is written Brian Michael Bendis. It’s perfect, really. Everything this reviewer could possibly hope for in this particular genre.
Simply put, this is Marvel’s Diablo 2.
More than an imitator, Marvel Heroes has what many found lacking from Diablo 3: David Brevik. The lead designer for the first two Diablo games, Brevik surely had the experience to create something new and revolutionary. Instead, he took Diablo 2 and perfected it under a modern Marvel mask. It appears to me rather obviously that this is Brevik’s work as the game has the exact same flavor as Diablo 2, despite the vastly different aesthetic. The team around him surely kept a steady focus on Brevik’s vision, and have delivered a sublime experience with a special bonus: f2p.
All hail the free-to-play model!
Not to mention being highly lucrative for the developer, the free-to-play (f2p) model draws in a much larger audience than the standard sales model as there’s no cost upfront. Being given access to the entire game (with one free hero of your choice) is an incredible gain for any prospective player, and encourages play up to the point where the player wants a new hero. From here, you can choose what you want to spend in order to unlock the heroes you want to play: money or time.
Anyone can download and play for free with the initial free champions. Subsequently, players can unlock new heroes, costumes, XP/item find bonuses, pets and more through a standard microtransaction model, or through various bundles at $20, $60 and $200.
While many see microtransactions as a way to suck cash out of existing players, the free-to-play model allows for a buffet of sorts: only pay for what you can eat. You can have a blast grinding and farming your way to the level cap of 30 without spending a dime for the experience. Being able to pick up a costume here or a hero there when it suits the player is a powerful thing. Some purchases, like storage tabs in your S.T.A.S.H. (Stark Armory & Supply Hoard), are more necessary than, say, access to exclusive daily missions or crafting materials. But the game refrains from the pay-to-win structure by leaving the power of the heroes themselves reliant on the extensively statistical items that drop along the way.
Initially conceived as an MMO, Marvel Heroes plays more like a straight action RPG with a few social elements imported from MMOs such as players being able to run into strangers on the overall maps, with many single instances for players to run alone or with friends. Elements such as World of Warcraft-style instances and perpetual worlds with people busy at play all around you are a bit of a break from the traditional formula. Although I'd enjoy a single-player experience, this addition isn't ruinous and many will enjoy the social integration. There are larger world events one can stumble across, and the diversity derived from random encounters in the world with different players is uniquely appreciated here in Marvel style.
Simply put, there is no reason not to give Marvel Heroes a go.
If you already know that action RPGs aren’t your thing, why are you still reading? If it is your thing, but Marvel isn’t your flavor, all you’ve lost is a bit of time and disk space. If it is, well, say goodbye to your free time and hello to a superbly crafted, vast time sink of an action RPG with a great cast of heroes and much more content to come.Consumers flood Samsung booth at the 2013 International CES at the Las Vegas Convention Center in Nevada, on Jan. 10, 2013. [AFP]
China’s state-run broadcaster launched a broadside against South Korean electronics giant Samsung, the latest foreign brand to be castigated by authorities in the world’s second-largest economy.
In a 30-minute investigative programme featuring interviews with consumers and repairmen, state-run China Central Television criticised Samsung for producing “faulty” smartphones, arguing that the manufacturer’s Galaxy S and Note series handsets are liable to freeze-up due to a software problem.
The show also took aim at Samsung’s warranty policy. It quoted the firm as saying it would investigate the issues raised.
The lengthy investigation into Samsung, the most popular smartphone brand in China, was broadcast on Monday, a day after the state broadcaster aired another show accusing US coffee chain Starbucks of overcharging its Chinese customers.
Starbucks responded that its different operating costs in cities across the globe render “inaccurate” any comparisons in the prices of its drinks in different markets.
Earlier this year, Chinese state media took aim at tech giant Apple, accusing the US company of “unparalleled arrogance” in its warranty policy and customer service in China — a barrage of criticism that halted soon after the company’s CEO, Tim Cook, apologised.
The clampdowns are partly an official response to public frustration over high prices for imported goods, analysts say, but by singling out largely overseas firms they have raised alarm in the foreign business community.
[Image via Agence France-Presse]Not too long ago, we showed you some fantastic Disney and One Piece crossover art. This time, internationally popular manga series Yu-Gi-Oh! gets the Disney treatment, thanks to net artist scaragh.
The artist has long been a fan of the Yu-Gi-Oh! series, saying, “Well, I know I’ve said this a lot lately (sorry!), but I used to watch this all the time when I was a kid, and now that I’ve found the abridged series, I started watching it…again! I’ve got a bunch of sketches I hope to finish and post soon, but for now, I figured this should go first.”
Scaragh’s illustration features the main character Yugi Muto, his rival Seto Kaiba, and many other popular characters from the series in a wonderful and distinctly Disney-like style, and it’s been garnering a lot of attention, not just overseas, but in Japan as well.
Here are a handful of the enthusiastic comments on scaragh’s deviantART page:
-I would love to really see this as a series!!!!
-I just died. These are fantastic!
-Kaiba is hot.
-Jyonouchi looks so much better!
-Oh god, right in the childhood.
-Pegasus is so awesome!
-DONT STARE DIRECTLY INTO HIS FACE!!! TOO….BEAUTIFUL…
-Ryou is so adorable but Bakura is so smexy! Good thing we don’t have to choose, since they’re in the same body!
-i like disneyfied yugi and pegasus… pegasus looks actually sane and not gay and yugi just looks older…not like he is 10 years old
-OMG, Shacho is so cute! This is great!
-These illustrations could be made into a movie as is.
So if you are going by the fan response, this quality work is ripe for a Disney movie debut. We’ll have to see if Bob Iger takes note…
[ Read in Japanese ]A former Roman Catholic priest accused of sexually assaulting a teenage boy at gunpoint was convicted this afternoon of trying to hire a hit man to kill the boy.
John Fiala, who faces up to life in prison, showed no outward emotion as the verdict was read. The jury of nine women and three men that convicted him after a few hours of deliberating will decide his punishment.
Testimony in the punishment phase of the trial is underway.
Fiala testified this morning that he told a purported hit man to kill his accuser because he thought his own life was in danger.
He said his friend and neighbor Scottie Fisher told him the hit man was his brother. The brother would likely turn on Fiala if he wasn't convinced the hit was on, Fiala said Fisher told him.
"I knew that if I didn't do this, I'd be the one on the list, marked to be killed, according to what Scottie said," Fiala said.
But the man Fiala met with in November 2010 and instructed to murder his accuser in exchange for $5,000 was actually an undercover police officer. And the entire conversation was surreptitiously video recorded and played for the Dallas County jury yesterday.
Fiala's attorney asked him why he gave specific instructions to the undercover cop, including to "chop off his head."
"That was what Scottie told me to say," Fiala said.
Prosecutors Hector Garza and Brandon Birmingham have argued that Fiala wanted his accuser dead because he was distraught over indictments that accused him of sexually assaulting the 16-year-old boy in his rural West Texas parish in Edwards County.
Fiala testified that he was distraught about the allegations against him. But he said it was because he was having trouble forgiving the boy for making up false allegations against him.
Garza asked Fiala what Fisher would have gained by having the boy killed.
"Nothing," Fiala said.
Prosecutors urged the jury not to buy Fiala's claim that Fisher's threats led him to act like he wanted his accuser killed.
"John Fiala is not a puppet," Birmingham said. "He is a puppeteer."
Defense attorney Rex Gunter said Fiala had no true intentions of having his abuse accuser killed. He told jurors not to find his client guilty despite what they saw on the potentially damning video.
"Just saying the words doesn't show intent," Gunter said.Open Sourcing the Java Debugger for Visual Studio Code
Xiaokai
Since we first released our Java Debugger extension for Visual Studio Code on September 28, it quickly became the most trending extension of the month. And of course, lots of feedback and suggestions were submitted from our active developer community. You shared, we listened. In this quick follow up release, we’re open sourcing both our Java Debugger Extension as well as the backend Java Debug Server, along with publishing a few feature improvements and bug fixes. Please try our latest Java debugger extension and make Visual Studio Code a better place for Java developers together.
No need to specify main class anymore
We have added a new feature to automatically resolve main class of the project, you no longer need to fill these values manually.
Fully supported external source files
With this feature, you can now also debug with third-party classes, when the source code is inside a JAR or a source attachment. And you can also set breakpoint in those classes ahead of debugging.
Other changes
This new release also includes the following updates
We have adopted to the new Visual Studio Code Debug protocol. This latest release displays stackframe name with format ClassName.MethodName(ParameterList). There are improvements in the call stack display info for files without sources. Bug fixes.
You can find more details in our changelog.
Try it out
If you’re trying to find a performant editor for your Java project, please try this extension and let us know what you think.Image copyright AFP
In our series of letters from African journalists, film-maker and columnist Farai Sevenzo considers why Eritreans endanger themselves so much to reach Europe.
The Mediterranean is fast becoming a massive watery grave for Africans.
Another 500 reportedly drowned off the coast of Italy the other week, while the attention span of the world quickly moves away.
But who are these Africans willing to risk all to reach European shores where they are not wanted?
Those of us following the story of African migration will have noticed a marked increase in the number of Eritreans being interviewed in refugee camps on the edge of Europe.
Image copyright Other Conscription into the army has been likened by many to slavery Farai Sevenzo Fears for Africans held in Sinai
President Isaias Afewerki is accused by human rights groups of turning the East African country into "one giant prison" and brooks no opposition.
The Eritrean parliament has not met since 2002. As for elections, they have not happened since Eritrea broke away from Ethiopia voting for independence in 1993.
But is that reason enough for this nation to keep haemorrhaging its citizens at such an alarming rate?
The young men and women who survive trekking across the desert and make it across the Mediterranean in wooden boats further endanger themselves by climbing on to lorries in European ports to try and find a place to make a life.
In Eritrea, they are expected by President Isaias' government to do national service until they are 40.
All around them high-ranking government officials are locked up, opposition members are imprisoned, the private press has been gagged for decades and there is a constant threat of renewed conflict with Ethiopia.
President Isaias has also been accused of sending his soldiers across the border of another neighbour, Djibouti.
Mapping Mediterranean migration
The Eritrean government maintains those leaving are economic migrants.
"This phenomenon where the youth are leaving their countries to go to the richer countries is an international phenomenon and it should be fought by the international community," Eritrea's ambassador to Italy Zemede Tekle Woldetatios told the BBC last year, blaming human traffickers.
He said continuing conscription was the fault of Ethiopia's refusal to withdraw from the border town of Badme, awarded to Eritrea by the UN more than a decade ago.
Kinship forgotten
But the numbers speak for themselves - a population of 6.3m is responding with their feet and emptying the country with despairing frequency.
The UN estimates that as many as 3,000 people every month are trying to leave his rule by any means possible.
These are difficult times to be a refugee.
Image copyright AFP Image caption The Orthodox Church of Eritrea is the country's largest Christian denomination
Europe, its politicians tell us, is full. The mass of legal immigrants pouring out of the east has knocked the fate of Africans back; sympathy for the plight of those fleeing persecution has all but evaporated.
Africans have always had a complicated relationship with their leaders, but Mr Isaias seems to have cloaked himself in robes of one from the 1970s - unaccountable and seemingly obsessed with power.
In June, the UN Human Rights Council set up a commission of inquiry into human rights abuses in this Red Sea nation, which will report back in just under a year.
Eritrea at a glance:
Gained independence in 1993
6.3m population
Opposition parties outlawed
Conscription until the age of 40
UN estimates 3,000 Eritreans leave each month
Heavily dependent on earnings of the diaspora
Eritrea profile
There are other Eritreans who left before the rush to escape.
They are dotted all over the world and may have known their land before it was forever split from Ethiopia. They talk of the kinship between nations, of how Mr Isaias and the late Ethiopian leader Meles Zenawi were in fact cousins.
They run little corner shops in cities like London and call them "The Red Sea".
They are a people estranged not from their country, but from their leader.
Earlier in June, Eritrea's bishops commented on this massive flight of the citizens by calling the country "desolate".
"If," they wrote, "you are in a country of honey, there is no need to look for another one."
Image copyright AFP Image caption Asmara has beautiful art deco architecture
Image copyright AFP Image caption This bowling alley was built in the 1950s
Image copyright AFP Image caption This pharmacy in Asmara still has its old Italian fixtures and fittings
They elaborated:
"If you own a peaceful country where there is justice and where you can work and loudly speak your mind, it is obvious that we will have youths flocking back from exile but not youths eager to leave their country, for nobody would look for honey which they already have."
Amnesty International says since independence, the Eritrean government has imprisoned 10,000 of its citizens.
Conscription into the army has been likened by many to slavery and families are doing everything they can to pay the people smugglers to save their children from President Isaias' grip.
Of course we would all be hard pressed to understand why such a rule has not come under more international scrutiny.
The world is far too connected now, so much so that human rights abuses in an East African country will wash up as bodies on the pristine beaches of Italy, Malta and Spain.
More should be done to look at what is going on in Asmara, a city whose art deco beauty is being choked by the weeds of bad governance.
Correction 12 December 2014: This report has been amended to clarify that while tensions remain between Eritrea and Ethiopia, they have not been solely caused by any actions of President Isaias.
If you would like to comment on Farai Sevenzo's column, please do so below.THERE are many things people do not want to be built in their backyard, and nuclear power stations are high on the list. But what if floating reactors could be moored offshore, out of sight? There is plenty of water to keep them cool and the electricity they produce can easily be carried onshore by undersea cables. Moreover, once the nuclear plant has reached the end of its life it can be towed away to be decommissioned. Unusual as it might seem, such an idea is gaining supporters in America and Russia.
The potential benefits of building nuclear power stations on floating platforms, much like those used in the offshore oil-and-gas industry, were recently presented to a symposium hosted by the American Society of Mechanical Engineers by Jacopo Buongiorno, Michael Golay, Neil Todreas and their colleagues at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, along with others from the University of Wisconsin and Chicago Bridge & Iron, a company involved in both the nuclear and offshore industries.
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Floating nuclear power stations (like the one in the illustration above) would have both economic and safety benefits, according to the researchers. For one thing, they could take advantage of two mature and well-understood technologies: light-water nuclear reactors and the construction of offshore platforms, says Dr Buongiorno. The structures would be built in shipyards using tried-and-tested techniques and then towed several miles out to sea and moored to the sea floor.
Keeping cool
Offshore reactors would help overcome the increasing difficulty of finding sites for new nuclear power stations. They need lots of water, so ideally should be sited beside an ocean, lake or river. Unfortunately, those are just the places where people want to live, so any such plans are likely to be fiercely opposed by locals.
Another benefit of being offshore is that the reactor could use the sea as an “infinite heat sink”, says Dr Buongiorno. The core of the reactor, lying below the surface, could be cooled passively without relying on pumps driven by electricity, which could fail. In the nuclear disaster in Japan in 2011 a powerful earthquake off the coast created a tsunami that inundated the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant, wrecking the backup power generators used to keep the cooling pumps going. This set off a meltdown in three of the plant’s reactors.
A floating nuclear power station would be protected against earthquakes and tsunamis. The expanse of the ocean would shield the structure from seismic waves in the seabed, says Dr Buongiorno, and, provided the power station was moored in about 100 metres of water, the swell from a tsunami should not be large enough to cause any serious damage.
At the end of its service life, a floating nuclear power station could be towed to a specially equipped yard where it could be more easily dismantled and decommissioned. This is what happens to nuclear-powered ships.
Rosatom, a Russian state-controlled energy company, is already building a floating nuclear power station. This is the Akademik Lomonosov, a large barge carrying a pair of nuclear reactors capable of together generating up to 70 megawatts (MW)—enough to power a small town. The vessel is due to be completed in 2016 and is said to be the first of many. Some people believe the project’s primary mission is to provide power for the expansion of Russia’s oil-and-gas industry in remote areas, including the Arctic.
The American researchers think there is no particular limit to the size of a floating nuclear power station and that even a 1,000MW one—the size of some of today’s largest terrestrial nuclear plants—could be built. They believe the floating versions could be designed to meet all regulatory and security requirements, which would include protecting the structure from underwater attack, says Dr Todreas.
The idea is not new. In the late 1960s Sturgis, a converted Liberty ship containing a 10MW nuclear reactor, was used to provide electricity to the Panama Canal Zone, which faced a power shortage. In the 1970s there was a plan to build 1,200MW nuclear power stations off America’s east coast. These would float on giant concrete barges surrounded by a breakwater. The scheme got as far as constructing a huge manufacturing yard near Jacksonville, Florida. But the idea faced opposition and was scrapped, in part because of technical and regulatory uncertainties. A newer generation of floating nuclear reactors would be safer and cheaper, but they are still unlikely to set sail without a fight.Duncan “Thoorin” Shields has been banned from bullying seminars, for life, after he was caught bullying another “former” bully, Freakazoid.
After the grand court of Reddit found Thoorin guilty of bullying the Gamers2 player, Smithzz – calling him a “les noobs” and referring to him as a decoy grenade, in many various contexts – Thoorin was sentenced to attend the WESA Bullying Seminar, to try to make him a better person.
However, recent sources from within the WESA organization have found that Thoorin has been banned from the bullying seminars, for life, after he was found to be cruelly bullying another member of the seminar, ex-Cloud9 player, Freakazoid.
The Global Defensive site reached out to Freakzoid to get his side of the story. “I was just minding my own business as an entry frag for Echo Fox,” Freakzoid told us, “When suddenly I was being barraged with hate from this Thoorin guy. He was calling me a decoy and saying that I don’t even lift and it hurt.”
“I was at the bullying seminar to get better after I made the awful mistake to attack a harmless little Ukranian boy, earlier this year. I’m just trying to be a better person, but attacks like this just show that not everyone is attending the seminars by choice.”
“I just can’t believe that someone who is too scared to tell people his matchmaking rank because he’s scared his 14 year old fans will bully him is going around calling people decoys. I’d beat him in a 1v1, any day.”
The /r/globaloffensive subreddit has immediately split down the middle for which dick to stroke, however, the majority have agreed that Freakzoid used to play for Cloud9, so he must be the good guy.
“Thoorin just uses edgy banter to stay relevant,” claims one Reddit user, “Which is okay, as long as it’s funny banter. The whole decoy bit is getting a bit old now, the joke meta has already evolved to flashbang jokes.”
AdvertisementsNew Delhi, Sep 22 (PTI) The All India Trade Union Congress (AITUC) today came out strongly against the central government for its steps to privatise 22 public sector undertakings, terming them "anti-people policy of strategic sale".
Under the strategic sale, the governments stake goes below 50 per cent in PSUs, which is otherwise known as privatisation.
AITUC has called a meeting with other central unions to deliberate on the issue and decide on future course of action.
"The AITUC secretariat condemns the move of the central government to privatise 22 PSUs under its anti-people policy of strategic sale. The sale includes engineering and electronic corporations, besides 67 discovered oil fields by ONGC and Oil India," AITUC Secretary D L Sachdev said in a press statement.
AITUC also denounced the government statement to privatise more PSUs as part of policy. Sale of these PSUs would undermine economic sovereignty of the country, it alleged.
On September 2, the central unions had observed an all-India strike to press for their 12-point charter of demands, which included a no to privatisation of PSUs.
AITUC has appealed to its constituents to move jointly against the strategic sale of PSUs, which "if carried out will further weaken economic self-reliance and sovereignty of the country". PTI KKS ARDTesla's big rig will likely redefine the large tractor-trailer for the future.
Expect a futuristic prototype, complete with a spaceship-like cab and a huge battery.
Ironically, the freight business might be a better fit for Tesla's technologies than the mass market for passenger cars.
Market-watchers are divided on whether this is |
's competition as producers try to keep up the drama and the ratings.Killed: Corporal Nate Carrigan, a 13-year veteran, was shot dead Wednesday in Bailey, Colorado
A man who spent years fighting the foreclosure of his Colorado home and ranted online about police and corporate corruption shot three law enforcement officers trying to serve an eviction notice Wednesday, killing one and wounding the others, authorities said.
The officer killed at the scene has been identified as Corporal Nate Carrigan, a 13-year veteran of the Park County Sheriff's Office.
The officers fired back in this forested mountain community, killing the gunman, who was identified by police as 58-year-old Martin Wirth and has been pictured lying dead in the snow outside his house.
Eight officers went to the snow-covered two-story home in a hillside neighborhood north of the town of Bailey to serve what authorities described as a 'high-risk' eviction notice. The well-maintained houses sit on big lots, with room for horses to graze in an area popular with hunters and anglers.
Wirth appeared on the deck of his home when the officers arrived, then went back inside, according to the sheriff's office account of the shooting.
Officers followed him in, and Wirth fired on them, prompting them to return fire, sheriff's officials said.
The shooting killed Carrigan. One of the wounded officers underwent surgery for life-threatening injuries and was in critical condition at a Denver hospital.
The body of the shooting suspect, identified as activist Martin Wirth, is visible outside the Denver property where he was killed after he shot dead a sheriff's deputy on Wednesday
The other was treated and released from a hospital after a bullet grazed his ear, Colorado Bureau of Investigation spokeswoman Susan Medina said.
Scores of people attended a vigil Wednesday night for Carrigan at Platte Canyon Community Church. Some wrote remembrances and prayers on sheets of paper lining the church walls.
Wirth owned the home until March 2014, when Fannie Mae, the government-controlled mortgage company, took ownership after he lost a court battle over his foreclosure. according to The Denver Post. Wirth also once ran for Senate.
A picture of the property this evening from Denver7 News shows the body of Wirth lying in the snow outside, with armed officers standing guard close by.
After Wirth lost his case in state court, he sued Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper, the state attorney general and a judge in 2013. The federal lawsuit claimed that state foreclosure laws were unconstitutional and that Wirth and his unnamed guests were 'in imminent danger of being wrongfully deprived of home and property while also being threatened with an armed and forcible entry onto the property and into the home.'
Property owner: Occupy Denver activist Martin Wirth (pictured at a protest) was shot dead during the shooting
He asked a federal judge to block Park County from selling his home, evicting him or forcibly entering the house and to strike down several state laws. A federal judge dismissed the lawsuit last September.
A website by a group called the Colorado Foreclosure Resistance Coalition includes undated posts that called for supporters to join Wirth in 'non-violent eviction resistance.' The website includes a video of a man identified as Wirth railing against mortgage companies as criminals.
A call to the group, whose website says it is part of the Occupy movement, was not immediately returned.
Tim Holland, who was involved in the Occupy Denver movement with Wirth, struggled to reconcile the shooting with his memories of Wirth as a'sweet, quirky, kindhearted guy.'
'It seems to me that he was just pushed to the end of his rope, and he tried every single approach to addressing his grievances, and at the end, he chose to not let them take his house away from him,' Holland said. 'It's the middle of winter in the mountains. Where was he going to go?'
Wirth ran for the state Senate in 2014 as a Green Party candidate, but he lost to an incumbent Republican. In a candidate questionnaire he completed for The Denver Post, Wirth wrote of corruption in the political system, his support for Colorado's marijuana laws and the plight of the poor.
The home: The suspect at the home at 36 Iris Drive in Bailey (pictured), 50 miles from Denver, opened fire on the deputies with a rifle. One deputy died and two others are wounded. The suspect also died
When asked whether he supported the death penalty, Wirth wrote, 'Killing people to show that killing people is wrong is a piece of idiotic hypocrisy.'
He wrote disparagingly of police, the federal government and corporations on his candidate page on Facebook and praised former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden, who leaked millions of documents about government surveillance. He made regular posts criticizing leading presidential candidates from both parties.
Neighbor Terry Rogers, a counselor and pastor at Platte Canyon Community Church, said he did not know Wirth well and believes no one in the area did.
'He was pretty reclusive,' said Rogers, who could see law enforcement vehicles responding to the shooting across a snow-covered pasture from his driveway.
Martin Wirth (pictured) also once ran for Senate. Wirth had supporters fighting for him to stay at the home prior to being served an eviction notice
The area of rocky, pine-covered hills is about 45 miles southwest of Denver where several camps host Girl Scouts and other youth during the summer. The neighborhood is several miles outside Bailey, a hamlet of just a few restaurants and shops.
Sam Lung, who lives nearby, said he often hears gunshots in the area, which has a target practice site.
He said people often shoot in their backyards, 'practicing their Second Amendment rights.'
He said he did not hear the gunshots Wednesday.
'It is a dark day,' Medina said.
The male suspect died after opening fire on the deputies.
The picturesque town is no stranger to tragedy. It is where a gunman took several girls hostage in a high school classroom a decade ago, killing one of them before himself.
Duane Morrison, a 53-year-old drifter, held the girls for nearly four hours and sexually assaulted them in September 2006.In yet another case of attack on the minority Hindu community in Pakistan, a temple in Sindh was desecrated by unknown vandals.
AFP/Representational Image
The incident was reported from Gharo town in the southern Sindh province on Friday. According to Dawn News, unknown miscreants entered the temple of Rama Pir and dumped their sacred idols in the sewage lines after desecrating them.
The incident happened on the eve of an annual festival at the temple in Thatta.
Thatta SSP Hussain Mastoi said a case of blasphemy has been registered and an investigation is under way, even though no arrest has been made so far.
AFP/ Representational Image
Don't Miss 94.4 K SHARES 48.6 K SHARES 64.9 K SHARES 19.2 K SHARES 35.3 K SHARES
Pakistan's small Hindu community has always lived under the threat of attacks and suppression. A number of historic temples across the country have been attacked and had their land taken away.
AFP/File
They also allege abductions, forced conversions and marriage of Hindu girls who are often minors. The Hindu community, which was nearly 20 percent in 1947 has been reduced to just 2 percent according to latest available data.
The years of persecution have forced many to migrate to India. According to Ramesh Kumar Vankwani, a Hindu MP of Pakistan Muslim League, 5,000 Pakistani Hindus migrate to India every year.In life, we’re told to applaud the creative. Even if what they create turns out to be useless, a pat on the back is a prerequisite for thinking outside of the box. Except in the case of the jet-powered Mini Cooper. That’s just plain stupid.
At Snetterton raceway in Norfolk, England, on what looks to be a delightfully British summer’s day, the man with the jet strapped to the back of his Mini lines up for his glorious demonstration run. As he approaches the first turn, gaining speed magnificently, he promptly, and rather predictably, slides wide, into — and then through — the steel barriers.
“Who thought that was a good idea,” says the bemused British chap watching on. “Didn’t I say there wasn’t enough road?”
There is never enough road when your small hatchback boasts a six-foot-long jet engine protruding out of the trunk. It is, then, impossible to give the driver a slap on the back and say, “good on ya for trying.” The more pertinent question would probably be, “what the hell were you thinking?”Announced last year, and due to be introduced formally in September, the Plastic Disclosure Project is trying to provide the solution that Mr. Woodring describes, by pushing the thinking about plastic pollution far beyond beach cleanups with an attempt to change the awareness and behavior of big users of plastic, which include not only companies but also universities, hospitals and sports groups.
The concept behind the project is not new. The initiative models itself on the Carbon Disclosure Project, which has been prodding companies into monitoring and improving their carbon emissions for about a decade.
About 3,000 organizations in about 60 countries measure and disclose their greenhouse gas emissions and climate change strategies through the carbon disclosure project. Last year, the project also began asking companies about their water use, with the same aim of prompting more conservative use of that resource.
Like the carbon project, the plastic disclosure initiative is backed by investors: asset managers who value information about any potential wastage or liabilities related to the use of energy, water or plastic, or, conversely, any improvements that will bolster a company’s bottom line or its image with consumers.
“Increased transparency by companies should improve the ability of sustainable investors to assess the investment risks and opportunities of companies in the global plastic value chain,” said Jeremy Higgs, managing director of Environmental Investment Services Asia, an investment management company in Hong Kong that last month became a founding sponsor of the Plastic Disclosure Project, with a $50,000 grant.
While carbon emissions and water use are pretty firmly embedded in the consciousness of most organizations, the use of plastic generally is not.
But campaigners and scientists are increasingly sounding the alarm over the amount of plastic that is used wastefully (think of single-use drink bottles and packaging), or that ends up as trash in rivers and oceans. Many say that plastic pollution has swelled into a major threat for the world’s oceans and for the global environment as a whole.
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The U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, for one, has said that marine debris “has become one of the most pervasive pollution problems facing the world’s oceans and waterways.”
And in Europe, the E.U. commissioner for maritime affairs and fisheries, Maria Damanaki, has said that pollution in the Mediterranean Sea has reached “alarming proportions.”
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Here is why: About 300 million tons of plastic is produced globally each year. Only about 10 percent of that is recycled. Of the plastic that is simply trashed, an estimated seven million tons ends up in the sea each year.
There, it breaks down into smaller and smaller fragments over the years.
The tinier the pieces, the more easily they are swallowed by marine life. (One study found that fish in the North Pacific ingest as much as 24,000 tons of plastic debris a year).
Because much of the disintegrating mass is no longer in the form of solid chunks, it is hard to scoop it out once it gets into the ocean. And because no single nation or authority bears responsibility for the oceans, cleanup and prevention are largely left to nongovernmental organizations.
“It’s ironic: the very features that make plastic so popular also make it problematic,” said Erik Floyd, a former equity analyst who is the treasurer of the Association for Sustainable and Responsible Investment in Asia and who co-founded the plastic project with Mr. Woodring.
In other words, because plastic is inexpensive, lightweight and durable, virtually every industry — be it retailing, manufacturing or logistics — loves it.
But because it is light and cheap, there is a lot of it. And because it is so durable, it does not “go away.” Plastic accumulated over half a century is now out there.
A big part of the solution therefore has to be to prevent plastic from getting into the environment in the first place. That, in essence, is what the plastic disclosure project’s team and its backers (it also has a stamp of approval from the Clinton Global Initiative ) are trying to do.
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By getting companies to assess their own — and their suppliers’ and service providers’ — plastic footprints voluntarily, the project is hoping to raise awareness of the problem and the potential savings that can be made, and to prompt organizations to change their consumption patterns.
That could mean reducing wasteful use; collecting, reusing or recycling plastic trash; stepping up the use of recycled plastic or of more easily biodegradable materials; and modifying product designs to minimize plastic use. The information compiled could be valuable to investors.
Some companies have already made progress on those fronts. Electrolux, the Swedish appliance maker, for example, introduced a range of vacuum cleaners in February that are made from recycled plastic. Coca-Cola has devised a plastic bottle that also contains plant-based materials. And Procter & Gamble has the long-term aim of using 100 percent recycled or renewable material in its products and packaging.
“Once you’ve taken an inventory of your use for the first time, it’s easy to improve on it,” said Mr. Woodring. “It’s not necessarily painful.”
Further down the line, the time may come when plastic trash is seen as something that has greater commercial value. After all, plastic, which is petroleum-based, can be converted into fuel. The technologies to do so exist, but “trash-to-cash” projects are mostly still small because the recycling and collection programs needed to give them a reliable supply of plastic waste are insufficient or completely absent.
With any luck, the plastic project will help start more action on that front, too.Image caption The flowers that reflect the devotion North Koreans appear to have for their leader and the nation's founder - kimjongilias and kimilsungias
Politics is everywhere in North Korea - even in the flowers. The country's leader Kim Jong-il and his father, the North's founder Kim Il-sung, both have flowers named after them.
There is currently an exhibition in central Pyongyang showcasing the two blooms, called the "Kimjongilia" and the "Kimilsungia".
It was a holiday in North Korea on Monday, and hundreds of people - soldiers, couples and families with children - wandered around the exhibition centre.
Many had their photographs taken in front of the flowers.
It is a measure of the devotion some people show towards the only two men to have ruled this secretive communist state.
I was given another glimpse of that respect from Pak Mi-gyong, an English-speaking guide at the floral exhibition.
Image caption Pavements in Pyongyang are washed with scrubbing brushes and cloths
I asked to take her picture in front of a giant portrait of the two Mr Kims that hung at one end of the main hall.
She warned me that when taking a photograph I must be careful and include the men's whole bodies in the frame.
"They are our leaders and we respect them from the bottom of our hearts. We don't allow other people to cut the pictures of them," she said, a little angrily.
Heir apparent
This is the country that Kim Jong-un, the man expected to be its next leader, will inherit.
Pyongyang is a show city and people live comparatively well here, but outside the capital it is tough Peter Hughes, UK ambassador in Pyongyang
The twentysomething's position as heir apparent seems to have been confirmed over the last few days.
He appeared alongside the current leader - his father - at a performance of the Arirang Games and at a major military parade, to mark the 65th anniversary of the Korean Workers' Party.
Peter Hughes, Britain's ambassador in Pyongyang, is just one who believes the younger Mr Kim will take over when his father dies.
"These events were designed to introduce him to the North Korean people, who have not known who he is, and also to the world," he told the BBC.
North Korea is about as isolated from the rest of the world as it is possible to be. There are few visitors and most of those are restricted to looking around a few chosen spots in Pyongyang.
Isolation has allowed the North Koreans to develop a way of living seldom seen elsewhere.
People cut the roadside grass with scissors, a time-consuming act, and wash the city pavements with scrubbing brushes and cloths, items usually reserved for the home.
The city is drab and colourless and there are few new buildings going up.
The country is desperately short of outside money to help it modernise, but business people are wary of investing somewhere that might not protect their investment.
Show city
Image caption In what direction will heir apparent, Kim Jong-un, take the country?
Perhaps more than a million people died in a famine in North Korea in the mid-1990s and the World Food Programme still feeds millions of people here.
There are few signs of food shortages in the capital though. One set of roadside stalls was selling roast chicken, sausages and pancakes - even ice creams.
But food was apparently scarce in Pyongyang between January and mid-February this year, following a disastrous currency adjustment in North Korea at the end of 2009.
Even now the situation could be bad outside the capital.
The UK ambassador said: "Pyongyang is a show city and people live comparatively well here, but outside the capital it is tough."
"There is no starvation, we have no evidence of that, but there is certainly chronic malnutrition and people have a very hard life."
North Korea is like nowhere else in the world. Globalisation has reduced the differences between many places on the globe.
But this secretive communist state still clings to the past. Will the man expected to become the country's next leader embrace the future?Coming into this season, 13 NFL franchises had never won a Super Bowl. Of those 13, nine of them were franchises that existed since before the first Super Bowl in 1967. One of those nine is the Atlanta Falcons.
The New England Patriots have won four Super Bowls, all of which with Tom Brady at quarterback. Brady was going for a record fifth Super Bowl title for a quarterback (Charles Haley won five as a linebacker/defensive lineman), never having lost a Super Bowl to a team not named the New York Giants.
The Atlanta Falcons, on the other hand, began their history as a franchise in 1966, the same season that the AFL and NFL first had their champions face off in the Super Bowl. In the 51 seasons that the Falcons had competed, they had only reached the Super Bowl once–they lost to the Denver Broncos in Super Bowl XXXIII following the 1998 season.
The Falcons were looking for their first Super Bowl crown; the Patriots were looking to tie the Dallas Cowboys and San Francisco 49ers with five, trailing only the Pittsburgh Steelers with six. This game, though, and the comeback that came with it, will probably go down as Brady’s and New England’s best–and possibly one of the best Super Bowl wins ever.
The game started off moving quickly, with the first quarter taking less than half an hour. Each team began the game with two punts. Neither team was poor on offense, but neither could sustain drives. After trading punts twice, the Patriots finally began to sustain a drive, moving 53 in just five plays. The real early turning point was when LeGarrette Blount was stripped of the ball inside the Atlanta 30-yard line. The Falcons responded with a drive entirely fueled by Julio Jones and Devonta Freeman, the latter of whom finished the drive with a five-yard touchdown run to the left side.
The Falcons continued their dominant second quarter. After forcing a three-and-out by Tom Brady and the Patriots, Matt Ryan responded with a five-play drive–including three completions of 15 yards or more–to take a 14-0 lead. The Patriots looked like they might be able to respond immediately afterward, as a 12-play drive–aided by three defensive holding penalties against Atlanta–moved close to the red zone. Robert Alford ended that drive’s hopes, though, as he intercepted a Brady pass on third down and returned it 82 yards for a touchdown.
New England managed to avoid getting shut out in the first half with a quick drive that ended in a field goal, sending the game into halftime with Atlanta leading 21-3. The scoreboard didn’t show it, but New England really didn’t play poorly in the first half. There was no running game to speak of, and the Falcons managed to put a lot of pressure on Brady throughout. Also, the Patriots dropped far too many passes, an epidemic that continued into the second half. Even so, New England managed to sustain drives and put up yards. The real difference in the first half were those two turnovers, which led to 14 Atlanta points.
For Atlanta, the first half was just about everything a fan could ask for. The offense moved the ball well and finished drives. The defense bent but didn’t break, forcing clutch turnovers and even returning an interception for a touchdown.
Second Half
The second half got off to a dominant start for the Falcons. Altanta went three-and-out to start the half, but responded by forcing a three-and-out and then following it with an eight-play touchdown drive.
The game was very close to getting out of hand, and Bill Belichick knew it. Facing fourth-and-three from their own side of the field, the Patriots went for it and succeeded, capping off the drive with a five-yard touchdown pass from Brady to James White. The Patriots lost some of whatever emotional momentum they gained from that drive, though, when Stephen Gostkowski missed the extra point.
The Patriots stayed in desperation mode, kicking the ball onside. Atlanta recovered, but couldn’t do anything with the good field position. Brady responded to that Atlanta drive with another strong drive of his own, but again couldn’t quite finish it off. The Patriots gave up two sacks after reaching first-and-goal, and had to settle for a field goal. The lead was cut to two possessions, but a 28-12 deficit with just under ten minutes left still felt a little too high.
The Patriots weren’t dead yet, though, and Tom Brady was ready to show the world that he wasn’t going to lose his third Super Bowl so easily. The defense forced a Matt Ryan fumble–Atlanta’s first turnover this entire postseason–and Brady responded. He threw a touchdown pass to Danny Amendola, which was followed up with a James White run for a two-point conversion on a direct snap. All of a sudden, after feeling like Atlanta had dominated the whole game, it was down to a one-possession affair with under six minutes left.
Matt Ryan looked like he was going to put the game away when he responded with a drive that included an incredible scramble and throw to Julio Jones on the sideline. A sack and a holding penalty pushed Atlanta out of field goal range, though, and a punt gave the Patriots the ball at their own seven-yard-line with a chance to tie the game.
Brady led a drive, including an incredible circus catch by Julian Edelman, deep into Atlanta territory at the two-minute warning. Three plays later, the Patriots punched the ball into the end zone. After a two-point conversion on a quick pass to Amendola, we were tied with 57 seconds left.
Overtime
The first-ever Super Bowl game to go to overtime began with the Patriots winning the coin toss. Brady marched his team down the field, getting the ball at the two-yard line after a pass interference call. Two plays later, on a two-yard touchdown run by James White, the Patriots were Super Bowl champions.
The Patriots ended the game by scoring the final 31 points of the game, including 25 in the fourth quarter and overtime. Tom Brady becomes the first quarterback to win five Super Bowls, and the Patriots become only the fourth franchise to win five Super Bowls.
Main Photo:MELBOURNE (Reuters) - The Australian government said on Sunday it would deploy its armed forces to assist in recovery efforts after the U.S. Marine Corps suspended a search for three Marines missing since their aircraft crashed off Australia’s northeast coast a day earlier.
The Marine Corps said earlier they had shifted from a search-and-rescue effort to a recovery operation, which could last several months, and had notified the next-of-kin of the three missing Marines.
“The transition comes after teams led continuous sustained search efforts supported by aircraft and ships,” the III Marine Expeditionary Force, based in Okinawa, Japan, said.
“As the sea state permits, recovery efforts will be conducted to further search, assess and survey the area...,” they said in a statement.
The U.S. Marines have described the incident involving the MV-22 Osprey tilt-rotor aircraft as a “mishap” and said it was under investigation.
Ospreys have been involved in incidents resulting in deaths or injuries in recent years.
Australian Defence Minister Marise Payne said the Australian government would assist the U.S.-led recovery effort after what she described as an “extensive search-and-rescue operation” was called off.
“Our thoughts are with all those affected by this tragic event and the Australian Government stands ready to support the U.S. further in any way we can,” she said in a statement.
Payne said a Royal Australian Navy survey ship was en route to the search area. A navy diving team would be sent soon and army aviation assets were “at short notice readiness to support any further requirements”, she said.
Apart from the three missing Marines, 23 other personnel aboard the aircraft had been rescued. Australian emergency officials said one person had been taken to hospital in Rockhampton in northeastern Queensland state but gave no other details.
A supplied image obtained from the U.S. Defence Force on August 6, 2017 shows search efforts for three U.S. Marines missing after their MV-22 Osprey tilt-rotor aircraft crashed into the sea off Australia's northeast coast. III MEF Marines, MC2 Sarah Villegas/Handout via REUTERS
“All other personnel are accounted for and safe,” the III Marine Expeditionary Force said on Twitter.
“BENIGN” WEATHER
The incident happened off the coast of Shoalwater Bay in Queensland at about 4 p.m. local time on Saturday (0600 GMT), the Marine Corps said. They called off the search at about 3 a.m. on Sunday (1700 GMT Saturday).
Australia’s Bureau of Meteorology described wind, swell and atmospheric conditions at the time of the incident as “benign”.
“There was a light northeasterly wind with high cloud... but that would have had no impact whatsoever on conditions at the surface,” meteorologist Michael Paech said.
The aircraft that crashed had taken off from the USS Bonhomme Richard (LHD 6) amphibious assault ship and was on regular operations when it hit the water, according to the Marines Corps.
U.S. President Donald Trump, who was on his first full day of vacation at the Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster, New Jersey, was briefed on the crash by his chief of staff, retired Marine Corps General John Kelly, a White House official said.
The Bonhomme Richard Expeditionary Strike Group was in Australia to participate in joint training maneuvers involving more than 33,000 U.S. and Australian military personnel, which ended two weeks ago.
The exercises in the Coral Sea included the participation of MV-22 Ospreys practising the deployment of U.S. Marine reconnaissance teams.
The Osprey, built by Boeing Co and Textron Inc’s Bell Helicopter unit, is designed to take off like a helicopter and rotate its propellers to fly like a plane.
Slideshow (6 Images)
Its development was nearly canceled after the deaths of 23 Marines during flight testing in 2000, but its speed and range have made it very popular in recent years.
In December, the U.S. military grounded its Osprey fleet in Japan after one of the aircraft ditched into the sea, injuring its crew of five, when a hose connected to the aircraft broke during a refueling exercise.This item is a steel Pug bottle opener hand forged by me and my teenage son working as a team. One strikes while the other places the punches. We form the steel using various hand tools including hammers, punches (that we made for this specific item) and a couple of different anvils. Then, while still hot, they are protected by a durable Carnauba and beeswax coating. This one is about 5 1/4" long. The head is also arranged in a way that it would display well hanging on a hook or nail.
We make these by hand one at a time or in small batches. In doing so each bottle opener will have its own "personality" so to speak, just like the real pets that we love, they will not be identical. They will definitely look handmade and a little rustic, with a few visible hammer marks and imperfections created by heating the steel.
These are very unique and would make a great gift for any Pug parent, dog lover, or anyone that likes handmade things like bottle openers. There is a great amount of detail that goes into these little fellas. So far they have make everyone that sees them smile.
Make sure to favorite and follow our store so you can be updated as we post new items.
The photos are a representative of what they will look like, they will all be similar. If you order one I can send you a picture of your actual item if you would like.
Thanks for looking.
Check us out on Instagram and YouTube as well.National Journal‘s serial tweeting Ron Fournier has a quite a folksy manner on Twitter. So much so that when people insult or criticize him, half the time he either apologizes or agrees with them. It’s so cringeworthy to watch.
But praise the lord, Fournier appears to have a breaking point.
Late last night, Eric Dondero, publisher of Libertarian Republican and a former aide to former Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas), dared to remark on a photograph published in National Journal. The picture (above) accompanied a story on the idea that Democratic candidates could get a boost by strong job reports by Alex Roarty. The writer’s conclusion: It won’t help. Fournier didn’t like Dondero’s commentary.
The result: BLOCKED. Whoa! Seriously Fournier?
His reasoning: Fournier felt the publisher remark was “un-American.”
Have a look at the exchange below.Researchers have worked to overcome this fundamental limitation by trying to unlock the secrets of the spider’s silk-making abilities so silk could be made in the laboratory, or by genetically transferring those abilities to other organisms that could produce silk in quantity. But so far the materials produced lack the full strength, elasticity and other qualities of the real thing.
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Some scientists are making an end run around the spider problem and working on reinventing the one silk that is plentiful — that of silkworms. They are reconstituting it to make materials that have the potential to go far beyond the dream of bulletproof vests.
Among these researchers are David Kaplan and others at Tufts University, whose creations have potential applications in medicine and other fields. “Here’s a material that’s been around for 5,000 years and used in sutures for about that long,” Dr. Kaplan said. “Yet there’s this untapped territory.”
Dr. Kaplan’s group and colleagues at the University of Illinois and University of Pennsylvania have recently produced electrode arrays, for example, that are printed on flexible, degradable films of silk. The arrays — so thin they can conform to the nooks and crannies of the surface of the brain — may one day be used to treat epilepsy or other conditions without producing the scarring that larger implanted electrodes do.
For centuries, beginning in China, commercial silk has been produced by cultivating silkworms — the larvae of a moth, Bombyx mori — which, unlike spiders, are content to loll about cheek by jowl, munching on mulberry leaves, spinning the material in quantities large enough to be harvested.
“The advantage of silkworms is that they’re easy to grow,” Dr. Hayashi said. “They’re vegetarians. And they produce silk conveniently in this cocoon.”
“But if you look at a silkworm, it only has one kind of spinneret,” she added. “Only one kind of fiber can come out of it. Spiders have this whole toolbox.”
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Efforts to make analogues of spider silks, however, have resulted in materials that are not much different from other polymers, said David Porter, a scientist at the University of Sheffield in England who works with a group at Oxford that studies the biology of silk making.
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“The consensus is that almost anybody can make a reasonable silk,” Dr. Porter said. “But you really can’t differentiate it from a good nylon.”
“To differentiate the natural product, really you’ve got to get the advantages that nature builds in,” he added.
Silk is a fibrous protein, produced in glands within the spider or silkworm and some insects. What these creatures do is something no laboratory has been able to achieve: control the chemistry so exquisitely that the silk, which is a liquid inside the organism, becomes a solid upon leaving it.
Chief among the advantages of natural silk is the way the proteins are organized. They are folded in complex ways that help give each silk its unique properties. Scientists have not been able to replicate that intricate folding.
“We’re still not getting at the complexity of what’s going on in inside an individual spider,” Dr. Hayashi said. “There’s no lab anywhere in the world where somebody has an artificial silk gland.”
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Producing spider-silk proteins in other organisms — bacteria, goats, plants and, most recently, silkworms themselves are among those that have been genetically engineered — has limitations because the process of reconstituting the proteins ruins any folding pattern. “As soon as you extract the silk, you basically randomize the protein structure,” Dr. Porter said. “You destroy all the capacity of that material to do what it wants.”
At Tufts, Dr. Kaplan thinks that eventually, genetically modified plants will produce useful spider-based silk that could be harvested like cotton. Until then, however, he is working with reconstituted silkworm silk, making novel films and other materials.
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Dr. Kaplan has been researching silk for 21 years — “sad but true,” he joked — and spent much of the first decade learning about the fundamental mechanisms by which silk assembles.
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“We learned how important water is,” he said. “It may sound trivial, but the entire process has been built around controlling water content.”
Over the past decade, Dr. Kaplan’s group has focused on biomedical applications in fields like tissue engineering. In 2005, a postdoctoral researcher in his laboratory developed a water annealing process, reconstituting the silks slowly in a humid environment. “We got these films that were crystal-clear,” Dr. Kaplan said. “No one had ever seen this before with silk.”
That led to thoughts about how to make an artificial cornea from silk. But a cornea has to be permeable, so Dr. Kaplan got the idea to involve a laser scientist down the hall, Fiorenzo Omenetto.
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“I said, ‘Take it down to Fio and have him poke some holes in it,’ ” Dr. Kaplan recalled. “That led to a whole optical platform based on silk.”
It also led to a long collaboration with Dr. Omenetto, who has developed ways to pattern silk films, making diffraction gratings and other structures. The grating can act as a substrate for other proteins or compounds, raising the possibility that silk films could be used for implantable biosensors or in drug delivery, with the silk dissolving in the body at a controlled rate to release the drug.
One advantage with silk, Dr. Omenetto said, is that the process of making films or other structures is “green” — water-based and at low temperatures. “You can make incredibly sophisticated diffraction gratings out of glass or plastic,” he said. “But those are made at high temperatures or in a very harsh chemical environment,” conditions that would make it difficult to incorporate drugs or other compounds.
Researchers elsewhere have further developed the idea of using silk films for medical applications. At the Georgia Institute of Technology, Eugenia Kharlampieva experimented with depositing silver nanoparticles on films of silk as a way of strengthening them.
“Silk is a wonderful material because it’s biocompatible,” said Dr. Kharlampieva, who is continuing her research at the University of Alabama, Birmingham. “The main drawback is it’s soft. If you want to use it for optical applications, you need to reinforce it.”
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The films she uses are extremely thin, and she layers them. “We make this nanocomposite which is flexible, still soft, but mechanically stronger.”
Because the films remain flexible, Dr. Kharlampieva is experimenting with fashioning them into tiny capsules that could contain minute quantities of drugs. Potentially as small as blood cells, they could be used to deliver drugs through the bloodstream.
At Tufts, Dr. Omenetto’s work on patterning silk has led to even more exotic potential applications. Among the latest, developed with colleagues at Boston University, is the idea of using silk as the basis for metamaterials, which can manipulate light or other electromagnetic radiation in ways that nature ordinarily cannot. By producing intricate structures in the films and depositing metal on them, metamaterial antennas may be produced that could be used inside the body as a means of monitoring health — the signal from the antenna changing as conditions inside the body change.
Such applications may be far off, Dr. Omenetto said, but the potential is vast — a fact he realized when he was first asked to poke holes in silk. “It looked like a cool optical material,” he said. “And I haven’t been sleeping that much ever since.”Road markings, street |
edlin back to the club.
Both players were big hits while on loan at the club last season, and the club was keen to bring them back while Allardyce was in charge.
And it appears that has not changed under Moyes, who says that both players have been discussed in his transfer negotiations.
“Both M’Vila and Yedlin made decent impacts,” he added.
“They are players who we have talked about in the last week a lot, and we have spoken to people about them."
Sunderland's DeAndre YedlinMIDDLE class residents in Hull are to be asked to “adopt” workless families to try to help them off benefits and into work in a Government scheme devised by Sheffield-born social entrepreneur Emma Harrison.
The initiative, which will be piloted in Hull, Blackpool and Westminster, will see Children and Families Minister Tim Loughton become one of the “family champions”, the Department for Education confirmed.
Other Government Ministers, advisers and MPs are said to have volunteered to take part, including Rohan Silva, one of David Cameron’s senior policy advisers.
However, there appeared to be some confusion in Whitehall over the plan with Employment Minister Chris Grayling – who was also named among the volunteers – saying he was not involved.
“I was rather surprised when I read this one. It was news to me that I was going to be in there,” he said.
“Tim is the Children’s Minister and I know that he wants to lead from the front over this. I am sure he will do an excellent job.”
Shadow Home Office Minister Vernon Coaker dismissed the plan as “gimmicky” and accused Ministers of lacking a proper strategy for dealing with the long-term unemployed. “It smacks of something that gets a headline, but what is going on underneath? What is the strategy?” he said.
Ms Harrison, whose company manages £300m of Government training contracts, denied the scheme was a gimmick.
“Actually standing beside a workless family and saying ‘I will make myself responsible for making this a working family’ is really daunting,” she said.
“The thought scares a lot of politicians because they don’t know how to do it but I have said ‘I’ll show you once and for all how this is done’. And they are very enthusiastic.”
The scheme was cautiously welcomed by some in Hull.
Mike Ross, deputy leader of the opposition Liberal Democrat group at Hull Council, said: “I welcome any attempts to tackle what in many cases is a chronic long-term problem of worklessness with families not only in Hull but across the nation.
“This is a novel way of dealing with it but fundamentally relies on the old idea that if you mentor and inspire other people you can help with their own personal situation.
“Whilst there are no easy solutions to difficult problems, which this is, I would cautiously welcome this effort to tackle what is in many cases a severe problem.”
Ms Harrison, a 48-year-old millionaire businesswoman who chairs A4e (Action for Employment), knows from personal experience how deep-rooted the psyche of unemployment can be. Her father ran a company helping redundant steel workers return to work and A4e was born out of a stint working for the family firm.
She is understood to have put her own money into the pilot schemes where the family champions are being recruited, and pledged to take some of them on herself.
Ms Harrison was appointed Employment Tsar by David Cameron but prefers the title Family Champion.
The scheme is intended to encourage the middle classes to act as mentors to families in which no one has worked over two or three generations.
They would introduce the families to their contacts, help them to manage their household finances and guide them through bureaucracy.
There should be plenty of families suitable for help in Hull, with the city suffering some of the worst rates of unemployment in the country.
Successive governments have grappled with the problem of how to get benefit-dependent families into work.
Mr Loughton, who once mentored a family on a Birmingham council estate for a Channel 4 documentary, said he hoped to be help his “adopted” family in Westminster to live within their means, and apply many of the lessons learned in Birmingham.
He said: “The one thing I found in my tower block is they had no concept of money. They were always in hock. Very basic stuff that you and I take for granted.”As of Aug. 1, 2016, a new law allows concealed handguns in college and university buildings in Texas.
It’s already had an impact on me as professor of religious studies at the University of Texas at Austin. Thanks to this law, I set foot in a federal court building for the first time.
And I was not alone. The courtroom was packed. Other citizens were there as well to support three professors who are suing the state’s attorney general and the University of Texas for the right to ban guns from their own classrooms.
Why are these professors taking the extraordinary step of suing the state of Texas and their own university?
In order to understand the situation, we need to consider the political tensions between the legislature and the university, the ideological struggle over the goals of higher education and the possible dangers of bringing more guns to campuses.
Campus carry law in Texas
Until this year, Texas law allowed anyone with a Concealed Handgun License (CHL) to carry a loaded hidden gun on campus, but not inside buildings. This restriction kept down the number of people carrying weapons legally on campus.
During the 2015 legislative session, a majority of Republicans pushed the idea to allow guns on campus. University administrators, faculty, faculty council, staff, undergraduate and graduate students and campus police overwhelmingly opposed the idea.
However, in spite of campus opposition, in May 2015, the proposed law, known as Senate Bill 11 (SB 11), was approved. So, as of Aug. 1, 2016, anyone with a concealed handgun license can carry a loaded, semiautomatic pistol into most offices, classrooms, hallways, public spaces, cafeterias and gyms at state universities. All that they need: four hours of training and a score of 70 percent accuracy on a shooting test.
Supporters argue that Americans have a constitutional right to protect themselves and carry weapons with as few limits as possible. Carrying guns into classrooms, they say, is part of that right.
Clash of ideologies
For many of us, however, this conflict is about a larger ideological battle over the goals and character of higher education in Texas, with one side emphasizing obedience to authority and the other the need to critique authority.
Let’s consider these two views of education.
The ideology of higher education in the U.S. has historically focused on critical thinking, and faculty overwhelmingly see this as the primary goal (see especially Table 3) of college and university classes. According to this view, universities and colleges are encouraged to question orthodoxy. In other words, higher education should subject all truth claims to intense scrutiny.
The goal of this process is not to tear down society but to make it better, to allow us to develop our full potential as individuals and as a nation in the pursuit of liberty and justice.
But here is where the conflict comes in. As the discussion below shows, the campus carry movement has, it seems, a different ideology for higher education. The underlying motivation is that traditional authority must be maintained and, in the end, disagreement is resolved by force, not by debate. For this ideology, critical thinking is a potential threat to authority.
Republican Party principles
Evidence for this comes from the ideas expressed in the Texas Republican Party platform, a formal declaration of the principles on which a party stands and makes it appeal to voters.
The 2012 Texas Republican Party Platform took an explicit stand against “critical thinking skills and similar programs…that focus on behavior modification and have the purpose of challenging the student’s fixed beliefs and undermining parental authority.”
Subsequently, the 2016 Texas Republican Platform stepped back from that extreme statement. But it still asserted that parents or guardians – not the government – should have ultimate control over the education of their children.
In the 2016 platform, both guns and religion are discussed in the section on education. Here is what it looks like:
The section on education supports the radical position that all law-abiding citizens should be able to carry guns anywhere without restriction. It says,
“We collectively urge the legislature to pass ‘constitutional carry’ legislation, whereby law-abiding citizens that possess firearms can legally exercise their God-given right to carry that firearm as well. We call for the elimination of all gun free zones. All federal acts, laws, executive orders, and court orders which restrict or infringe on the people’s right to keep and bear arms shall be invalid in Texas, not be recognized by Texas, shall be specifically rejected by Texas, and shall be considered null and void and of no effect in Texas.”
Another paragraph in the education section discusses “safeguarding religious liberties.” This one begins by saying,
“We affirm that the public acknowledgment of God is undeniable in our history and is vital to our freedom, prosperity, and strength.”
It goes on to denounce “the myth of separation of church and state,” and it supports the right of businesses to refuse service to anyone based on religious conviction.
What this does is to reaffirm the ideology of the Republican Party of Texas – that education should be governed by traditional authorities of family and conservative forms of Protestant Christianity and not by critical inquiry.
In other words, religious commitment of individuals is more important than civil rights. Furthermore, according to this traditionalist view of authority, liberty and safety are preserved not so much by critique and analysis as by encouraging everyone to carry a gun.
Views from ground zero
This raises the question of how this ideology affects students and professors in the classroom.
As the political battle raged in the Texas legislature in spring 2016, I taught a science and religion class in which we spent the semester analyzing the volatile debates in the U.S. about human evolution and creationism.
I asked my students how they would feel about the possible presence of guns in classrooms.
One student self-identified as having a concealed handgun license and did not have trouble with the presence of guns. But most others thought that it would make them more cautious and less forthright in class. One student said she would be vigilant about how other students were acting. Another said she would censor her opinions.
The sentiment they expressed was confirmed in anonymous polling I conducted before our discussion. Two students (11 percent) were in favor of concealed carry on campus as demanded by SB 11, while 13 (68 percent) thought guns should be completely illegal on campus except for law officers. Only three students (16 percent) felt that SB 11 would make them safer, while 11 (58 percent) expected that the law would make campus less safe.
While one class is hardly a representative sample, these numbers reflect discussions I’ve had with my classes over the last few semesters. The numbers also match a variety of conversations I’ve had on campus.
What might change on campus?
As a professor, I have other concerns for my students beyond the classroom. We work with students at a difficult time in their lives as they work through the transition to adulthood. Some of them also face serious emotional issues. When I have to deal with failed exams, missed assignments and occasional plagiarism or cheating, I sometimes worry about how they will respond.
So far I have not encountered physical threats to my own safety, but I know faculty who have. While waiting in line for the security screening at the federal courthouse, I learned of two more examples. One was a professor of computer sciences who told me about the time when he was physically shoved and verbally abused by a student who got a B rather than an A.
He decided not to press charges. But when the legislature passed the campus carry law, he retired rather than face the possibility of legal weapons in university buildings. Another faculty member told of the time she had to convince her dean to drop a student from her class midsemester for anti-Semitic remarks the student made about her.
Systematic studies point toward other problems that await us if we increase the number of guns on campus. We can expect more accidental shootings, more successful suicide attempts and perhaps even an increase in sexual assaults. In the event of an actual active shooter event, we can expect that an armed civilian will make no difference or even make the situation worse.
Will guns change the character of higher education?
The ideological struggle will continue. Polling early in 2015 showed that Texans were divided on campus carry: 47 percent were in favor, 45 percent were opposed and 8 percent were unsure (this included 22 percent strongly supporting and 32 percent strongly opposed). Campus protests and a satirical student campaign against SB 11 are planned.
Supporters of the law have filed a formal complaint with the attorney general’s office to make the law stronger by preventing faculty and staff from banning guns in their own offices. Legal papers filed by the University of Texas and the state attorney general have stated that professors would face disciplinary measures if they barred guns from classrooms. There is significant political pressure and special interest money to expand gun rights.
If the lawsuit of the three professors is not successful, we will begin to find out fairly soon what difference SB 11 will actually make in real lives – in the classroom, in the relationships of students, faculty and staff – and in the character of higher education in an American setting.
The actual difference will not be abstract or theoretical. Both opponents and supporters of SB 11 claim that the struggle over guns on campus is a matter of life and death.Walmart is bringing VR instruction to all of its U.S. training centers
Walmart, the world’s largest retailer, will soon be using virtual reality to help train its employees on topics like management and customer service.
VR instruction will be used at each of the retailer’s 200 “Walmart Academy” training centers in the U.S. by the end of the year, helping educate the estimated 150,000 employees that will go through the program each year. Each location will have an Oculus Rift headset and gaming PC showcasing a collection of VR training content.
The virtual reality instruction Walmart will be using is entirely 360-degree video-based and will include interactive on-screen cues asking trainees to make decisions after encountering various situations. These scenarios may be related to customer service, management or seasonal situations like encountering the Black Friday rush in VR.
Training experiences will range from around thirty seconds to about five minutes and are meant to supplement traditional instruction.
The startup building these training experiences is STRIVR Labs, a relatively low-profile VR company that had previously focused largely on developing VR training for collegiate and professional athletics programs.
So, how did a deal like this get put together? Well, it all started when Brock McKeel, a senior director of operations at Walmart, saw the University of Arkansas football team using VR experiences built by STRIVR during practice. Following what the startup’s CEO Derek Belch referred to as a “fortuitous inbound,” STRIVR met with the retailer and launched a pilot program at the end of January at thirty of its training centers. During this time, the companies worked together to determine what virtual reality experiences made sense for Walmart in a training scenario, Belch says.
“We don’t do anything that is not a good use case for VR,” he said. “We have experiences for the lowest-level bagger all the way up to the store management.”
Now, a few months later the deal between the two has been signed and STRIVR is already gathering interest from new customers, including a financial service company and a major auto manufacturer.
STRIVR Labs is notable in that it’s a profitable virtual reality startup. Belch wouldn’t talk exact numbers but noted that over the past two years the company has done “several million in revenue,” noting that the exact number was north of $10 million. The company has raised $5 million in funding from Signia Venture Partners, BMW i Ventures, Advancit Capital and Presence Capital.
“When you have literally the biggest company in the world as your first enterprise customer, that’s kind of a big deal,” Belch told TechCrunch.Supporters of Pakistan Tehreek Insaf (PTI) party of cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan, tend a stampede victim at a hospital in Multan on October 10, 2014. (AFP)
At least six people were killed and 27 others wounded in a stampede following a political rally by opposition politician Imran Khan in central Pakistan on Friday, officials said.The deaths occurred in Multan city after the cricketer-turned-politician addressed a crowd to press his demand for the resignation of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif who he accuses of vote rigging in last year's elections."At least six people are dead and 27 others wounded," Pervez Haider, director of the emergency department at Nishtar Hospital, told AFP.Multan police chief Sultan Chaudhry confirmed the casualties and said the stampede occurred when people were leaving the stadium after the rally.Khan, along with populist cleric Tahir-ul-Qadri, has been staging a sit-in in the capital Islamabad since August 15. Protest rallies have also been held in other Pakistani cities.Khan and Qadri claim the 2013 elections were massively rigged, but local and foreign observers say the polls were credible.Their followers clashed with police in late August after they tried to storm the prime minister's residence, leaving three demonstrators dead and hundreds injured on both sides.On September 1, the opposition groups briefly occupied the state broadcaster but the movement has since lost momentum.Analysts believe the protests have been coordinated by the powerful army as a means of re-asserting its dominance over civilian authorities.Go "Score" Dong-bin (Hangul: 고동빈) is the jungler for KT Rolster. He was previously known as Joker.
Biography
Go "Score" Dong-bin is the jungler for KT Rolster. When he played AD carry he was known for his passive, safe play style, and earned the nickname "The Immortal" because there was a stretch during 2013 Champions Winter and Spring where Score went many consecutive games without dying. He earned a reputation for his Corki play, often referred to as "Scorki".
Season 2
Score began his professional career when he joined StarTale under the name "Joker". He would continuously switch back between top and AD carry during his time on the team. They participated in the inaugural OGN, Azubu The Champions Spring 2012, where they failed to make it past the group stage. They then attended Azubu The Champions Summer 2012 where they lost in the quarterfinals 2-0 to NaJin Sword. On August 27, Startale disbanded. In October, Joker changed his name to Score and he joined the new KT Rolster B roster along with former Startale teammates, Ryu and Mafa.
Season 3
The team's first OGN was OLYMPUS Champions Winter 2012-2013. They lost two sets in the semifinals to NaJin Sword 3-1 and 3-0 but beat Azubu Blaze in the 3rd place match 3-0. Next, they attended OLYMPUS Champions Spring 2013 where they placed 5th-8th after they lost 3-1 in the quarterfinals to the eventual champions, MVP Ozone. Between seasons, KT Rolster B and KT Rolster A had their names changed to the Bullets and the Arrows, respectively. The Bullets went to HOT6iX Champions Summer 2013 and made it to the finals but ultimately lost 3-2 to SK Telecom T1. They accrued enough circuit points to qualify to the Season 3 Korea Regional Finals but once again they lost to SK Telecom T1 in the finals 3-1 and barely missed Worlds.
2014 Season
At the beginning of the season, the Bullets attended PANDORA.TV Champions Winter 2013-2014 where they placed 3rd after losing 3-0 to SK Telecom T1 K and beating NaJin White Shield 3-1. In March, they were invited to the IEM Season VIII - World Championship where they beat Fnatic 3-0 in the finals and swept the tournament in a dominating fashion. When they returned to Korea, the Bullets played in HOT6iX Champions Spring 2014 but they placed 5th-8th after losing in the quarters 3-2 to White Shield. At HOT6iX Champions Summer 2014, the Bullets recorded their worst result ever, after they failed to make it out of the group stage. Once again, they acquired enough points to attend the 2014 Season Korea Regional Finals but they lost 3-0 in the first round to White Shield.
2015 Season
Due to OGN rule changes, KT was forced to merge the Arrows and the Bullets to form KT Rolster. Arrow was given the starting AD carry position but Score became the new starting jungler. KT participated in SBENU Champions Spring 2015 and placed fifth, narrowly missing playoffs. KT placed second overall during the regular season of SBENU Champions Summer 2015. They made it to the finals of the playoffs but lost 3-0 to SK Telecom T1. KT earned enough circuit points to qualify for the 2015 Season Korea Regional Finals where they beat the Jin Air Green Wings 3-1 in the finals to qualify for the 2015 Season World Championship. KT was drawn into a group with LGD Gaming, Team SoloMid, and Origen. They ended with a 5-1 record and went on to play the KOO Tigers in the quarterfinals. Unfortunately, they lost 3-1 and were knocked out of the tournament.
2016 Preseason
KT played in the 2015 LoL KeSPA Cup where they lost 2-1 in the semifinals to CJ Entus.
2016 Season
During the LCK 2016 Spring Season, KT Rolster finished second place in the regular season with a 13-5 match record. Their regular season placement earned them a bye into the semi-finals of the Spring Playoffs, where they faced SK Telecom T1. Unfortunately, they were swept 3-0, ending their spring split with a third place finish.
During the 2016 LCK Summer Split, KT Rolster claimed third place in the regular season with a 13-5 series record, losing to SK Telecom T1 based on game score. This seeded them into the 2nd round of the 2016 LCK Summer Playoffs, where they met Samsung Galaxy. KT had yet to drop a game to Samsung since the start of Season 5's LCK era, and this trend continued as they swept them 3-0. In the semifinals, they met SK Telecom T1 in the Telecom Wars, and this time they managed to reverse sweep them 3-2 to move onto the finals. In an epic set against the ROX Tigers, KT Rolster barely lost 3-2, losing out on Korea's first seed at Worlds, but giving them the highest seed for the Korea Regional Finals 2016. In a rematch against Samsung Galaxy where KT were heavily favored to make it out, Samsung managed to break a 19 game losing streak against KT to win the set 3-2 and take Korea's third seed, ending KT Rolster's season early.
Trivia
His favorite champions are Ezreal and Corki. [1]
Ezreal and Corki. Held the highest KDA standings in OLYMPUS Champions Winter 2012-2013, of 9.81.
Considered to be one of the best Ezreal players in Korea due to his superb positioning.
Ezreal players in Korea due to his superb positioning. The 4th player to reach 1000 kills in the LCK.
Tournament Results
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KT Score 2016 Summer
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The list is generated automatically. To request an addition to the list, you may use this form.I've just finished uploading new test beta 0.9934b, which fixes issues still found in v0.9933b.
The build is available to anyone who owns the beta at bluebottlegames.com, or on Desura and Steam. Desura (and therefore, Groupees) users can use Desura Connect to gain access here, or even get their Steam keys and try it on Steam.
To access the test build on the official site, simply visit the beta page, and click any of the download links below the usual Windows, Mac, and Linux buttons.
Steam users can access the test build by opting into the beta for it.
Updates Included in the Test Beta
Test beta 0.9934b includes the following changes:
Fixed a bug that caused RTG power cell to be replaced by other battery type.
Fixed a bug that caused campsites to double-count stats from stacked items.
Fixed a bug that caused blisters to increase movement instead of decrease.
Fixed a bug that caused resolution-switching to mess up when switching between 4:3 and Small GUI.
Fixed a bug that caused head slot container space to be visible in top left corner.
As always, let me know what you think of the changes, and if you notice any issues with the new build!Although speculation had recently linked Rosberg to Kimi Raikkonen's Ferrari seat, the German has made it clear he has no intention of going anywhere any time soon.
Rosberg admitted, however, that his main focus remains on the championship battle, not on rushing to sign a new contract.
"That is not something that I have been thinking about or is even at the top of my mind," said Rosberg in Monaco.
"It hasn't been before the weekend and it isn't after the weekend, as I said – I will just repeat it.
"I am happy at Mercedes and Mercedes is pleased with me so I am sure I will be here for many more years."
The Mercedes driver endured a poor Monaco Grand Prix, finishing down in seventh place after struggling for pace during the race.
Rosberg, who had won the first four races of the season, claimed he was ready for hard races to come, but says he will bounce back in Canada next week.
"There have been [bad] days and there will be more [bad] days in the future," he said. "Racing is always about ups and downs and I was ready for the down because I had no expectation of keeping on winning every single race, that is for sure.
"It wasn't the case since Barcelona, but I was ready to have a down and navigate through it and come out the other side.
"I am still in the process of digesting, but by tomorrow I will be fully on it for Montreal and fighting there for the win again."It has been a long, knock-down drag-out battle, but the ugly intramural conflict over why Clinton lost to Trump is finally over. New polls and focus groups conducted by Clinton’s own SuperPAC Priorities USA shows that while racism and sexism had some effect, the main driver of Trump’s victory was economic anxiety, after all. The data showed that voters who switched from Obama to Trump had seen their standards of living decline and felt that the Democratic Party had become the party of the wealthy and unconcerned about their plight.
Democrats at top levels now understand this, and have for some months now. That’s why DNC Chair Tom Perez and Bernie Sanders just went on a unity tour, and why Democrats are planning a much more aggressive message of economic populism in advance of the 2018 midterms.
The big questions now are not only where we go from here, but how so many influential liberal pundits got it so wrong for so long. How did the phrase “economic anxiety” become such an easy punchline for center-left wags? How did we get so many wrongheaded Vox explainers urgently telling us how Trump voters were only motivated by bigotry and not at all by economics?
After all, the exit polls told a very clear story in the immediate aftermath of the election: Trump won an equal share of women voters as Romney did, a greater share of minority voters than Romney, and a statistically equal share of white voters as Romney. The biggest shift between 2012 and 2016 was that while wealthy voters shifted from Romney to Clinton by 9 points, voters making less than $50,000 a year shifted from Obama to Trump by 22 points. One need not have even listened to Trump’s rhetoric on jobs and trade on the campaign trail, or any actual interviews with his voters: the story was obvious on its face just from the exit data alone.
There are two main explanations. The first is that much of the center-left intelligentsia is overly enamored of big data and quantitative statistical analysis. This can often blind them to obvious qualitative realities. It’s worth noting that overreliance on big data models while ignoring real on-the-ground voter responses also directly hurt the Clinton campaign in its field efforts. This problem is seemingly endemic to the entire technocratic center-left.
While every interview with actual Trump voters harped constantly on jobs, trade, and the economy–and anti-immigrant sentiment focused overwhelmingly on the fear of immigrants taking their jobs–center-left pundits used an array of cross-tabbed statistical demographics to argue that Trump voters really weren’t feeling the pinch, after all. They used misleading data showing that Trump supporters were slightly wealthier than non-Trump voters, as if raw income data could be adequately used as a correlative for economic anxiety. It cannot. Some analysts used comparatively small cross-tabbed shifts in racist and sexist attitudes among Trump voters to explain what were clearly much larger electoral changes in a wild election year. Writers like Zack Beauchamp at Vox tried to argue that because far-right nationalism was simultaneously on the rise in European social democracies it must simply be white backlash, failing spectacularly to account for the last twenty years of austerity policies and abandonment of core economic and foreign policy principles by European center-left parties.
Neoliberal pundits used wildly misleading data comparing the voter behavior of the white working class to that of the non-white working class, as if it weren’t perfectly obvious that the alienation of economic stress would increase socialist yearnings among many younger voters while increasing xenophobia and identititarian politics among some whites, and that comparing the two working-class populations wasn’t useful in any meaningful sense to resolve how economics might have affected the trends. Most troubling of all, they often failed to account for the difference between base Republican voters, and the marginal Obama-Trump voters. Studies would find that (surprise!) Trump voters carried many racist and sexist attitudes–without accounting for the fact that the vast majority of those populations were also Romney and McCain voters! What required an explanation was how Trump succeeded against a white woman where previous Republican nominees had failed against a black man, all while winning an equal share of the women’s vote and a greater percentage of the minority vote. What needed accounting for wasn’t the bigotry of the Republican electorate as a whole, but how and why Obama voters had stayed home or shifted to Trump. The new Priorities USA data does just that, and the answers are very different.
The sum total of these arguments led center-left pundits into some ludicrous positions: 1) that voters who supported Democrats for decades and voted for Obama twice were primarily motivated by racism (!); 2) that it was unprecedented sexism that led to Clinton’s defeat, despite the fact that the gender gap between Obama and Romney was almost precisely the same as between Clinton and Trump (!!); and that 3) it was sabotage by Bernie Sanders that led to Clinton’s poor turnout among Obama’s minority coalition (despite his having campaigned vigorously for her), and, contradictorily, that the Sanders coalition was openly hostile to minority voters and their interests (!!!). It was one piece of twisted pretzel logic after another, but somehow it attained the status of conventional wisdom.
It’s not hard to understand why. It is much easier to blame the opponent’s voters for being bad people than it is to acknowledge the ways in which one’s own party and ideology failed them. In many cases, center-left intellectuals favor lightly regulated finance capitalism, free trade and open markets policies that have hurt so many voters reliant on low-skill labor. Those policies have hurt young voters and minority working-class voters as well as white working-class voters, but the open bigotry of conservative parties have kept most of those youth and minorities in the center-left fold. Not happily, however, hence the rise of more openly socialist candidates around the developed world from Sanders to Corbyn in Britain to Melenchon in France, who appeal very strongly to younger voters of all genders and races.
Some neoliberal intellectuals fervently hope for a future in which exurban and rural white voters who want high-wage low-skill labor will simply disappear into electoral and economic irrelevance as the new urban identity-conscious coalition rises. This electoral preference is aligned with their economic preference for unfettered free trade, in which those same manufacturing and service workers will be replaced by technology and information workers in big cities–combined with the hand-waving excuse that liberal parties would deal with anyone left behind, to quote Krystal Ball’s pointed post-election sarcasm, by “setting up a local chapter of Rednecks Who Code.” That shriveled vision of liberalism is not only morally inadequate, it won’t work: there are still far too many white working class voters, and the center-left won’t maintain its hold on an increasing number of younger and minority voters who also want many of the same economic protections that the white working class do (even though many of the latter only want those protections for themselves and not for others.) The center-left’s coalition will break apart and revolt before enough of the right-wing’s coalition die out and disappear–and it won’t be their fault for doing so.
Those who try to win elections for a living also aren’t looking forward to fighting the full power of the financial and pharmaceutical interests in addition to the regular armada of right-wing corporate groups. It would be much easier for electoral strategists if Democrats could unlock a majoritarian liberal bloc with a “rising tide lifts all boats” ideology that doesn’t greatly inconvenience the urban donor class. Consultants aren’t exactly looking forward to trying to win elections against interest groups angered by arguing for renegotiating NAFTA, punishing corporations for sending jobs overseas, raising the capital gains tax rate, and cutting health insurance companies out of the broad American marketplace. But that’s exactly what they’re going to have to do if want to win not only the presidency, but the congressional seats and legislatures dominated by increasingly angry suburban and rural voters. Not to mention angry young millennials of all identities who have essentially been locked out of the modern economy by low wages combined with outrageous cost of living, especially in the housing market that has uncoincidentally been such a major investment boon for their lucky parents, grandparents, and the financial industry.
There are some who say that making this case will be difficult–that right-wing populists can spout easy but deceptive narratives about these matters while the job of nuanced liberals is much harder. Kevin Drum recently made that case, which was echoed here by our own Nancy LeTourneau. But it’s not really so hard. Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders made the case frequently, and still do. Even Barack Obama made a concise and compelling case in interviews over the last year.
The case is simple: the obscenely wealthy, especially on Wall Street, have profited hugely by outsourcing and automating the jobs of regular Americans. Liberals and progressives will fight to bring those jobs back wherever possible–and if the fat cats in the private sector won’t cooperate, then we’ll invest in infrastructure and green energy work that not only provide jobs directly, but stimulate the private sector around them. Immigrants and poor minorities aren’t taking your jobs or tax dollars–the hedge fund manager is.
It’s a simple message. It’s an obvious one. It’s just not one that many in the center left want to deliver, and they’ve found myriad justifications for why they shouldn’t or don’t have to deliver it. But those justifications are now over. The argument is done. The future belongs to economic populism if liberal parties want to win again.ATHENS (Reuters) - Greece said on Sunday it was confident of reaching agreement in negotiations with its euro zone partners but reiterated it would not accept harsh austerity strings in any debt pact.
Protesters hold a giant Greek national flag during an anti-austerity and pro-government demonstration in front of the parliament in Athens February 15, 2015. REUTERS/Alkis Konstantinidis
A day before a euro zone finance ministers’ meeting in Brussels to shore up Greece’s dwindling finances and help keep it in the euro zone, Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras told Germany’s Stern magazine that Athens needed time to implement its reforms and shake off the mismanagement of the past.
“I expect difficult negotiations; nevertheless I am full of confidence,” he said. “I promise you: Greece will then, in six months’ time, be a completely different country.”
The Eurogroup of finance ministers meets in Brussels on Monday to try to find common ground with Tsipras’ new government, elected on a pledge to scrap the austerity strictures of Greece’s international bailouts, on issues such as debt management, financing, privatization and labor reform.
European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker held a phone conversation on Sunday with Tsipras at the Greek prime minister’s request, an EU official said, speaking on condition of anonymity and providing no details.
“President Juncker is making a last effort in an extremely difficult situation,” the official said, playing down hopes for an agreement at Monday’s meeting.
If the meeting produces no results, there is a concern that Greece will be headed for a credit crunch that would force it out of the euro zone. Progress, however, could mean further negotiations, perhaps later in the week.
“The irresistible force will be meeting the immovable object,” Vasileios Gkionakis, head of global FX strategy at UniCredit, wrote in a note.
European Central Bank President Mario Draghi refused to discuss the possibility of Greece leaving the euro zone if an agreement with European Union and International Monetary Fund lenders fell apart as a result of Greece’s demands to alleviate its debt burden. He simply reiterated the euro zone’s founding position that membership is “irreversible”.
In Germany, however, economist Hans-Werner Sinn, head of the influential Ifo economic research institute, told the mass-market newspaper Bild that leaving the euro zone “would be better for the Greek people”, although he expected Greece to stay.
BRIDGE PROGRAM?
Tsipras wants a bridge program to be put in place for a few months while a new deal is agreed to replace the bailout, which has already forced drastic cutbacks onto ordinary Greeks.
The rest of the euro zone, particularly Germany, says Greece must continue with those commitments as a quid pro quo for the 240 billion euros ($274 billion) it has received in bailouts.
Slovak Finance Minister Peter Kazmir, whose country is said to be taking a tough line, tweeted that he was |
a sideways cap and a bullet proof vest. Not to menton the big man standing in front of RX1 covered in hockey related tats?
Yes, this is what the creators of Photoshop had in mind when they wrote the first product spec back in 1973. Exactly this level of awesome.
Sidebar: If we were in charge of the world RX1 would actually have these very banners on the side of it within minutes. And a 5000 foot statue of Eberle on the roof with a fire groin that shoots flames into the Edmonton night every 15 minutes for the next 200 years.
ENTRY 6: GANGSTER ENOUGH
The author of this unreal entry asked us in the email if it was "gangster enough." Let’s see here. Everyone is tatted up. The Nuge is inferring death to his rivals on what we believe to be a Yelawolf body shot. Hall has his face covered because he is presumably committing a crime either moments before or after this picture was taken. YakDaddy1 is wearing fur and has an Oil drop tattoed on his face and Lord Eberle von Awesome has yeg tatted on his fingers as we imagine he does in real life.
Oh yeah and a bullet ridden Rexall Place with the light of victory streaming out into the dark night.
Yeah, it’s gangster enough.
ENTRY 7: CHICKEN AND BEER AND YAK
Yakupov has already made it known that he doesn’t drink nor does he go to clubs. We can’t help but think he will completely reevaluate this strategy – and may indeed consider cannibalism – after seeing how happy he looks in a strip club surrounded by chicken and beer. This was one of four classic albums remade by the author who took the new album from ATL favourite Ludacris and turned it on it’s ear.
All 4 were sick entries by the by and spoiler alert: He sent a NUGE version of a DMX cover that is so terrifying we will have to save it for another day. But best believe that is gonna be seen by human eyes soon too.
ENTRY 8: FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE
Now sure this entry might not technically fit the theme of "Rap Inspired" hockey entries. But it 1) mocks Calgary 2) Shows the Octane looking sexy and 3) has a swear word in it. That says something. Something very powerful indeed. We think it very deserving in its place among the final ocho.
FINAL SUMMARY
Knowing that many of the actual Oilers read this site on the regular is beyond hilarious. Knowing that they will see these entries and wonder when they started playing in KookyTown is even funnier. Hells Bells Yakupov himself might even find this gold mine if he is like 99.345% of professional athletes who google themselves on an hourly basis and then pretend to be offended by all of the attention.
Throw your comments below and vote for the winner. The prize is gonna be an Oodle Noodle delivery GC should the winner live in Edmonton and Area and an OilersNation Draft Party tee shirt if they don’t.
Classic photoshop contest right here. It’s Yak City Bitch.Perak mufti Harussani Zakaria said gymnastics is not for Muslim women since female exponents have to expose their aurat (parts of the body which should be concealed).
"Gymnastics is not for Muslim women. It is clear that exposing one's aurat and the shape of one's body is haram (forbidden in Islam).
"If Muslim women want to participate in gymnastics, they have to find outfits which cover the aurat and this, in turn, might not be suitable for the sport," he told Astro Awani.
Harussani ( photo ) said that it was not only for the sport of gymnastics that a Muslim person has to cover his or her aurat.
"Muslim men have to wear shorts that covers their knees when playing football," he said.
The aurat of a Muslim man is from his navel to his knees while the aurat of a Muslim woman is her entire body excluding her face and hands.
Netizens had criticised national gymnast Farah Ann Abdul Hadi for wearing the traditional gymnastics gear that they claimed did not conceal her aurat as required by Islam.
When her photograph was posted on Twitter and Facebook, scores of users criticised the 21-year-old Muslim athlete for not "covering up".
However, others came to her defence, asking if Farah should wear a robe and a headscarf when competing in the games.
Farah had won the gold medal for the floor exercise on the final day of the artistic gymnastics event at the Singapore SEA Games.
Do not question Islamic laws
Meanwhile, Harussani said Muslims should not question Islamic laws which have been clearly stated in the Quran that one should not expose his or her aurat.
The mufti said one should also not be too influenced by the type of outfits introduced by the West.
Commenting on netizens who had defended Farah on her outfit, Harussani said they were "not so smart" in doing so.
"They are not so smart for arguing on issues which have already been clearly stated in Islamic laws.
"Don't play with Islamic laws, our religion never said we can expose our aurat," he said.
Farah has since hit back at her critics over her attire, tweeting "empty cans make the most noise."
Youth and Sports Minister Khairy Jamaluddin had also defended Farah, saying critics should focus on the gymnast's achievements instead.Foreign buyers continue to find California residential real estate very attractive, but it looks like the growth of international deals in the state trails a national upswing.
The National Association of Realtors’ annual report on foreign homebuying of U.S. existing residential properties estimates foreigners bought 284,455 properties nationwide in the 12-month period ended in March, up 69,570 purchases or 32 percent. The Realtor study tracks foreign buyers, both living abroad and those living in the U.S., by annually polling its members.
Foreigners eye U.S. properties for reasons ranging from the strength of regional housing markets; relative affordability vs. real estate in their homeland, and as a place to park wealth. To some people, this shows the attractiveness of the U.S. economy. To others, it’s foreign money distorting local housing markets suffering from a shortage of homes to buy.
So what does the report say about international taste for California real estate, through the lens of my trusty spreadsheet?
Let’s start with California’s share: Deals in the state represented 12 percent of all foreign deals nationwide in the past year, down from 15 percent the previous year. The latest result trails Florida’s 22 percent share and ties Texas. It’s California’s lowest share of foreign buyers since post-recession 2011. Has California’s rising home values scared off some international house hunters, too?
So how many in California? My trusty spreadsheet lets me project the growing number of foreign buyers nationwide, which translates to roughly 34,000 purchases by foreigners in California in the past year. That would be an increase of about 2,000 purchases, or 6 percent vs. the 12-month period ended in March 2016. So we trailed the national growth pace of 32 percent.
Who was buying in California? The Realtors reported 71 percent of all foreign purchases made in California in the past year were from residents of Asian/Oceania nations, an area that stretches from Japan through the Pacific down to New Zealand and all the way to the Mediterranean in Israel. That’s up from 51 percent the previous year.
How big is that? My spreadsheet also tells me the growing Asian/Oceania share of foreign deals in the state means roughly 24,000 California residences were bought by folks from those nations in the past year. That’s up approximately 8,000 purchases — a 50 percent jump in a year! That would also mean the rest of the world buying of California homes has dropped by one-third in a year.
Is that a lot? Please note the foreign buyers’ share of all California homebuying is modest. While the data is not totally comparable, PropertyRadar reported a total of 425,000 California residences sold in 2016. That means loosely 1-in-12 home sales in the state go to foreigners, both living in and out of the U.S. Although, some folks might argue that these buyers are taking housing opportunities from locals.
Who else bought? Other significant international buyers of California properties hailed from Latin America/Caribbean/Mexico (14 percent of all foreign deals); Europe, 6 percent; and North America, 5 percent.
Who really likes California? Another part of the Realtor report shows California housing’s popularity in international purchases, by key nations: Buyers from China, Hong Kong and Taiwan made 37 percent of their U.S. buys in California; India, 18 percent; Mexico, 11 percent; United Kingdom, 11 percent; and Canada, 4 percent.
Who sells? Once they buy, foreigners seem reluctant to part with their California properties. The Realtors also reported 6 percent of all sales nationwide in the 12-month period were made by foreigners. California properties made up 9 percent of those deals, a share one-quarter less than the state’s share of foreign buyers. This is keeping with a statewide theme of extended ownership of homes.Welcome to thedollop.net!
We have very few rules here. Dave and Gareth run the roost. They built the house, I just shelve the library. If they make a call about deleting a comment or banning a user, I’m going with it, okay? Let’s just get that out of the way.
All I personally ask is simple courtesy. Yes, this is a comedy website, I understand. So let me give a blunt example, using a word that Americans don’t normally use, but Australians do, and the guys sometimes do in the podcast. Here’s the rules of courtesy around here in one sentence: You may use the word cunt, but you may not ever, under any circumstances, call me a cunt. I will treat you with the same courtesies.
There, glad that’s settled.
Again, welcome! I apologize if you find dust in the corners. Some pages are incomplete, and I am a week behind in blogging episodes. Everything isn’t exactly as I’d like, because I had to stop researching in order to test the backend, to make certain the bookshelves wouldn’t fall down as soon as I opened the library.
So, there’s several ways to navigate.
Highly recommended: You can play around with the special Dollopish tags–tags created and inspired by and for episodes.
You could just choose a century, and dive in: 16th, 17th, 18th, 19th, 20th, 21st.
You could choose an episode’s blog entry, they are listed in order, organized by year: 2014, 2015.
Or, if you are just teeming with ideas for future podcasts, you can head directly over to the shiny new suggestion box, and fill it out to email Dave. Yay!
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So, for our first night together, I leave you with my favorite FBI IT tech, Penelope Garcia :Say goodnight, Winston. Sayonara, Shakespeare. It’s light’s out in the United Kingdom. In Britain, it’s all over but the Sharia. This was made abundantly clear on Monday, when the British Parliament held a three-hour debate on whether or not to ban Donald Trump from the country.
It used to be that only serious criminals, severe threats to the public order, were ever banned from countries. Ostensibly, that is still the case, but the idea of who and what constitutes a threat to the public order has changed. Multitudes in Britain want to keep Trump out of their green and pleasant land not because he absconded with the church funds, or plotted bomb attacks in the London Tube, but because he said that in light of the jihad terror threat and the impossibility of distinguishing Islamic jihadists from peaceful Muslims, there should be a temporary moratorium on Muslim immigration into the U.S.
For that, the learned Parliamentarians debated banning Trump from Britain, and in the process, heaped abuse upon him, calling him a “fool,” a “buffoon” and a “wazzock,” which is apparently a word more properly applied to those who voted for David Cameron. One thing that never became clear during the entire three hours of heated discussion, however, was what terrible results the foes of Trump thought might ensue from his entry into the Sceptered Isle. Did they think that if he repeated his call for a moratorium on Muslim immigration on British soil, that Muslims, those notorious shrinking violets, would retreat to psychologists’ couches in such droves that the British mental health system would be overwhelmed?
More likely, the unspoken fear was that if Trump entered Britain, Muslims would riot. And so those British politicians who have insisted that Islam is a Religion of Peace moved to ban him, knowing but afraid to admit that the adherents of the most famous peaceful religion in the world could quite easily become violent if crossed. To avoid crossing them was their highest of priorities – and as Sharia forbids criticism of Islam and offense to Muslims, they eagerly became Sharia-compliant, eagerly anticipating the electoral rewards that were certain to follow in the wake of their submission.
The whole thing looks now as if it was just a chance for Trump’s foes to do a bit of grandstanding and show their Muslim masters how solidly they were in their corner, but seriously, why not ban Trump? After all, I myself was banned from entering Britain for saying that Islam “is a religion and is a belief system that mandates warfare against unbelievers for the purpose for establishing a societal model that is absolutely incompatible with Western society.”
The anti-Trump movement in the UK implied that Trump might escape due punishment for his heinous crimes because he is rich: “If the United Kingdom is to continue applying the ‘unacceptable behaviour’ criteria to those who wish to enter its borders, it must be fairly applied to the rich as well as poor, and the weak as well as powerful.” But that’s a lot of hooey. The “unacceptable behavior” criteria is already applied unfairly. Just days before Pamela Geller and I were banned, the British government admitted Saudi Sheikh Mohammed al-Arefe. Al-Arefe has said: “Devotion to jihad for the sake of Allah, and the desire to shed blood, to smash skulls, and to sever limbs for the sake of Allah and in defense of His religion, is, undoubtedly, an honor for the believer. Allah said that if a man fights the infidels, the infidels will be unable to prepare to fight.”
That was acceptable in Britain. My work, which has consistently denounced violence and been in defense of the equality of rights of all before the law, was not. That’s a fair application of the “unacceptable behaviors” criteria?
If I can get banned for making a manifestly true observation about Islam, then Trump can certainly be banned for calling for a temporary moratorium on Muslim immigration in view of jihad terror. The UK continues to demonize and stigmatize resistance to jihad terror, and will probably continue to do so until it is far too late: the last free Briton will be congratulating himself that he was not “Islamophobic” as the knife slices through his neck.
As Britain continues to make itself an international laughingstock, transgressing its core principles by banning people for holding unpopular opinions, there is one thing that can be said for that once-great nation: as Sharia states go, it is a hell of a lot funnier than Saudi Arabia or Iran.Today Sling TV is adding the highly anticipated AMC and IFC channels to it’s core $20 package. It is also releasing it’s Hollywood Extra package today. (The channels should be added by the time you read this post. If they are not live now, they will be live shortly.)
In addition to AMC and IFC, Sling TV’s “Best of Live TV” $20 core package delivers ESPN, ESPN2, TNT, TBS, Food Network, HGTV, Travel Channel, Adult Swim, Cartoon Network, ABC Family, Disney Channel, CNN, El Rey and Galavision; some of the most highly watched TV channels.
The “Hollywood Extra” package will include EPIX, EPIX2, EPIX3, EPIX Drive-In, and Sundance TV for $5 a month. Replay feature allows customers to watch content that has aired up to seven days prior without a DVR. (Video-On-Demand content for EPIX channels and Sundance TV coming soon.)
“AMC Networks is pleased to have reached this comprehensive new agreement which will deliver our popular and valuable entertainment and news content from our entire portfolio of networks on Sling TV,” said Bob Broussard, President of Network Sales, AMC Networks. “Sling TV is an exciting new service designed to deliver content to consumers who are outside of the traditional television eco-system. With this agreement, we are joining a number of other respected providers of sports, entertainment and news content to ensure that we are capitalizing on innovative technology and new opportunities to reach as many people as possible.”
For those of you who have been considering making the move to Sling TV, check out our review of the service:
Please follow us on Twitter or like us on our new Facebook page.Joey King, best known for her roles in Fargo and Independence Day: Resurgence, will guest star on The Flash in October as Magenta.
A teen with a troubled past, Frances "Frankie” Kane is a meta-human with the ability to control metal... but her powers come with a dangerous side-effect, causing her villainous alter ego known as Magenta to emerge.
King, who also appeared in Wish I Was Here, will appear on the season's third episode. Created by Marv Wolfman and George Perez, Magenta first appeared in a 1982 issue of The New Teen Titans. Given her name and power set, she inevitably draws comparisons to the famed X-Men villain Magneto.
At one point, Magenta was one of a number of characters who formed a new team of Rogues -- which could be notable, given that The Flash's third season introduces both Mirror Master and Dr. Alchemy, both members of the Rogues at various points in their careers. It may be interesting to see whether characters like Weather Witch and Mirror-Man -- characters who were part of the same New Rogues group as Magenta and who wield the gear and/or powers of "classic" Flash Rogues -- might show up in the Flashpoint timeline.Staff at a small, rural museum north of Winnipeg say they were surprised and disappointed to discover some items on display were stolen by a visitor earlier this month.
Cook's Creek Heritage Museum was robbed of an Adolf Hitler book and a Jewish badge at about noon on Aug. 1. Staff believe a woman in her 30s with a slightly heavy build and blond hair pocketed the items. She appeared to be with two young girls at the time.
Liz Hogue, the board president at the museum, said the museum is older and not all of their artifacts are in display cases. Regardless, she said they haven't had a theft in more than 20 years.
"We're a small community museum. As far as I know, we have never purchased an artifact — everything has been donated to us, has been given to us in trust to display," said Hogue. "It's a lot of personal memories, personal stories."
The museum has reported the theft to RCMP, Hogue said.
The museum is encouraging anyone who might have information about the incident to call RCMP at 204-983-5420 or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477.We’ve heard of jumping through hoops to get a job, but literally walking through them is another thing entirely.
A new boutique hotel in Melbourne is going to some particularly long lengths to get job applicants to prove their keenness to work there.
The new QT Hotel on Russell Street is set to open in September, built on the site of the old, beloved, thoroughly crappy, magnificently art deco, and sorely missed Russell Street Greater Union Cinema. The self-professed “quirky” hotel chain already has sites in the Sydney CBD, Bondi, Canberra, Port Douglas, the Gold Coast, and Falls Creek. The Melbourne hotel is the company’s first expansion into the Victorian capital.
But those who were keen to pick up work at the huge new building are well and truly being put through the ringer, with those who lined up from 6am on Monday morning (seriously) asked to, among other things, re-create the famous walk off scene from ‘Zoolander‘ (again, seriously).
The multi-stage interview process is called an “audition” by the hotel, with yesterday’s catwalk-inspired phase one being the “pre-show.”
The catwalking, blue steeling, hopefully-not-underwear-removing first stage was conducted to “show their charisma, their attitude towards the role and also their dedication to the role,” according to QT’s PR director Stephen Howard.
Should those game enough to walk that aisle manage to work it hard enough, they would then progress through to the next stage of the interview process: a one-on-one interview. And if they make it through that part, they score an invitation to a cocktail party, designed not so much as a celebration of scoring the job, but to gauge “how they react within a social environment, with their fellow employees, how they react around food and drink and within the environment of managers as well,” because lord knows there’s not a more professional combination in the world than job-related uncertainty, anxiety, pressure, and alcohol. Not a damned thing has ever gone bung when that lot is mixed.
All that said, it was estimated that around 1,000-odd applicants lined up for a chance to work for the “hip” hotel brand, in roles as diverse as receptionists, porters, wait staff, kitchen hands, and something called a Director of Chaos which sounds less like an ordinary hotel position and more like the head of a supervillain conglomerate.
The hotel is set to open its doors in September. We can only assume that if someone managed to hit a perfect Magnum that they’d be hired on the spot.
Source: The Age.CANBERRA, Australia -- Swedish golfer Daniela Holmqvist says she was bitten by a spider and used a tee to extract what she thought was potentially fatal venom before finishing her round during qualifying for the LPGA Tour's season-opening Women's Australian Open.
The Swedish Golf Federation reported on its website that Holmqvist was hitting out of the rough on the fourth hole at Royal Canberra Golf Club when she felt a sharp pain on her ankle.
Holmqvist swatted the spider away and was told by people nearby that it could have been a black widow, so she used a golf tee to pierce the swelling and squeeze out the venom.
"A clear fluid came out," she told Svensk Golf magazine. "It wasn't the prettiest thing I've ever done, but I had to get as much of it out of me as possible."
Holmqvist continued her round, under the supervision of medical staff, but finished with a 74 on Tuesday and missed out on qualifying for the tournament.
Australia isn't home to the black widow spider, which is native to North America. A tournament official said Thursday that Holmqvist was more than likely bitten by a redback, another species of widow spider known as the Latrodectus Hasselti. The Australian Museum said on its website that redback bites occur frequently in the summer months and 250 cases receive antivenom each year, with many others going unreported.
Common early symptoms are pain in the area of the bite and throughout the abdomen, chest and neck, sweating, muscular weakness, nausea and vomiting. No deaths have been reported from redback bites since the discovery of an antidote in 1955.Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, right, introduces Gov. Mike Pence, R-Ind., during a campaign event to announce Pence as the vice presidential running mate on, Saturday, July 16, 2016, in New York. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci) ORG XMIT: OTKEV112 (Photo: Evan Vucci, AP)
Donald Trump introduced Indiana Gov. Mike Pence as his running mate July 16, but, in doing so, oversold Indiana’s economic performance under Pence:
• Trump praised Pence for reducing the state’s unemployment rate, which has declined by 3.4 percentage points since January 2013. But that tracked the national average, which dropped 3.3 percentage points during that time.
• Trump said it was “very unusual” that Indiana has added 147,000 private-sector jobs. Not really. Florida (12.7%) and Utah (12.4%), for example, grew jobs at twice the rate of Indiana (5.9%). In fact, Indiana’s rate lagged behind 20 states and the District of Columbia.
• Trump praised Pence for balancing the state budget. “Can you imagine a balanced budget,” Trump marveled. But Indiana is legally required to balance the budget, as are all states except Vermont.
• Trump said Indiana has an AAA bond rating. But that has been true since July 2008 — nearly five years before Pence took office. He also said “very few states have that,” when, in fact, 15 states do.
• Trump correctly said that Indiana’s labor force has increased by more than 186,000 people under Pence. But he suggested that that was unusual, saying it is going “down, down, down” in other states. The labor force has gone up in 41 states.
As the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, Trump introduced his running mate to voters at a July 16 campaign event in New York. Pence has been Indiana’s governor since Jan. 14, 2013, and the economy in Indiana, and elsewhere in the country, has improved since then, as the country slowly recovered from the Great Recession, which lasted from December 2007 to June 2009.
At the event, Trump read from a list of Indiana’s economic statistics, which his campaign later emailed to the media. (He starts speaking about Pence at 20 minutes into the C-SPAN video.) The statistics he cited were accurate. But, in some cases, the businessman embellished the stats with his commentary.
Unemployment Rate
Trump said the “primary reason” for selecting Pence was the decline in his state’s unemployment rate, which Trump said dropped to “less than 5%” this year. That’s close to accurate. As of May, the state’s rate was 5% — down from 8.4% in January 2013, when Pence became governor, as Trump said. That’s a drop of 3.4 percentage points, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
However, Indiana’s unemployment rate has roughly tracked the national average. During that same time, the national unemployment rate declined from 8% to 4.7% — a drop of 3.3 percentage points, according to BLS.
Private Sector Growth
Trump also praised Pence for adding private sector jobs. “Private sector job growth is up by more than 147,000 jobs since 2013,” Trump said. “That’s, like, very unusual.”
It’s not unusual at all.
Indiana has added 147,800 jobs since 2013, according to BLS. But 18 other states added more jobs. Predictably, larger states such as California (1.3 million) and Texas (840,000) had larger gains, but so did states with smaller populations, such as South Carolina (152,000) and Oregon (157,000).
More importantly, Indiana’s private-sector job growth rate — the percent change in the state’s number of private-sector jobs — lagged behind 20 states and the District of Columbia, according to our analysis of BLS data.
Indiana’s job growth rate was 5.9%. Florida led the way with a 12.7% increase, followed by Utah (12.4%) and Oregon (11.5%).
Balanced Budgets
Trump also praised Pence for balancing the state budget, suggesting that it was unusual. But it is not at all unusual at the state level because of constitutional and legal requirements.
Trump, July 16: "Governor Pence balanced the budget — can you imagine a balanced budget? Our budget is so out of whack in this country we don’t know what we are doing. We’re going to owe very soon $21 trillion dollars. He balanced the budget. They don’t know what that means."
Like nearly all states, Indiana is legally required to balance the budget. “All the states except Vermont have a legal requirement of a balanced budget,” according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.
Indiana’s Bond Rating
Trump also touted Indiana’s bond rating. “It’s also rated triple A — their bonds, are rated triple A. Very few states have that,” Trump said.
Indiana does have a AAA bond rating, but that has been the case since July 18, 2008, according to Standard & Poor’s latest “History of U.S. State Ratings.” That’s nearly five years before Pence took office.
As of July 11, 2016, 14 other states currently have AAA ratings, so Trump exaggerates when he says that “very few states have that.” They are: Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Iowa, Maryland, Missouri, Nebraska, North Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, and Wyoming. That’s nearly one third of all states.
Indiana’s Labor Force
Trump correctly said that Indiana’s labor force has increased by more than 186,000 people under Pence. But then he suggested that it was unusual for a state to see an increase in its labor force, based on his experience campaigning in other states.
Trump, July 16: "Since January 2013, Indiana’s labor force has increased by more than 186,000 jobs. You have to understand I’ve gone around to all these states — I’ve gone to all of them — and every time I have statisticians, and I say, “Give me the stats on a state,” and it’s always bad. Down, down, down. Down 40%, 50%, 60% in some cases. Here’s somebody where it’s gone up."
Indiana has seen an above average increase in its labor force. The addition of 186,527 people in the state’s labor force since January 2013 represents a 5.9% increase, according to BLS. Our analysis shows that only six states and the District of Columbia have seen greater growth rates, with Delaware (8.9%) leading the way.
However, to imply that no other state has seen an increase — or that they have seen steep decreases — is wrong.
A total of 41 states and the District of Columbia have all seen increases in its labor force. Nine states have seen decreases. They are Virginia, New Mexico, Rhode Island, Alaska, Vermont, Wyoming, West Virginia, Maine and Kentucky.
Trump is hardly the first to overstate economic achievements. We have written numerous such stories over the years. He is just the latest to do so.
Read or Share this story: http://usat.ly/29Mf0KDDave Cameron laid out the methodology behind the rankings. Remember that the grading scale for each category is 20-80, with 50 representing league average.
2012 Organizational Rankings
#30 – Baltimore
#29 – Houston
#28 – Oakland
#27 – Pittsburgh
#26 – San Diego
#25 – Minnesota
#24 – Chicago AL
#23 – Seattle
#22 – Kansas City
#21 – Cleveland
#20 – New York NL
#19 – Los Angeles
#18 – Colorado
#17 – Miami
#16 – Arizona
#15 – Cincinnati
#14 – Chicago NL
#13 – Milwaukee
San Francisco’s 2011 Organizational Ranking – #12
2012 Outlook: 54 (14th)
Last season, the Giants were the defending World Series Champions. This season, they’re trying to get back to the playoffs.
Since Barry Bonds‘ last year with the Giants in 2007, San Francisco has been all about pitching, pitching, pitching. Tim Lincecum and Matt Cain have been an outstanding 1-2 punch at the top of the rotation. Madison Bumgarner, just 22 years told, was pivotal in the 2010 playoffs and is poised to have a huge season. Ryan Vogelsong is back after his “comeback from out of the blue” year in 2011. And then there’s the $126 million man: Barry Zito, fifth starter.
Yesterday, Cain signed a contract extension with the Giants through 2017 with a club option for 2018. (Details on Cain’s extension can be found here and here). A few months back, Lincecum signed a two-year contract with the Giants, taking him through the end of the 2013 season when. That is also, mercifully, the last year of Zito’s contract, although the Giants will have to pay him another $7 million to go away in 2014.
With Cain’s extension, and the emergence of Bumgarner, the Giants just cracked open their window of opportunity to win with their superb pitching. San Francisco missed out on that in 2011 by failing to upgrade the offense after winning the World Series. Indeed, the pitching (rotation and bullpen) was actually better last season than in 2010, but the offense was historically bad.
The Giants didn’t pursue any free agents this winter, saying they were saving money to re-sign Lincecum and Cain. Instead, they traded for Melky Cabrera and Angel Pagan to replace Aaron Rowand, Cody Ross and Andres Torres in the outfield. They also touted the return of Buster Posey and Freddy Sanchez — two important offensive pieces during the 2010 title run — both of whom missed more than half of 2011 with season-ending injuries. Posey’s had a positive and productive spring training. Sanchez, on the other hand, will start the season on the disabled list.
To get back to the playoffs in 2012, the Giants need the pitching to be as great as it’s been, and they need big seasons at the plate from Posey, Pablo Sandoval and whoever plays first base (more on that in a minute). Sandoval hit with authority in 2011, and despite missing six weeks with a broken hamate bone in his right hand last season, accumulated 5.5 WAR, the same as Prince Fielder.
Who will play first? Aubrey Huff or Brandon Belt? Just the mention of Belt’s name — or the infamous #FreeBrandonBelt hashtag — stirs deep emotions in Giants fans. Belt was a Top 25 Prospect heading into 2011. He made the Opening Day lineup due to injuries to Cody Ross and Andres Torres, but when he didn’t immediately perform, he was sent back to Triple-A. Then back to the majors. Then a broken wrist. Back to Triple-A. Back to the majors. And so on. In the meantime, Aubrey Huff, signed to a two-year/$20 million contract in the glow of the World Series victory, struggled to find his swing. He never did.
ZIPS projects Belt to have the 17th highest OBP in the majors this season. Yet, he’s fighting for a roster spot while Huff is penciled in as the everyday first baseman. For a team like the Giants, which scratches and claws for every run, keeping Belt in Triple-A makes absolutely no sense.
The Giants head into 2012 with a razor-thin margin for error. The pitching needs to be just as good as it’s been the last two seasons. The offense needs to kick it up a notch from last year. If either of those two things don’t happen, the Giants will likely be sitting on the sidelines during the playoffs in 2012.
2013+ Outlook: 47 (20th)
The young players the Giants have already promoted to the majors form a solid core going forward: Bumgarner, Posey, Sandoval, and Belt. And even with Cain’s $100+ million contract extension, the Giants should have good payroll flexibility after 2013, when the Zito contract expires. They’ll need that flexibility to trade or sign other pitchers and position players, however, because the Giants’ farm system is pretty thin.
Our own Marc Hulet ranks the Giants’ minor-league talent twenty-third out of thirty teams. Kevin Goldstein at Baseball Prospectus and Keith Law at ESPN give the Giants even lower grades. Goldstein ranks San Francisco twenty-fifth; Law ranks them twenty-sixth.
Gary Brown is considered the Giants’ top prospect. The speedy center fielder could see action in the majors as early as this season, particularly if the Giants fall out of playoff contention. Joe Panik is also well-regarded. He was drafted as a shortstop, but will likely be moved to second base as he makes his way through the minors. The Giants also have several notable catching prospects, including Hector Sanchez, Tommy Joseph, and Andrew Susac, all of whom could become important if Buster Posey is eventually moved to first base.
But the strength of the Giants’ farm system for years — the pitching — is now a weakness, particularly with starters. Erik Surkamp and Kyle Crick are the highest-ranked starters, but neither is expected to replicate the success of Lincecum, Cain or Bumgarner. Heath Hembree, a righty with a mid-90s fastball and a deceptive slider, is being groomed as the new closer once Brian Wilson becomes a free agent after the 2013 season. There’s not much pitching depth after that.
Financial Resources: 56 (8th)
The Giants payroll will hit $130 million this season, putting the team in the top 10 in player salaries. That’s comfortably above the league-wide average of $92 million and below the trend-setting Yankees, Red Sox, and Phillies. With new TV deals in place, the Rangers and Angels are quickly moving into the upper echelon of spending, with the newly-sold Dodgers and the Cubs not far behind.
For the last several seasons, more than 3 million fans have filled the seats game after game at AT&T Park. That’s a lot of tickets sold in a metropolitan area with a population of just over 4.3 million people. The Giants, of course, “share” the area with the Oakland A’s, but it’s not an even split. Indeed, the Giants claim they need to sell 3 million-plus tickets to just to “break even” on their $130 million payroll. That’s one reason the Giants are steadfastly opposed to the A’s proposed move to San Jose, itself a larger |
BIANCA Gascoigne's secret boyfriend CJ Meeks has been seen getting very emotional over her romance with Jamie O'Hara.
Last week in Celebrity Big Brother, Bianca revealed she actually had a boyfriend on the outside. She and footballer Jamie had been getting very close, even sneaking off to the bathroom for a kiss. A coded conversation about her real world beau was shown to the housemates this week, including Jamie, and he was less than impressed.
MAGICMOMENTSUK/CHANNEL 5 ALL OVER: CJ Meeks looked devastated by Bianca's new romance
WENN OUT WITH THE OLD: Bianca and CJ have been dating since spring last year
CJ Meeks looks sad as he finds out about Bianca and Jamie CJ Meeks look upset as he reads articles about his girlfriend Bianca and Jamie 1 / 10 Cj Meeks looks sad as he learns about his girlfriend Bianca and Jamie's relationship
“I had no intentions of a romance within the house” Bianca Gascoigne Trying to explain herself, Bianca said: "It's something that obviously I need to sort out. But I had no intentions of a romance within the house." But someone who's had to watch his lady with another man in front of the nation is CJ Meeks. Cutting a lonely figure at a pub in Essex, the cage fighter could be seen looking at articles about Bianca and Jamie on his phone. In fact, it seems rather than using up his 3G, he actually looked to be staring at photographs of the articles.
MAGICMOMENTSUK EMOTIONAL: CJ was torturing himself looking at Bianca and Jame
Bianca Gascoigne flaunts her body Bianca Gascoigne shows off her figure in skimpy shots 1 / 52
Wearing all black, as if mourning for his relationship, CJ read about the CBB duo cuddling and kissing in bed. Bianca and CJ have been together since spring last year, though it seems she's ready for a new relationship. Obviously realising what he had with her is over, CJ cradled his face in his hands, looking devastated.
MAGICMOMENTSUK DROWNING HIS SORROWS: CJ looked to be numbing the pain at the pub
The best bits from CBB 2017 Are you watching CBB 2017? Take a look at the best bits here! 1 / 121Yellowstone National Park’s bison population is about to start getting much smaller, as the park has reportedly sent at least 200 bison to slaughter in an effort to cull the winter population by approximately 900 animals.
The statistics come from an American conservation group called the Buffalo Field Campaign (BFC), which has traditionally been against the park’s annual attempts at bison population control, pinning the behavior on outdated laws and pressure from the livestock industry. Officials say that the culling of the herd is necessary to ensure that bison infected with a problematic bacterial disease do not transmit it to cattle herds raised by Montana ranchers.
READ MORE:Yellowstone National Park to kill up to 900 bison this winter
According to the BFC, some 250 bison have been trapped by Yellowstone officials over the last week or so. While about 200 have been sent to slaughter, another 55 will likely be sent to be killed on Monday, the group said in a statement. Already, more than 100 bison have been killed by both tribal and Montana hunters, BFC stated.
“It is unthinkable and profoundly incongruent that Yellowstone National Park and Native Americans would participate in the brutal abuse and slaughter of the only wild population of buffalo remaining in this country,” said BFC spokeswoman Stephany Seay. “The shocking reality is that those who should be the fiercest champions and strongest allies for the buffalo are instead betraying them by taking the lead in the livestock industry's culture of death.”
Yellowstone spokesman Al Nash told Reuters that he could not say exactly how many buffalo have been sent to slaughter.
While hundreds of bison are scheduled to be killed this year, the culling is part of Yellowstone’s plan to “stabilize the population,” which rose to about 4,900 animals last year. Officials are trying to bring it down closer to 4,000, marking a one-fifth reduction in population. Even that level is high considering what wildlife officials have judged to be their target goal – somewhere between 3,000 and 3,500 buffalo.
READ MORE:Feds want to repopulate US with genetically pure bison
Although the animals used to live all across the western United States, the famous bison population at Yellowstone currently remains the only free-ranging herd in the United States.
Concerns over the transmission of the bacterial disease brucellosis have typically been used to justify the herd’s culling, since the illness can cause miscarriages in cattle. Groups like BFC argue that this argument is overblown, however, and that cases of transmission have not been documented.
Last year, the US Interior Department proposed a plan that could potentially reintroduce disease-free bison to large portions of America. The plan proposes moving various herds to external sites and quarantining them for years to keep the brucellosis from spreading. If and when it’s successfully eradicated, the healthy bison would be allowed to freely repopulate other parts of the west.For months, Cayla Chandara has been a waitress at two different restaurants, pulling double shifts just to make ends meet.
The 21-year-old moved to Waikiki, Hawaii, from Santa Rosa, California, for school. But with student loans and the high cost of living, Chandara didn’t want to slip into debt.
Instead of continuing her education, Chandara decided to take a step back. She accepted a job at a nearby Cheesecake Factory and Noi Thai Cuisine, hoping to save up enough money so she could return to school one day.
Cayla Chandara, 21, says strangers gave her the surprise of a lifetime. Facebook/Cayla Chandara
Little did she know, a group of strangers would make that happen faster than she could have ever imagined.
Chandara was serving two “life-long friends” and a 10-year-old girl visiting from Australia at Noi Thai Cuisine last week. They struck up a conversation, asking Chandara why she moved to Hawaii. Chandara told them about school and her dreams for the future.
The waitress thought the customers were just being polite. But as she cleared their table and collected their $200 tab at the end of the night her jaw-dropped.
The tip was $400 -- double their bill.
“I was then at a loss for words and all I wanted to do was hug them,” Chandara told CBS News.
Chandara recalled where the couple said they were staying, and decided she would swing by after her shift to thank them properly.
“I genuinely wanted to say thank you,” Chandara said. “I sent a thank you letter saying how much it meant to me.”
She left it at the hotel’s front desk and slipped out -- never expecting to see the tourists ever again.
The next night, the woman and the little girl returned to the restaurant. They told Chandara they would like to give her $10,000 to pay off her student loans and to contribute to her continuing her college education.
Chandara was at a loss for words.
“I initially told them I couldn’t take that offer, but they insisted that it would be just as great for them to do it for me,” Chandara said.
With their help, Chandara told the generous tourists, who wish to remain anonymous, that she will go back to school in the fall to study business. She asked how she could ever repay them.
“They told me the best way to thank them is to be my best possible self, dream big and strive for my goals,” Chandara said.
The 21-year-old wants to thank the couple for not only helping her fulfill her dream of graduating college, but also for teaching her a valuable lesson.
“They have truly changed my life, not only financially but in the way I look at things. They are the most beautiful and kind-hearted people I’ve come across and I really look up to them and I can’t wait until they watch me graduate,” Chandara said.
She hopes the story of their generosity reminds others that there are still good people in the world.
“Always be genuine. You will get it right back. Good things happen,” Chandara said.Looking Back on Song of Ice and Fire Book 1: The Original vs. The TV Remix
Recently, I have embarked on a journey of reading through George R.R. Martin‘s series A Song of Fire and Ice. In conjunction with this, I chose to watch the HBO Series Game of Thrones as I finished the corresponding book. I finished Book One about a week ago, and have just finished Season 1 of the TV series. While I know I am behind, I have never been accused of being current in my pop culture (though I still don’t understand what is wrong with my Garanimals shirts and my Zubas trousers…?). I decided to tackle this with some overall observations, and then discuss my favorite characters and their representation in each piece of media. I will begin with this question: Do you think there was ever a time where Kristian Nairn (aka Hodor) ever had to stop shooting and ask for his line?
Obviously, this piece contains spoiler information for both book and series, so if you’re trying to remain free of one or the other…you pays your silver stags, you takes your chances.
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Miscellaneous Discussion
The events occur seventeen years after Robert’s Rebellion instead of fourteen years. This ages all the children three years, which I would imagine is done due to the sensitivity of some of the actions of the characters not being suitable for television audiences if they were younger as they are in the book. I have no issues with this change, other than it increases the length of Robert’s reign.
One scene that I felt was unnecessary and really felt out of place was the scene added to the television series with Cersei and Robert discussing their failing marriage, and how they used to be closer, etc. They also discussed Lyanna Stark and Cersei even asked Robert if she ever had a chance to replace Lyanna in his heart. My perception of Cersei is she is cold and calculating and has been trying to pull off this coup the entire time, not that her heart has recently hardened because of Robert’s drinking and unfaithfulness, as well as the way he treats her.
A similar type scene was added later in the series with Petyr Baelish discussing his love for Catelyn Stark with the whores. I understand the desire for making it more apparent that he had these feelings for her, but in my opinion in these types of stories, less is more. I didn’t need it to just be stated like that. Additionally, that entire scene felt forced and unnecessary, and seemed to just be HBO throwing some gratuitous nudity in.
The scene where Varys and Illyrio are overheard by Arya Stark in the Dungeon discussing the rise of the Dothraki and Khal Drogo’s desire to cross the river to attack is altered from the book. In the book, it wasn’t clear who was being overheard, and you didn’t know yet who the informant was. In the series, it was obvious. The follow up to this scene was Baelish and Varys essentially playing “who is bigger” by discussing all their different spying opportunities. This is another situation where I felt less would have been more. The way they acquire their information should not be something immediately revealed this early in a long series.
Viserys Targaryen (played by Harry Lloyd)
My perception of Viserys from the book was while he may not have been large in stature, he certainly portrayed himself to be. I understand that his mind was clouded and he was being manipulated by Illyrio, but I felt the TV series portrayed him as a bumbling idiot. I did not get that impression in the book. I just felt he had delusions of grandeur. We are led to believe that if Robert Baratheon had not defeated his father, that one day Viserys would have been king. The portrayal in the series made it seem impossible that he could ever rule. To me, one of the most striking examples of this was when Drogo first looked at Daenerys and left without saying anything. Viserys came running down the stairs pouting like a lost child wondering where his mommy was going. I just didn’t like how inept they made him look.
That being said, I believe that Harry Lloyd did a great job of portraying the character the way it was written for television. My issue is with the writing, not the acting. As an aside, I felt while reading the book that pretty much every single time that Viserys spoke, he would threaten to wake the dragon. Because of how many times I felt I read this, I decided to make a dragon counter for while I watched the series. Only twice did Viserys make any mention of waking the dragon, and only a total of seven times did he refer to himself as the dragon, including three times in thirty seconds in one of his final scenes. Apparently, the writers of the series were also scared of waking the dragon.
Khal Drogo (played by Jason Momoa)
Drogo was a fun character. I thought Momoa was a good casting for the part also. My first impression was how much the Dothraki Language sounds like the Judoon language from Dr. Who. I spent the first few minutes of the scene introducing the Khalasar anxiously waiting for the Tardis to appear. (I think that would be an interesting crossover.) I do hereby claim this idea on behalf of Need Coffee Dot Com, and expect royalties to be paid when HBO and the BBC bring this to reality. (Kidding–no doubt the fanfic already exists.)
My issue with Drogo was his demise. I thought he was excellently written in both the book and the series, and his character was the same most of the way through. I particularly enjoyed the scene where Drogo learns of the attempt on Daenerys’ life, and makes the decree that they will cross the river and invade, then pledges the Iron Throne to his son. I think that is exactly the type of rage he would have demonstrated. However, the next time he is involved, things are quite different. From my recollection of the book, Drogo is wounded while fighting a rival Khal when they are raiding a village on their march to the sea. It is this wound that the sorceress ultimately uses to trick Daenerys. In the TV series, there is a added scene where Drogo and Mago fight, because Mago doesn’t want to listen to Daenerys orders. This scene was apparently added because it was felt that Drogo’s skill in combat hadn’t been displayed. Again, less is more in my opinion. It was obvious he was a fearsome warrior, we learned of his braids the first time we met him, etc. I didn’t need to actually see him fight. The precursor to this fight is Mago pressing his sword against Drogo’s chest, which cut Drogo. Drogo didn’t resist this and it came off as a taunt or sign of disrespect. Ultimately Drogo killed Mago and ripped out his tongue. This cut, however, is ultimately the cut that led to his death. I didn’t like the mighty Drogo falling to a flesh wound. My perception of the book was he was injured badly in the fight with the rival Khal, but he was hiding it initially from Daenerys and trying to remain strong, but it eventually had to be tended to. This wound in the TV series did not require immediate assistance like it was portrayed.
Daenerys Targaryen (played by Emilia Clarke)
Emilia Clark, in my opinion, did the best acting job in the entire first season. She was fantastic in her portrayal of Daenerys. While this may be due to the fact that I am a man, and she is a gorgeous talented actress, I feel anyone would recognize how hard this role could have been. Daenerys was thirteen in the book, and was aged to sixteen for the TV series. When you think about what she goes through (an abusive brother, a forced (and rapey) marriage, falling in love, becoming pregnant, losing a child then losing her husband) it would be difficult to portray this in such a relatively short season. I thought Clark was phenomenal in letting Daenerys mature and age over the series, from a meek girl to a ruling woman at the end. She was absolutely my favorite character in Season 1. Really, the only issue I have at all with her character was the final scene. In the book, she steps into the Pyre and on the same evening, she steps out with the dragons nursing from her. In the series, it is the next morning, and she is discovered still alive, and the dragons are just with her. While I know this is a minor change, I was waiting for the image of her stepping out of that pyre with the Dragons clearly claiming her as their mother. When I did not receive that, I was a little let down. I don’t know what happens with Daenerys as the books progress, but she seems to be a key character, and the fact that she rules even the dragons seems essential and should have been depicted the original way.
Tyrion Lannister (played by Peter Dinklage)
Nothing more needs to be said about how great a job Dinklage did in portraying Tyrion. He was well deserving of the Emmy he won. I thought Tyrion’s character was portrayed slightly different than the intention of the book, but I didn’t have much issue with it…save for two instances. First, there is an entirely silly scene with Tyrion, Bronn and Shae playing drinking games, specifically a “never have I ever” game. This seemed to be used as an opportunity to introduce some more background to the characters, but it just seemed out of character for Tyrion. He is so strategic that I can’t see him playing party games with alcohol that could lead to him revealing some of his plans. Secondly, in the Battle of Green Fork, the series shows Tyrion getting knocked out by his own man’s hammer before the battle even begins, and he misses the entire fight. In the book, Tyrion has to find a way to survive the battle and is very involved. He feels that his father wanted him to be killed and placed his gathering as a decoy in harm’s way. With the important role Tyrion plays in this series, I did not understand at all why they minimized his involvement in the battle, and made him look like he couldn’t be in combat. There was another reference like this earlier, when Catelyn’s group is attacked and Tyrion uses only a shield to help fight. I know that Tyrion constantly says he uses his mind to win and not his might, but there almost seems to be intent by the TV writers to make sure he is never seen in true combat.
Still, overall, I was very pleased with the interpretation from book to screen. I thought the story followed the first book very closely, and there were few scenes plucked from future books (one I can think of is Arya meeting some of the boys that accompany her in the second book). Of the omitted scenes from the book, none of them struck me as essential to my viewing experience. Very often when a popular book series is adapted to screen, some details are left out that are important to the story (the entire story arc involving Hermione and the House Elves in Harry Potter that was entirely omitted in the films, thus making Dobby’s reappearance and death seem very out of place). I didn’t feel any detail like this was missing. I may not have agreed with some of the portrayals of the characters by the TV writers, but in terms of the actual story, it was great. As I complete the second book and season, I will follow up and see if I still feel this way. [/fusion_builder_column][/fusion_builder_row][/fusion_builder_container]As Carbine acknowledged in its latest WildStar Wednesday update, it’s been a while since we heard about beta. Back in August, Design Director Mike Donatelli provided an in-depth status update, explaining the main areas of focus as Closed Beta Test 3 drew to a close.
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In subsequent months, the studio has been working hard on updating three core systems: making leveling up more interesting, making it easier to choose abilities, and completely revamping the quest system. These changes are all intended to make WildStar more engrossing and entertaining, while removing some of the limitations that came with a more traditional approach.
The big news is all about questing. In the version of WildStar that toured Gamescom, PAX Prime and other conventions, traditional mob targeting and questing was still being used. Killing ten chompacabra meant going out and finding enough of the furry little ankle biters to fill your quota. Collecting twenty skeech ears would involve dispatching enough of the blue-skinned vermin to collect those quest items.
All that’s been replaced with an easy quest completion progress bar. While it doesn’t change much at first glance, taking on tougher mobs will fill that bar faster. With open tagging now in the game, you can help out others and bag some XP, credit and loot as well. It looks somewhat similar to the Renown Heart approach from Guild Wars 2, but tailored to individual quests rather than a particular area. Carbine also added that it “kept in mind the usual concerns about open tagging”, which they might explore in a future blog post.
For now, I’m left wondering how skillful play incorporates in the new system – WildStar previously rewarded players that took on bigger challenges with multi-kill bonuses. It’ll be interesting to see if these have been incorporated into quest completion, or will purely be a way to level up faster.
The new Ability Loadout screen is also very welcome. In the limited play-throughs I’ve had at various events, it’s clear how the interface could become cluttered and confusing. With skills now broken down by role (including those that aren’t yet available), choosing a set of skills to slot into the Limited Action Set should be much quicker. The only thing that’s missing for me is being able to save an Action Set, allowing me to swap to it depending on the type of foe I’m facing.
While Carbine’s update also touched on the new Level Up interface, it didn’t go into further detail about how we’ll be able to have more choice or control as our characters progress. In his August update, Donatelli mentioned that “the system was purely gear-based, and players didn't like that their character had no progression on its own.” I’m hoping that the new Ability Loadout interface is providing some hints toward that, through something that’s labeled an ‘AMP System’.
Towards the end of the update, Carbine also teased a reference to the two announced classes. Speculation has been rampant that we’ll be seeing a full announcement soon, particularly after the recent Ability Mechanics DevSpeak. Although the video itself focuses on WildStar’s combat ‘special sauce’, it’s the sight of two characters with unusual weapons that has really stirred things up.
Each class in WildStar is restricted to a single weapon type – psyblades for Espers, pistols for Spellslingers, etc – so that Carbine could produce more detailed combat animations and spell effects for each race/class combination. We also know from the Mordesh and Chua race reveals that one class will be DPS/Tank and the other DPS/Healer.
Which makes the two weapons even more interesting. One seems to be a pair of paddles that hook up to a backpack, while the other looks like a rifle or shoulder-braced cannon. Could this mean that we’ll see the introduction of a mid-range healer or tank? With all the hints that Carbine has been dropping lately, it looks like we won’t be waiting long to find out.
Overall, it looks like Carbine is shifting gears. WildStar’s worldwide tour is drawing to a close, with New York Comic Con being the likely final stop. But while the community team has been making fans across the globe, the remaining developers have been hard at work preparing for a beta restart. With this most recent update, we’re getting every indication that Closed Beta Test 4 can’t be far away.
Gareth Harmer / Gareth Harmer has been blasting and fireballing his way through MMOs for over ten years. When he's not exploring an online world, he can usually be found enthusiastically.dissecting and debating them Follow him on Twitter at @Gazimoff.Could the Indians have pulled this off if everything had gone according to plan?
CLEVELAND -- Every team encounters adversity throughout a baseball season. In the wake of setbacks, fans are often left wondering what their team might have accomplished if so many things had not gone wrong. For Cleveland, which is preparing for the World Series vs. the Chicago Cubs, the question is a little different this year.
CLEVELAND -- Every team encounters adversity throughout a baseball season. In the wake of setbacks, fans are often left wondering what their team might have accomplished if so many things had not gone wrong. For Cleveland, which is preparing for the World Series vs. the Chicago Cubs, the question is a little different this year.
Could the Indians have pulled this off if everything had gone according to plan?
• Shop for Indians World Series and AL champs gear
:: Complete World Series coverage ::
"This has been that year where everything goes right," Indians owner Paul Dolan said. "Even when something goes wrong, it turns into something right. I've heard 'Team of Destiny' mentioned a few times. It sure feels like something like that."
For every injury and setback, there has been a solution for this year's incredible Cleveland club. Things that went awry in Spring Training and throughout the regular season had a direct impact on performances on the October stage. For fans who are just now gettting to know this "True Tribe," as closer Cody Allen describes his team, here is a rundown of all that has gone wrong, and then right, for this year's Indians.
• World Series Game 1: Tuesday 7:30 p.m. ET air time/8 p.m. game time on FOX
What went wrong: Abraham Almonte suspended 80 games on Feb. 26
What came out of it: A positive test for a performance-enhancing substance cost Almonte -- projected as Cleveland's Opening Day center fielder -- the first half of this season. With Almonte out of the spring equation, rookie Tyler Naquin won a job. The suspension also led to the Tribe acquiring veteran Coco Crisp in an Aug. 31 trade with the A's, because Almonte was ineligible for the postseason. Crisp hit a home run in the American League Central-clinching win, and he belted a long ball in the clinching games of the AL Division Series and the AL Championship Series, too.
Video: ALCS Gm5: Crisp launches a big fly to right field
What went wrong: Carlos Carrasco injures left hamstring on April 24
Video: CLE@DET: Carrasco injures leg at first, exits game
What came out of it: Carrasco's injury while covering first base in a start against Detroit cost him all of May. That setback, combined with a poor early-season showing by Cody Anderson (Cleveland's No. 4 starter to begin the year), led to Trevor Bauer moving out of the bullpen and back into the rotation. Bauer remained in the starting staff for the remainder of the year and turned in a career-best campaign.
Video: CLE@CWS: Bauer freezes Garcia, retires 12 in a row
What went wrong: Marlon Byrd suspended 162 games on June 1
Video: Bastian talks about Byrd being suspended 162 games
What came out of it: For the second time in five months, a PED suspension struck a blow to the Indians' already-depleted outfield. When Byrd was lost for the season, though, that paved the way for Naquin to stay in the big leagues. For the first two months, Naquin bounced between Cleveland and Triple-A Columbus. On the day the Byrd news came down, Yan Gomes also delivered a walk-off single in extra innings against Texas. That win provided an emotional lift on a tough day for the team.
Video: TEX@CLE: Yan Gomes on walk-off hit in extras
What went wrong: Indians play 19 innings in Toronto on July 1
What came out of it: In order to put the final touch on a club-record 14-game winning streak, the Tribe had to outlast the Blue Jays in a grueling six-hour marathon at Rogers Centre. The 2-1 victory ended with Bauer coming out of the bullpen to log five scoreless innings. That bought time for Cleveland's offense, which finally broke through in the form of a go-ahead homer by Carlos Santana in the 19th. Bauer's performance went a long way in earning the trust of his teammates and coaches.
Video: CLE@TOR: Bauer induces groundout, picks up victory
What went wrong: Gomes separates right shoulder on July 17
Video: CLE@MIN: Gomes leaves the game with an injury
What came out of it: One day after Gomes' teammates held a mock ceremony (complete with "sacrificing" a rotisserie chicken) to free the catcher from his offensive struggles, he sustained a shoulder injury in a fall at first base. Gomes did not start again for Cleveland until Oct. 2, giving backup Roberto Perez the chance to step into the lead role behind the plate. Gomes' injury forced Perez to return early from an injury of his own (fractured right thumb). Perez's offense took time to get going, but his defense has been on full display, especially throughout the postseason.
Video: BOS@CLE Gm1: Perez shines on both sides of dish
What went wrong: Juan Uribe released on Aug. 5
What came out of it: The Indians brought the veteran Uribe into the fold in Spring Training, handing him the keys to third base. After Uribe hit.206 in 73 games, Cleveland decided to move on, giving Jose Ramirez a chance to shine as the starter at the hot corner. Ramirez, who learned a lot from Uribe in the first half, stepped up as an invaluable piece to the Tribe's offense down the stretch. The added bonus was that Ramirez could play exclusively at third after splitting his time as a left fielder earlier in the season.
Video: ALCS Gm3: Ramirez singles home Napoli in the 6th
What went wrong: Michael Brantley undergoes season-ending surgery on Aug. 15
What came out of it: Brantley played 11 ineffective games between late April and early May, but his comeback from right shoulder surgery kept starting and stalling. His four-hit, three-RBI showing on May 5 turned out to be a tease, as Brantley played his last game on May 9, went on the disabled list on May 14 and then had his season end with surgery to address a biceps issue. Brantley's absence, however, helped free everyday at-bats for Ramirez, helped Rajai Davis play enough to lead the AL in steals and led to the Indians acquiring lefty-mashing Brandon Guyer at the Aug. 1 non-waiver Trade Deadline.
Video: BOS@CLE Gm2: Guyer opens scoring with bloop single
What went wrong: Danny Salazar sustained forearm injury on Sept. 9
What came out of it: Salazar's season was filled with arm issues. He had shoulder fatigue in June and then elbow problems in July and August. Finally, the righty's regular season ended with a right forearm strain on Sept. 9. That setback led to Josh Tomlin being put back in the rotation, even though he went 0-5 with an 11.48 ERA in August. Tomlin posted a 1.69 ERA in September and has since turned in critical starts to beat the Red Sox and Blue Jays in the postseason.
• Indians consider Salazar for World Series start
Video: WS2016 Gm1: Francona on Salazar's status for WS
What went wrong: Carrasco fractures right hand on Sept. 17
Video: DET@CLE: Carrasco struck on pitching hand, exits game
What came out of it: Two pitches into his start against the Tigers, Carrasco was hit on the right hand by a line drive off the bat of Ian Kinsler. That not only ended Carrasco's season, but it also initiated an incredible showing by the bullpen. The Tribe's relief corps combined for 10 shutout innings, and Ramirez delivered a walk-off hit to take Detroit down, 1-0, in extras. The game also fueled the bullpen with confidence that it could overcome adversity on the fly -- something that carried over into October.
Video: DET@CLE: Ramirez walks off Tribe on his birthday
What went wrong: Corey Kluber exits with right quadriceps injury on Sept. 26
Video: CLE@DET: Kluber comes out with right quad strain
What came out of it: While Kluber's exit was precautionary in nature, his minor injury created some question marks for the season's final weeks and the rotation alignment for the playoffs. The setback did, however, allow rookie Ryan Merritt to get a start on Sept. 30 in Kansas City. The lefty handcuffed the Royals over five innings, impressing the team's decision-makers and helping the Tribe secure home-field advantage in October.
Video: CLE@KC: Merritt holds Royals to run in first MLB win
What went wrong: Bauer cuts right pinkie finger on Oct. 13
Video: ALCS Gm3: Bauer exits with finger wound in the 1st
What came out of it: Bauer lacerated his pinkie while repairing his drone, causing a ripple effect in Cleveland's rotation. In Game 3 of the ALCS, Bauer attempted to pitch through the injury -- one that required 10 stitches -- but he exited after only 21 pitches when the cut opened and began dripping blood. Similar to when Carrasco was hurt, the bullpen then turned in a performance for the ages in defeating Toronto. The injury also opened the door for Merritt to start Game 5, in which he worked 4 1/3 scoreless innings to help the Indians reach the World Series.
• Bauer confident he'll be able to pitch in WS
Video: WS2016 Gm1: Francona on Bauer's availability for WS
Jordan Bastian has covered the Indians for MLB.com since 2011, and previously covered the Blue Jays from 2006-10. Read his blog, Major League Bastian, follow him on Twitter @MLBastian and listen to his podcast.Revealed: How hero father died in Kenyan mall massacre after offering himself as a hostage to save lives of group of children
London-born Mitul Shah was killed in the Kenyan mall massacre
The 38-year-old died after he offered to become a hostage to save children
Tributes have poured in honouring 'a selfless man and a born leader'
Hero: Mitul Shah, 38, pictured with his daughter Sarai, aged two, was killed by terrorist at the Nairobi shopping mall
A British man who offered himself as a hostage to save the lives of a group of children was today described by colleagues as a 'born leader'.
Mitul Shah, 38, a sales executive from London attempted to strike a deal with the terrorists, replacing children with himself, a heroic act which gave several victims vital time to escape.
The selfless father did not get through to the gunmen and was shot alongside a number of children in the Kenyan tragedy, leaving behind his wife and two-year-old daughter.
Today his employers, the cooking oil company Bidco Oil, and his work colleagues spoke of their grief at his loss.
The firm said in a statement: ‘He was a born leader and an inspiring soul loved by one and all.’
Mr Shah, who was born in April 1975 in North London, held dual British and Kenyan citizenship.
After going to school in Kenya, he studied management science with computing at Kent University in Canterbury, Kent and obtained a Bachelor of Science degree.
He then joined Bidco Oil Refineries in Kenya as a management trainee and worked his way up to become a team leader in the marketing department.
Mr Shah, who leaves a widow, Rupal, and daughter Sarai, was killed moments after he was helping 33 children taking part in a TV cooking contest on the roof of the Westgate centre in Nairobi.
The event was being sponsored by his company.
One of the directors of Bidco, Dipak Shah, said today that his family and colleagues were all devastated.
He said: ‘He was trying to negotiate the freedom of the children in order for him to be taken as a hostage.
’Some had managed to save their lives, but unfortunately he, and others, did not.
’It was a heroic and brave act - a true reflection of his soul. He was a wonderful person who always went out of his way, beyond the call of duty, to help others.’
Scroll down for video
Murdered: Mitul Shah, pictured with wife Rupal Shah and daughter Sarai, was unable to get through to the gunmen and was shot alongside several children in the Kenyan tragedy
Tribute: Mr Shah's employer and colleagues spoke of their grief at his loss, praising him as a 'born leader and an inspiring soul loved by one and all¿ The body of 38-year-old Mitul Shah lies in the main hall of the Oshwal Community Centre in Westlands nearby to the Westgate Shopping Centre where hundreds of mourners and well-wishers come to pay their last respects
He said that, like his family, everyone at the company was grieving his death.
He said: ‘We are anguished and shell-shocked at the turn of events. The tragic loss of our colleague and brother has created a vacuum in our heart as much as it has in our organisation.
‘All employees who have known him for long and short periods concur that he was an immensely effective leader, easy to get along with - on a personal level, very caring and concerned and on a professional level, highly dedicated and motivated.
’He was highly talented and has enriched the lives of everyone he has come across.
’It is a big, very big |
landlords alike in their own ways.
Steps to protect yourself
· Have your agent produce his/ her license (we are required to carry it on us and produce upon request). If anyone tries to charge or collect a fee or earn a commission that cannot produce a valid real estate license, you may be entitled to a legal claim.
· Verify your agents license with DOS online at the link below:
https://appsext7.dos.state.ny.us/nydos/searchByName.do
· If concerned about an ad, ask an agent you are comfortable with to verify the ad (send your agent the link to the ad). 9 times out of 10, your agent can tell you if it is a real listing or fake and also has access to the listings.
If it is a by owner ad that is posted, the odds are, there is something illegal being done.
Craigslist does not verify the person is an owner. They only verify there is an active phone number linked to the individual that sets up the craigslist account.
New York State Law requires anyone that shall collect a fee for real estate services must be licensed with the State division of licensing services. If the person that is showing you an apartment cannot produce a license, notify the Department of State.
8 Choosing Your Broker/ Agent
In NYC, there are roughly 25,000 licensed real estate professionals. This means there are plenty to choose from. There are also a great deal of unlicensed persons conducting real estate business thru licensed brokerages.
In order to practice real estate in New York, each person must be licensed with the State. Each agent must be “duly associated” with a licensed Broker. All salespersons must conduct real estate through a licensed Broker. Be careful who you choose to be your broker or agent. You have a goal and so do they.
There are a great deal of agents and Brokers that are only out to make a quick buck and they will do it at the expense of you. Brokerages are service based businesses. Be sure that your broker is providing you with a service, not just taking your money.
It is important for you to feel comfortable with the Broker and Agent you have working for you. If you do not make sure they are legitimate, you could be at risk.
More importantly, your broker and agent could make or break your real estate experience. Feel your agent and your Broker out. Follow your gut! If you are uncomfortable speaking with your agent or not comfortable telling them what you want, then you may want to reconsider if you want them to represent you and your interests, the odds are something isn’t right there.
There’s a saying, “no credit is better than bad credit.” It goes the same way with Brokers and agents. Reviews are like credit reports; they are feedback from customers past experience with agents and brokers. Look for reviews and testimonials of past performance on your agent and the broker. It’s better to have no reviews than a ton of bad reviews.
80% of society will not right a review if their experience was good, but 100% of society will be sure to tell you their bad experience!
A good agent and Broker will do what it takes to get the deal done if they can. Its is better and less work to have 1 good transaction than 10 bad transactions.
Good agents will be loyal to you. They will work hard for you, Return the favor and be loyal to them, there is no need to work with 20 different agents pick an agent and allow them to be your agent. If you are setting up appointments with 10 different agents to see apartments, the odds are you are going to become extremely frustrated trying to find an apartment, because you are still in the “find an agent phase.” If you find an agent first that you are comfortable with, then the process will be a lot smoother and most likely will get done faster. Let the agent work for you or else you will drive yourself crazy and see the same apartment 10 times.
Once you’ve chosen an agent, you are then ready to begin your search for an apartment
9 THE SEARCH
Let your agent know exactly what you need and what you are willing to sacrifice. Be detailed, but also leave room for flexibility so that your agent can compile a decent list that the two of you can go through together and both you and your agent can interact with each other so that he/she can get a better feel for what you are looking for. As you go down the list of apartments, remove what you have decided will not work for you.
Ensure that you have the cash on hand to place a deposit and application fee down on the apartment. Also, have the necessary money available to go to sign the leases. If you do not have the money accessible, you are not ready to apply for the apartment.
Sense of Urgency. The rental market in NYC is extremely volatile. Apartments do not sit on the market very long at all. Most clients lose an apartment because they could not furnish a complete application in sufficient time. The information that your broker/ agent has is only as good as the last time they received that information from the landlord. It is in your best interest to have all of the paperwork required by the landlord ready to go. It should NEVER be your agent’s fault that you did not get the apartment. If that is the case, get a new agent.
Most agents treat their clients’ application like a “hot-potato.” The agent’s goal is to get you approved for the apartment. Once they have your application they shouldn’t waste any time getting your application to the landlord. Have everything prepared and standing by to submit an application. You don’t want to be the reason you didn’t get your dream apartment!
Your schedule & availability. Remember, you are the one that needs an apartment. It is important for you to allocate sufficient time for you to see apartments. Don’t try to see 1 apartment a day for a week. At the end of that week the 1st apartment you saw will most likely be rented and you won’t be able to remember everything you saw in the first place. Spend 1 solid day looking at apartments. Maximize your time, don’t spend your apartment previewing time travelling to and from work.
Getting Access to Apartments. Each landlord provides agents and brokers different information and has different policies on getting access to apartments. There are thousands of landlords in NYC and thousands of different procedures that your agent needs to be aware of.
· Occupied Apartments. Most landlords do not allow showing occupied apartments. This is generally to make sure their tenants aren’t disturbed. In cases where the apartments are occupied, your agent will generally be required to schedule an appointment and won’t be able to get without at least 24 hours’ notice to the current tenants.
· Open Apartments with Building keys. A lot of landlords will leave their vacant apartments unlocked. In these cases, the agent will generally have a front door key to the building. Agents showing open apartments can show later in the evening, but should only show during reasonable hours.
· Open Apartments with NO building keys. Sometimes agents will be presented with the issue of not having a building front door key. If this is the case, the agent should either have the super’s phone number, or be able to buzz the super. Your agent should never buzz every apartment to gain access. That is very unprofessional. If your agent follows a tenant into the building, he/ she should show his/ her license identifying their purpose in the building.
· Apartments Being Renovated. If you are seeing an apartment that is being renovated, it is important to ensure your safety. You as the customer need to be aware of where you are stepping on the ground and overhead. Pay particular close attention to your surroundings. If you do not feel comfortable with being responsible for your own safety on an apartment that is being renovated, do not go into the apartment. Note: Apartments that are being renovated are usually not able to be seen in the evening as the contractors generally keep them locked and are the only ones with the keys.
10 THE APPLICATION
Most landlords have their own standard application. Each person on the lease that is 18 years of age or older is considered a tenant and will generally be required to fill out an application, submit the necessary documents depending on the applicants employment type and pay the application fees. It is important to write all information so that it is legible and be accurate and honest with all information.
Applicants and guarantors will be required to submit to a background and credit screening check and all application fees are non-refundable.
Upfront Fees/ costs when submitting an application. There are generally two types of money required upfront when submitting an application; the applicant fees and any deposits.
· Application fees. Are fees charged upfront per person and per guarantor and are non-refundable. These fees are charged for handling & processing of applications, background credit checks, verification and administrative costs.
· Agency Deposits. There are two different types of deposits. An agency required deposit and a landlord required deposit. Agency required deposits are good faith deposits that are retained by the Brokerage in an escrow account on your behalf. Once you are approved for the apartment, the agency required deposit is deducted from the overall balance due.
· Landlord required deposits. Landlord required deposits are held by the landlord at the landlords office and upon approval are deducted from the balance due.
· On occasion, there may be other fees required upfront but generally by the landlord not the broker.
Note: All deposits are subject to the terms and conditions set forth by the landlord and the brokerage.
Time is of the Essence. Always remember that each landlord has their own policy on reviewing procedures for their applications. Some landlords will review and consider multiple applications at one time for one apartment. Most landlords however treat applications as “First come complete and qualified, first approved.” Every second counts. The apartment is not yours until you sign a lease and pay the required rent and security.
Negotiating the Rent Price. Prospective tenants only think about the specific apartment that they want to apply for. Your submitting an application to a landlord, it’s probably a good idea to think like the landlord.
When landlords buy buildings, they plan for an investment and know exactly how much of a profit they will make from their building while accounting for vacancies. You can’t think just about that 1 vacant apartment. Most landlords own multiple buildings. As long as a landlord has a vacancy rate of less than 15%, the landlord is making a profit and can afford to leave the apartment vacant until a qualified applicant is willing to pay the asking rent for the apartment. Remember, this is the landlords business, it’s what they do. They aren’t looking at the monthly rent, they are looking at the big picture and also the resale profitability of the building. If your agent has the ability to lessen the burden on your wallet, he/ she will do it.
Submit the application and documents. As time is of the essence with an application process, it is important to get the application submitted in its entirety as quickly as possible. It is best to submit all paperwork at one time but in some cases, your agent may ask for parts of the application in an effort to get the landlord to hold the apartment.
Privacy of your personal information. We understand that landlords ask for a great deal of information and we also understand you would like to maintain privacy of your personal and financial information as well as ensure the protection of your identity. We are a licensed Brokerage with the State of New York. We are required to maintain privacy and security of your information. Your information will be used for the sole purpose of the application process. We are required to maintain possession of your documents. If you provide our office with original documents you reserve the right to receive the documents back. We maintain digital copies and hard copies of applications and supporting documents. Your information is only accessible to essential personnel pertaining to your application.
The Waiting Game. Once your application is submitted, the waiting game begins. Sometimes applications can be approved fairly quickly. However, the work load of the landlord’s leasing department will affect the length of time for processing and approvals. Some landlords use outside verification companies that require the ability to communicate with references on your application. If these companies cannot confirm the information on your application, this may slow down the results of your application. Ensure all information on your application is accurate. Its a good rule of thumb to allow up to 96 hours for application results.
Sometimes it does feel like a hurry up and wait game, but we do not control the landlords. We would like to get an answer just as much as you. This is why patience is a virtue.
Once you’re approved, your agent will notify you of the results and schedule the leased signing.
Note: It is uncommon in NYC to be able to review a copy of the lease prior to the lease signing as depending on the internal policies of each landlord, lease terms may vary slightly. Landlords do not have draft copies on file for an agent to provide to the client. Remember, reading a draft copy can actually be a waste of time. It is always better to read the entire document that you will be signing at the lease signing. If you read a draft before the leas signing, it is easy for the landlord to change the lease out.
11 THE APPROVAL
Once your approved the apartment, your agent will notify you as quickly as possible. Absolute Properties sends a formal notification of approval which outlines the terms of your approval and begins setting up the next steps which is the lease signing. Your agent should use whatever means possible to let you know you have been approved.
Time Restrictions: Some landlords have time restrictions that require you to sign a lease within a certain amount of time or the apartment will be returned to the market to be rented by someone else.
Open Restrictions. Even though you may be approved for the apartment, some landlords have a contingency of approval and state that you are not guaranteed the apartment until the lease has been signed and rent and security has been paid.
You should be prepared to sign the leases immediately after being approved.
12 THE LEASE SIGNING
Who’s required at lease signing? Everyone that is identified on the lease as a tenant or guarantor should be present at the lease signing including your agent. In some cases, the landlord will not require an individual to be present and will courier the lease or conditional guarantee to the individual to be endorsed. When this occurs, there are generally additional instructions provided to the individual such as the requirement for all signatures to be notarized.
What’s needed at the Lease Signing? Each person that is on the lease should bring a valid photo ID. Also, all checks for first month’s rent & Security are required to be presented in the form of certified funds. Personal checks are never accepted at lease signings.
When is the lease signing Held? Lease signings are generally held as quickly as possible after approval. Some landlords may have restrictions and deadlines for lease signings that may include some type of penalty or possible loss of the apartment.
Where is the Lease Signing Held? Lease signings are usually held at the landlord’s office. Some landlords will grant the broker to conduct the lease signing at a different location, but that is typically case by case and each landlord is different in that respect. We must comply with the landlord’s policies.
What’s included in a lease? The lease agreement consists of 2 parts; the formal lease and the riders/ amendments to the lease.
The formal lease identifies all of the lease terms such as rent, start date, lease length, expiration date and the parties involved in the lease. It Also covers all the specific terms of your lease agreement between you and the landlord.
The Riders & Amendments are generally modifications or adjustments to the terms of the lease as well as additional clauses that may be required by the state. Some examples of different types of riders that may be included in your lease are:
· Preferential Rent Rider
· Pet Rider
· Cooperation Rider
· Lead Paint Acknowledgement
· Child “Safety” Gates
Security Deposit. Security deposits are kept in an escrow account maintained by your landlord. The only document you will generally only sign once at a lease signing is the W9 form which authorizes the landlord to hold an account in your name. Security deposits incur interest while in deposit. Upon termination of your lease, the only persons entitled to receive the security are individuals permitted by the W9 form. Persons which did not sign a W9 form will not be able to collect the Security deposit at the end of the lease term.
Getting your copy of the Lease. When you sign the lease, you most often will meet with a leasing agent that is employed by the landlord, not the landlord him/herself. Because of that, you normally won’t walk out of the landlord’s office with your lease in hand. Most of the time, landlord’s mail the lease to the tenants new address after they’ve moved in. Typically, the lease arrives within the first couple of weeks of occupancy. It is important to have a count of the total of pages to ensure you get the same amount back and also know what you signed. If you were given an incentive, make sure the free month is included in the lease. Sometimes, the landlord will provide a digital copy for you to retain until you get the actual lease. It is also always sensible to get the contact information of the leasing department at the lease signing.
13 THE MOVE
Preparation. The hard part is over, now its time for the heavy part (if you don’t use movers).
· Movers- When you schedule movers, the sooner the better. It I never a good idea to schedule movers’ last minute because prices either skyrocket or no one is available.
· Cable/ Phone Internet- You should schedule your cable phone an internet provider at least 10 days prior to your scheduled move. If you wait any longer than that, you run the risk of not having it setup when you move in. Most companies will need to get access to your apartment, So, it will have to be when you have taken possession of the apartment. If you plan on using a satellite dish company, make sure you check that it does not violate the conditions of your lease agreement.
· Utilities- You should set up your utilities within 10 days of your move.
Note: Utility and service providers may require a copy of your lease when setting up the account.
Getting your keys. When you signed your lease, you should have gotten the contact information for your super or the person responsible for your keys. If you did not receive that, contact your agent. It is also important to note that when you take the keys you acknowledge a possession of the apartment. If you take possession of the keys prior to your scheduled lease start date, your landlord may charge you a pro-rated amount of money for the time of advanced possession.Detroit Pistons vs. Washington Wizards - April 8, 2016
Detroit Pistons center Andre Drummond (0) shoots a free throw in the second quarter of their NBA game against the Washington Wizards at the Palace of Auburn Hills in Auburn Hills, Friday, April 8, 2016.
(Mike Mulholland | MLive.com)
Andre Drummond was asked to spend the off-season working to improve his free-throw shooting, but it doesn't sound like trying them underhanded is one of the options in the works. The Detroit Pistons center
to Dom Amore of the Hartford Courant. Drummond was in his native Connecticut on Friday for former coach Jim Calhoun's charity basketball game. "I'm just really going to continue to work on back-to-basket stuff," Drummond said. "And work on getting better from the foul line. I'm going to stick with the formula I have now." What that formula is remains a mystery, though the Pistons showed their appreciation for the former University of Connecticut star in the offseason by signing Drummond to a five-year, $130 million contract extension. Drummond's free-throw shooting has been abysmal since he entered the NBA in 2012. The NBA All-Star and rebounding champion is a career 38-percent shooter and hit a new low in 2015-16 season, making just 35.5 percent of his 586 attempts. The NBA enacted a slight rule change for the upcoming season, expanding the punishment of a free throw and possession for deliberate, off-the-ball fouls from the last two minutes of the game to the final two minutes of each quarter. Pistons president-coach Stan Van Gundy called the rule changes "more cosmetic than substantial" after the staff made it an offseason priority for Drummond to improve his free-throw shooting. Detroit brought in professional shooting coach Dave Hopla prior to last season to work with Drummond. Hopla helped streamline Drummond's approach at the free-throw line in practice but the results failed to translate much in games. "This is just a steppingstone for me," Drummond told the Courant. "I just became an All-Star this past year, all-NBA, so there are a lot of individual goals that I've successfully done, but there's a lot of work I need to do.... (After) a lot of years of hard work, it's good to be rewarded. But it doesn't stop there, there's another level for me to keep working to get to." You can read the entire Hartford Courant
, with talk of returning to Connecticut, Jim Calhoun and Kemba Walker and Emeka Okafor's endorsements of Drummond.
OLYMPICS UPDATE:
Pistons center Aron Baynes and Team Australia finished group play at the 2016 Rio Olympics 4-1 and qualified for the quarterfinals, scheduled for Wednesday. Baynes is averaging 9.6 points and a team-high 5.8 rebounds per game. Australia is scoring nearly 89 points per game, second-most of the 12 Olympic teams, behind the United States.... Nigeria, with Pistons rookie guard Michael Gbinije, knocked off Croatia, 90-76, on Saturday for its first win in group play. Gbinije had eight points and three rebounds off the bench. Nigera is 1-3 and plays host Brazil on Monday.Alvaro Negredo v Phil Jones
Manchester United were without four centre-backs for their 2-0 victory at West Ham on Saturday, meaning that Michael Carrick was forced to deputise in defence, with Marouane Fellaini dropping back to help against Andy Carroll. More crucial, however, was that the only fit centre-back, Phil Jones, performed extremely well – his second consecutive fine display, having excelled against Olympiakos in midweek. Jones's best position has been debated lengthily since his move to Old Trafford in 2011, but it always appeared most likely he would become a centre-back – now, with others unavailable and Nemanja Vidic departing in the summer, he must prove it. Vidic should return after suspension, but he has been in poor form recently, and Jones might be the man to stop Alvaro Negredo. If he does, David Moyes will be encouraged to build next season's defence around Jones.
Mata finding space
Robin van Persie's absence allowed Juan Mata to play in his favoured No10 role at Upton Park, with Wayne Rooney pushed forward as the main striker. Rooney grabbed the headlines with his superb 45-yard volley, but Moyes was full of praise for his entire attack, and especially Mata and Shinji Kagawa. They repeatedly combined in the first half, showing great understanding on their first start together. Van Persie hit a hat-trick against Olympiakos before being injured, but his absence may bring the best out in Mata. Yaya Touré and Fernandinho have a fine partnership, but neither is naturally a holding midfielder and they often concede too much space – Mata can exploit that, and play clever through-balls to teammates breaking behind City's defence.
Pace in behind City's defence
Martín Demichelis and Vincent Kompany have been sent off in recent weeks for denying clear goalscoring opportunities – both were individual errors, but a red-card offence in this situation is far more likely when a team is defending high up the pitch, as Manuel Pellegrini requests. Demichelis and Kompany are much more comfortable defending deeper. The positional play and movement of Rooney, therefore, will be very interesting. When playing as the main striker against City in the past, he has tended to drop deep away from goal, bringing Kompany up the pitch – but it might be worth him varying his positioning, and running in behind too. A deceptively quick player, Rooney, could cause serious problems – and Moyes also has the options of Danny Welbeck and Javier Hernández, should he want more outright pace.
City overloading the flanks
The key feature of City's 6-1 victory at Old Trafford in 2011-12 was the way David Silva and James Milner constantly made diagonal runs across the pitch, helping to overload Manchester United's full-backs. Pellegrini used both players and another drifter, Samir Nasri, in the 5-0 win over Fulham on Saturday. Milner generally stayed on the right, but Silva and Nasri had more positional freedom. United's full-backs have looked nervous in recent weeks – Patrice Evra constantly appears out of position, while Rafael was very fortunate not to be dismissed against Liverpool last weekend. City's band of rotating attacking midfielders will ask them serious questions, and while they are not predominantly a crossing side, they are excellent at playing cut-backs to Negredo from wide positions, and the Spaniard is clever at making near-post runs and finishing first-time.
Stopping Yaya Touré
Touré has often been a dominant force in this fixture, most obviously with his winner in the 2011 FA Cup semi-final at Wembley. Whereas opponents have generally been fixated on stopping his powerful forward runs from midfield, this season he has become an incredibly effective goalscoring midfielder, both from free-kicks and from excellent long-range strikes in open play. His superb curler against Fulham on Saturday, which completed his first career hat-trick, underlined the threat. United often appear too open in the centre of midfield, and neither press intelligently as a unit, nor drop back into a compact, deep shape. Against West Ham, Darren Fletcher was forced to cover a huge amount of space – United will need Carrick back in his natural defensive midfield role. He may not be a powerful tackler, but he takes up the right positions.The US government-owned media outlet Radio Free was recently used as source material for a Washington Post article written by journalist Adam Taylor, who not only toed the same line as the source article, but also directly plagiarized part of its contents. The Washington Post or Taylor has not informed its readers that it is presenting US government propaganda as news.
Brief background on Ukrainian conflict
Unrest in Ukraine began in November when President Yanukovych decided to forge a trade deal with Russia instead of the European Union. Protests soon began in the capital and efforts to put them down has led to death and destruction in Kiev and the Western Ukrainian city of Lvov. The protests were ultimately successful in ousting the President, who has purportedly fled to the Eastern Ukrainian city of Kharkov.
The official US position on Ukraine is to drive its politics westward and install a puppet regime sympathetic to its interests and against those of Russia (the US government was purportedly paying Ukrainians to protest). The EU’s position is to gain 46 million more slaves for the IMF and Europe’s consumer market. The Ukrainian people’s position is to improve their standard of living and economic prospects after a neverending serious of corrupt rulers. Russia’s official position is to maintain economic ties with Ukrainian industry and allow its navy to be stationed off the Crimea in the Black Sea, which has access to the Mediterranean.
America’s propaganda efforts in Ukraine
The US government has a propaganda media arm in the Europe called Radio Free Europe, which is owned and run by the US government.
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) is a broadcaster funded by the U.S. Congress that provides news, information, and analysis to countries in Eastern Europe, Central Asia, and the Middle East “where the free flow of information is either banned by government authorities or not fully developed”. RFE/RL is supervised by the Broadcasting Board of Governors, a bi-partisan federal agency overseeing all U.S. international broadcasting services. Founded as a propaganda news source in 1949 by the National Committee for a Free Europe, RFE/RL received funds from the Central Intelligence Agency until 1972. During the earliest years of Radio Free Europe’s existence, the CIA and the U.S. Department of State issued broad policy directives, and a system evolved where broadcast policy was determined through negotiation between the CIA, the U.S. State Department, and RFE staff.
If you’re unsure of where the US government stands on foreign policy, simply visit Radio Free Europe and read what amounts to wholesome propaganda. The recent stories on Ukraine do not hesitate to paint the protests as an organic uprising for freedom and democracy. What Radio Free won’t tell you is that the US has admitted to spending over $5 billion to subvert the Ukrainian government to install a more pro-Western leader after their previous favorite, Viktor Yushchenko, installed after the 2004 Orange Revolution, lost an election to Yakunovych in 2010. The US Assistant Secretary of State was also caught recently on the phone playing puppet master to manipulate the will of the Ukrainian people to install a leader it knows will serve American interests.
Here is one of the videos that went viral in the heat of the protests last week, showing pro-government “snipers”:
Do you see the logo watermark in the lower lefthand corner? Here is the official logo of Radio Free:
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This tells us that the US government was playing an active role in shaping public opinion on the Ukraine issue. In other words, you won’t find videos of protesters shooting at government forces that also contain the same logo.
Washington Post’s sourcing of Radio Free
An article published February 18 on Radio Free Europe was titled Pro-Russian Separatism Rises In Crimea As Ukraine’s Crisis Unfolds. In predictable Russophobe fashion, the writer paints Russia as a meddler that is trying to bully the region. Whether this is true or not, it’s the official US government line that protects its $5 billion investment in effecting Ukraine regime change. Four days later, Washington Post journalist Adam Taylor plagiarized a snippet of the same Radio Free article when he wrote The battle for Kiev may well be over, but is the battle for Crimea about to begin? Judge for yourself:
Radio Free excerpt:
Skirting open calls for separatism, the affable and energetic Podyachy is pushing for Kyiv to lease the entire peninsula to Russia in exchange for the cancelation of Ukraine’s debts to Moscow.
Washington Post excerpt:
RFE/RL’s Robert Coalson recently went to Crimea and spoke to members of the pro-Russian separatist movement there. One politician he spoke to had the novel idea of leasing Crimea to Russia in exchange for a cancellation of Ukraine’s debt to Moscow.
The beginnings of Taylor’s Post article makes it absolutely clear where he stands on the protests, even laying on the propaganda thicker than what we can find on Radio Free:
It’s a heart-warming image. The bloody, protracted protests in Ukraine seem to have achieved their goals: Yanukovych is gone, new elections are due, and Yulia Tymoshenko, a key figure in Ukraine’s 2004 Orange Revolution, has been freed from prison. Ukraine looks as though it might have pulled back from the brink.
The Washington Post and journalist Adam Taylor are reporting “news” that is apparently sourced from US government propaganda. Readers of Taylor’s article may have thought they were reading an unbiased account of the events unfolding in Ukraine when they were actually reading something more in line of a press release straight from the US State Department. Why is Adam Taylor allowed to plagiarize and source US propaganda? Is he being paid by the government to produce such stories? Why is the Washington Post acting as a public relations arm for US government interests? Readers of the Washington Post should demand these answers.
I confronted Adam Taylor on Twitter about the fact that is not only a plagiarizer but a shill for the US government. His response was to call me a “teacher of rape.” Realizing his libel, he quickly deleted the tweet.
Taylor is free to brush off the fact that he was caught red-handed, but the American people have a right to know that when they read Taylor or the Washington Post, they may be reading direct US propaganda. We can only speculate how many others writers for the Post are sourcing from a US government propaganda arm without being as sloppy as Taylor in doing a direct copy-paste job. Taylor receives his paycheck and the US government continues to misinform its citizens, who unfortunately remain in the dark about America’s true intentions in developing countries like Ukraine.
Read Next: Western Men Are Getting Ripped Off In UkraineA lot of us play MOBAs here at Green Man Gaming, and vastly different ones as it turns out. I went and asked “Why is that MOBA your favourite?”. If your wanting to try out a different one, have never played one or want to get back into competitive multiplayer battle arenas, then read on and find out why they’re the best.
League of Legends
Looking at pure size of community, company, streamers and esports scene, its hard to say that League of Legends isn’t the best MOBA out there right now. But its not just savvy business practices and being at the right place and the right time that led to their success. League of Legends takes just the right amount of complexity that allows players to practice all day and still be left wanting, but also lets relatively new players still enjoy a few games every now and again.
It takes the traditional DOTA map of 3 lanes, with five characters per team. You can play one of five roles, each vastly different and allows players to feel a bond with others who sympathise with their bespoke troubles and challenges. For example, I play Jungle. This means I spend a lot of time running around in the jungle, earning my XP off of monster camps, and helping lanes to win fights and get kills. I have spent a lot of time dedicated to getting as good as I can be at this one role, and there is enough nuance that I will never know everything. What’s more, Riot are consistently improving the game and changing the rules to make the game more satisfying, and to keep its very large roster of champions relevant.
If you’re going to pick a MOBA to try out then it behooves you to try out the most popular one, as it is definitely so for a reason. Based on your experiences, you can then jump off to find the MOBA that suits you better, if you want more or less complexity. But trust me, you’ll still come back to LoL. We all do.
DOTA 2
You would think after 2333 hours of playing this game, I would know what it is I like about Dota 2. The truth is, it’s difficult to pinpoint exactly what I enjoy about the game. No other game I play elicits the same level of satisfaction and at the same time makes me feel utterly useless.
Initially I started playing because I watched the 2014 International Tournament and wanted to better understand what was happening on the screen. This lead me on a long road of trying to get to grips with the intricacies of this game, e.g. denies and pulling. This is one of Dota 2’s greatest strengths. A lot of new mobas are trying to simplify and streamline the experience, whereas Dota 2 doesn’t pander to newer players. You could argue this point as a weakness but I personally find going from completely clueless to some level of understanding very addictive. There is so much depth to Dota 2 and this gives rise to an esport that I still find myself watching even after all my failings in game.
The good news for new players is that the game is easier to get into than ever before. Valve and Icefrog (Lead Developer) continue to make updates and changes that keep complexity but remove needless difficulty, e.g. warding will now show the vision it will provide before it’s placed. There are also an in-game guides that you can select which give players some idea of which items to purchase and skill builds to follow. Unfortunately this system doesn’t replace the hours of practice needed to get a good understanding of certain heroes but there are plenty that new players can be effective with.
The 113 hero-pool is extremely varied and every hero has something unique about them. On top of this you can purchase items that can add new abilities to your hero or enhance existing ones. This is all done on a game by game basis and there is no progression for heroes outside of the game. The only differences you get are cosmetic only, which means everyone is on an equal footing, no matter how long they have been playing. I think this, coupled with the fact that the game is completely Free-to-Play is one of the main reasons to give the game a go. However, be prepared to deal with negative players that should of stopped playing long ago. The game features a mute system to ignore such players so don’t get discouraged, even professional players will make mistakes when playing this game.
Smite
I’ve played a lot of MOBAS over the years; Smite is easily the most unique one I have encountered. It’s a 3rd person game, taking a lot of its inspiration from World of Warcraft PvP gameplay. As a long time WoW player, this heavily appealed to me, on top of that, you’re playing as mythological Gods! It features 8 different pantheons, Egyptian, Norse, Hindu, Greek, Roman, Chinese, Mayan, Japanese and the recently added, Celtic. With a large pool of 87 Gods to play from, no doubt you will recognise some of the popular ones, like Zeus, Thor and Loki.
Objectively, it is similar to other MOBAs. There are 3 lanes and a jungle, and a map that veteran LoL players would be able to easily adjust to. Each lane has 2 towers, and a phoenix you need to destroy in order to reach the end goal, the enemy Titan. Kill the Titan, win the game. In the jungle, you will find buffs, bosses, portals and experience camps, all of which add another layer of complexity and strategy to the game. Like most other MOBAs, items play a large role too, meaning every game gives you the option to build a God slightly differently, changing the playstyle of the God and perhaps catching your opponent off guard.
Your average game only takes 20-30 minutes but with 7 different game modes (1 of which being a rotating “Match of the Day” with fun and silly rules) to choose from, there is always something a little different to do incase you are in the mood for a slightly more laid back “anything goes” style of game.
Heroes of the Storm
Heroes of the Storm have just updated to their 2.0 version, and now is a excellent time to jump into the game. During its lifespan its cornered a small but hardcore group of players, and might be one of the most easily accessible MOBAs out right now. Blizzard had taken a look at the big players, DOTA and League of Legends, and thought, “Why are these games the same as original DOTA, including all limitations of the day?” They set out to make a MOBA that was streamlined, inviting and focused on what players enjoyed most: the |
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Liverpool FC are guaranteed to be in pot three for the Champions League on Thursday and face a daunting draw.
Here's the teams they could end up playing from pot two when the draw takes place. The ECHO have already looked at what teams the Reds could face from pot one.
This pot looks a tricky one for the Reds, with a few German sides, the champions of France and Italy, as well as a couple of trips to Russia and Ukraine as possibilities.
Schalke
(Image: AP Photo)
What they're about: Champions League regulars from Germany who have qualified for the knockout stages in three of the past four years – including a semi-final appearance against Manchester United in 2011.
Star player: Julian Draxler. The 20-year-old attacker is one of Europe's most promising youngsters and has risen through the ranks at the Gelsenkirchen club, with his performances attracting attention from Real Madrid, Arsenal and – crushingly predictably – Bayern Munich.
How they qualified: Schalke finished third behind Bayern and Dortmund last season to automatically qualify, despite sitting in 13th entering October.
Sum up in 140 characters: That team sponsored by Gazprom and Huntelaar. Always seem to be handed horrible draw in last 16. Thank God they're not called Gelsenkirchen.
Last time: Liverpool have never faced Schalke in competitive football.
It was always bound to happen because... The Reds haven't drawn a German team since 2005 and it is about time it happened.
Fear factor: Jens Keller's side play some good, up-tempo football and possess a decent squad including exciting youngsters Draxler and Max Meyer, as well as strong international stars in Huntelaar, Benedikt Howedes and Kevin Prince Boateng. 3/5.
Dortmund
What they're about: The football hipster's team of choice, Dortmund exploded back on to the European scene as a young, vibrant, exciting team managed by Jurgen Klopp. Unlucky to lose the 2013 Champions League final and gave a fright to eventual winners Real last season. A symbol of what's good about German football.
Star player: Henrikh Mkhitaryan. The Armenian almost joined the Reds last summer but eventually ended up in Germany and enjoyed a strong debut season. With no Robert Lewandowski in front of him – and with the tireless, energetic Ciro Immobile dragging defenders out of position – expect him to find himself on the scoresheet regularly this season.
How they qualified: Dortmund finished second, as expect, behind Bayern – although the 19-point gap was not something Klopp would have been pleased with.
Sum up in 140 characters: Giant yellow wall tough to break down. Endless enthusiasm and energy off the pitch, team does best to replicate that. Tickets cost about £2.
Last time: The Reds faced Dortmund as recently as this month, disposing of them 4-0 at Anfield in a pre-season friendly. In a competitive fixture, the Reds sealed their passage into the second round of the 2001/02 group stage with a 2-0 win after a goalless draw in Dortmund earlier that season.
It was always bound to happen because... Rodgers v Klopp. After giving a glimpse of the duel in a friendly, it is time for the real thing.
Fear factor: They are not the force they were even a few years ago but still play a very powerful style of football that's difficult to deal with, very much similar to Liverpool. But after an easy win, albeit in a friendly, the Reds would be confident. 3/5.
Juventus
What they're about: Three consecutive Serie A titles – the gap becoming bigger every time – has failed to translate on to the European stage; frustrating group stage exit to Galatasaray last season compounds their troubles outside of Italy. New manager Massimilliano Allegri will be expected to retain domestic dominance but also do better in Champions League.
Star player: Paul Pogba. The powerful French midfielder, signed from Manchester United in 2012, starred at the World Cup after a strong season in Turin. He has the ability to provide both defensive reinforcements at the base of midfield, but can also carry the ball and cause havoc in the final third.
How they qualified: Juve ran away with the title last season with 102 points, 80 goals and just 23 conceded.
Sum up in 140 characters: The classy horse in a one-horse race but can't make the step up. Conte departure was a knockout blow so now turn to old Milan rival in hope.
Last time: Sami Hyypia, Luis Garcia and all that. Liverpool beat Juventus 2-1 on aggregate in the quarter-finals of the 2004/05 season thanks to the 2-1 home win, followed by a brilliant goalless draw away.
It was always bound to happen because... It evokes memories of 2005, and every successful campaign needs some sort of input from Italy.
Fear factor: The departure of Antonio Conte for Allegri is seen as a step down in the dugout, but Juventus still possess a strong squad including Pogba, Arturo Vidal (for now), Carlos Tevez and a strong all-Italian back three. But it is also a squad not not used to high tempo football, which would play into the Reds' hands. 3/5.
Paris SG
What they're about: The club of the capital who suffered years of mediocrity before Qatar Sports Investments bought ownership in 2011. Consecutive Ligue 1 titles have since followed, but the owners want world domination from Laurent Blanc, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Thiago Silva and co.
Star player: Zlatan Ibrahimovic. The striker only cost £15.7m but the intent shown by the French club was priceless. He scored 56 league goals in his first two seasons at the club (and a further two this season before picking up an injury) and has become a symbol of everything the club are trying to attract and achieve.
How they qualified: They won their second successive French league title by nine points from Monaco.
Sum up in 140 characters: Le nouveau riche with an eye on conquering Europe with Disney defence. Bon chance. Plenty of depth, plenty of royal riyals. They are Zlatan.
Last time: Liverpool met PSG in the semi-final of the 1997 Cup Winners' Cup. After a 3-0 defeat in France, the Reds battled back bravely in the second leg – but ultimately went out after a 2-0 win.
It was always bound to happen because... Liverpool were seemingly linked with half the PSG squad this summer, and it is a chance for Rodgers to show why it was all speculation.
Fear factor: PSG are becoming a giant of the game. Although the signing of David Luiz raised eyebrows, Silva did not show his true form in the Brazilian set-up this summer and should provide a more calming presence to his compatriot. One of the trickiest teams in the pot. 4/5.
Shakhtar Donetsk
What they're about: Shakhtar have emerged at the dominant force in Ukraine, usurping Dynamo Kyiv. After winning their first title in 2002, they have built a solid team and have benefited from a non-existent necessity for work permits, attracting some top South American talent. They won the Uefa Cup in 2009 and have reached the Champions League quarter-finals in 2011.
Star player: Bernard. One of the few players to come out of Brazil's World Cup with any real credit, although that was mainly due to his limited participation. A tricky attacker with intelligence and a great eye for a pass; he is the central hub to everything Shakhtar do, and will no doubt move on for big money eventually.
How they qualified: As champions as usual, and therefore became automatic qualifiers for the group stage. Mircea Lucescu's side finished six points ahead of Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk to confirm their fifth successive domestic title.
Sum up in 140 characters: Slippery customers in Cyrillic script; a much better Hull City, much likelier to maul. Young South Americans on tap to be sold for billions.
Last time: Liverpool have never met Skakhtar Donetsk in a competitive fixture.
It was always bound to happen because... it's in bloody Ukraine.
Fear factor: Shakhtar will play their Champions League games in Lviv due to the ongoing tensions between Ukraine and Russia, which is situated over 600 miles from Donetsk. That neutral venue would possibly play into Liverpool's hands but Shakhtar are still a strong, experienced side who can navigate their way out of a tough group. 3/5.
Basel
(Image: Action Images)
What they're about: The top side in Switzerland for the past decade, with seven titles in 10 years. A strong academy and even stronger scouting system has seen them perform not only domestically but also in Europe; Xherdan Shaqiri, Granit Xhaka, Valentin Stocker and Hakin Yakin are amongst those to have graced St Jakob-Park recently.
Star player: Walter Samuel. The former Roma, Real Madrid and Inter Milan defender has chosen to see out his career in the Swiss Super League. A strong, no-nonsense Argentine, Javier Zanetti once heralded his Argentine team-mate as the hardest player he ever played with.
How they qualified: Another Super League title for Basel with a seven-point gap between themselves and Grasshopper Zurich. They also scored more than any other team and possessed the best defence.
Sum up in 140 characters: Boom boom. Swiss champions elect who won't be easy to brush aside; nothing faulty about recent European exploits. Armed with cheese graters.
Last time: The Reds were knocked out of the Champions League group stage by the Swiss side in 2002. After a draw at Anfield, they travelled to Switzerland on the final matchday needing a win to qualify. After falling 3-0 behind, Gerard Houllier's side mounted a comeback and got it back to 3-3 – but were ultimately eliminated.
It was always bound to happen because... Liverpool owe Basel following elimination from the 2002/03 Champions League. Also a chance for the prodigal son, Philipp Degen, to return to Merseyside.
Fear factor: Basel may not be as strong as they have been recently – they reached the Europa League semi-finals in 2013 - but still possess Serey Die in midfield, while captain Marco Streller is a handful up front. But Paolo Sousa has work to do. 2/5.
Zenit St Petersburg
What they're about: Russian side with plenty of money who rose to prominence with 2008 Uefa Cup win in Manchester. Surprisingly underperform domestically with just four titles – three since 2007 – but have created a strong side full of Russian national team stars and big-money buys from abroad.
Star player: Hulk. The wide forward was at the World Cup but is now reunited with Andre Villas-Boas – the manager who brought the best out of him at Porto. Scored 17 goals in 24 appearances last season and has started this season well with five goals in five games; has a rocket of a left foot and, when fully committed, is a true handful.
How they qualified: Zenit were pipped to the Russian Premier League title by a point with CSKA Moscow taking the spoils despite the appointment of Villas-Boas in March. They beat AEL Limassol in the third qualifying stage before a 4-0 aggregate win over Standard Liege to seal their progress.
Sum up in 140 characters: Goodbye Lenin, hello Peter. Martin Skrtel's former employers launched revolution on the pitch. Capable of leaving opponents out in the cold.
Last time: Brendan Rodgers suffered his first European elimination at the hands of Zenit in the last 32 of the Europa League two seasons ago. After a 2-0 defeat in Russia, the Reds battled back from a goal down to win 3-1 at Anfield – but Zenit progressed on away goals.
It was always bound to happen because... the Reds owe Zenit after the Europa League disappointment in February 2013 – and Villas-Boas owes Liverpool after their 5-0 win at White Hart Lane sealed his dismissal.
Fear factor: A strong side with a good manager (despite what the general consensus says). The Reds already know the difficulty of going to Russia – they would hope to avoid a trip there in December. 3/5.Quote Answer When women kill children–it’s anything but murder: it is 'her right to choose.' The [religion] has always been a people with definite racial characteristics and never a religion. They’re bringing drugs. They’re bring crime. They’re rapists… And some, I assume, are good people. How fortunate for governments that the people they administer don't think. The more economic difficulties increase, the more immigration will be seen as a burden. Taken to its logical extreme, [religion] would mean the systematic cultivation of the human failure. There could be some man-made something. But, you know, if you look at [country], they're doing nothing about it, other countries are doing nothing about it. It's a big planet. Do not compare yourself to others. If you do so, you are insulting yourself. There were people that were cheering on the other side of [place], where you have large [group] populations. They were cheering as the [building] came down. Our great [person] hasn't exactly had a positive impact on the thugs who are so happily and openly destroying [city]! My... has become so powerful that I can actually make my enemies tell the truth. [Name] is calling for a total and complete shutdown of [religion] entering the [country] until our country's representatives can figure out what is going on. My IQ is one of the highest — and you all know it! Please don't feel so stupid or insecure; it's not your fault. Any violence which does not spring from a spiritual base, will be wavering and uncertain. It lacks the stability which can only rest in a fanatical outlook. Any violence which does not spring from a spiritual base, will be wavering and uncertain. It lacks the stability which can only rest in a fanatical outlook. The [religion] has always been a people with definite racial characteristics and never a religion. The more economic difficulties increase, the more immigration will be seen as a burden. How fortunate for governments that the people they administer don't think. Taken to its logical extreme, [religion] would mean the systematic cultivation of the human failure. Do not compare yourself to others. If you do so, you are insulting yourself. When women kill children–it’s anything but murder: it is 'her right to choose.' [Name] is calling for a total and complete shutdown of [religion] entering the [country] until our country's representatives can figure out what is going on. There could be some man-made something. But, you know, if you look at [country], they're doing nothing about it, other countries are doing nothing about it. It's a big planet. Our great [person] hasn't exactly had a positive impact on the thugs who are so happily and openly destroying [city]! There were people that were cheering on the other side of [place], where you have large [group] populations. They were cheering as the [building] came down. They’re bringing drugs. They’re bring crime. They’re rapists… And some, I assume, are good people. My... has become so powerful that I can actually make my enemies tell the truth. My IQ is one of the highest — and you all know it! Please don't feel so stupid or insecure; it's not your fault.HIBS striker Jason Cummings has been ridiculed after taking travel adapters with him when he went on a trip away – to Cardiff.
The 21-year-old striker has enjoyed a prolific season for the Hibees, scoring 19 goals to help the Edinburgh club to the Scottish Championship title.
However, off the park it appears he’s not been quite as sharp, after it was revealed he’d taken a travel adapter with him for a trip to the Welsh capital.
Travel adapters are, of course, essential for holidays in popular destinations such as Spain or Italy, where the plugs use two pins.
It will not surprise many people to learn that Wales uses exactly the same plugs as every other part of the UK.
The funny error was brought to light by Twitter user David Wilkes who wrote: “Just heard @Jasoncummings35 took travel adapters to Cardiff, true or false?”
The Hibs star appeared to admit he had taken the adapters and replied: “Better safe than sorry bro.”
Twitter users were quick to mock the Scotland under 21 striker.
David Wilkes responded: “Come on mate, you try take euros with you as well?”
Stuart wrote: “They’ve got electricity in Wales.”
Cal commented: “Get your euros too?”
Whilst Craig Alexander wants the striker to move south and added: “F*****g class, we need a player like this at Sunderland.”
Cummings recently hit the headlines for his battle with Scottish wrestler ‘Grado’ in the Hibs canteen.
The youngster was filmed as he wrestled the professional wrestler in front of manager Neil Lennon and his teammates.
Following that, footage emerged of Cummings in the guise of his wrestling alter-ego ‘Cumdog’, as he tried to jump from a chip shop counter following the Hibs player of the year awards.Welcome
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MastheadA real-world realization of the Dagwood sandwich concept
A Dagwood sandwich is a tall, multi-layered sandwich made with a variety of meats, cheeses, and condiments. It was named after Dagwood Bumstead, a central character in the comic strip Blondie, who is frequently illustrated making enormous sandwiches. According to Blondie scripter Dean Young, his father, Chic Young, began drawing the huge sandwiches in the comic strip during 1936.[1]
Ingredients [ edit ]
Though the exact contents of Chic Young's illustrated Dagwood sandwich remain obscure, it appears to contain large quantities and varieties of cold cuts, sliced cheese and vegetables separated by additional slices of bread. An olive pierced by a toothpick or wooden skewer usually crowns the edible structure. "Dagwood sandwich" has been included in Webster's New World Dictionary, and "Dagwood" (referring to the sandwich) has been included in the American Heritage Dictionary.[2]
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Blondie comic strip depicting a Dagwood sandwich comic strip depicting a Dagwood sandwich
See also [ edit ]The family of Michael J. Madden, 29, confirmed Friday that he is the inmate who died overnight at the Milwaukee County Jail. The cause and manner of death remains under investigation. (Photo: Courtesy of Kathleen Madden)
An inmate died overnight at the Milwaukee County Jail, the fourth death at the downtown facility in the past six months, the medical examiner's office said Friday.
The inmate's name has not been confirmed by authorities, but family members identified him as Michael J. Madden, 29, of Franklin.
No details were released by the medical examiner's office about the circumstances surrounding the death. An autopsy was to be performed Friday.
The Milwaukee County Sheriff's Office has not released any information or confirmed the death.
Madden's aunt, Kathleen Madden, made a brief statement Friday afternoon after consulting with Madden's parents.
"On behalf of the family, we are all in shock and obviously hurting," Kathleen Madden said. "We ask for your prayers and comfort in this time, and we know that Michael is in a better place. We also ask that you respect the family's privacy during this very difficult time."
Madden was booked into the Milwaukee County Jail in late September on charges of theft, drug possession and resisting arrest, Sheriff's Office records show.
WATCHDOG REPORT: Deaths in Detention
In late April, 38-year-old Terrill Thomas died of dehydration in the jail, and the medical examiner's office deemed the death a homicide. In mid-July, an inmate gave birth to a stillborn child without any jail or medical personnel noticing she was in labor, according to the Milwaukee County Sheriff's Office and the jail's inmate health care provider. A 38-year-old woman, Kristina Fiebrink, was found dead in her cell in late August, though no information has been released about the manner and cause of death.
The Milwaukee Police Department was asked to investigate Thomas' death. The Milwaukee County Sheriff's Office is investigating the cases of Fiebrink and the stillborn child.
Read or Share this story: http://on.jsonl.in/2eV9hXzExperimenters often bring up the plight of patients when they’re asked to justify the pain they inflict on animals—but they’re only offering these patients false hope.
That’s what Texas A&M University (TAMU) did when PETA obtained eyewitness video that exposed the suffering that dogs there—all bred to have muscular dystrophy (MD)—are forced to endure while the disease ravages their bodies.
But patients who know only too well what it’s like to suffer with this disease don’t support these experiments. Here’s what some of them have to say.
In this powerful video, Pascaline Wittkowski, who has lived most of her life with MD, emphatically rejects the torment inflicted on dogs in her name.
Miller Diamond—who was diagnosed with Duchenne muscular dystrophy at the age of 10 and is 22 years old now—is also calling for an end to TAMU’s canine MD experiments:
Ian Hughes, another MD patient, sent PETA these compelling thoughts after reading our exposé on the dogs imprisoned at TAMU:
“Muscular dystrophy (MD) is a progressive muscle-wasting disease – and as someone who’s afflicted with it, I can tell you that I wouldn’t wish it on my worst enemy, let alone on defenceless animals. That’s why I’m horrified that Texas A&M University is intentionally breeding dogs to develop a canine form of this crippling disease, which ravages their bodies so severely that they have difficulty breathing, swallowing, and walking. These cruel experiments aren’t working – there’s still no cure or effective treatment for MD. But don’t misunderstand me: the choice is not between animals and humans – it’s between good science and bad science, between methods that lead to findings with direct relevance to humans and those that don’t. It’s time to switch to humane, effective, and modern non-animal research which doesn’t cause animals to suffer and which offers those with MD real hope. I urge Texas A&M to end its experiments on dogs now.”
Here’s a small sampling of other comments from MD patients and family members:
“I carry muscular dystrophy and I know how devastating the disease is. I want a cure as much as anyone, possibly more. This is unethical, though. This is not the way to look for a cure. It isn’t going to work. People are already alive with the disease and they (and the female carriers) ARE willingly signing up for research studies every day in many countries. … We don’t need to deliberately cause pain. It’s unethical.”
—Chryss Parks
“I suffer from muscular dystrophy. I would rather continue to suffer than abuse animals in hope [of] a cure.”
—Dr. Sandeep Vijan
Read the powerful letter that Dr. Vijan sent to Texas A&M’s president asking, as both a surgeon and an MD patient, that TAMU’s MD dog laboratory be shut down.
“The type of MD my daughter had is extremely rare—less than 100 people in the world have this type. MD is a flaw in a person’s genetic makeup. There is no cure—probably never will be. What doctors are trying to do is isolate what gene or genes are causing this disorder and how it can be treated effectively. Quality of life vs. quantity … the effects of MD are devastating. I see what [Texas A&M is] saying, and I rationally understand it as well. But most forms of MD have already been sequenced, so putting harmless creatures through this torture seems unfair to me. Much of the research is done on affected people’s blood, tissue samples, and DNA. A child’s death changes you as a person to the core. I’m not saying that I want doctors to stop researching, but it can be done in different ways today. With all of the technology and advancements made in science, I feel we don’t need to use animals for testing anything anymore. Poor defenseless dogs or any [other] living thing should never be forced to live with this horrible and painful disorder.”
—Jennifer Ehresman
“I was diagnosed with limb-girdle muscular dystrophy in 2003 at age 23. While it has been a huge part of what has made me the person I am now, I wouldn’t dream of laying such challenges on another. I, along with countless others who have experienced some form of debilitating situation, rely heavily on my dog(s). From mental therapy of companionship to physical, helping me navigate through life. As I stated before, [the Texas A&M dog lab] is a gross exploitation of these animals that has helped no one and revealed zero breakthroughs. I condemn it on every level.”
—Joe Brumfield
“As someone with MD, breeding animals with this disease is utterly disgraceful. Living in pain every single day is not something I would ever wish on another living thing. These dogs are deliberately bred with a disease that will cripple them from a very early age and they undoubtedly have no access to pain killers. If you ask anyone with MD about this breeding scheme, they would be horrified by it. Yes, we want a cure, but to inflict our suffering onto innocent animals is simply cruel and most importantly, something we NEVER asked for!”
—Katie Baldock
I have muscular dystrophy but I don’t support a dog or any other living creature to be tortured for a cure! This is not advancement of science it’s just plain cruelty!!
—Stephanie Ingebrigtson Jett
I have muscular dystrophy and to hear about these dogs being tested on just breaks my heart! I do not support this way of trying to find a cure on these innocent animals.
—Jessika O’ Malley
We cannot say it better. The dogs need loving homes and an end to their torment. And MD patients and their families need scientists to embrace modern research methods that offer real hope of a cure.Sidney Blumenthal is the former assistant and senior adviser to President Bill Clinton and senior adviser to Hillary Clinton. He has been a national staff reporter for The Washington Post, Washington editor and staff writer for The New Yorker, senior writer for The New Republic and has contributed to numerous other publications.
Blumenthal’s books include the bestselling The Clinton Wars, The Rise of the Counter-Establishment and The Permanent Campaign. His latest offering, A Self-Made Man: The Political Life of Abraham Lincoln, 1809-1849, was released May 2016. He was the executive producer of the Academy Award and Emmy-winning 2007 documentary Taxi to the Dark Side. Born and raised in Illinois, Blumenthal lives in Washington, DC.
“They used the occasion to probe my political background and my involvement with Democratic Party-oriented and affiliated groups, some of which I work for. I also, in addition to writing about Abraham Lincoln, do some political work, and I get compensated. That’s my work. The LA Times calls that a ‘payout.’ I just call it pay for work. Its what people do. Even political people get paid for their work.”
Melissa Parker (Smashing Interviews Magazine): Why release a book on Abraham Lincoln in an election year?
Sidney Blumenthal: Well, I’ve been working about ten years on this, so it didn’t have anything to do with an election year. I grew up in Chicago and have been interested in Abraham Lincoln since I was very young and always had a picture of Lincoln that I’ve hung in various offices when I was a journalist and when I worked in the White House with President Clinton. When I finally got a chance to devote a period of time to Lincoln, I basically fell down a rabbit hole, started working and didn’t come out (laughs).
Melissa Parker (Smashing Interviews Magazine): This book covers from birth (1809) to 1849.
Sidney Blumenthal: I went all the way to the beginning, and made an effort to understand as much as I could the character, the growth, the intellectual life, the trajectory of Abraham Lincoln, how he became a great politician and using those skills, became the Great Emancipator, freed the slaves and saved the United States. I’ve done it in a precise way employing as much original research as I could.
I follow Lincoln, in this volume, through all of the stages of his development from being an impoverished son and oppressed boy to somebody who arrives at a river town, takes up all kinds of tasks, self-educates and rises largely through politics, then the law and runs for political office from age 23 on until the end of his life. He marries an unlikely woman of a class far above him, far more educated and the most political woman he knew, Mary Todd, and he serves one term in Congress eventually and returns to Illinois obscure in the political wilderness, not anticipating any destiny for himself except a law office in downtown Springfield with one law partner, and yet, anti-slavery and the awaiting circumstances will draw him out of this chrysalis really.
To me, this is really the story of American character in its distilled form and of our politics, what it takes to be a politician, of the relationship between intellectual life and political life and the relationship of pragmatic and practical principles and the root of many of the conflicts we face today. So, I’ve been completely engaged in this project. This is the first of four volumes.
Melissa Parker (Smashing Interviews Magazine): Many people have erroneously believed that Lincoln was a Democrat fighting slave-owning Republicans in the South, and then some say that today’s Democrats are the old Lincoln Republicans. What exactly is a Lincoln Republican?
Sidney Blumenthal: (laughs) Good question. In part, that’s why I wrote the book. Originally, I had begun work on a book on race and presidents, partly because of my own experience working in the Clinton White House and the salience of race in so many of the issues we face and what I had to deal with working there. I wondered how the parties had actually changed their identities and when it had started.
I was going to start with Franklin Roosevelt when the democratic party was a progressive party, but also the party of the segregationist South, the solid South. Roosevelt would not even take up an anti-lynching bill because of that. Over time, the parties gradually changed and became very different parties. I wondered where it all started. So, in part, that’s the reason I went all the way down to Lincoln.
Now, Lincoln’s first party was not the Republican Party. It was the Whig Party; a party we can’t even imagine now. But, he spent most of his life as a Whig. He was a stalwart, partisan Whig. That was a party of national economic development using government for infrastructure building largely canals and railroads, in order to build up the country and expand commerce. The idea was that enterprise and government were not diametric opposites, but complementary. It was part of Henry Clay’s model called the “American System.”
That’s what Lincoln tried to do. He created a system like that. That was one part of Lincoln’s politics, and all that went into the Republican Party, belief in government activism and the role of government in the economy, so that Lincoln, when he was president, created the transcontinental railroad. That was an expression of that. He believed that the government should play a role in education in establishing land grant universities. Land grant schools were created as a result of Lincoln.
Melissa Parker (Smashing Interviews Magazine): And Lincoln was also anti-slavery.
Sidney Blumenthal: He was opposed to the extension of slavery in the west, that territory which was gained during the Mexican War. These were huge amounts of territories from California all the way to the Great Plains. The question was whether it would be slavery free. That would tip the balance of the country economically and politically if what was called the “Slave Power” would rule or whether there would be a system of free labor, and in the conflict over that, the Whig party split into northern and southern wings and broke up. It also broke up over immigration because there was a great wave of Irish and German into the country.
There was a native anti-immigrant movement that broke up the Whig party as well. Lincoln was adamantly against this anti-immigrant sentiment. He regarded it as the oppression of white people. It was similar to that of slaveholders toward slaves. He put together the Illinois Republican Party. The Republican Party was formed state-by-state, and it was an anti-slavery party to oppose the extension of slavery in the west. When he was elected president in 1860, that in itself was the event that led to southern secession. They could not tolerate having the executive branch controlled by a president who would not open the west to slavery.
Lincoln didn’t have a complete plan at all for abolition when he became president, but he had said that he would put slavery on the road to ultimate extinction. There were things he could do as president using the powers of the presidency, and that, in itself, led to secession and the Civil War. That was what being a Lincoln Republican in the days of Lincoln meant.
Melissa Parker (Smashing Interviews Magazine): Interesting. Some Republicans (who are not supporters of Donald Trump) say that they long for the party principles of Abraham Lincoln. Would that be because Trump has been accused of being a racist by members of his own party?
Sidney Blumenthal: Well, I can’t speak for them. They’re going to have to speak for themselves. I know that Speaker of the House Paul Ryan talks about the party of Lincoln. He’ll have to define what that means. But, the party of Lincoln that Lincoln defined had different principles than the Republican Party today, particularly on immigration and the world of government as well.
Melissa Parker (Smashing Interviews Magazine): The House Benghazi report was released today (June 28, 2016). A headline in the Los Angeles Times reads, “House Democrats mistakenly release transcript confirming big payout to Clinton friend Sidney Blumenthal.” What are your comments?
Sidney Blumenthal: This interview is conducted the day that the House Republican-control select committee on Benghazi has released its report in which they essentially found no wrongdoing on the part of Hillary Clinton and exonerated her and have found nothing of any consequence that’s new from the previous eight other commissions and inquiries into the terrorist attack in Benghazi. So, we’ve concluded that matter.
The LA Times ran a bizarre report that in it was at best pejorative, at worst libelous. In my testimony … I was questioned for 9 ½ hours by the Benghazi committee. I had nothing to offer on Benghazi. I was not part of the administration. I was not part of the decision-making. I knew nothing about what happened in the attack and no first-hand information to provide.
They used the occasion to probe my political background and my involvement with Democratic Party-oriented and affiliated groups, some of which I work for. I also, in addition to writing about Abraham Lincoln, do some political work, and I get compensated. That’s my work. The LA Times calls that a “payout.” I just call it pay for work. Its what people do. Even political people get paid for their work.
I was asked literally hundreds of questions by the Benghazi committee about the Clinton Foundation, which I had worked for in the past doing educational work and my involvement with Media Matters which tells how right-wing media deals with news stories. They were interested in what they paid me, they were interested in my relations with other Democrats, and they were interested in articles that had appeared.
It is no surprise to me that even today after releasing the Benghazi report, the Republicans won’t release my transcript, and the reason is, it’s so embarrassing to them.
Melissa Parker (Smashing Interviews Magazine): Even though the report’s out, which means the investigation is concluded, can it still be used to help the Trump campaign |
Al-Shuhada school – the object of headmaster Bassim's envy. Brick red, it stands out among the dun-colored houses and rubble. Painted on the wall inside are the words: "You work hard, you will achieve your dream."
During a visit, Christensen, the USACE colonel, asked the guard if he was happy with the building. "I was thanking God, because the kids of all the families will get an education," replied Ali Ahmed.
But that reaction is hardly uniform for US-funded projects, which rarely advertise their American connection. Abdul Hamid al-Jeraisi, a law graduate, had no idea the road in front of his sweet shop was paved with American cash. "Do you mean this street?" asked Mr. Jeraisi, surprised but unimpressed. "No, 100 percent no, this will not change the way I look at the American military," which, he says, "gave out their contracts to thieves who have no conscience" and who made "enormous profits."
Indeed, public association with the US remains "taboo," says one Fallujah resident, after watching a report on Al Anbar Television about two key lines of the sewer system in Fallujah.
Citizens on the street are quoted praising the engineers, workers, the city council, and the contractor. But during the nearly seven-minute program, not one word is said about the US underwriting the entire project.
Still, some Iraqis say that no amount of US money can compensate for human losses. "The people of the city will not accept that the Americans trade civilian lives for services," says Hassan al-Mihamdi, a department head at a teachers' institute. "The wounds of the country cannot be healed before half a century."
Never mind that the city council and local sheikhs in Fallujah – as in cities across Iraq – have worked closely with US military units, funneling money for reconstruction to Iraqi contractors. "These tribal sheikhs will not defend the US [to their tribe]," says the unnamed Fallujah resident. "When someone says, 'They killed my wife in that bombing,' what will he tell them, that the Americans put $10 million into the city?"
Facing such Iraqi perceptions, some US military officers take the long view. "The [Fallujah] offensive was only six years ago, so it's still fresh in their minds," says USACE Maj. James Roche. "It takes time."
* * *
Like the military, the U.S. State Department has also learned to mask a "Made in the USA" label. The department's provincial reconstruction teams (PRTs) are working closely with local government and ministries to fulfill needs from training midwives to boosting crop yields for farmers.
In Anbar, projects include a $270,000 effort to tutor 56 public health workers in a country from which an estimated 8,000 doctors had fled between 2003 and 2008. Farmers share the cost of US-supplied "hoop houses" that use drip irrigation to make local produce. Twenty women taught how to care for dairy cows have trained a further 500 women.
"I talk with people every day, sheikhs and others," says an Iraqi translator who works for the Anbar PRT. "[Those we work with] thank us for a lot of things, and say 'without the US we are lost'.... But the people you meet on the street – they don't like us."
A top priority for PRTs in Anbar has been coping with the dropping water levels of the Euphrates River, now down to one-third of its prewar flow rate because of upstream damming in Turkey and Syria. The PRT has financed pipe extensions to deeper water, and circulated seed varieties that do better in saltier soil. Still, huge problems remain, such as the lack of electricity to run new pumping stations.
Other American efforts bring more immediate results. This summer, the US Agency for International Development (USAID) funded a two-month camp for 600 youths in Fallujah and, along with the Ministry of Education, accelerated courses for 1,900 schoolgirls. Families had pulled many of the girls out of classrooms to do chores. "There seems a much more willing acceptance of our programs," says a USAID official on the PRT.
"A lot of people are well aware of what we are doing," says another PRT member, one of several American advisers of the Anbar team in Ramadi (70 miles west of Baghdad). "The real problem is getting that message across to a broader audience."
But prejudices remain ingrained from years of conflict. Literacy classes for adult women – part of a national campaign – have proved popular, with 1,400 in the latest class in Fallujah.
"I can read and write now, so I can find a job," said Karima Ahmed Thahi, a 40-something widow with six children in Fallujah, who said the city had "changed for the better" with reconstruction.
"I am determined to participate, and also next year, because they promised to develop our capabilities more and more."
When asked if she knew that her course was financed by USAID, however, she grew angry and inaccurately mixed up money from USAID – dispensed under the auspices of the State Department – with cash from the US military.
"If this [US funding] turns out to be true, then they laughed at us and this is a fraud," said the widow. "They killed our sons and destroyed our city, and now fool us with these things."
* * *
Ghazi Abdulaziz may have the most thankless job in Iraq. He is the director of the Doura power station, a sprawling four-smokestack facility that provides a quarter of the capital's electricity, and few issues resonate in Iraq like the lack of power.
Work at the plant has always been dangerous. In 2003, insurgents were already launching daily attacks against Iraqi electrical engineers and facilities. Seven years later, the killing hasn't stopped: In late July, a top ministry official was targeted by a bomb planted beneath his car.
Mr. Abdulaziz once had to replace glass in his office that was shattered by bullets; gunmen often fired into the power units. He even organized a boat to carry staff to safer neighborhoods across the Tigris River when this district in southeast Baghdad became one of the most dangerous during sectarian fighting.
But these days, providing power to citizens is more frustrating than dangerous – partly because the original US-funded renovation was plagued by challenges. "There were so many problems. We couldn't reach our maximum load," says Abdulaziz, an engineer who had stepped away from working on a power unit for an interview. Beside his desk an Apollo-era LED display blinks with the output of each power unit. "Even now, we are suffering."
By mid-2007, eight of 12 main transmission lines were down, severely reducing electricity supplies to Baghdad, according to one congressional report. A July 2007 review by SIGIR found that power station units 5 and 6 – the two rehabilitated with American money in Doura – were not operational because of insufficient maintenance.
In fact, large portions of the aging units were replaced, but key parts that had been "under pressure and heat for 20 years" were not, says Abdulaziz. "It's like a car: If you change just the pistons, and leave everything else, you can't go 200 km [125 miles] per hour."
When Unit 5 went on-line in 2006, its heater burned out within a month and the boiler began to leak. Unit 6, started in 2008, quickly encountered problems, too. Neither unit has come close to its top capacity of 167 megawatts. The US funded effort was "better than nothing... but I am not satisfied," says Abdulaziz.
With growing demand for electricity, little time exists for critical maintenance. "There is pressure on [the ministry], and so they put pressure on us.... Our people work 24 hours, day and night, because once a unit stops the telephone rings," says the engineer. Replacing the old, weak parts now would require six months or a year. "How can it be done? If I'm telling them I need 45 days, they give me 10 days. It's impossible," the engineer adds. "We are just pushing this thing to the edge of a precipice."
US reconstruction officials cite significant gains in Iraq, from overall electricity production to water projects, especially now that security costs that once ate up to one-fifth of money spent are lower. But the PRTs and USACE will also be wrapping up much of their hands-on role in Iraq in the coming year, as more US forces withdraw.
In the end, the question looms: Were the tens of billions spent for reconstruction of Iraq worth it?
"Compare it to the Marshall Plan, when Germany and all of Europe was broken," says Roche of USACE, referring to the US initiative to rebuild Europe after World War II. "We probably spent the equivalent of $100 billion. You have to put a foundation in place. Germany and Japan now have their own engineers and are building their own stuff. It will be the same with Iraq, too."
• Mohammed al-Dulaimy and Jamal Naji contributed to this report from Iraq.All times are in EST.
Wednesday, November 18th
9:40 – Quake vs Fénix – O
13:00 – Terra vs Cheetaras – W
14:40 – Max Power vs Tecos – X
Thursday, November 19th
Friday, November 20th
Saturday, November 21st
Additional games may be filmed. Full tournament schedule and more information can be found here.
Update 11/20: VOD UPDATE: We have had some techical problems with encoding our Audio from the recorded games. It is able to be fixed but involved 2-3 hours of re-rendering per game. We can’t render while we are streaming so the fix is likely to come once we are back home from Cancun. (11/24 – 11/25) We appologise for the delay and thank you for your patience. All games will be published on our YouTube channel once completed. Thanks for your understanding!!KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia Airports Holdings Berhad (MAHB) Managing Director Badlisham Ghazali said a review is long overdue on the passenger service charges (PSC) at both KLIA and klia2.
Badlisham, 54, who joined MAHB from the Multimedia Development Corporation in 2014, said this in the hope that the newly-established Malaysian Aviation Commission (Mavcom) would review the PSC, The Edge Weekly reported.
“We invested RM4 billion in the new airport,” Badlisham told the business publication, adding that the PSC is “not based on costs or service levels to some degree.”
Mavcom have reportedly agreed to do a review on aeronautical charges, which covers the PSC, aircraft landing and parking fees, and other ancillary charges as well.
Badlisham also wants the government to do away with the two-tier PSC structure that is applied on airlines using KLIA and klia2, respectively.
Passengers leaving via KLIA now pay RM65 as the PSC for international flights and RM9 for domestic flights. Passengers leaving via klia2 pay RM32 and RM6 respectively.
“We have lived with this regime – two-tier PSC – for the last nine years,” he said adding that his goal is to close the gap in the PSC structure as he wants to increase MAHB earnings.
Badlisham argued that there was no basis for the two-tiered structure, except for a benchmark which was probably done 10 years ago.
“In other countries, the PSC is based on service levels or costs.
“The more I invest in the airport, the more I have the opportunity to raise service levels for airport users,” he said.
Badlisham also told Edge Weekly he had hoped for better ties with AirAsia after taking over at MAHB.
He admitted it was not to be, due to a number of reasons, including AirAsia’s relocation from LCCT to klia2 and disputes over how the new terminal should have been built.
After two years at the helm, Badlisham finds himself bogged down by the same problems as his predecessor with AirAsia. The latest dispute is over changing the name klia2 to LCCT.
Badlisham said that klia2 is not a low-cost carrier terminal, adding “neither is KLIA”.
“So, should I call KLIA low-cost and klia2 lowest cost?” Badlisham asked.
He said this was based on the fact that the PSC at KLIA is lower than at most major airports in Asia, and overall aeronautical charges are also among the lowest in the region.With everything from the fear of deadly snakes to alleged executions by anti-aircraft gun, it’s understandable why many North Koreans desire to flee the Hermit Kingdom.
What’s interesting to note, however, is the economic class of defectors that have found their way out of North Korea. According to a survey from the Korean Unification Ministry, the percentage of defectors from the “middle-class” rose from 19% in 2001 to 55.9% after 2014.
The increase stems from the fact that more defectors from higher statuses in the North possess the resources to escape, said the Unification Ministry.
So far this year, 894 North Koreans have escaped the country, compared to the 777 in the previous year during the same period. The Unification Ministry claims that this 15% increase is on track to bring the total amount of defectors to 30,000 by the end of the year.
Although the reasons to cross the border, or in some exceptional cases remain away from, are numerous, it’s noteworthy that one of their highly publicized punishments in North Korea seems to have decreased: North Korea leader Kim Jong Un is estimated to have executed about 130 officials in the 5 years he’s been in power, while Kim Jong Il, his father, had put to death over 2,000 officials in a 6 year span.
The latest high-profile defection comes from Thae Yong-Ho, North Korea’s deputy ambassador to London, who has since been accused by his former country of leaking state secrets, embezzlement, and child rape. As one of the highest-ranking North Korean officials to have defected, it wouldn’t be far fetched to believe that others will eventually follow suit.
Related video:
NOW WATCH: Here’s how North Korea’s weird internet works
More From Business InsiderThe U.S. Department of Justice and police are investigating the shooting of a Port Orange man driving over the Dunlawton Bridge as a hate crime.
The U.S. Department of Justice and police are investigating the shooting of a Port Orange man driving over the Dunlawton Bridge as a hate crime.
The victim, 46-year-old Kanwaljit Singh, was driving with his son and wearing a head turban when he was shot at six times by people in a black truck. Two of the bullets struck Singh, who family members say was in the intensive care unit Monday at Halifax Health Medical Center in Daytona Beach.
The turban is one of the precepts of his Sikh religion, said Navtej S. Khalsa, regional director of the southeast chapter of the national Sikh American Legal Defense and Education Fund. Khalsa said his organization believes the attack on Saturday night just before midnight was a hate crime because the shooters probably thought Singh — an American citizen of Indian descent — is from the Middle East.
“Since Sept. 11, Sikhs have often been the targets of hate crimes because of their visible outward appearance, primarily the wearing of the turban,” Khalsa said. “In the past three years, hate crimes against Sikhs have risen across the country.
Lou Ruffino, a spokesman with the Community Relations Service in Washington, D.C. — under the Department of Justice — confirmed that Mildred Duprey de Robles from the federal agency's Miami office would be looking into the shooting.
The Community Relations Service was created by the Civil Rights Act of 1964, Ruffino said. On the agency's website, the Community Relations Board is described as the “peacemaker” for community conflicts and tensions arising from differences of race, color and national origin.
“We go into communities where there is the possibility of tension,” Ruffino said.
The shooting Saturday night just after 11 p.m. occurred as Singh and his 13-year-old son were heading home after Singh closed up the convenience store he opened just 10 days ago on Port Orange's beachside, Khalsa said.
There were six bullet holes in the driver's side of Singh's car, said family friend Rimi Jassel. Singh was hit once in the thigh and once in the torso.
“Although no clear motive has been established initial indications are this shooting was not a random act,” said Wayne Miller, Port Orange's assistant chief of police. “There was no previous confrontation between occupants of either vehicle.”
This FBI has been briefed on the case and will make resources available during the investigation, Miller said.
Police said the truck was described as a black, late 1980s to early 1990s Ford F-150 with a Ford decal or emblem on the sides. When he was first shot, Singh pulled over on the bridge, but then he continued driving until he arrived at a 7-Eleven at 205 Dunlawton Ave., police said. That's when he called 9-1-1.
Jassel said Singh regained consciousness Sunday night and is still in the intensive care unit at Halifax Health Medical Center.
She also said that Singh's 13-year-old son told family and friends that when his father stopped the car on the bridge, the driver of the Ford kept going. However, the driver then slammed on the brakes and put the vehicle in reverse as if to return to Singh's car to continue the shooting.
But the driver then continued heading west and turned south onto Halifax Drive, police said.
Khalsa, who said Singh attends the same Orlando “gurdwara” — place of worship — that he does, said his legal defense fund monitors hate crimes against Sikhs all over the country. Khalsa said he was contacted by Duprey de Robles of the Community Relations Service shortly after the shooting.
In an attack last August near Milwaukee, six member Sikhs were killed in a gurdwara on Oak Creek, Wis. A gunman entered the house of worship and sprayed it with bullets.
According to the Sikh American Legal Defense and Education Fund, more than 700,000 Sikhs live in the U.S. The turban worn by men represents a commitment to equality and justice.
Religious views have not been the only catalyst sparking accusations of hate crimes locally.
Last month police in Daytona Beach Shores and Daytona Beach responded to two hate crimes against homosexuals, police reports show.
In Daytona Beach Shores on Jan. 25, a man pushed a woman down in a bar parking lot. The attack followed several insults about her homosexuality hurled at the victim by the suspect inside the bar, police said.
In Daytona Beach on Jan. 2, three men beat a gay man as he walked out of a Daytona Beach hotel on South Atlantic Avenue. �How much more constitutional calamity can the Australian public take?
Updated
How do we react to this dual citizenship debacle as it lurches from messy to farcical?
This saga has raised questions with both the drafting of the constitution and the diligence of our nation's elected officials.
Liberal senator Stephen Parry could make the Citizenship Seven a group of eight, as he seeks advice from the UK Home Office as to whether he's a British citizen by descent.
The cause of his citizenship concern is that his father was one of the hundreds of thousands of "Ten Pound Poms" who made a new life in Australia after World War II.
Despite the Citizenship Seven scandal swirling through the corridors of power, Senator Parry waited until after the High Court's Friday ruling on his fellow parliamentarians' status to reveal his potential citizenship by descent situation to all other senators.
Almost four days and two hours of waiting, in fact. And on his birthday.
The seven justices of the highest legal authority in the land had ruled ignorance was not a defence to dual nationality, and reaffirmed the need for prospective politicians to actually to go the effort of checking they complied with the nation's founding document.
On face value, that seems fair — the High Court is demanding people do their homework before applying for a job that isn't your run of the mill occupation.
And yes, Senator Parry did save the taxpayer the added expense of hiring even more barristers to argue his case in court.
But didn't his decision to wait drag this sorry saga out even more?
In the wake of the High Court's ruling, there are calls for a referendum to change the wording of Section 44(1) of the constitution to better reflect the nation's multicultural make up.
When 51 per cent of the nation was either born overseas or has a parent born across the seas, it might seem odd that we have such a provision banning dual citizens from sitting in parliament in the constitution.
But will the Australian public really have sympathy for these politicians, and look to clear away the mess caused by a group who didn't think to check their family history?
And are there other constitutional priorities to deal with first?
The minor parties have demanded an audit of all parliamentarians' citizenship — but it doesn't have the backing of the major parties.
Some have gone as far as to say it'd be a witch hunt.
But how many more months of constitutional calamity need to happen before that becomes not only a reality, but a necessity?
There's no clear answer here. One thing is for sure — Senator Parry is looking less and less likely to be the last pollie in a spot of bother.
Topics: government-and-politics, federal-government, courts-and-trials, constitution, australia, united-kingdom
First posted(Picture: Dominic Lipinski/PA Wire)
Spontaneous anti-austerity protests spewed onto the streets of London today following the General Election which saw a Tory win.
Four police officers and a member of police staff were injured during the upheavals, and the words ‘F**k Tory scum’ were spray painted on the memorial to the women of World War Two.
Police, equipped with riot gear, clashed with frustrated crowds outside Downing Street just a day after David Cameron declared victory at the ballot boxes.
Four people have been arrested for public order offences and a fifth for assaulting a police officer.
MORE: This map shows which party came second in each constituency
(Picture: Rick Findler/PA Wire)
(Picture: Rick Findler/PA Wire)
(Picture: Rick Findler/PA Wire)
Meanwhile, the damage caused to The Women of World War II monument on Whitehall, just a stone’s throw from a VE Day celebration concert at London’s Horse Guards Parade, was condemned by Downing Street as ‘despicable’.
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A Downing Street spokesman said: ‘Spraying graffiti on war memorials is a despicable display of disrespect for those who fought and died for their country, particularly at a time when the whole nation comes together to commemorate the 70th anniversary of VE Day.’
MORE: EDL march in east London is confronted by Unite Against Fascism activists
Rioters protest Tory austerity policy by attacking poorly paid public sector workers. pic.twitter.com/B893ab9VaS — Offence Police (@OffencePolice) May 9, 2015
This isn't just a "no cuts protest" or a "end austerity" protest this is a "No one voted for you, so get out" protest #ToriesOutNow — Tumeka Burston (@tumekewa) May 9, 2015
A Facebook page which called for the demonstration stated: ‘If we sit at home and slide into despondency; the Tories will interpret this as support. We have voted and it got us nowhere. Our system is broken. Direct political action is necessary.’
(Picture: Dominic Lipinski/PA Wire)Think you know all about publishing your book? The writing, the edits, etc., sure. But there's more. Do you know how to price your novel so it will sell well? This isn't about publicity, this is about the actual book price seen by your readers. There's a whole new world out there for authors and we need to be on top of all the "my book" related parts of publishing. Careful pricing is one of the keys to success.
One of the most important aspects with which an author must deal is the aspect of dollars and cents; in other words the selling price of your book and the profit you will make. If you are traditionally published, no worries; your publisher will determine the retail price of your print novel as well as your ebook version. Publishers will tell you the price point of your book and you're pretty much set.
However if you're going the route of a boutique publishing house of which you are a partner, or you are self-publishing, you need to know the publishing basics. The number one basic is how to do retail pricing. It isn't complicated; it is simple math. The retail price is achieved through an appraisal of your book's target audience and factors in the competitive price at which books in the same genre are selling. A simple example is if you're a romance writer and a competitor's print book of a similar length and size is priced at $9.95. You can feel secure in pricing your own at the same price.
The second basic is knowing how to actually arrive at the retail price. That figure should be at least 2.5 times the single-copy printing cost. This allows for a reasonable margin that will cover book-related costs and your profits after trade discounts are factored in. The retail price also helps establish the net sales payment amount. That's the amount you, the author, make from each sale. To make a nice profit per sale, and staying competitive, you price your book at $12.95.
But, there are some other things to consider when you set the price for your book. Remember the word discounts? Here's how it relates to the retail price.
The norm usually allowed for sale to libraries and college bookstores are discounts of 15-20 percent. Want to place your book in independent bookstores? That will be a discount of 40 percent. As for the larger, established book store chains and book distributors, the discount is usually 50-55 percent. After all of these, you're still not through with discounts. This savvy author suggests that it's good policy to offer volume discounts of 15 percent for individual groups, (members of book clubs), who buy 5 to 10 copies of your book at one time.
If you're doing an ebook only and you're uploading through Kindle or Nook, you have to base your price carefully. A good question to ask yourself is whether you are looking to get more readers or more sales. Now, of course, most authors say they want both good sales and a strong following of readers, and while that may be what we want, the truth is that it's best to focus on one aspect at a time. Both approaches, sales and readers, can be successful in different ways.
Do you feel that you can sell 10 times more books at $.99 than at $9.99? What's best for you? If your main concern is getting your book in front of as many readers as possible, the price of your ebook should be as low as possible. Most online retailers require authors to charge at least $.99 for each book. I say go to $1.99. Too low a price makes readers assume poor quality, but more on the $.99 special later. It does have its place in sales.
A good rule of thumb for authors in getting readers to buy your book is to set a low price to get things started. Authors with an established fan base can and should charge more for their work. But, even established authors benefit from having "special promo pricing" for limited time periods. This works especially well if you're writing a series. Scheduling periodic specials of $1.99 or occasionally even $.99 promotions, can help spark, and then maintain, sales of the entire series.
It pays to remember that e-book pricing is relatively new to publishing and since publishing practices seem prone to change rapidly, the pricing strategies of today can be outdated by next year. Authors published by boutique publishing houses or who self-publish can react to market demand and change their ebook price easily.
Book sales go up and down according to many different factors; even politics can play a role in what books will sell well. If Hillary Clinton likes books about vampires and a reader is not a Clinton fan, he or she won't be picking up any books in that genre no matter how low the price.
The best bet for all authors is to vary prices with periodic special promos. This is done successfully in traditional and boutique publishing as well as with self-publishers. It seems to be working. When you have a special promo running, talk it up on social media. Make the promo for a specified number of weeks only; 3 weeks is the norm. Authors have said that an increase in sales usually falls off after 3 weeks time.
Writing is more than just getting that book finished. The smart author will want to learn as much as possible about the whole publishing business. It pays for you to be knowledgeable about all aspects that concern your book. It's your baby!
Happy writing!
Grave Misgivings, book 2 in the popular Cate Harlow Private Investigation series is now available where all books are sold.[bitcoin-dev] BIP: OP_BRIBVERIFY - the op code needed for Blind Merge Mined drivechains
<pre> BIP: <BIP number> Layer: Consensus (Soft fork) Title: OP_BRIBEVERIFY Author: Chris Stewart <chris at suredbits.com> Status: Draft Type: Standards Track Created: 2017-06-27 </pre> ==Abstract== This BIP describes a new opcode, OP_BRIBEVERIFY, for the Bitcoin scripting system that allows for a user to bribe a miner to include a hash in the coinbase transaction's output. ==Summary== BRIBEVERIFY redefines the existing NOP4 opcode. When executed, if the given critical hash is included at the given vout index in the coinbase transaction the script evaluates to true. Otherwise, the script will fail. This allows sidechains to be merged mined against bitcoin without burdening bitcoin miners with extra resource requirements. ==Motivation== The current political climate of bitcoin is extremely contentious. Many community members have different visions of what bitcoin is. This op code is meant to enable [http://www.truthcoin.info/blog/blind-merged-mining/ Blind Merge Mining]. This enables sidechains in Bitcoin. With OP_BRIBEVERIFY, sidechains miners can bribe bitcoin miners to to include their block hash in the bitcoin blockchain. If their block is included in the coinbase transaction's vout, it is assumed that block is a mined block on the sidechain. This will allow various factions of the community to realize their vision on their own separate blockchain that is interoperable with the bitcoin blockchain. This allows those factions to use bitcoin as a'reserve currency' for their own network. ===Commitment Structure=== A new block rule is added which requires that the miner's coinbase reward be at index 0 in the coinbase transaction's output vector. It also fixes the witness commitment output to be at index 1 of the coinbase transaction's output vector. This is needed so we can reliably tell what vout corresponds to what drivechain. For instance, the mimblewimble sidechain could correspond to index 2 of the vector outputs on the coinbase transaction. The commitment is recorded in a <code>scriptPubKey</code> of the coinbase transaction. It must be at least 34 bytes in size 1-byte - OP_RETURN (0x6a) 1-byte - Push the following 32 bytes (0x20) 32-byte - block hash the 35th byte and onward have no consensus meaning. ===OP_BRIBEVERIFY op code=== This op code reads two arguments from the stack. The stack top is expected to be a sidechain id for which this user attempting to blind merge mine for. The next element on the stack is expected to be a block hash. This op code looks into the coinbase transaction's output vector at the given index (which is derived from the sidechain id) and checks to see if the hash in the block matches the hash inside of the BRIBEVERIFY program. If the hashes match, the OP_BRIBEVERIFY acts as an OP_NOP. If the comparison between the two hashes fail, the script fails. ===BRIBEVERIFY program=== A standard BRIBEVERIFY program has the format: 1-byte - Push the following 32 bytes (0x20) 32-byte - block hash 1 byte - Push operation? (needed if number can't be encoded as OP_0 - OP_16) 1 byte - sidechain id 1 byte - OP_BRIBEVERIFY op code ==Detailed Specification== Refer to the reference implementation, reproduced below, for the precise semantics and detailed rationale for those semantics. case OP_NOP4: { //format: block_hash sidechain_id OP_BRIBEVERIFY if (!(flags & SCRIPT_VERIFY_BRIBEVERIFY)) { // not enabled; treat as a NOP4 if (flags & SCRIPT_VERIFY_DISCOURAGE_UPGRADABLE_NOPS) { return set_error(serror, SCRIPT_ERR_DISCOURAGE_UPGRADABLE_NOPS); } break; } if (stack.size() < 2) return set_error(serror, SCRIPT_ERR_INVALID_STACK_OPERATION); const CScriptNum scriptNumSidechainId(stacktop(-1),fRequireMinimal); uint8_t nSidechainId; if (!checker.CheckSidechainId(scriptNumSidechainId,nSidechainId)) { return set_error(serror, SCRIPT_ERR_UNKNOWN_SIDECHAIN); } // Check block hash bool fHashCritical = checker.CheckCriticalHash(stacktop(-2),nSidechainId); if (!fHashCritical) { return set_error(serror, SCRIPT_ERR_UNSATISFIED_BRIBE); } break; } https://github.com/Christewart/bitcoin/blob/94b6f33f2278c42d4d8758a3c8ffe2078e4ec933/src/script/interpreter.cpp#L427 https://github.com/drivechain-project/bitcoin/pull/13 ==Deployment== TODO ==Credits== Credit to Paul Sztorc for the original idea of Blind Merge Mined sidechains. Credit to CryptAxe for writing the foundational layer of software for drivechains so I could implement OP_BRIBEVERIFY. ==References== Blind Merge Mined Sidechains - http://www.truthcoin.info/blog/blind-merged-mining/ Mailing list discussion - https://lists.linuxfoundation.org/pipermail/bitcoin-dev/2017-May/014408.html ==Copyright== This document is placed in the public domain. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: <http://lists.linuxfoundation.org/pipermail/bitcoin-dev/attachments/20170627/bd5730bf/attachment.html>A group of former Israeli army officials and diplomats visited Washington Monday, claiming that a peace agreement with the Palestinians is urgent in spite of, and because of, regional turmoil, and that contrary to what Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu claims, the 1967 borders are, in fact, defensible.
The group visited the White House on Monday and met with the National Security Council Director for Middle East and North Africa Steven Simon, and were to have meetings later in the evening with acting Middle East envoy David Hale and officials at the Pentagon.
Former Israeli diplomat Ilan Baruch. Emil Salman
Among the group participants were Major General (Ret.) Natan Sharoni, a battery commander in the Sinai Campaign and a battalion commander during the Six Day War who later became Head of Planning for the IDF and Ambassador Alon Pinkas, who served as Consul General of Israel in New York.
Joining the two was Ambassador Ilan Baruch, who served with the Israeli Foreign Ministry for more than thirty years and stirred a public debate in Israel when, upon his resignation, he penned an open letter critical of Israeli government policies.
Others in the group include Colonel (Ret.) Shaul Arieli, who was Commander of the Northern Brigade in Gaza, and was responsible for the evacuation and transfer of the Gaza Strip to Palestinian control in 1994 and distinguished soldier Brigadier General (Ret.) Nehemiah Dagan.
Major General (Ret.) Shlomo Gazit, who was head of the Assessment Department in IDF Intelligence and later became Coordinator of Israeli Government Operations in the Administered Territories and Attorney Gilead Sher, the legal representative for the Shalit family also joined the group.
We are here because we feel that we are running out of time, and there is no actual status quo, Sharoni told Haaretz Monday. The dynamic is such that we must act quickly so that we dont find ourselves facing actions that cannot be corrected.
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We are here because we are concerned that the Jewish state won't remain Jewish and democratic. Thirty years from now, Jews will be one-third of the population from Jordan to the Mediterranean. And the culture that is developing in Israel these days suggests that the one-third will control the two-thirds, he said.
The second issue that concerns the group is that no credible critics have dared to counter Prime Minister Netanyahu's claim that the 1967 borders are indefensible.
It has already entered the Israeli political lexicon as an axiom, Sharoni said. We think it's misleading. The 1967 borders are defensible, we just need to define – defensible against what? It's true they are indefensible against rockets from Iran, but so is all the territory of Israel.
They are indefensible against terror and Hezbollah rockets, he added. But to say that the strategic depth of the Jordan Valley will save Israel, that is a deception.
Sharoni said that what has traditionally constituted the Eastern front against Israel is now non-existent.
Iraq doesn't have the capacity to send ground divisions against us; we have peace with Jordan, and Syria won't go to war against Israel by herself. I am sure the prime minister knows it – but he probably doesn't want to make any use of this information, Sharoni said.
Sharoni responded to a question from Haaretz concerning a possible threat emerging on the Eastern front ten years in the future, dismissing the supposed necessity of maintaining sovereignty over a part of the West Bank to act as a buffer zone in the event of an attack.
Do we actually need to control the Jordan Valley to confront these threats? To move one or two IDF divisions to seize control of the Valley takes up to 36 |
Cover and shake until outside is frosty, about 30 seconds. Strain into prepared glass and serve with a star anise. Notes Recipe adapted from The Red Cat’s recipe in Bon Appetit.
Recommended tequila: Espolón, Milagro or any other 100 percent agave silver tequila.
To make four drinks at once: combine ¼ cup lime juice, ½ cup orange juice, ¾ cup tequila and ½ of the jam in cocktail shaker. Fill the shaker with ice, shake vigorously and strain the mixture into 4 prepared glasses.
To make a pitcher of margaritas (pretty sure this will work well): fill a small pitcher with ice and pour in the tequila. In a cocktail shaker or mason jar, shake the orange juice, lime juice and all of the jam well (or blend it all up in a blender). Strain the mixture into the pitcher. Stir well before serving.
Storage suggestions: Leftover jam should keep well, covered, in the refrigerator for a couple of weeks. It would be good on toast or oatmeal. ▸ Nutrition Information The information shown is an estimate provided by an online nutrition calculator. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.
P.s. I’m trying to be better at social media stuff. Here’s a Thanksgiving facebook round-up, fall recipe pinterest board annnnnd a brand new cooking tips and tricks board.Remember Michael Kevin Lallana? Name not ringing a bell? Okay try this: remember the Northwestern Mutual Investment Services employee who last January allegedly somehow got his jizz in a bottle, left it on a colleague’s desk where she drank it, got sick, and threw it out? And then a couple months later, allegedly released more “material” in the same lady’s drink, which she again drank, but this time paused to ask herself, “Am I crazy, or does this water have semen in it,” before sending it off to a lab to verify her suspicions? He was found guilty yesterday and today, we finally have some clarity on why he did it and how his victim found out.
First off, the discovery of the crime. The first time it happened, MKL's coworker (identified only as "Tiffany G") unknowingly took a swig and tasted what she "believed" to be semen but wasn't sure. “I had a hunch that’s what it was, but I wouldn’t dream in a million years that’s what it was,” she said. The second time she decided to test her theory. After finding what appeared to be yet another bottle of water laced with semen, Tiffany took the evidence in question home and ran an experiment, wherein she "asked her fiancee to put his semen in a separate water bottle to see if that’s what she had tasted at work." After testing the new sample and comparing it to the other one, she determined it was.
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Just to be sure, Tiffany sent the bottle MKL had left for her to a lab to be tested, the results of which confirmed her hunch and ultimately got Mike convicted of assault and battery. Why did he do it? Well he found Tiffany to be quite the attractive woman. He wanted to get close to her but 1) he figured a hot chick like her would never go for a guy like him and 2) he was married so he decided this would be the next best thing.
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Lallana admitted in a taped interview submitted to jurors that he ejaculated into the water bottle because “her lips had touched it...It was the closest I could ever get to someone as good looking as that without tampering with my marriage or hurting anyone,” Lallana said in the interview with Orange Police Department detectives.
Did he actually want her to, you know, drink it? Of course not. What do you take him for, some sick, maladjusted fuck?
“Can I honestly say I wanted her to drink it? No,” Lallana said in the taped interview. “Why I left it there, I don’t know.”
Only the water bottle knows.
Man Found Guilty In Semen Assault Case [IP]All this week, Sean Hannity will bring you a special look at Spring Break, as college students from all over the country flock to Florida, Mexico and other beach destinations to engage in wild behavior.
Teens Find New Way to Secretly Smoke Pot in School
New Report Shows More and More Teens Are Smoking Marijuana
As Ainsley Earhardt found out on her recent trip to Panama City Beach, Florida, the young people there are not shy about drinking and doing drugs in public.
Ainsley recalled that some people were actually having sex on the beach, while girls were flashing the crowds for Mardi Gras-style beads.
But as she noted, sometimes there can be tragic results.
According to local authorities, there have been two deaths, one person was reported missing, one person fell off a balcony, and there have been sexual assaults reported.
Watch Ainsley's visit above and check out Hannity, tonight at 10p/1a ET to see what she uncovered during a ride-along with the local sheriff's department.More fixtures over the Christmas period are expected to be changed, with all amendments to be announced by 27 October
The decision to move Manchester City's Premier League game against Crystal Palace to New Year's Eve is "totally unacceptable", says a City fans' group.
The match at Selhurst Park, originally scheduled for 30 December, will be played at 12:00 GMT the following day and broadcast on BT Sport.
Kevin Parker, general secretary of the Manchester City Supporters' Club, said he is "appalled" by the fixture change.
The match is the only Premier League game on New Year's Eve.
City travel to Newcastle United on 27 December, while their home game against Watford scheduled for 1 January 2018 will be moved given they will play on 31 December.
"To say I am upset by these changes is an understatement," Parker told BBC Sport.
"As City fans we were facing two away games and one home game over the Christmas and New Year period.
"Now, not only do we swap from a Bank Holiday game to an evening away game on 27 December, and then an away game at noon on New Year's Eve - to the most difficult London game you can get to - but we also lose our only home game on New Year's Day."
Premier League executive chairman Richard Scudamore said: ''We appreciate this is the peak time for supporters attending and watching the Premier League.
"With matches scheduled on Christmas weekend for the first time in 11 years, the process of selecting games for live broadcast has been a more complex one than usual.
"When selecting matches, the broadcasters are using the rights that we the Premier League and the clubs have sold them, and they should therefore not be criticised for doing so."
The game between Manchester United and Southampton at Old Trafford has been moved from 15:00 to 17:30 on 30 December.
No Premier League match will take place on Christmas Eve, despite suggestions that the Arsenal-Liverpool fixture was set to be changed from 23 December.Ex-Congressman Jay Dickey (R-AR) -- U.S. House of Representatives
A former congressman whose name is attached to a 1996 bill banning federal funding for gun violence research says he regrets his role following the recent mass shooting at an Oregon community college last week.
Speaking with the Huffington Post, ex-Congressman Jay Dickey (R-AR), said of his bill, “I have regrets.”
Dickey, who once described himself as the “NRA’s point person in Congress” in a New York Times opinion piece, says his move to ban the Centers for Disease Control from studying firearm ownership and its impact on public health was a big mistake and that we are paying for it now.
“I wish we had started the proper research and kept it going all this time,” Dickey explained. “If we had somehow gotten the research going, we could have somehow found a solution to the gun violence without there being any restrictions on the Second Amendment. We could have used that all these years to develop the equivalent of that little small fence.”
Believing the CDC was anti-gun, guns rights activists led by the NRA attempted to shutter the $46 million National Center for Injury Prevention in 1996 for looking at gun violence. Failing to do so, Dickey, at the behest of the NRA, authored a bill that specifically stated, “None of the funds made available for injury prevention and control at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention may be used to advocate or promote gun control.”
According to Dickey, his bill was misinterpreted by administrators, which left researchers unable to seek out the root causes of gun violence in the United States.
As Dickey, along with co-author Mark Rosenberg, wrote in the New York Times following the mass shooting in Aurora, Colorado that claimed 12 lives and wounded 70: “As a consequence, U.S. scientists cannot answer the most basic question: What works to prevent firearm injuries? We don’t know whether having more citizens carry guns would decrease or increase firearm deaths; or whether firearm registration and licensing would make inner-city residents safer or expose them to greater harm. We don’t know whether a ban on assault weapons or large-capacity magazines, or limiting access to ammunition, would have saved lives in Aurora or would make it riskier for people to go to a movie. And we don’t know how to effectively restrict access to firearms by those with serious mental illness.”I love love love candied peel. I used to run to the baking cupboard and cram spoonfuls of it in my mouth when my mum wasn’t looking. It was my favourite bit of any fruitcake or barmbrack. This is especially odd since I don’t like oranges as a fruit, juice or flavouring, and generally eschew citrus fruits of all kinds. But mellow those citrus rinds in vats of sugar and it’s hypnotic to me.
An inability to read recipes a few weeks ago meant I ended up with an overabundance of grapefruits when making marmalade for cake and found myself wondering what to do with them all. A casual Twitter conversation about Christmas preparations brought about a massive lightbulb moment. I would make my own candied peel. Never mind if it was incredibly faffy and complicated: I could rise to the challenge!
Imagine my glee when this Waitrose recipe popped up and I realised candying my own peel was actually easier than pie. Radio on, sleeves rolled up, I set about peeling and de-pithing my citrus fruit. I had a mix of pomelo, ruby grapefruit, lemons and orange, but avoided limes as I thought it might be too overwhelming, like cordial.
Get four pans going on your hob and simmer the peels separately in hot water for about 20 minutes to soften them up. Then split the peels into two pots to simmer in the syrup. I actually made two batches of candied peel and found it easier to keep the peels bigger and cram less peel into the pans as they bubble and soak up the sugar. I just did two batches of the syrup to be sure nothing caught or burned. Keep the heat down low as you can, you only want the merest blip in the syrup to stop it getting bitter or caramelising. Then go off and do stuff while your house smells truly amazing…
I came back to my peel when there was still a tiny bit of syrup left, and lifted the biggest pieces out with tongs, laying them on baking trays. The smaller bits went into a sieve to drip any excess syrup off, as you don’t want so much syrup on the pieces: they dry crunchy and I didn’t fancy trying to boil my pan dry and win the challenge. I then left the trayfuls of peel in the living room to dry as it was the only place I had room, but the airing cupboard or anywhere the cat can’t walk on them will do.
About three days later, I turned the peel with tongs and left for another two or three days or until I remembered about it. I popped it in a ziplock bag, with a tablespoon or so of icing sugar, and shook it up to coat it and stop it sticking together. Some went into the Christmas mincemeat. Some went into cellophane bags to give as gifts. The rest was stored in a jar to be used for various festive recipes closer to the time and the leftover syrup stored for a drizzle cake or put on porridge or ice cream.
So if you didn’t do a cake on Stir-Up Sunday, impress people with homemade candied peel instead. You will never buy one of those tiny tubs again after you’ve tasted the citrus sensation of making your own. It tastes as good as it looks!Producers of the bewilderingly popular theme-park-ride-based movie franchise Pirates of the Caribbean have indicated that they will be limiting the series to only “around fifty films”.
The studio behind the seemingly endless number of sequels have expressed with sadness that they can probably craft “only another fifty or so films” after the latest instalment, Salazar’s Revenge, which is released in the UK this week.
Executive producer Chuck Williams announced on social media, “With the fifth Pirates of the Caribbean film coming out this week, we would like to announce that there will probably only be another fifty-odd made.
“We know that this announcement will bring great sadness to cinema-goers worldwide, but we wouldn’t want to get to the point where we are churning out boring movies just for the sake of it and disappointing fans as a result.
He added, “I would like to apologise that our much-loved franchise will have to draw to a close so soon, but we’re not sure Johnny Depp will actually live to do any more than fifty of these.”
“It is important to know when to call it a day, and I reckon if we cap it at fifty films then we will be sticking to our motto of quality over quantity. Sixty at the absolute most.”
There are unconfirmed rumours that the next film will be called Pirates Of The Caribbean 6: Just Give Us Your Money, Prick and is scheduled for a summer 2019 release.British Antarctic Survey (BAS) recently captured this video footage of a huge crack in the Larsen C Ice Shelf, on the Antarctic Peninsula.
Currently a huge iceberg, roughly the size of Norfolk, looks set to break off Larsen C Ice Shelf, which is more than twice the size of Wales. Satellite observations from February 2017 show the growing crack in the ice shelf which suggests that an iceberg with an area of more than 5,000 km² is likely to calve soon.
Researchers from the UK-based MIDAS project, led by Swansea University, have reported several rapid elongations of the crack in recent years. BAS scientists are involved in a long-running research programme to monitor ice shelves to understand the causes and implications of the rapid changes observed in the region. They shot this footage as they flew over the ice shelf on their way to collect science equipment.
During the current Antarctic field season, a glaciology research team has been on Larsen C using seismic techniques to survey the seafloor beneath the ice shelf. Because a break up looks likely the team did not set up camp on the ice as usual. Instead they made one-off trips by twin otter aircraft supported from the UK’s Rothera Research Station.
Ice shelves in normal situations produce an iceberg every few decades. There is not enough information to know whether the expected calving event on Larsen C is an effect of climate change or not, although there is good scientific evidence that climate change has caused thinning of the ice shelf. Once the iceberg has calved, the big question is whether Larsen C will start to retreat.
Dr Paul Holland, ice and ocean modeller at British Antarctic Survey, says: “Iceberg calving is a normal part of the glacier life cycle, and there is every chance that Larsen C will remain stable and this ice will regrow. However, it is also possible that this iceberg calving will leave Larsen C in an unstable configuration. If that happens, further iceberg calving could cause a retreat of Larsen C. We won’t be able to tell whether Larsen C is unstable until the iceberg has calved and we are able to understand the behaviour of the remaining ice. “The stability of ice shelves is important because they resist the flow of the grounded ice inland. After the collapse of Larsen B, its tributary glaciers accelerated, contributing to sea-level rise.”
About ice shelves
An ice shelf is a floating extension of land-based glaciers which flow into the ocean. Because they already float in the ocean, their melting does not directly contribute to sea-level rise. However, ice shelves act as buttresses holding back glaciers flowing down to the coast. Larsen A and B ice shelves, which were situated further north on the Antarctic Peninsula, collapsed in 1995 and 2002, respectively. This resulted in the dramatic acceleration of glaciers behind them, with larger volumes of ice entering the ocean and contributing to sea-level rise.
The largest icebergs known have all calved from ice shelves. In 1956, a huge iceberg of roughly 32,000 km² – bigger than Belgium – was spotted in the Ross Sea by a US Navy icebreaker. However, since there were no satellites in orbit at this point, its exact size was not verified. In 1986, a section of the Filchner ice shelf roughly the size of Wales calved – but this iceberg broke into three pieces almost immediately. The largest iceberg recorded by satellites calved from the Ross ice shelf in 2001, and was roughly the size of Jamaica at 11,000 km².
The MIDAS Project is funded by the NERC (Natural Environment Research Council).Lebanon's prime minister, Saad Hariri, assured the country Sunday he will come home "very soon" from Saudi Arabia, where he announced his stunning resignation last November 4.
Hariri gave an interview to his own party's Future TV from Riyadh. He denied being under arrest or that the Saudis forced him to resign to break up his coalition government with Hezbollah.
He said the decision to quit was entirely his own, saying he wanted to bring a "positive shock" to Lebanon. He said the country is in imminent danger, but did not specify from whom or what.
Thousands of runners and spectators taking part in Lebanon's annual marathon Sunday demanded the prime minister return. Some waved signs saying "Waiting for You."
Lebanese President Michel Aoun has still not accepted Hariri's resignation. Before Sunday's televised interview with Hariri, Aoun issued a statement saying the prime minister is in Saudi Arabia under "obscure circumstances."
"Hariri's freedom has been restricted and conditions have been imposed regarding his residence and the contacts he may have, even with members of his own family," it said.
Hariri has dual Lebanese-Saudi citizenship. He said in his surprise resignation speech on Saudi television that Hezbollah and its Iranian backers are plotting to take over the country - a move he said would destabilize the entire Middle East.
Hariri also says he fears for his life. Hezbollah was blamed for the 2005 car bombimg that killed his father, former prime minister Rafik Hariri.
The chief of Hezbollah in Lebanon, Hassan Nasrallah, said last week that the Saudis pressured Hariri to resign, saying the prime minister never had any intention to quit.WASHINGTON – An ailing 91-year-old veteran who was kicked out of the Air Force in 1948 for being gay filed a lawsuit Friday against service Secretary Deborah Lee James, in part so he can have military honors at his funeral.
Edward Spires wants to have his discharge upgraded from “undesirable” to “honorable,” according to the lawsuit filed in Connecticut federal court.
“After being cast out of the Air Force for being a gay man, Ed rarely spoke of his military service or his discharge, humiliated by the Air Force’s labeling of his service as undesirable,” Spires’ husband David Rosenberg said Friday in a news release. “For the past decades, he has been made to feel ashamed.”
Spires has been barred from Department of Veterans Affairs benefits, which stops him from being buried at a VA cemetery or having military honors at his funeral service.
“Mr. Spires does not want to pass knowing that he will not be honored with a military burial and that the Air Force still refuses to acknowledge the sacrifices he made to serve his country with honor,” the lawsuit states.
Spires enlisted in the Air Force in 1946 and served as a chaplain’s assistant. While stationed at Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio in 1947, he was spotted by fellow servicemembers at an off-base Halloween party. One of the airmen mistook Spires’ costume as him dressing as a woman, the suit states.
He was taken to the Judge Advocate General shortly after, according to the suit, and went through a “horrific” and “unbearable” interrogation. Spires was taunted and verbally assaulted by fellow servicemembers. He was later court-martialed and discharged.
Many servicemembers – by some estimates about 100,000 -- were other-than-honorably discharged for being gay from World War II to 2011, when the military’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy was repealed. Since the repeal, some veterans have requested and received upgrades from the Defense Department.
But when Spires applied for an upgrade through the Air Force Board of Corrections of Military Records in 2014, he was rejected, the suit states. In Spires’ case, his records are decades-old, and the board said they were lost in a 1973 fire at the National Personnel Records Center in St. Louis.
He applied again 2016, though it wasn’t clear whether the Air Force would consider it.
Spires filed the lawsuit Friday with the help of the Yale Law School Veterans Legal Services Clinic.
Rosenberg, an Army veteran, was also questioned about his sexuality while serving, but he denied being gay. After more than 50 years as partners, the two married in 2009 when Connecticut legalized same-sex marriage.
In a written statement, Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., said he had urged the Defense Department to review of Spires’ case quickly. He also asked the department to consider upgrades for thousands of others.
“There may be thousands of others across the country who are encountering the same difficulties,” Blumenthal said. “The veterans who served during a period of time when discrimination based on sexual orientation was the most severe also face the obstacle of lost or destroyed records. This is no excuse for denying them their right to an honorable discharge.”
Last year, Sen. Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, introduced a bill ordering timely reviews of discharges that were made under “don’t ask, don’t tell.” It also included a provision directing the secretaries of each service to collect oral histories from people discharged to “serve as an official record of such discriminatory policies and their impact on American lives.”
The bill stalled after being sent to the Senate Armed Services Committee.
Spires’ attorney is asking the court upgrade the discharge automatically or order the Air Force to reconsider Spires’ application for an upgrade within two weeks.
[email protected]
Twitter: @nikkiwentlingPhoto: InkBonesBooks on YouTube
BookTube is what it sounds like: a community of YouTube users who post vlogs about books. Videos range from the oh-so-popular (and neverending) to-be-read piles to monthly or yearly wrap-ups to deep dives into particular subgenres, tropes, and topics. BookTubers tag one another in video challenges, join up for readathons, and make it so that it’s not just dozens of bookworms shouting into the void—it’s a constant conversation.
SFF BookTube is a pocket of that online universe whose members love to discuss science fiction, fantasy, horror, speculative fiction, YA… you name it. Some of these BookTubers post everything under the #BookTubeSFF hashtag on Twitter, while others read across genres and highlight certain SFF titles they can’t stop talking about. We’ve rounded up both types here—and what’s more, we’ve created a little tour through BookTube. Starting with the big-picture news vlogs to getting incredibly granular with reviews, here’s (nearly) every kind of SFF BookTube video depending on your mood and needs. Enjoy!
BookTube News
Elizziebooks has the hookup on BookTube news of all sorts, pointing viewers to other videos and channels of interest. Like some of the BookTubers on this list, she isn’t primarily into SFF, but judging from the video above, she seems interested in getting the word out about all genres.
Judging A Book By Its Cover
PeruseProject has a cute series where she challenges two friends to try to guess the plots of YA novels solely by looking at the covers. Her friend Justin, with his completely off-base guesses (Shatter Me is set during the Cold War and Fangirl is about marriage) should get his own channel. But once you find out what a book is actually about, then you decide if it winds up in your TBR pile…
Book Hauls & TBR Piles
The early days of YouTube had beauty bloggers talking directly to their fans about their latest “hauls” from the mall or (as time went on) online shopping, so it’s no surprise that the same dynamic moved into the booksphere. booksandpieces shows off her pile from a recent shopping trip in London as well as the advance review copies waiting for her in the mail. (You’ll also find plenty of “unboxing” videos for special bookish packages.)
Jellafy parodies her own haul videos with her helpful how-to.
But these BookTubers are humans like the rest of us, and can only read so many books in a certain amount of time. That’s where the TBR videos come in, like this one from PeruseProject, in which Regan shares her towering stack of summer reading: “Per usual, it’s pretty fantasy heavy, ’cause let’s be honest, that’s what I like to read.”
Weekly/Monthly/Yearly Wrap-Ups
So, how many of those books that start the month in a TBR pile wind up off the pile four weeks later? Most BookTubers have a monthly wrap-up, as well as a yearly one highlighting their ultimate favorites. Elena Reads Books is one of the rare BookTubers who posts weekly updates, which highlight at least one SFF title per video. (She also reads an impressive amount per week!)
While this particular monthly wrap-up from Jen Campbell doesn’t feature much SFF, she makes an excellent point about the disappointment of starting a book you were excited about and not quite getting into it: “I am finding myself getting very strict with books at the moment. I have so many books on my shelves I am dying to get to that I think are gonna be great, and if a book is not living up to my expectations, I am perfectly happy now to dismiss it after a certain number of pages, between 50 and 100. If it’s not grabbing me, if I’m thinking This is OK but it’s not challenging me, it’s not making me really eager to pick it up again, it’s gone. I’m not saying these books are bad books, far from it, they’re just not for me at that particular time. There’s definitely a lot to be said for the right book at the right time, and these were the wrong books at the wrong time.” (Campbell reads across all genres, so you’ll find plenty of SFF videos at her channel.)
Rincey Reads’ monthly wrap-ups span several genres but always seem to include at least one SFF title. This particular one highlights Zen Cho’s Sorcerer to the Crown and Noelle Stevenson’s graphic novel Nimona.
Annual roundups like MercysBookishMusings’ usually look at about 10 percent of the year’s reading—and even then, they’re close to 20 minutes, so it’s the kind of video you settle in with a mug of tea to watch. For 2015, MercysBookishMusings raved about favorite author Robin Hobbs’ books, then found a similarly epic thread in Becky Chambers’ The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet: “It’s so deep, it’s so well thought out. It’s a science fiction story that’s based along this quest thread, but the quest is not important… It says really interesting things about sexuality, gender, what makes somebody human, how we connect to one another, friendship, love… I think this is one of those books that will cross boundaries in terms of people who will enjoy it.”
Looking Ahead
Here’s a topic we know Tor.com readers can’t get enough of—standalone SFF! Just one of multiple “most anticipated releases” videos from Nicole’s Adventures in SFF.
Try A Chapter
With this tag, you pick five or more books you’ve been meaning to get around to; you read the prologue and first chapter of each one; and decide if it’s worth continuing. Kalanadi chose nine, including impulse buys, books she had pre-ordered way back when but never actually cracked, and short story collections. Not surprisingly, it’s a grab bag: some opening chapters too slow to grab her, others—like the anecdote about a man fashioning a bow out of a dead woman’s body—just weird enough to keep going.
By Subgenre
Genre discussions can range from in-depth to more of a sampling. InkBonesBooks has a series where she tackles subgenres including steampunk, fantasy of manners, and (above) urban fantasy.
Then there are book memes, in which BookTubers tag one another with challenges such as Top 5 Wednesday. From her first discovery of time travel in Anne McCaffrey’s Dragonflight to Terry Pratchett’s paradox-filled Night Watch, Claire Rousseau found that time travel was a key part of her reading history from childhood to adulthood.
The Readables delves deeper into these kinds of distinctions, charting her five favorite magical objects in fantasy (and some sci-fi).
Book Reviews
Like their blogging colleagues, BookTubers receive ARCs of upcoming books in exchange for an honest review. Thomas M. Wagner of SFF180 (formerly SFReviews.net) has been book blogging for 15 years, and posts both written and video reviews. With N.K. Jemisin’s The Fifth Season, he praises the worldbuilding, in which the world is nearly its own character, and the second-person storytelling style, which connects to the rest of the story threads in “a stroke of casual genius.”
Of Mary Robinette Kowal’s The Forest of Memory, Claire Rousseau says, “Like most of the Tor.com [Publishing] novellas that I’ve read so far, I would definitely read more in the same universe.” Her review of Seanan McGuire’s Every Heart a Doorway (which “did punch [her] in the feels”) includes a shout-out to McGuire’s song “Wicked Girls.”
And while AJ Reads wasn’t thrilled by Octavia E. Butler’s Kindred, she adored Lilith’s Brood, as she shares in her spoiler-free review above.
Short Fiction
BookTubers don’t just talk books! Here, as part of her “Let’s Talk” series, TheReadingOutlaw explains why you should subscribe to various SFF magazines and highlights two of her favorite stories in recent memory, “Ye Highlands and Ye Lowlands” by Seanan McGuire and “The Drowning Line” by Haralambi Markov.
Rereads & Readalongs
Some BookTubers, like BooksAndBigHair, will revisit favorite series; here, it’s Harry Potter, which she read for the first time as a child and wants to “go through the magic again” as an adult.
Others, like Sam’s Nonsense (a.k.a. Novels & Nonsense), treat it as an opportunity to bring in news readers through their viewers—that’s the thinking behind her Robin Hobb-A-Long Read-A-Thon.
Those kinds of reads culminate in BookTube chats, like when Let’s Read brought together fellow BookTubers from The Marvelous Reading Room, KindleReads, Eagle’s Books, and Kitty G to talk Brandon Sanderson’s Words of Radiance.
BookTubeAThon
BookTubeAThon is an annual, weeklong readathon for BookTube and all of its followers. InkBonesBooks’ vlog is just one example; participants also share their progress on Twitter.
#BookTubeSFF Awards
#BookTubeSFF is a small but growing community of BookTubers reviewing, recommending, and discussing their favorite SFF. One way they’re getting word out about their corner of BookTube is with the #BookTubeSFF Awards, which just celebrated its second awards ceremony a few weeks ago. You can watch it above, featuring SFF180, Sam’s Nonsense, booksandpieces, Elena Reads Books, Kitty G, Common Touch of Fantasy, Nicole’s Adventures in SFF, and TheReadingOutlaw. Shortlist nominations are open to the public; the SFF BookTubers choose the top nominees and hold readalongs before voting on the winners.
Who are your favorite BookTubers?
Thanks to r/fantasy and BookRiot for the starting points!Late Wednesday evening, news broke that another liberal judge had put a temporary hold on the implementation of President Donald Trump’s travel ban. And during CNN’s Anderson Cooper 360, commentator Van Jones voiced his approval. “An action can be ruled unconstitutional if it's on the face of it, it looks like it's a good thing but there's an intent that's unconstitutional,” he argued, “There's a discriminatory intent here. And the discriminatory intent of the Trump administration is clear.”
According to Jones, the reason the travel ban is discriminatory, and thus unconstitutional, is because during the election Trump announced he wanted a Muslim ban. “Donald Trump has said a gazillion and 50 times, I counted, that he wants a Muslim ban,” Jones joked, drawing laughter from the rest of the panel, both left and right-wingers.
But Harvard Professor Alan Dershowitz (who disagrees with Trump on the travel ban) found a major conflict in reasoning if the Supreme Court ruled on Trump’s intent as Jones framed it. “If it does, it will have to decide that words in an order can be constitutional when issue by Barack Obama but the very same words unconstitutional when issued by Donald Trump. That makes it very, very personal,” he explained.
Dershowitz reminded viewers that President Obama had selected all of the counties mentioned in the ban for needing additional scrutiny. “Well-motivated not on the basis of a Muslim ban, on the basis of a desire to protect the United States,” he continued, “but that becomes unconstitutional because of what [Trump] said during the campaign.”
Bizarrely, Jones seemed to ignore what Dershowitz had just said and the facts of the matter, as he claimed that:
I am no fool to get into a fistfight on national television with Professor Dershowitz. But I have to say that what President Obama was doing with those seven countries is not related to what Donald Trump is trying to do. Listen, the explanation that the Trump administration is giving is completely arbitrary and irrational. There are other countries that should be included under the rationale he's putting forward. The only thing that holds these countries together are majority Muslim countries. There’s no other criteria that holds up.
Sounding confused, Dershowitz quickly asked, “Name a country that's not Muslim that would come under a ban at this time?” Without hesitation, Jones started rattling off names of European countries, asserting that “if what you're concerned about is countries that have a history of extremism, there are European countries that do, yet none of them are included.”
The Harvard professor shot him down in a heartbeat with the fact that “The European countries have mechanisms for sorting out dangerous people that these countries, President Obama said, don't have the appropriate mechanism.”
Dershowitz did agree that if Trump’s campaign comments were taken into account he would lose in court, noting that “The question is, is that the jurisprudence that the Supreme Court will apply? That's a tough argument to make.” But he ultimately believed that the Supreme Court would uphold the President’s travel ban.
Transcript below:
<<< Please support MRC's NewsBusters team with a tax-deductible contribution today. >>>While its noisy northern neighbor usually gets all the attention, South Korea is a pretty awesome place. It has survived Japanese colonization, Soviet meddling, and North Korean threats to become the world’s 12th-largest trading nation. South Korea produces the LG TVs, Hyundai cars and Samsung phones we use every day. K-Pop stars are taking over the world one YouTube video at a time, and their films are receiving worldwide acclaim. However, there’s a lot more to South Korea than technology and Gangnam Style.
10 Crime Reenactments
One thing South Korea is definitely not known for is liberal criminal rights. Anyone who has seen films like Sympathy for Lady Vengeance or Mother is familiar with the Korean practice of crime reenactments. Citizens suspected of committing crimes, such as rape or murder, are forced to take part in these humiliating public rituals, which start with police binding the suspect with ropes or handcuffs. They are then led to the scene of the crime and are ordered to recreate the criminal act. To make the ordeal even more humiliating, the media is invited along to publicize the event. Dates for the reenactments are even printed in newspapers so the public can show up, watch, and hurl insults.
In 1972, Jeong Won-seob was forced to act out the murder and rape of a schoolgirl, a crime he allegedly committed. As he acted out the event, people were screaming at him and yelling things like, “Kill this guy!” As horrible as this is, it gets even worse: Jeong turned out to be innocent. Despite the glaringly obvious problems with this procedure, the practice still continues today. The reasoning is something called “national sentiment” which basically means public feelings are more important than civil liberties. Obviously, not all Koreans agree with this viewpoint, and many are campaigning against the practice, but it seems the majority favors the public ritual despite the public opposition.
9 Fast-Food Delivery
If you lived in South Korea, you’d never have to leave home to eat. Most restaurants will deliver straight to your apartment via motorcycle drivers—who are notorious for speeding through traffic to deliver the food on time. And after you’re done eating, you can just put your dirty dishes outside your door because the delivery guy will come for them later. That’s pretty awesome.
Almost all restaurants deliver, even McDonald’s, which gives new meaning to the term “fast food.” And if someone starts craving a few Big Macs at five in the morning, that’s no problem—McDonald’s will deliver 24/7. After all, hamburgers are the cornerstone |
door open to more questions Sunday when he said border officials may use their "discretion" to question those legal permanent residents to make sure they are not "up to no good."
Newly installed Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly appeared to settle the matter with a statement Sunday evening saying that in the absence of "significant derogatory information indicating a serious threat," allowing entry to green card holders was in "the national interest."
His agency, the Department of Homeland Security, is responsible for enforcing Trump's ban, and it sought to quell reports that it was not complying with emergency court rulings that temporarily halted parts of the order.
Adding to the uncertainty: State Department officials said Monday that the status of individuals who have dual citizenship — British and Iranian citizenship, for instance — was still unclear, after initially saying those people would be caught up in the visa bans.
Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Florida, a member of the Foreign Relations Committee, told reporters Monday night that the State Department staff had been "ordered not to talk to Congress" about the executive order.
"I don't know the reason," Rubio said. "Maybe, perhaps, they're still kind of working through how this is going to apply, and so perhaps they don't want to give us information that is wrong."
State Department spokesman Mark Toner said, "The Department remains in contact with Members of Congress who have reached out regarding the Executive Orders, and will continue to provide information and assistance as we are able."
Rubio was also critical of the Trump administration's roll-out of the executive order, saying he wishes it would have consulted more with both Congress and the agencies affected by the order.
The White House forcefully defended the order over the weekend and Monday, saying that just 109 — out of 325,000 who entered the United States on Friday — were detained for further questioning after landing in America in the immediate wake of the ban before being all released.
And a State Department spokesman told NBC News on Monday night that about 900 refugees who were in transit when the order was released will be granted an exemption and admitted to the United States this week. The number doesn't include nationals from Iran, Iraq, Sudan, Syria, Somalia, Yemen or Libya, the spokesman said.
White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer argued at Monday's news briefing that "being able to come to America is a privilege, not a right," and that the "temporary inconvenience" was a small price to pay for the country's national security.
"I don't think it's a big problem," Spicer said.
Federal agencies were still scrambling to implement and decipher the order Monday, in part because it appears that many weren't consulted in advance.
Spicer told reporters that "there was staff from appropriate committees and leadership offices that were involved," but NBC News confirmed that two House Republicans heading key committees that oversee immigration legislation weren't consulted: Homeland Security Chairman Michael McCaul of Texas and House Judiciary Chairman Bob Goodlatte of Virginia.
Several House leadership aides told NBC News that they also weren't consulted. In fact, aides said, they received the text of the executive order at the same time the news media did Friday night.
The White House's efforts to downplay the order was challenged by human stories of octogenarian grandparents' and young children's being detained for hours of questioning, while others were barred from boarding planes to return to homes and family in the United States.
Their stories sent thousands of people to airports and Trump's luxury hotel in Washington, D.C., in protest and prompted others to donate to the American Civil Liberties Union, which said it had raised $24 million since Saturday.
The ACLU and other advocates put forward legal challenges to the order almost immediately, winning two emergency court orders — including several delaying enforcement of parts of the order — and at least seven other lawsuits are open or were expected to be filed on Monday seeking to overturn the ruling.
Legal hearings take weeks to move forward, but there likely will be test cases as dual nationals and other people challenge the new rules.
Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Connecticut, said Sunday on Twitter he has a bill planned for "this week" to put a stop to what he called a "dangerous, hateful order," while Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-New York, tried to force a vote on the Senate floor to overturn the order Monday.
Although Schumer's move failed, as he needed all 100 senators to agree to a vote, a few cracks in party lines have emerged as a handful of Republicans broke with Trump on Sunday to speak out against the order.
The most prominent Republicans to criticize the ban were longtime hawks John McCain of Arizona and Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, who said the order was "not properly vetted."
"Ultimately, we fear this executive order will become a self-inflicted wound in the fight against terrorism," Graham and McCain said, earning a pair of scolding tweets from the president.
House Democrats on Monday also introduced the Statue of Liberty Values Act, or SOLVE, to block Trump's order. However, the legislation will likely go nowhere as Democrats are in the minority.
Acting Attorney General Sally Yates, meanwhile, issued a letter instructing the Justice Department to "not present arguments in defense" of Trump's travel ban.
"At present, I am not convinced that the defense of the Executive Order is consistent with these responsibilities nor am I convinced that the Executive Order is lawful," Yates wrote.
The Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel signed off on the policy last week — Yates in her letter notes that her role is different from that of the OLC — and Justice Department lawyers did defend the policy in court over the weekend.
Trump, for his part, has tried to change the conversation: He announced a new executive order on business regulations on Monday, as well as tweeting that he'd announce a Supreme Court pick on Tuesday night.DISCLAIMER: Please note that the information below is based on KTERA. Some information may be different for other regions. I will remind you again with a note in pink.
Hello. This is Developer MATT.
On this Developer’s Note, I would like to inform you about ‘Battleground Changes’ which will proceed on October 26th.
When we talk about updates, we can’t forget about the current situation of TERA’s Battleground.
With the high entry barrier as well as issues with matchmaking queues, we’ve determined that such issues needed changes as due to the lack of incentives in playing.
As mentioned above, we’ve thought the highest priority to fix were “lack of incentives” and “matchmaking difficulty”.
To fix these issues, we’ve decided to implement “Battleground Leaderboard” and “Battleground Hours,” and we plan to continuously provide updates in efforts to lower the entry barrier to improve the battleground in order to make them more enjoyable.
Here are more detailed information about “Battleground Leaderboard” and “Battleground Hours.”
Battleground Leaderboard
Battleground Leaderboard is a system that allows Battleground players to look up player’s Match history and their skill level.
Since class roles are distinct in TERA the results can be looked up by class and the overall ranking is also available.
Also leaderboard can be checked through the browser under the Raking Page on the Main site which will also be added as well.
Future updates will include a title system that will be linked to the leaderboard.
1. Goals of the Battleground Leaderboard
Battleground leaderboards have been developed so that it will show off your skill in competitive battlegrounds and encourage competition for higher ranking.
The goal of the leaderboard update is to make battlegrounds more enjoyable and to stimulate more activity in battlegrounds.
2. Battleground Leaderboard Function
[2.1. Leaderboard Basic Information]
When the update arrives the Leaderboard icon will appear on the main menu, which can also be accessed through a shortcut key (default ALT-L).
< Main Menu Icon >
Leaderboard UI has Ranking, change in rank, and character information.
Ranking is based the current battleground scoring system, which will place you higher on ranking as you achieve higher points.
Since the existing Battleground ranking system is based on a 28 day cycle, the new system will count each season as 28 days.
On first update, there will be 3 battlegrounds on the leaderboard: Champion’s Skyring, Fraywind Canyon, and Corsair’s Stronghold.
< Battleground Leaderboard Screen >
[2.2 Show rankings and personal rankings for the current season.]
On the leaderboard you can see the total class rankings and the rankings based on class roles.
Each class rankings will list up to rank 100, and each rank will be calculated and listed in realtime.
Players who were not listed within top 100 can check their personal rank as long as they have played the selected battleground at least 5 times.
< Ranking of Leaderboard by Class Role >
[2.3 Viewing previous season rankings]
At the end of a season the top 100 rankings are recorded, there will only be records kept for the most recent three seasons and viewing past the oldest one is not possible.
However, you cannot view your personal past season rankings. ( if you aren’t in top 100 )
[3.1 Dungeon and Solo Content Expansion and reward system]
We believe it is important to compete in high tier PVE content as well, as it is no less important than PvP content.
Therefore, we are also developing a competitive ranking system for dungeons as well.
Unlike the Battleground system which has the same content, the constantly changing dungeons will have more competitive system.
The battleground/dungeon/solo content leaderboard and the rank title system is being developed for release in the first half of 2018.
Loriri’s Pink Note: I’m putting emphasis on this part; the entire Leaderboard system that includes PvE and Solo as well as titles are coming in 2018, not any time soon. Battleground is coming first on October 26th in KTERA.
Battleground hours and other changes
The battleground hours are adjusted based on player activity times for each battleground.
Long queue times were a large issue and was a pain for many players who constantly played these battlegrounds. We’ve put our focus on making this system smoother and seamless.
Each battleground hours can be checked directly on the battleground matching UI,
And in case of Corsair’s Stronghold, the number of participants have been reduced as well as adjustments to battleground objects to complement the changes.
Corsair’s Stronghold
Hours: Daily 16:00 ~ 02:00 KST on following day
( Daily 4:00 P.M. ~ 2:00 A.M. KST on following day )
Participants: 15 vs 15
Fraywind Canyon
Hours: Monday, Wednesday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday 13:00 ~ 17:00, 20:00 ~ 24:00 KST
( MWFSaSu 1:00 PM ~ 5:00 P.M., 8:00 P.M. ~ 12:00 A.M. KST )
Participants: 15 vs 15
Champion’s Skyring
Hours: Daily 18:00 ~ 24:00 KST
( Daily 6:00 P.M. ~ 12:00 A.M KST )
Participants: 3 vs 3
< Battleground Hour UI when it is available >
< Battleground Hour UI when it is not available >
Loriri’s Pink Note: In case people get confused by this change, we do not know if other regions will be affected in similar manner. Therefore, please wait for your region’s publisher’s notices about these changes before making any assumptions.
[Conclusion]
This update has been brought up in hopes of motivating more Battleground gameplay and make changes to improve the long match queue times.
As mentioned earlier, there are plans for continuous updates for PvP content to fix the issues as well.
The next update will also make changes to fix various unresolved issues, and we are preparing contents that will allow anyone to enjoy PvP combat.
We are always grateful for your feedbacks, and we will try our best to allow more players to enjoy battlegrounds.
Thank you.CHICAGO – Portland Timbers defender Marco Farfan was named to a 22-player U.S. Under-19 Men’s National Team roster by head coach Brad Friedel for an eight-day domestic training camp set to take place from Feb. 3-10 in Sunrise, Fla.
During the camp, the U-19s will play friendlies against El Salvador and Miami FC. This camp marks the U-19 MNT’s first gathering of 2017 and first return to action since its friendly against Miami FC last November, part of the team’s final training camp of 2016.
A native of Portland, Farfan joined the Eastside Timbers U.S. Soccer Development Academy (USSDA) in 2013, featuring for the U-16 and U-18 Academy teams over three seasons, before being loaned to Portland’s USL affiliate, T2, during the 2016 USL season. In 2016 with T2, Farfan started in each of his 18 appearances, playing the eighth-most minutes on the team (1,463). On Oct. 14, 2016, he became the first Timbers Academy produced Homegrown Player to sign with the first team.
“I'm really looking forward to the camp and I think we've assembled a good, athletic squad and I will be really interested to see who does well,” Friedel said. “This camp is meant to bring in new and returning players and give them the opportunity to get into the system and have a chance at making a future U-20 roster. The second part of that is, the (birth year) 1997, 1998 and some 1999 age groups are going to make up the bulk of the next U-23 Olympic team. So it’s really important that we continue to give the players international experience.”
In 2016, Farfan was named No. 7 on the USL 20 Under 20 rankings, serving as the only academy player to be named on the list. Additionally, the defender was named to the USL Team of the Week for Week 6 for his efforts in a draw against Arizona United SC on April 30.
Prior to joining T2, Farfan appeared in 21 matches (21 starts) for the Timbers U-18 Academy team during the 2015-16 USSDA campaign, ranking in the top 10 for the most games and minutes played on the team. At the conclusion of the season, Farfan was named to the USSDA Best XI for the Western Conference.
Roster by Position:
GOALKEEPERS (3): Matthew Freese (Philadelphia Union; Wayne, Pa.), Noah Lawrence (D.C. United; Mitchellville, Md.), Kevin Silva (UCLA; Bethlehem, Pa.)
DEFENDERS (6): Daniel Barbir (West Bromwich Albion F.C.; Allentown, Pa.), Tanner Dieterich (Clemson; Nashville, Tenn.), Marco Farfan (Portland Timbers; Portland, Ore.), Justin Ingram (Indiana Fire; Indianapolis, Ind.), Edwin Munjoma (SMU; McKinney, Texas), Brandon Terwege (FC Dallas; Highland Village, Texas)
MIDFIELDERS (11): C hristian Enriquez (Cal Poly; Spring Valley, Calif.), Daniel Griffin (Providence College; Wethersfield, Conn.), Felipe Hernandez (Swope Park Rangers; Murfreesboro, Tenn.), Michael Ille (Atlanta United FC; Lawrenceville, Ga.), Milan Iloski (Real Salt Lake; Escondido, Calif.), Ryley Kraft (Sacramento Republic FC; Roseville, Calif.), Lagos Kunga (Atlanta United FC; Tucker, Ga.), Simon Lekressner (California-Berkley; Bellevue, Wash.), William Little III (Swope Park Rangers; Johnson City, Tenn.), Djordje Mihailovic (Chicago Fire; Bridgeview, Ill.), Grant Robinson (George Mason; Columbia, Md.)KONAČNO je i službeno potvrđeno da se Hrvatima ukidaju radne vize za Njemačku. Kako se navodi u obavijesti na stranicama njemačke vlade, hrvatski stručnjaci popunit će rupe u njemačkim firmama. Napominju kako je samo u 2014. godine 93 tisuće hrvatskih državljana bilo prijavljeno na njihovo socijalno osiguranje. Dodaju, kako se većinom radi o mladima. Od 1. srpnja, godišnje očekuju deset tisuća mladih Hrvata!
"Njemačka od 1. srpnja ukida sva ograničenja pristupu njemačkom tržištu rada za hrvatske državljane, a hrvatske tvrtke mogu isto tako bez ograničenja slati svoje radnike na rad u Njemačku", priopćila je njemačka vlada nakon svoje redovite sjednice.
"Njemačka vlada će Europskoj komisiji priopćiti kako Njemačka više neće ograničavati pristup radnoj snazi i uslugama za građane Republike Hrvatske", priopćila je vlada.
U priopćenju se nadalje navodi kako 30. lipnja završava prijelazna faza ograničenog pristupa njemačkom tržištu rada za hrvatske državljane. Njemačka vlada neće iskoristiti mogućnost produljenja ograničenja (3+2 godine), dodaje se u priopćenju.
I dosad su u prvoj fazi ograničenja za hrvastke državljane postojala mnoga izuzeća. Tako je i dosad u Njemačkoj bio omogućen pristup tržištu rada za akademski obrazovane građane RH koji su pronašli zaposlenje shodno svojoj struci. A isto tako je tržište rada od samog ulaska Hrvatske u Europsku uniju 1. srpnja 2013. bilo otvoreno i za znanstvenike te sezonske radnike.
Početkom ove godine ograničenja su dodatno ublažena pa je tako bilo omogućeno zapošljavanje i onim radnicima iz Hrvatske sa stručnom spremom za koju su se školovali "najmanje tri godine". Za ove radnike poslodavac je doduše kod lokalnog ureda za zapošljavanje i dalje bio dužan isposlovati radnu dozvolu, ali, s obzirom da je ukinuta klauzula po kojoj je izdavanja dozvole bilo moguće jedino ako poslodavac nije pronašao adekvatnog radnika iz Njemačke ili ostatka Europske unije, radne dozvole su izdavane bez ograničenja.
Ograničenja su jedino postojala za hrvatske tvrtke iz građevinske branše i iz tvrtki koje se bave čišćenjem objekata u Njemačkoj i koje su u Njemačkoj htjele zaposliti radnike iz Hrvatske.
I oni bez stručne naobrazbe mogu u Njemačku
Ukidanjem ograničenja od 1. srpnja je njemačko tržište rada otvoreno i za posljednju kategoriju radnika, onih bez stručne naobrazbe. Od tog datuma i hrvatske tvrtke u Njemačkoj mogu neograničeno zapošljavati hrvatske radnike. Ove tvrtke se pri zapošljavanju, kako se izričito navodi, moraju držati njemačkih zakona.
"Zakonom propisana minimalna satnica koja je u Njemačkoj na snazi od početka godine vrijedi i za tvrtke iz Hrvatske", navodi se u priopćenju vlade.
U priopćenju se ističe kako je stanje u njemačkom gospodarstvu i na tržištu rada stabilno te da je moguće prihvatiti nove radnike iz Hrvatske.
"Mnogi hrvatski državljani su već 2013. i 2014. došli u Njemačku. Oni su dobro integrirani i rade uglavnom u onim sektorima u kojoj je primjetan manjak radne snage: građevinarstvu, te zdravstvu i socijalnoj skrbi", stoji u priopćenju.
Godine 2014. je 93.000 hrvatskih državljana u Njemačkoj bilo zaposleno na radnim mjestima sa socijalnim davanjima u punom obujmu.
Godišnje odljev od 10 tisuća ljudi
Njemačka vlada računa da će iz Hrvatske godišnje u Njemačku na rad odlaziti 10.000 ljudi, ali i da bi taj broj mogao varirati ovisno o stanju u Hrvatskoj.
"Hrvatska i sama računa s gospodarskim rastom i rastom mogućnosti zapošljavanja. Dosad su hrvatski državljani dolazili na rad u Njemačku i Austriju kako bi izbjegli visoku nezaposlenost u Hrvatskoj", stoji u priopćenju.
"Hrvati koji rade u inozemstvu su dobit i za hrvatsko gospodarstvo. Njihove doznake poboljšavaju prihode obitelji kod kuće i time jačaju kupovnu moć građana".
Ukidanje ograničenja za građane Hrvatske već nakon dvije godine je presedan jer je to prvi put da Njemačka pri proširenju Europske unije ne koristi svoje pravo uvođenja ograničenja od punih sedam godina.
Njemačka ministrica: Radujem se Hrvatima
"Radujem se što današnjom odlukom hrvatskim građankama i građanima možemo omogućiti punu slobodu kretanja radnika. Pravo da možemo raditi i gospodarski djelovati u nekoj drugoj članici EU-a neprocjenjiva je prednost Europske unije", izjavila je njemačka ministrica rada i socijalnih poslova Andrea Nahles.
Priopćenje iz njemačkog veleposlanstva
"Današnjom odlukom kabineta njemačke savezne vlade završava dvogodišnje prijelazno razdoblje koje je Njemačka koristila nakon pristupanja Hrvatske Europskoj uniji 1. srpnja 2013.
Njemačka savezna vlada već je tijekom prijelaznog razdoblja za hrvatske državljane pri ulasku na njemačko tržište rada primjenjivala opsežne olakšice i time stekla dobra iskustva.
Njemačka savezna ministrica rada i socijalnih poslova Andrea Nahles tim je povodom izjavila:
"Radujem se što današnjom odlukom hrvatskim građankama i građanima možemo omogućiti punu slobodu kretanja radnika. Pravo da možemo raditi i gospodarski djelovati u nekoj drugoj članici Europske unije neprocjenjiva je prednost Europske unije.
Tekst se nastavlja ispod oglasa
Zahvaljujući olakšicama u pristupu tržištu rada koje smo već primjenjivali u posljednje dvije godine, danas u Njemačkoj radi i ima socijalno osiguranje oko 93.000 građana i građanki iz Hrvatske, i to prije svega u zdravstvu, socijalnoj skrbi i prerađivačkoj djelatnosti. To je Europa u praksi! A s jedinstvenom minimalnom plaćom konačno možemo spriječiti dampinško smanjivanje plaća u slobodnom kretanju radnika".
Potpuna sloboda kretanja je uz slobodan promet roba, usluga i kapitala jedno od temeljnih sloboda Europske unije. Ona znači da se svaki građanin Europske unije u pravilu može slobodno kretati i gospodarski djelovati u Europskoj uniji. Pristupni ugovor Europske unije s Republikom Hrvatskom omogućava da se sloboda kretanja radnika ograniči na najviše sedam godina. Tu je mogućnost njemačka savezna vlada iskoristila u prvoj fazi koja traje do 30. lipnja 2015. Njemačka je vlada već tijekom tog prijelaznog razdoblja primjenjivala opsežne olakšice za kvalificirane posloprimce, naučnike i sezonske radnike prilikom njihova ulaska na njemačko tržište rada.
Današnjom odlukom hrvatski državljani više ne moraju imati radnu dozvolu. Pretpostavljamo da će se radnici iz Hrvatske i nadalje dobro integrirati u njemačko tržište rada.", stoji u obavijesti iz njemačkog veleposlanstva u Zagrebu.
HGK: Nakon otvaranja tržišta Hrvatska neće imati dovoljno radnika
ODLUKA njemačke vlade da od 1. srpnja ukida sva ograničenja pristupu njemačkom tržištu rada za hrvatske državljane imat će pozitivne i negativne učinke, smatraju u Hrvatskoj gospodarskoj komori.
Pozitivno je da hrvatski radnici dobivaju priliku da kao i ostali državljani EU slobodno odabiru mjesto za rad i život što je i bio jedan od ciljeva našeg ulaska u EU. Jednako tako i priliku za zaposlenje na poslovima s višim plaćama, boljim radnim uvjetima, a za nezaposlene, naročito one dugotrajne, da uopće rade.
Kada je riječ o hrvatskom gospodarstvu onda učinci odluke njemačke vlade neće biti pozitivni. Nastavit će se trend odlaska mladih i stručnih radnika koji već sada nedostaju na hrvatskom tržištu rada, a još će ih više nedostajati kada jače krene oporavak.
Osim stručnjaka i kvalificiranih radnika pojavit će se i problem nedostatka radnika nižih kvalifikacija posebno u nekim radno intenzivnim gospodarskim granama, te je izvjesno da će Hrvatska vrlo brzo kako zbog tih razloga tako i zbog krajnje pesimistične demografske situacije morati osmisliti učinkovitu imigracijsku politiku, čiji će sastavni dio biti i politika zadržavanja ljudi.
Hrvatski radnici zbog male brojnosti sasvim sigurno neće preplaviti veliko njemačko tržište rada jer su i do sada bez ograničenja primali visokoobrazovane i visokokvalificirane radnike. Njemačkom gospodarstvu trajno nedostaju radnici koje bez imigracije ne mogu pronaći. Postojeći hrvatski radnici u Njemačkoj prisutni su pola stoljeća i dobro su integrirani. Sasvim sigurno da će utjecaj hrvatskih migranata na tržište rada Njemačke biti zapravo zanemariv ili vrlo mali, navode iz HGK.
Trend iseljavanja upućuje na alarmantnu situaciju
"Trend iseljavanja hrvatskog stanovništva upućuje na alarmantnu situaciju i potrebu suočavanja s pravom istinom o stvarnom stanju našega gospodarstva, njegovoj konkurentnosti, ali i funkcioniranju svih društvenih sustava. Nadamo se da će sve ovo potaknuti mobilizaciju cijeloga društva na konačnom poduzimanju reformi o kojima svi govore, a malo tko ih poduzima", zaključuju u HGK.The initial Israeli attack was assessed to have set back the Iranian nuclear program by roughly a year, and the subsequent American strikes did not slow the Iranian nuclear program by more than an additional two years. However, other Pentagon planners have said that America’s arsenal of long-range bombers, refueling aircraft and precision missiles could do far more damage to the Iranian nuclear program — if President Obama were to decide on a full-scale retaliation.
The exercise was designed specifically to test internal military communications and coordination among battle staffs in the Pentagon; in Tampa, Fla., where the headquarters of the Central Command is located; and in the Persian Gulf in the aftermath of an Israeli strike. But the exercise was written to assess a pressing, potential, real-world situation.
In the end, the war game reinforced to military officials the unpredictable and uncontrollable nature of a strike by Israel, and a counterstrike by Iran, the officials said.
American and Israeli intelligence services broadly agree on the progress Iran has made to enrich uranium. But they disagree on how much time there would be to prevent Iran from building a weapon if leaders in Tehran decided to go ahead with one.
With the Israelis saying publicly that the window to prevent Iran from building a nuclear bomb is closing, American officials see an Israeli attack on Iran within the next year as a possibility. They have said privately that they believe that Israel would probably give the United States little or no warning should Israeli officials make the decision to strike Iranian nuclear sites.
Officials said that, under the chain of events in the war game, Iran believed that Israel and the United States were partners in any strike against Iranian nuclear sites and therefore considered American military forces in the Persian Gulf as complicit in the attack. Iranian jets chased Israeli warplanes after the attack, and Iranians launched missiles at an American warship in the Persian Gulf, viewed as an act of war that allowed an American retaliation.
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Internal Look has long been one of Central Command’s most significant planning exercises, and is carried out about twice a year to assess how the headquarters, its staff and command posts in the region would respond to various real-world situations.
Over the years, it has been used to prepare for various wars in the Middle East. According to the defense Web site GlobalSecurity.org, military planners during the cold war used Internal Look to prepare for a move by the Soviet Union to seize Iranian oil fields. The American war plan at the time called for the Pentagon to march nearly six Army divisions north from the Persian Gulf to the Zagros Mountains of Iran to blunt a Soviet attack.
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In December 2002, Gen. Tommy R. Franks, who was the top officer at Central Command, used Internal Look to test the readiness of his units for the coming invasion of Iraq.
Many experts have predicted that Iran would try to carefully manage the escalation after an Israeli first strike in order to avoid giving the United States a rationale for attacking with its far superior forces. Thus, it might use proxies to set off car bombs in world capitals or funnel high explosives to insurgents in Afghanistan to attack American and NATO troops.
While using surrogates might, in the end, not be enough to hide Iran’s instigation of these attacks, the government in Tehran could at least publicly deny all responsibility.
Some military specialists in the United States and in Israel who have assessed the potential ramifications of an Israeli attack believe that the last thing Iran would want is a full-scale war on its territory. Thus, they argue that Iran would not directly strike American military targets, whether warships in the Persian Gulf or bases in the region.
Their analysis, however, also includes the broad caveat that it is impossible to know the internal thinking of the senior Iranian leadership, and is informed by the awareness that even the most detailed war games cannot predict how nations and their leaders will react in the heat of conflict.
Yet these specialists continue their work, saying that any insight on how the Iranians will react to an attack will help determine whether the Israelis carry out a strike — and what the American position will be if they do.
Israeli intelligence estimates, backed by academic studies, have cast doubt on the widespread assumption that a military strike on Iranian nuclear facilities would set off a catastrophic set of events like a regional conflagration, widespread acts of terrorism and sky-high oil prices.
“A war is no picnic,” Defense Minister Ehud Barak told Israel Radio in November. But if Israel feels itself forced into action, the retaliation would be bearable, he said. “There will not be 100,000 dead or 10,000 dead or 1,000 dead. The state of Israel will not be destroyed.”Week 1 of the 2015 season for the SEC West is in the books, and what a week it was.
With the exception of LSU, whose game against McNeese State was canceled due to excessive lighting strikes, every team in the division won its season opener, some more impressively than others. There were expected results as well as unexpected surprises, but as far as opening weeks go, things collectively couldn’t have gone much better for the division’s six squads that were able to play.
Alabama: Jacob Coker definitely justified Nick Saban’s decision to start him in the Crimson Tide’s season-opening 35-17 win over Wisconsin. He started off slowly, but finished strong, completing 15-of-21 passes for 213 yards and a touchdown while not committing a turnover.
Coker had plenty of help in junior running back Derrick Henry, the player of the game with 147 yards on just 13 carries and three touchdowns.
The defense was impressive, holding Badgers running back Corey Clement to just 16 yards on eight carries. Alabama hosts Middle Tennessee State next week.
Arkansas: In the Razorbacks’ 48-13 victory over UTEP, Brandon Allen proved he can be more than a game manager by completing 14-of-18 passes for a career-best 304 yards and a career high-tying four TDs. All four scoring passes went for more 20 yards or more — including Allen’s 58-yard connection with Jared Cornelius in the second quarter. Keon Hatcher led the Razorbacks’ receivers with six catches for 106 yards and two TDs.
For one game, the Hogs’ rushing attack was just fine. With Jonathan Williams out for the season with a foot injury, Alex Collins gained 127 yards on 12 carries, including a 70-yard scamper and a 7-yard TD run. Rawleigh Williams ran 16 times for 45 yards as the No. 2 back.
Arkansas was very opportunistic on defense, forcing two fumbles and an interception, which led to 17 points. The Razorbacks allowed just 204 total yards, and led, 21-3, before the Miners scored their only TD. Toledo visits Arkansas next week.
Auburn: There was plenty to like about the Tigers’ 31-24 victory over Louisville, beginning with Peyton Barber. who gained 115 yards on 24 carries after taking over for injured starter Roc Thomas, who left the game with an undisclosed injury. Justin Garrett’s 82-yard fumble return for a touchdown was the highlight for Will Muschamp’s defense, which helped Auburn get out to a 24-0 lead. Tray Matthews’ 35-yard interception return led to Auburn’s first touchdown. And the rest of the defense — particularly the line — was outstanding as Dontavius Russell, Montravius Adams, Carl Lawson and |
Detective Comics and Batman and as a “created by” credited in every movie starring the Dark Knight. When author and comic-book fan Marc Tyler Nobleman—who had previously written about Superman creators Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster in Boys Of Steel—decided to tackle Batman’s creative origins, his research led him to discover that although Kane claimed most of the credit, many of the key elements of the Batman we know today came from the mind of writer Bill Finger. The savvy Kane had already locked down his ownership of the character, but knew that he needed help, so he turned to his acquaintance Finger, whose suggestions greatly improved Kane’s initial sketch of the character. Finger contributed many of the early stories that made Batman famous, and came up with many of the character’s defining attributes: the cape, the cowl, the color palette, the tragic origin story, even the Dark Knight nickname.
It’s not easy to make a thriller out of a story primarily based in research, but animated comic-book interjections keep Batman & Bill’s plot moving. Also, Nobleman’s passion for his subject matter gives the documentarians a lot to work with. (At one point, Nobleman’s young daughter is asked what her father’s job is, and she replies, “Bill Finger.”) He’s shown scouring years of Bronx phone books to find any possible friends or relatives of Bill Finger, to find out as much as possible about the person Kane referred to in his memoir (published years after Finger’s death) as an “unsung hero.” Eventually, Nobleman becomes wholly focused on getting Finger acknowledged as Batman’s co-creator, which could mean a considerable amount of royalty rights for Finger’s descendants. But first, he has to find those descendants.
Nobleman narrates that search, with help from Finger’s contemporaries and present-day comics names and fans—among them Kevin Smith, who helps publicize Nobleman’s efforts. For fans, the Batman research is much more interesting than the hunt for the Finger family. This is where the doc drags a bit, suffering in comparison to the excitement radiating from the stories of Batman’s creation. An hourlong runtime might have suited Batman & Bill better than the 90 minutes it turned into.
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Nobleman and the Fingers’ battle ultimately faces David-and-Goliath odds against DC Comics and its giant parent companies, which Batman & Bill steeps in tension until it’s revealed whether or not Finger will finally get his proper credit. But the film also has a lot to say about creativity and ownership. Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster were similarly desperate to get Superman in print, selling the rights to the character for a fraction of what he’d eventually be worth. The pride these artists may have had in creating these heroes must have been almost squashed by the knowledge that someone else was reaping such great rewards from their original ideas. From another angle, the documentary also says a lot about how important it is to feel so strongly about doing what you love: Bill Finger took the bus around New York for hours, sketching out possible ideas and stories for the Batman characters, just as Nobleman spent years trying to put a happy ending on Finger’s story. Bob Kane might have hobnobbed with movie stars at the premiere of Tim Burton’s first Batman film, but who knows if he ever attained that particular kind of creative satisfaction, knowing that someone else was partly responsible for what he was taking all the credit for.COLOGNE (GERMANY) (AFP) – A 16-year-old Syrian refugee went on trial in Germany Monday accused of planning a bomb attack on behalf of the Islamic State jihadist group.
The youngster was arrested at an asylum shelter in the western city of Cologne in September, with the authorities describing him as a “serious threat”.
Police at the time said the suspect’s mobile phone showed he had been in touch with an IS contact abroad and had expressed willingness to carry out an attack.
Investigators found online chat messages on the phone that included “concrete instructions” for building an explosive device, prosecutors added.
Officers searching his accommodation discovered a battery pack, 70 sewing needles and several butane gas cartridges — items that could be used to prepare a bomb, DPA national news agency reported, citing the charge sheet.
The trial at the district court in Cologne, scheduled to last until March 20, is being held behind closed doors because the accused is a legal minor.
A court spokesman said he had to answer charges of planning “a serious act of violence threatening state security”.
If convicted, he faces a maximum sentence of five years’ detention under the juvenile penal code.
The teenager and his family were among the nearly 900,000 migrants and refugees who arrived in Germany in 2015, a record influx that has fuelled security concerns.
The youngster was brought to police attention after residents and employees at the refugee shelter where he was staying voiced concerns that he had been radicalised, as did a local mosque.
Germany is on high alert following a series of attacks claimed by IS, the deadliest of which was a truck rampage through a Berlin Christmas market which killed 12 people in December.Have you heard the exciting news? Scholastic has acquired world rights to a picture book written by R.L. Stine, the worldwide bestselling author of Goosebumps, and illustrated by Marc Brown, creator of the bestselling Arthur Adventure book series and creative producer of the #1 children's PBS television series “Arthur!”
Introducing Mary McScary, Stine and Brown’s second picture book collaboration, which will be published in September 2017 by Orchard Books.
Mary McScary is a wildly funny new picture book that will have kids shrieking, “BOOOOOO!” Mary spends her days being scary. She scares her mom, her dad, her pets, and even a balloon! But Mary has met her match when her cousin Harry McScary comes to visit. He’s not afraid of anything, until Mary finds a way to give Harry the scare of his life. Read more here!More than half of New Zealanders are worried about the country being a tax haven after the Panama Papers leak, according to a new poll.
Photo: AFP
The UMR Research survey, commissioned by ActionStation, also shows almost half of those polled thought the government was handling the questions raised by the Panama Papers poorly.
The leak - of millions of documents from Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca - has exposed how the world's wealthy often use trusts in other countries to avoid tax.
In New Zealand, the government has appointed tax expert John Shewan to conduct a review of disclosure rules covering foreign trusts amid claims the country is a tax haven.
The poll found 57 percent of New Zealanders were concerned about the country being a tax haven.
It found 46 percent thought the government was dealing with the issues surrounding New Zealand being a tax haven poorly, while 21 percent thought it was dealing with it well.
It also found that 40 percent of National voters were concerned with foreign trusts being used by people overseas for tax evasion purposes.
Prime Minister John Key said there would always be wild claims made about New Zealand being a tax haven and the operation of foreign trusts, and some members of the public would be influenced by that.
"In the context of disclosure, we believe disclosure is more than adequate in New Zealand, certainly in New Zealand there is no evidence to support New Zealand [being] a tax haven.
"But we have engaged John Shewan to do a thorough review of that and I think he's probably one of the best people in New Zealand to undertake that review, he's certainly an industry expert and people acknowledge that."
The poll found just 31 percent of New Zealanders thought the appointment of Mr Shewan to review New Zealand's foreign trust laws was an adequate response to the foreign trust issue, while more than half believed a full public independent inquiry was needed.
But Mr Key remained adamant a full inquiry was not the way to go.
"The review of the disclosure is important, and the work that we'll do around tax is important but there's nothing else that stands out particularly."
New Zealand First leader Winston Peters said the poll result was no surprise.
"We've been dragged down our reputation to look like some banana republic running a tax haven, all the international experts say that's a fact, so do New Zealand lawyers and accountants who have got some integrity, say that.
"More importantly, the Prime Minister has allowed first of all this to happen, and then he's allowed also for international corporates operating in New Zealand to, in some cases, to pay under 1 percent taxation."
Labour finance spokesperson Grant Robertson said New Zealanders were rightly concerned about the country's reputation.
"This is about our reputation internationally as a country that has been largely free of corruption.
"We're now being associated with the mega-rich around the world trying to hide their wealth and not pay their fair share of tax, and that goes against all the things that New Zealanders believe in."
The UMR poll surveyed 750 people between 14 and 18 April, and had a margin of error of 3.6 percent.FILE - This Nov. 8, 2012 file photo shows marijuana plants flourishing under the lights at a grow house in Denver. President Barack Obama says he won't go after Washington state and Colorado for legalizing marijuana. In a Barbara Walters interview airing Friday on ABC, Obama is asked whether he supports making pot legal. He says, "I wouldn't go that far." (AP Photo/Ed Andrieski, File)
Former ONDCP adviser Kevin Sabet is at it again.
I've warned readers before about the "kinder gentler drug war" ideas that Sabet has been peddling. Now with much fanfare and the bipartisan additions of conservative David Frum and liberal Patrick Kennedy, Sabet has launched Project SAM, known as "Smart Approaches to Marijuana."
This is Sabet's latest attempt to paint criticism of the war on drugs, which is gaining traction with the voters, as a "false choice" between "lock 'em up" and "legalize it." It is his Goldilocks-and-the-Three-Bears triangulation of the war on drugs as "too hard," the legalization of marijuana as "too soft," and the emphasis on treatment and prevention as "just right."
It is, as Ethan Nadelmann of Drug Policy Alliance remarked, "a strategic retreat" in order to maintain the prohibition of marijuana. The racial arrest disparities, the denial of medicine to the truly ill, and the devastating consequences of a marijuana possession arrest are battles that he cannot win any more, so he cedes that territory, calling for an end to "stop and frisk," restoration of civil rights for those who served marijuana sentences, and emergency approval of non-smoked marijuana medicines for the truly ill.
But Sabet's SAM never addresses the root cause that leads to all of the devastating consequences in the first place: the arrest of a marijuana smoker for possession or use. Indeed, in SAM's world, pot smokers would still be arrested, but the "kinder gentler drug war" would mandate rehab and supervised probation for those caught with weed. If you should choose not to go to rehab or you fail a pee test, well, then, the force of law still exists to throw you in a cage.
Sabet's only doing it for our own good, of course. SBIRT Colorado tweeted about Sabet's remarks at the launch of SAM as "looking at #marijuana use as a health issue = prevention. Not waiting til individuals need treatment." It's rehab for people who don't need rehab... yet! Might as well call it "prehab." (Can you imagine how full Alcoholics Anonymous meetings would be if the smell of beer on your breath was enough to get a search warrant, and if any beer is found, sentence you to rehab and AA?)
Even more ignored is the process by which simple marijuana possession occurs, namely cultivation, harvest, distribution, and sale of marijuana, all of which would remain misdemeanors or felonies in SAM's world, allowing violent cartels and criminals to continue to make a fortune and requiring continued expenditure and raids and potential law enforcement violence.
Indeed, there is a dichotomy at work in the war on drugs, but it is not a false one. The dichotomy is that either the force of the government should be used stop people from using marijuana, or it should not, absent no harm to others. Increasingly, the American people believe the latter.Furious 7 (2015)
Starring: Vin Diesel, Paul Walker, Dwayne Johnson, Jason Statham, Michelle Rodriguez, Jordana Brewster, Tyrese Gibson, Ludacris, Kurt Russell, Nathalie Emmanuel
Directed By: James Wan
Written By: Chris Morgan
Rating: PG-13 (US) Running Time: 2 hr 17 min
Two Cents:
Furious 7 is an interesting film, in that it delivers mindless over the top action thrills with a weight of sadness at the passing of Paul Walker. Feeling less like a movie in its own right, and closer to one of those really lazy TV episodes that just replays clips from the series. Getting by on nostalgia, rather than pushing the franchise forward. Frequently lingering on shots of Mr. Walker, while Vin Diesel deeply growls about this being their last ride.
One thing’s for sure, the makers of this film had no respect or understanding of Newton’s third law. Remember the fridge from Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull? Furious 7 has lots of scenes like that. Over the top moments of action, that would kill any normal human being. Which pretty much rules out the possibility of any tension in the story, because seriously, all the heroes are indestructible!
But you might rightly say, ‘this is a movie, and some suspension of disbelief is required.’ Which is true, but I think Furious 7 asks too much of its audience. You’re not merely required to switch your brain off to enjoy this film. You have to forget you ever had one. And judging by the giggles I heard in the theater during the more ridiculous moments of high-octane mayhem, I think some people had been pushed too far.
As a piece of preposterous action entertainment, Furious 7 hits all the marks it should. It’s loud and stupid, the dialog is mostly lifeless save for some fun banter, and the action ups the ante over the previous installments in the series. Basically operating on the same intellectual and entertainment level of a firework show. Stuffed with pretty scantily dressed women, gratuitous butt and cleavage shots, beautiful cars and big explosions. I honestly think director James Wan was trying to out-Bay Michael Bay!
Movie Prep:
If you’re a fan of the series and its characters, this film should keep you entertained. If you’re looking for some mindless fun at the theater, Furious 7 isn’t a total waste of time. The movie is rated PG-13, so the violence never gets too graphic.
Best Format:
With all the huge set pieces, locations and cool looking cars, this movie should be seen in a theater. If you wait for the rental, watch this in HD on your TV. The movies impact will be negatively effected on a portable sized screen.
Best Moment: << spoiler! >>
Furious 7 ends with a very classy tribute to Paul Walker.
References: IMDB
TweetWidespread Panic – 01/26/2015 – Punta Cana, Dominican Republic
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Photos by Josh Timmermans
Favorite night of PELP Cuatro? 1/24 Night One
1/25 Night Two w/ 'I Swear It Wasn't Me' first time played
1/26 Night Three w/ The Dirty Dozen and Bloodkin
1/27 Night Four w/ The Playa Allstars View Results
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Coloartist’s source
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Widespread Panic
Panic en la Playa Cuatro
Punta Cana, Dominican Republic
1/26/2015
Set 1: (77 mins)
01 Intro 1
02 Disco
03 Second Skin >
04 Goin’ Out West
05 Give
06 Holden Oversoul >
07 Climb To Safety
08 Tail Dragger*
09 Christmas Katie*
10 Go To The Mardi Gras In New Orleans*^
Set 2: (115 mins)
01 Intro 2
02 Space Wrangler >
03 Blackout Blues
04 One Arm Steve
05 Barstools and Dreamers >
06 Duane Drumz >
07 Chilly Water >
08 Drumz >
09 JAM** >
10 Barstools and Dreamers
11 Quarter Tank of Gasoline^^
12 Henry Parson’s Died^^
13 Crowd
Encore: (17 mins)
14 You Can’t Always Get What You Want***
15 End Of The Show^^
Notes:
* w/ Dirty Dozen Brass Band,
^ LTP 10.28.00
** Astronomy Domine Tease
^^ w/ Danny Hutchens on vocals & guitar, Eric Carter on guitar (Bloodkin)
*** Eric Carter on guitar
Schoeps ccm41>DinA>KC5>CMC6>analog>788T (HPF 0) 24/48
FOB/DFC 40′ back, stand and @ 8′
Recorded by Bennett Schwartz
Zman’s source
Play Stop Next» «Prev SHOW PLAYLIST X
Widespread Panic
Panic En La Playa IV
Hard Rock Hotel And Casino
Punta Cana, Dominican Republic
1/26/2015
1st Set
01 Tuning
02 Disco >
03 Second Skin >
04 Goin’ Out West
05 Give
06 Holden Oversoul >
07 Jam >
08 Climb To Safety
09 *Tail Dragger
10 *Christmas Katy >
11 *Mardi Gras In New Orleans
2nd Set
01 JB Thanks DDBB
02 Space Wrangler >
03 Blackout Blues
04 One-Arm Steve >
05 Barstools And Dreamers >
06 Drum Solo >
07 Chilly Water >
08 Drum Solo >
01 Jam >
02 Barstools And Dreamers
03 #Quarter Tank Of Gasoline >
04 Henry Parsons Died
Encore:
05 @You Can’t Always Get What You Want
06 #End Of The Show
* With Dirty Dozen Brass Band
# With Daniel Hutchens And Eric Carter
@ With Eric Carter
Source: Schoeps CCM4V’S(din)>Lunatec V2>Benchmark AD2K> Sound Devices 722 (24/48)
FOB/DFC/KFC/ZFC/AARP Approximately 39′ From Stage, 6 1/2′ High
Recorded By: Z-Man
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comments“The place is like a castle in the jungle, remarkable in that it’s managed to be quite free of government restrictions,” said Stephen Smale, 84, a professor emeritus at the University of California, Berkeley, who spent time at the institute in 1960 doing research in Rio that led to his own Fields Medal in 1966. In a reflection of the ties that the institute has forged with top universities around the world, Mr. Smale noted that his doctoral students at Berkeley included Jacob Palis, a former director of the institute, and César Camacho, its current director.
The compound, built in the late 1970s and early ’80s with heavy amounts of reinforced concrete, in a nod to the somber architectural styles prevailing during Brazil’s military dictatorship, has a vibe that is at once laid-back and intense.
The students who come to study here, some of whom wander the halls in shorts and flip-flops, exude a nerdy style like that of the code writers on “Silicon Valley,” the HBO comedy series. Much of the institute, known as IMPA, is eerily quiet, as the scholars within its confines explore the boundaries of mathematics and pure reason, often without focusing on how their knowledge can be used in the real world.
“IMPA is an extremely demanding environment,” said Inocencio Ortiz, 29, a Paraguayan doctoral student clad in a Led Zeppelin T-shirt. “But it’s worth it since a degree from here brings with it prestige and strong chances of getting a job in mathematics in Brazil or elsewhere.”
In recent years, the institute, which recruits promising math students into its programs while some are still in high school (as it did with Mr. Ávila, the Fields recipient), has maintained a publication rate among its faculty that compares favorably with large American universities like Princeton and Stanford, according to the American Mathematical Society.KFOX14 is learning more about an alleged scheme targeting several banks.
A local business owner and former UTEP women's basketball player were part of the scheme.
KFOX14 obtained the indictment outlining the details in this scheme.
Seven people were involved and are accused of applying for a total of $237,000 in fraudulent loans.
The indictment charges former UTEP women's basketball player Jenzel Nash, and her fiance, Terrance Yelder, who played football at NMSU in 2014.
Husband and wife Michael and Perla Annabi are also charged. They owned the now-closed Chubby's Bronx Deli in west El Paso.
The three others listed on the indictment are Miguel Muñoz, Daniel Muñoz, and Basem Elgelda.
Investigators said the scheme went on from 2013 to 2016.
The indictment states the group used fake information to apply for loans at 21 banks nationwide.
The group is accused of lying about their monthly incomes and where they lived to apply for loans ranging from a couple thousand to more than $45,000.
Each of the seven people in the group faces up to 30 years in prison if convicted.
A trial date has not been set.
As of now, records show that no one from the group has been arrested yet.
KFOX14 tried reaching out to the seven people in the indictment, but no one responded or wanted to comment.NEW YORK (Reuters) - A brutal new year selloff in oil markets quickened on Monday, with prices plunging 6 percent to new 12-year lows as further ructions in the Chinese stock market threatened to knock crude as low as $20 a barrel.
An oil pump jack can be seen in Cisco, Texas, August 23, 2015. REUTERS/Mike Stone
Amid an accelerating tailspin that shows no sign of slowing, Monday’s dive - the biggest one-day loss since September - triggered a rash of panicky trading across the market.
Long-term futures contracts for 2017 and beyond fell nearly as hard as those for immediate delivery as some producers rushed to hedge, while a key options gauge surged to nearly its highest since 2009.
The latest catalyst was a further 5 percent decline in China’s blue-chip stocks and a surge in overnight interest rates for the yuan outside of China to nearly 40 percent, their highest since the launch of the offshore market. Technical and momentum selling added fuel to the selloff.
Morgan Stanley warned that a further devaluation of the yuan could send oil prices spiraling into the $20-$25 per barrel range, extending the year’s 15 percent slide.
“The focus is still on China and the demand concerns in China moving forward into 2016,” said Tony Headrick, an energy market analyst at CHS Hedging LLC.
While China’s volatility is spooking traders over the outlook for demand from the world’s No. 2 consumer, drillers in the United States say they are focused on keeping their wells running as long as possible, despite the slump.
U.S. shale output is expected to decline by 116,000 barrels per day in February versus the month before, the same rate as January’s estimated drop and a slower pace than many had expected months ago, the Energy Information Administration said.
Brent crude futures LCOc1 fell $2.00 to settle at $31.55 a barrel, their lowest since April 2004. Brent has fallen more than 15 percent in six straight days of losses, the worst such slump in a year.
Long-dated Brent crude prices for 2017 and 2018 fell nearly as hard as the tumbling front-month contract on Monday amid a scramble of producer hedging, according to dealers.
U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures CLc1 fell $1.75 to settle at $31.41 a barrel, the lowest since December 2003.
The fierce selling triggered a renewed scramble to buy options betting on a further slide, sending the CBOE volatility index.OVX, a gauge of options premiums based on moves in the U.S. oil exchange traded fund, over 13 percent higher to more than 63 - close to its highest level in seven years.
Nearly 17,000 lots of March $30 puts CL300O6 and 18,000 lots of February $30 puts CL300N6 traded, doubling Friday’s volumes.
The markets are positioned in a way where “traders are afraid to be long,” said Clayton Vernon, a trader and economist with Aquivia LLC in New Jersey. “The firm push for normalization with Iran has taken the last shred of geopolitical risk out of traders’ minds.”
The European Union said on Monday that the lifting of sanctions on Iran could come soon, following a deal last year to curb the Middle East nation’s nuclear program. Many market participants say that Iran’s return to the oil markets would add more pressure to the global glut that has knocked prices from more than $100 in mid-2014.
Speculators cut their net long position to the smallest since 2010, with short positions rising in a sign that they are losing faith in a price rise any time soon.
(This story corrects the year in paragraph 11 to 2003 instead of 2013)Fox News guest Ben Kissel (Screen cap).
A Fox News guest on Tuesday absolutely roasted the network’s attempts to attack the FBI as a way to discredit special counsel Robert Mueller’s probe into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election.
During a segment on FBI agent Peter Strzok’s anti-Trump text messages that he sent during the 2016 presidential election campaign, guest Ben Kissel mocked the notion that the FBI is filled with wild-eyed left wingers who are chomping at the bit to take down a Republican president.
“I think this is making a mountain out of a molehill here,” Kissel said. “There is no liberal witch hunt going on with the FBI in an attempt to get Donald Trump. The FBI isn’t some hippie organization filled with people… wearing Birkenstocks and going to Flaming Lips concerts. They’re serious individuals and they’re able to hold personal opinions, and it does not necessarily impact their professional life.”
Fellow panelist Lawrence Jones, however, disagreed with Kissel’s take and said that Stzrok’s text messages showed that the entire Mueller investigation has been compromised. Kissel again laughed off this assertion.
“His deputy Attorney General [Rod] Rosenstein appointed Mueller!” Kissel said. “It wasn’t as if Mueller was chomping at the bit to have the investigation go down.”
Watch the video below.Charter's New Post-Merger Ads Don't Reflect Ugly User Reality
According to Advertising Age, Charter is launching a massive new advertising campaign on the heels of spending $79 billion to acquire Bright House Networks and Time Warner Cable. According to the news outlet, in the new ads "Charter plays upon images of a rising sun, bright skies and open fields to convey the birth of the Spectrum brand." The company hopes to "differentiate itself from the maligned Time Warner Cable brand by stressing customer service," lower rates, no contracts, and Charter's "investment in new employees."
But the experience many consumers are having doesn't reflect this Utopian cable vision in the slightest.
When it comes to faster broadband speeds, Charter has frozen the ongoing speed upgrades that were being conducted by Time Warner Cable, which pushed maximum possible speeds to 300 Mbps. Customers originally scheduled for upgrades will need to make due with 100 Mbps until Charter unveils its plan for faster speeds.
On the support side, the company has long failed to see the point in offering additional support on social media and in non-traditional support outlets, so as soon as Charter and Time Warner Cable were acquired, the company stopped offering support via these avenues and began laying off employees tied to these efforts. That included ceasing support of both Bright House Networks and Time Warner Cable in the forums here at DSLReports.com, another notable downgrade for users.
As an additional layer of "merger synergies," many customers complain that the company has been imposing a new $200 "technician fee" for users that try to cut cable but keep their broadband connection. And in many markets like Los Angeles, customers are already facing price hikes; being told they'll be paying notably more money to Charter than they ever paid to Time Warner Cable once their existing contracts expire.
So while Charter's ads are busy promising a "new day for the cable experience," thehas been more of the same types of behavior that has resulted in Charter having among the lowest customer satisfaction scores of any company in any industry in America. And despite company promises, as AT&T and Verizon back out of unwanted DSL markets and cable's monopoly market share grows via consolidation, there's actually less incentive for improvement in many markets than ever before.The book also has several themes relevant in the post 9/11 world, most notably Mayor Waters taking control of the city of New York to protect it, and the WEBB, an energy field that seals all of New York inside it so no one can leave.
The series has been compared to The Dark Knight Returns, a comparison which Marvel has also quoted when promoting Reign. [1] As well as the thematic similarities between the two stories, both of which revisit aged heroes after the end of their careers, The Dark Knight Returns is also acknowledged within the pages of Reign by the inclusion of a character named Miller Janson (the name reflects Dark Knight Returns creators Frank Miller and Klaus Janson ).
On December 12, 2006, Marvel announced that issue #1 had sold out through Diamond Comic Distributors and that a second printing would be released. [1]
Thirty years in Spider-Man's future, New York City is a relatively safe zone, although it is under total control of its mayor. Super-criminals and superheroes are a thing of the past, but the authoritarian government utilizes a merciless police force, "The Reign".
Some teenagers are brutally attacked by the Reign after spray-painting a message, "Where did you go?", presumably directed to Spider-Man. The group runs away.
A late 60s, early 70s aged Peter Parker works as a florist, and he is fired for ruining a couple's wedding by sending the wrong flowers. He bumps into one of the fleeing children as the Reign show up and arrest the youth, and is beaten by a cop.
Parker returns home and is haunted by memories of his deceased wife Mary Jane, as Mayor Waters announces the WEBB system to protect the city from attacks. Behind the scenes, he keeps a vegetative Kingpin prisoner, mocking him.
At Peter's apartment, J. Jonah Jameson delivers him a package. Jameson also apologizes for his years of abuse, saying he sold the Daily Bugle because he realized he was running it on lies. Jameson leaves and starts a riot, which leads to a fight against two Reign officers. Meanwhile, Parker opens the package revealing a camera and his old black-suit mask. He defeats the officers wearing only the mask and his underwear, imagining himself in his prime. After Jonah asks if Spider-Man is back, the webslinger punches him and walks away without a word.
Mayor Waters is shocked at the return of Spider-Man and releases Electro, Mysterio, Kraven the Hunter, the Sandman, the Scorpion and Hydro-Man from prison. The Mayor then tells the newly christened "Sinner Six", if they defeat their old nemesis, they can leave New York. J. Jonah Jameson announces the return of Spider-Man while hiding, as the Reign locks down on the citizens. Following the news of Spider-Man's return, an elderly Hypno-Hustler comes out of retirement in hopes of aiding his former foe. Unfortunately, the boombox he uses to hypnotize the police soon runs out of battery power. The Reign reacts swiftly, firing at and killing Hypno-Hustler.
Peter's apartment is shot with a missile as he struggles with his Mary Jane hallucinations, acting as a guide for his actions in the present day. After the smoke clears, Spider-Man leaps out cheerfully, wearing his full black costume and using his old tactics of taunting his foes.
Spider-Man is cornered by the Sinner Six, but in the final moments, Kraven rips his mask off, disheartening the crowd when they realize their hero is an old, defeated man. His life is saved at the last moment by Doctor Octopus, who is now dead, but a final command to his tentacles (he had referred to them as his "Four Sons") cause them to show Peter three grave-markers: those of Mary Jane Watson-Parker, May Parker, and Ben Parker.
After being buried in Mary Jane's coffin by Doc Ock's tentacles and coming face-to-face with and conquering his past demons within, Peter emerges in his famous red and blue suit, which he secretly had buried with her.
In the Mayor's office, a detained Jameson attacks him, only to realize that Edward Saks, the mayor's assistant, is actually Venom. Venom uses the WEBB system to project his suit, converting the population of New York into an army of symbiotes that does his bidding. He calls the Sinner Six back to guard the building as Spider-Man begins his assault.
The unconverted population use bells to drive the symbiote invasion back, and Sandman decides to go back to the good side of the law when the Reign attacks his daughter, whom he had never met before.
Spider-Man defeats the remaining members of the Sinner Six and battles Venom, which would perhaps be his last fight. Sandman comes at the last minute and gives Spider-Man a detonator, telling him that the six of them were implanted with detonators that would explode if they ever disobeyed Waters' orders. Spider-Man activates the detonator, causing the Six to explode and killing Venom in the process.
After Venom and the Reign are defeated, Jameson reports that all crime levels are back where they were years ago, but so are the heroes. As Peter visits Mary Jane's grave, he states that he will join her in peace one day, but until then, he has "responsibilities".Hungarian art and design collective Szövetség'39 has unveiled a concept to reduce the impact of rising sea levels in the world's delta regions by introducing a modular structure that will cultivate mangrove forests to form natural dams.
Anna Baróthy of Szövetség'39 worked in a design team that included biologist and diver Gergő Balázs, designer Janka Csernák and scientist Viktor Grónás to develop the CALTROPe concept, which seeks to prevent the loss of agricultural land caused when pollution and climate change provoke water levels to rise.
After carefully studying the biological qualities of mangroves, the designers found that the salt-tolerant plants act as a natural breakwater against tides, trapping river sediment in their strong roots and helping to prevent ecosystems from washing away.
"After having examined the processes of sedimentation, the hydrodynamic characteristics, and the ecological conditions, we concluded that the intentional retention of water-borne alluvium carried in big qualities by the delta rivers could be the key to compensate land loss caused by sea level rise," explain the team in their design report.
The designers propose an structure that can be easily installed beneath the water's surface, providing a modular infrastructure to house growing mangrove plants, which thrive in coastal habitats.
"The modules serve as containers and incubators for the young mangrove saplings that, getting stronger with time, will become self-supporting and form a natural dam," said theteam.
The project is named CALTROPe - a mixture of the words caltrop (a kind of water chestnut) and rope. The first is a reference to the the curving shape of the objects, while the second refers to the lacy appearance of the modules when combined.
Made from a combination of concrete and organic materials, the structures are expected to crumble away after 15 to 20 years. By this point the plants will be strong enough to support themselves and the dissolved material will become part of the sediment.
"We believe that, when the sea level will go beyond a critical point, the quantity of sediment trapped will form sufficiently high dams to save the current lands," said the designers. "The protected areas can also be used agriculturally or can be populated because their soil is rich in nutrients and they are solid enough."
Another benefit of the structure is that it will create new habitats for oysters and prawns.
The project was recently named one of three overall winners in a design competition launched by the Jacques Rougerie Foundation, a non-profit organisation focussing on the relationship between architecture and the sea.
Here's a project description from Szövetség'39:
CALTROPe: Grand Prix winner Hungarian architecture project in Paris
The Budapest-based Szövetség'39 creative team has won the Grand Prix in the category 'Architecture and sea level rise' awarded by the International Architecture Competition organised by the Jacques Rougerie Foundation. The young Hungarian designers' project called CALTROPe answered the challenge caused by loss of territory due to the water level rise in an innovative and sustainable manner.
The aim of the project is to synthesise and balance the natural dynamics and forces of the delta regions applying an easy-to-install modular structure. CALTROPe is a lace-like structure that is able to catch and collect river sediment with the help of mangrove plants, so integrating natural and architectural elements. Working like a catalyst, it will provoke positive changes at the most critical shoreline points. With this cooperative, participatory and locally supplied work can also reorganise and socialise the local population in a constructive and self-supporting manner.
CALTROPe comes from the words 'caltrop' (water chestnut) and 'rope', 'caltrop' referring to the shape of the object, and 'rope', to the linear, lace-like installation principles.
The concept of CALTROPe has been set up by Szövetség'39 Art Base that focuses usually on especially complex artistic planning. In this case the members of the team were Anna Baróthy, leading designer and project manager of Szövetség'39, Gergő Balázs biologist and diver, Janka Csernák designer, Dr. Viktor Grónás senior lecturer of the Szent István University's Nature Conservation and Ecology Department, diver, Peter Kovacsics graphic and animation designer, Viktor Pucsek and Peter Vető industrial and 3D designers. The project staff was Melinda Bozsó, designer of Szövetség'39, Daniel Csomor architect, Kata Kerekes graphic designer, Vera Krauth architecture student, Ábel Kurta and Ver |
ension will affect 'limited number' of canned tuna products: Costco
Costco Canada said the import licence was used to import a limited number of loads of canned tuna products.
The company said the suspension does not affect any other fish sold in Costco Canada warehouses.
"As part of its corrective action plan, Costco is currently updating and strengthening its standard operating procedures to ensure full compliance with CFIA's fish inspection regulations and reinstatement of its fish import licence," the company said in an email Monday.
"This issue did not present any risk to Costco's members nor was there any recall associated with this licence suspension."
Costco said its licence was suspended for not following three administrative issues in the last two years.
Twice the store failed to properly notify the CFIA about a load of canned tuna being imported.
On another occasion canned tuna was transported directly to Costco's depot for distribution rather than to a warehouse for CFIA inspection.ATHERTON, Calif. — A California school teacher was placed on paid administrative leave after he rattled a table to get the attention of his math students, startling an eighth-grade girl who used her cell phone to call police.
Atherton police Sgt. Tim Lynch tells the Palo Alto Daily News that officers went to Selby Lane School Tuesday afternoon because of reports a teacher was causing a disturbance.
Officers found a calm teacher with class in session.
The sergeant says the teacher’s table-rattling startled a student and she used her cell phone to call 911. He says other students in the class weren’t bothered by the teacher’s actions.
Redwood City School District deputy superintendent John Baker says the teacher was placed on leave because there was a police response.Kliff Kingsbury is 7-2 in his first season as at Texas Tech, his alma mater. (Photo11: Michael C. Johnson, USA TODAY Sports) Story Highlights Kliff Kingsbury has a clause in his contract giving him design control over his team's unforms
The contract gives him "sole discretion" on choosing the Red Raiders' uniform combinations
"It was important to me to have full control when it comes to that area," Kingsbury said
Kliff Kingsbury's quick-twitch impact on Texas Tech, his alma mater, is immediately recognizable in the Red Raiders' newfound offensive ingenuity, not to mention the team's rather unexpected rise into the nation's top 25. As a whole, the team has seemingly embraced the Kingsbury spirit – a little bit unorthodox, a little bit cocky, very much successful.
And as part of Kingsbury's contract with Texas Tech, officially completed in February, the Red Raiders will soon inherit the first-year coach's fashion sense.
DATABASE: Tracking coaches' salaries across the FBS
Written into the contract is an agreement allowing Kingsbury "creative license" in the design of the football team's uniforms, which are supplied by the clothing and apparel company Under Armour. If Kingsbury and Texas Tech's athletic director – currently Kirby Hocutt – agree on the uniform design, Kingsbury then has "sole discretion" on choosing when his team dons specific uniform combinations.
"I wanted to have a big hand in all those decisions," Kingsbury told USA TODAY Sports. "It was important to me to have full control when it comes to that area."
To that end, Kingsbury's contract includes a unique fundraising role. If his choice of equipment and uniforms "exceeds the football program's budget," his contract reads, Kingsbury "may seek donations for such purpose" – essentially allowing him to serve as a fundraiser in this one area.
QUIRKS: What quirks can you find in a FBS coach's contract?
This distinctive uniform clause – not just creative license but also the ability to reach out and fundraise – separates Kingsbury from his peers on the FBS level.
"Me having played here and been an alumni here, there's obviously a lot of connections," Kingsbury said. "And so I felt like if it wasn't budgeted, or we went over budget with some of these looks – (if) some of these things got a little pricey – then I want to be able to go to outside sources that we're connected with and be able to handle that."
For this season, Kingsbury estimates his team will eventually wear seven or eight different combinations during the 12-game regular season. This month, the Red Raiders will wear unique uniforms for Saturday's game against Kansas State and a Nov. 28 date with Texas. By next season, "we'll really be able to unveil some fun, different, different styles think I think our players will really like," Kingsbury said.
SALARY EXPLOSION: Coaching total compensation up 90% since 2006
"I had kind of a vision of what I think this place can be," he said, "and a lot of it has to do with being able to change up our looks and be enticing to potential student-athletes through doing different things with Under Armour to try to differentiate ourselves as far as styles, as far as uniforms go as far as the workout gear goes."
As at Oregon, which first popularized the uniform craze, Texas Tech hopes to utilize a deep stable of uniform options as a recruiting tool. Beyond that idea – as vital as it may be – Kingsbury envisions this creative license helping to define the football program as a whole.
"At all the schools I've been at, you hear the players talking about it: 'Hey, did you see so-and-so's uniforms this week?' So you just want to have as big a hand in creating that excitement for your own program as possible."
PHOTOS: HIGHEST PAID NCAA FOOTBALL COACHESPresident Donald Trump favours a merit-based immigration system that will benefit US economy and create jobs, the White House has said, in views that would be welcomed by Indian IT professionals and entrepreneurs. “The President has made clear he believes that (there) should be a merit-based system where individuals coming into the country bring the kinds of benefits economically that will grow our economy and help lift up wages for everybody,” White House senior policy advisor Stephen Miller told NBC News.
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WATCH VIDEO |US President Donald Trump’s National Security Adviser Michael Flynn Quits: Here’s Why
Indian IT professionals and entrepreneurs in America are known for not only enriching the US economy but also creating jobs.
However, Miller also insisted that any legal immigration system should not displace American workers and there should be no abuse of “fraud” — the two main allegations against the H-1B visa system, which has been under constant attack by American lawmakers, union leaders and top officials of the Trump Administration.
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“We’ll have a lawful immigration system. And we’ll enrich and benefit our country,” he said in response to a question.
Miller said he believes the US should have a programme in which American workers are given jobs first.
“The President campaigned on this. It’s an issue where the labour unions agree with us. It’s an issue where many Democrat members of Congress agree with us,” he said.
“If you have an open job in this country, a US citizen or existing legal permanent resident ought to have the ability to make the first application for that job,” he added.
“The problem is and the way the media covers this issue, present company excluded, is they don’t spend enough time talking about the well-being of the 300 million people here today. US citizens and legal permanent residents, many of whom are living in poverty, many of whom haven’t seen wage growth in 20, 30 years. And it’s time we talked about them, their needs, their families and their concerns,” he asserted.
Without giving a time-line, Miller said the White House would soon be rolling out immigration reforms.
“I’ll be able to announce very clearly when we do that what those do. Where we’re focused right now is two things, protecting the security of our country through interior enforcement and through screening of entrance.
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“And additionally, by ensuring that before a job is given to a foreign national, that job is offered first to an American worker, either a legal permanent resident or a US citizen,” he asserted.The Lucknow Bench of the Allahabad High Court Friday quashed the imposition of the National Security Act (NSA) against self-proclaimed working president of Akhil Bharat Hindu Mahasabha (ABHM), Kamlesh Tiwari, whose alleged derogatory statement against Prophet Muhammad had created a huge uproar and resulted in massive protests across the country.
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A division bench of Justice Shri Narayan Shukla and Justice Anant Kumar passed the order while hearing habeas corpus filed by Kamlesh’s wife Kiran Tiwari on his behalf.
WATCH VIDEO: Samajwadi Party Leader Azam Khan Lists Why He Is Fit To Become Prime Minister
Tiwari (43) is lodged at Lucknow district jail since his arrest on December 2 last year.
The detention order against Tiwari was issued by the District Magistrate, Lucknow, on December 9, 2015. The Uttar Pradesh Advisory Board approved invoking of NSA against him in February.
Kamlesh’s lawyer H S Jain submitted that the government could extend the period of detention for 12 months, “but only after the review of opinion every three months”. But, in the present case, the state government “through its order dated January 29, 2016, on the basis of report of the Advisory Board, has extended the period of detention for 12 months from the date of detention i.e. December 9, 2015 at a time, which could not be done,” Jain submitted before the court.
While passing the order, the court observed that the provisions of Section 12 of NSA cannot be read in isolation. “The restriction of period of detention as has been provided under the proviso to Sub-section (3) of Section 3 of the Act is significant as it enables the government to reconsider its own opinion whether the detention period should be allowed to continue further or not,” the court observed.
The order further stated that “no extension of detention period” can be exceeded beyond three months at any one time. “Thus…the confirmation of Advisory Board does not empower the state government to extend the detention order at a stretch for 12 months,” it said.
Stating that “the petitioner’s detention under the custody of Superintendent of District Jail, Lucknow” was thus “unlawful”, the court quashed the order passed by the Lucknow DM last year.
Tiwari had issued a statement slamming senior Samjwadi Party leader and UP Cabinet minister Azam Khan for his comment against the RSS and had also allegedly made objectionable remarks against the Prophet on November 30. Two days later, he again posted inflammatory comments on Facebook while reacting to protests by Muslims on his statement. Soon after, the first major protest took place in Deoband and later spread to other parts of the country, including West Bengal, Bengaluru and Delhi.
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The following day, police registered a case against Tiwari under IPC sections 153-A (promoting enmity between groups on ground of religion and doing acts prejudicial to maintenance of harmony) and 295-A (deliberate and malicious acts intended to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs) and arrested him.Pretty much everyone knows that chimpanzees are humans’ closest living relatives, but sometimes it’s easy to forget just how similar to us they are. Not only do they share a lot of physical traits with humans, but they’re also strikingly similar in their feelings and how they respond to emotions. And there’s probably no better proof of that than this chimpanzee named Banjo, who, after learning that the IRS had uncovered his tax fraud scheme, ended his life with a gunshot to the head.
Wow, they really are just like us!
Like many small-time swindlers you might hear about in the human world, Banjo had been making tens of thousands of dollars a year stealing Social Security numbers from nursing-home residents and filing bogus tax returns under their names so he could cash their refunds. However, when his shaky penmanship and occasionally shit-smeared forms eventually triggered an IRS investigation into his assets, this primate incredibly intuited that his life was on the brink of ruin. So, just like so many of his Homo sapien counterparts who find themselves at the end of their rope, Banjo put the barrel of a.357 Magnum revolver in his mouth and blew his brains out.
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Simply fascinating.
In the moments leading up to the fatal gunshot, Banjo also exhibited a number of other remarkably human-like behaviors. Witnesses say he was walking upright and pacing back and forth in the manner of a human in distress, occasionally pausing to smash his face into the wall. Further, just before pulling the trigger, he distributed his most valuable belongings (a shiny rock, a chewed-up Cabbage Patch doll, and a tire) to his mate, Muffin, similar to how humans who are real deep in the shit bequeath their estates to loved ones before ending it all.
“Everything about Banjo’s dramatic final actions is startlingly human-like, from his panicked social response to the IRS’ scrutiny to his desperate and aggressive behavior when faced with repercussions,” said primatologist Leland Krohn of Stanford University. “Especially impressive was how he was able to intelligently operate a tool to kill himself. That’s something you won’t find almost anywhere else in the animal kingdom.”
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Krohn and her colleagues are also quick to point out that while Banjo’s amazing actions suggest a surprising intelligence, he is still a wild animal. Banjo’s crude and poorly worded suicide letter just reads, “Banjo in over head”—far inferior to a human’s note, which would seek to justify his or her crimes and wax poetic about being a good person who made some bad decisions. Krohn also points to the fact that Banjo ate a good portion of the $95,000 in cash he scammed seniors out of instead of spending it on gambling, sports cars, and sex as the more evolved Homo sapien would have.
Human ancestors may have diverged from chimpanzees 4 million years ago, but incredible animals like Banjo the chimp blowing his brains out because the IRS was about to slam him for tax fraud remind us that we’re not as different as we think. It’s always amazing to see just how much resemblance we have to our closest animal relatives. Science FTW!It is as Bernie Sanders has foreseen it, you might say.
With its publication of thousands of less-than-flattering emails from Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta over the past two weeks, Wikileaks has done much to undermine Hillary Clinton in her ongoing effort to appeal to millennials who see Washington as a corrupt town where big business and big government are deeply intertwined.
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Excerpts from various six-figure speeches that Clinton made in 2013 and 2014 reveal a politician who is not only quite friendly with Wall Street in private, but somewhat resentful of the American public for constantly attacking and scapegoating big banks for the financial crisis.
“The people who know the industry better than anybody are the people who work in the industry,” said Clinton in one speech. Reform, she continued, “really has to come from the industry itself.” In another speech, Clinton stated that you have to have “both a public and a private position,” which has cast further doubt on her trustworthiness among young voters.
Although these leaks don't reveal anything new about Clinton, they do vindicate many of her critics on the left who have long criticized her ties to Wall Street and maintained that she is too comfortable with the neoliberal status quo. On both the progressive left and libertarian right, Clinton is largely seen as a symbol of “crony capitalism.”
Of course, crony capitalism — a term used to describe an economic and political system in which government officials and big business are closely connected, and thus promote each others' interests over the public good — was the main target of the Bernie Sanders presidential campaign. The democratic socialist railed against the campaign finance system, which wealthy individuals and corporations use to gain influence over elected officials, as well as the lobbyists who have overrun Washington over the past several decades to shape policy that benefits their clients/employers.
Though Sanders has endorsed Clinton and is currently on the road campaigning for the Democratic nominee, it is hard to think of her as the reform candidate.
The Libertarian Party’s presidential nominee Gary Johnson obviously recognizes this, and made a direct pitch to millennial Sanders supporters last week in a campaign ad that zeroed right in on crony capitalism:
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“[Millennials] supported Bernie Sanders because he rejects the crony capitalism that has become a way of life in Washington D.C. I rejected cronyism when I was governor, and I reject it now. Hillary Clinton? She’s the poster child for crony capitalism. Her entire life has been about government favoring the rich and picking the winners and losers.”
Throughout his campaign Johnson has compared himself favorably to Bernie Sanders in an attempt to win over millennials, who adore the democratic socialist. But behind the libertarian's cordial pot-smoking persona, there lies a free market fundamentalist who opposes almost the entirety of Sanders' progressive agenda. Johnson may reject crony capitalism, but for very different reasons than Sanders.
American libertarians are against the government getting involved in the private sphere altogether, whether it is to help business (i.e., corporate welfare) or to safeguard the public from big business (e.g., consumer protections, environmental regulations, workers’ rights, etc.). In contrast, progressives advocate a democratic government that works for the people rather than special interests. Libertarians advocate a “night watchman state” where the government’s role is limited to protecting private property and enforcing contracts, leaving just about everything to the unfettered free market, from healthcare and public transportation to education and criminal justice (Johnson expanded private prisons as governor of New Mexico, and would do the same as president).
The fundamental difference between progressives and libertarians, then, is that the former believe that big business tends to corrupt government, while the latter believe that government corrupts big business. If the government would simply limit itself to protecting the property of private individuals like Charles and David Koch, libertarians claim, unfettered capitalism would ensure equal opportunity and unleash perfect competition. This theory is contrary to economic reality, of course, and history shows that unfettered capitalism results in very the opposite of equal opportunity and perfect competition.
Considering that many of the proposed reforms demand more government involvement — like public campaign financing, for example — it is unsurprising that Johnson and his party oppose them, and further proof that libertarian ideology is incompatible with progressive values. Libertarians may oppose crony capitalism, but they offer no sensible plans for reform (dismantling the state and letting the free market run wild is not a sensible plan).
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Who, then, is the best candidate for combating crony capitalism? It’s not Johnson, and it’s certainly not Donald Trump — an admitted and unabashed crony capitalist whose stated policies would benefit people like himself. It is ironic, but Clinton is the best option in a race against Trump and Johnson. Unlike the Republican and Libertarian, Clinton has actually addressed issues like campaign finance reform, and supports the repeal of Citizens United. Her plan to reform the campaign finance system may be inadequate -- but at least she has a plan! Sanders supports Clinton because she is undoubtedly a better option than her Republican opponent, and progressives would at the very least have the power to influence her policies as president.
Of course, there’s another 2016 presidential candidate who supports public campaign financing, proportional representation, and many other progressive reforms that would transform the political and economic system. This candidate, the Green Party’s Jill Stein, offers the most progressive platform of 2016 — and it’s not even close.
Does she have shot at winning the presidency? No more than Gary Johnson does. But ideas matter. And while Johnson is attempting to sway millennials into supporting the reactionary dogma of libertarianism, it is absolutely crucial that the left advances a progressive vision separate from Clinton and the Democratic Party. For many progressives, stopping Trump is the number one priority in 2016, and there have been good arguments for voting Clinton (Daniel Denvir makes a strong case in Salon) — especially for those who live in a swing state. But stopping Trump won’t go far toward stopping crony capitalism or achieving the many progressive goals that Sanders put forward during the primaries; only a popular movement built on radically progressive ideas and values can accomplish this monumental task.Asha Rangappa is a senior lecturer at the Jackson Institute for Global Affairs at Yale University and a former FBI agent. She is a legal and national security analyst for CNN.
Former national security adviser Michael Flynn pleaded guilty Friday to one count of making false statements to the FBI and has agreed to cooperate with special counsel Robert S. Mueller III. White House lawyer Ty Cobb issued a statement saying that “nothing about the guilty plea or the charge implicates anyone other than Mr. Flynn.”
Cobb is engaging in some legal sleight of hand. The plea deal is most noteworthy not for the charges to which Flynn pleaded guilty, but for the charges it didn’t include. Given Mueller’s long-running investigation into Flynn and the allegations that have besieged him for months, the former Trump aide appeared to be in serious legal jeopardy. That he has managed to escape with barely a slap on the wrist in exchange for his cooperation with law enforcement suggests just how much he could tell authorities about other senior Trump administration and campaign officials.
False statements violations are the bread and butter of criminal investigations, and it’s common for defendants to be charged with them. (Pro tip from a former FBI agent: Guilty people lie.) Relative to most federal crimes, however, a single count of false statements carries a fairly light penalty of five years in prison. That’s why it often forms only one of many charges against a defendant — so that the penalty can be combined with those of other offenses, lengthening the potential sentence the accused could face.
Just based on what’s been publicly reported — without the benefit of knowing what else Mueller’s investigators have turned up — Flynn appeared to be on the hook for a laundry list of potential offenses. For one thing, last March, he retroactively registered as a foreign agent for the government of Turkey, as required by the Foreign Agent Registration Act (FARA). This is an indication that Mueller could have charged Flynn with knowingly violating FARA up to that point — a charge that the special counsel has brought against former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort and that also carries a five-year penalty. Flynn also was alleged to have been plotting in December 2016 to kidnap a Turkish opposition leader on U.S. soil and deliver him to Turkey in exchange for $15 million, a federal felony that could result in up to 20 years in prison. Finally, Flynn could have lied more than once to the FBI agents who interviewed him, offering the potential for additional counts of making false statements.
[I was an FBI agent. Trump’s lack of concern about Russian hacking shocks me.]
That means Mueller may have had enough evidence to charge Flynn with enough crimes to send him to prison for 30 years or more. Instead, Flynn has been charged with a single false statement count and — here’s the kicker — his plea agreement states that he will receive no more than six months of prison time for that. That’s an extraordinary sweetheart deal (even for the single charge). And it’s not one any prosecutor, especially one with an investigation as high-profile as Mueller’s, would make lightly. Mueller would offer this kind of a deal only if he could get testimony that helps his case, and if that testimony allows him to go higher up the chain.
There aren’t many targets that are higher than the national security adviser — which leads to President Trump’s inner circle, and Trump himself.
A key piece of the statement of offense detailing the facts underlying Flynn’s charge shows that Flynn was directed to contact the Russians by “members of the Senior Transition Team,” influence their policy positions with regard to Russian sanctions and a United Nations resolution, and report back. (The Washington Post and other news outlets have reported that one such official was Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law.) Flynn can identify any transition members who were actively, knowingly and covertly in communication with the Russian government (against the official position of then-President Barack Obama’s administration). Further, if Mueller determines that Trump knew that this was taking place (or was directing any part of it himself), the president’s repeated attempts to get former FBI director James B. Comey to drop the investigation on Flynn could no longer be dismissed as simply a misguided attempt to help a friend. When combined with Comey’s firing, that would look like a clear case of obstruction of justice.
Flynn holds the key, to use a phrase from Watergate, to “who knew what when” — and since knowledge is the hardest element to prove in any crime, Flynn’s firsthand accounts could be solid gold for Mueller.
Some former prosecutors argued Friday that defendants typically plead guilty to every crime they have committed, and that the sparse charge may mean Mueller does not have much more to bring against Flynn. This is unlikely: Mueller would be taking a huge political risk to bring a single charge unrelated to collusion against a top Trump official, giving fodder to those who believe his investigation is a witch hunt. Instead, Mueller could be “saving” charges not covered by the plea to file later if Flynn does not cooperate as agreed. Or Mueller could be testing the waters to see if Trump will pardon Flynn. If the president does, Mueller could defer prosecution of the serious crimes such as kidnapping (which would also be covered under state law) to state attorneys general, since presidential pardons cannot reach state convictions.
So if anyone inside the White House truly believes Cobb’s spin that the charge is no big deal for the Trump administration, they shouldn’t. Flynn was among the president’s top handful of advisers — making him a big fish who wouldn’t ordinarily get off the hook so easily, given his stature and the example he sets for others in the administration. The sight of Flynn walking away with a guarantee he’ll barely serve any prison time should make everyone there — including Trump — very nervous.
Read more:
Russian intelligence would have seen Paul Manafort as the perfect mark
Michael Flynn has absolutely nothing to fear from the Logan Act
If Trump plans to fire Mueller, the time he would do it is nowPhoto
Security experts like to say that there are now only two types of companies left in the United States: those that have been hacked and those that don’t know they’ve been hacked.
Their latest supporting evidence comes in the form of an annual Verizon report, which counted 621 confirmed data breaches last year, and more than 47,000 reported “security incidents.” Those include distributed denial of service (DDOS) attacks, in which hackers flood a site with traffic until it falls offline, but do not necessarily break into a company’s network.
The victims spanned a wide range of industries. Thirty-seven percent of breached companies were financial firms; 24 percent were retailers and restaurants; 20 percent involved manufacturing, transportation and utility industries; and 20 percent of the breaches affected organizations that Verizon qualified as “information and professional services firms.” (The totals exceed 100 percent because of rounding.)
“The results validate that any business that operates online is at potential risk of suffering a data breach,” said Wade Baker, one of the report’s principal authors. “We talk to a lot of actors that are flabbergasted that they would be attacked by a group based across the world. But the report shows that no matter the size of the organization — large, small, government agencies, banks, restaurants, retailers — people are stealing data from a range of different organizations and it’s a problem everyone has to deal with.”
Verizon collaborated with 18 organizations to feed data into this year’s report. Three quarters of successful breaches were done by profit-minded criminals for financial gain. But the second most common type of breach was a state-affiliated attack “aimed at stealing intellectual property — such as classified information, trade secrets and technical resources — to further national and economic interests.”
Verizon said that only a slim minority — 14 percent — of all data breaches were the work of insiders. Most were the work work of external actors who are often difficult to pinpoint because attackers often route their Web traffic through infected computers around the world. But Mr. Baker said victims were able to trace the attacks back to state-affiliated groups in “two out of three cases.”
In those cases, Verizon said that the majority– 30 percent– of all attacks originated in China. Government officials in the United States recently started stepping up diplomatic pressure on China to curtail cyberespionage that originates from within its borders. Last month, the Obama administration demanded that the Chinese government stop the theft of data from American computer networks. And on Monday, cybersecurity was the focus of a meeting between the Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman, Gen. Martin E. Dempsey, and Gen. Fang Fenghui of China.
Surprisingly, the second most common origin of attacks was Romania, where hackers accounted for 28 percent of all data breaches. The third most common origin of attacks was the United States, which accounted for 18 percent of all attacks.
In 76 percent of data breaches, weak or stolen user names and passwords were a cause. In 40 percent of cases, Verizon said the attackers installed malicious software on the victim’s systems; 35 percent of cases involved “physical attacks” in which the attackers did physical harm, to a skimmer at an automated teller machine, for instance.
In 29 percent of breaches, the attackers leveraged social tactics, such as spear phishing, in which a tailored e-mail to the victim purports to come from a friend or business contact. The e-mails contain malicious links or attachments that, when clicked, give the attacker a foothold in the victim’s computer network. Verizon said it witnessed four times as many “social engineering” attacks that used this method in 2012 as it did in 2011. That method, Verizon said, was most popular among attackers in cyberespionage campaigns.
The Verizon report also highlighted the lag between the time an organization has been breached and the time it discovers the breach. “The compromise-to-discovery timeline continues to be measured in months and even years, as opposed to hours and days,” the report said.WASHINGTON — The Obama administration told members of Congress on Tuesday that it was canceling all White House tours beginning on Saturday because of the $85 billion in across-the-board spending cuts that went into effect last week.
Constituents who want to visit the White House must go through their representatives to schedule a tour, so Congressional offices will be forced to turn away visitors hoping for a tour and contact others to cancel scheduled tours.
Lawmakers are being forced to trim their budgets, too. On Monday, Representative Candice Miller, Republican of Michigan and chairwoman of the House Administration Committee, told members that their 2013 office budget authorizations were being reduced by 8.2 percent.
“Although sequestration isn’t the ideal way to reduce government spending,” Ms. Miller said in a statement, “it is now the law, and Congress is not, and should not be, immune.”Electronic Arts has been in the centre of criticism for a while. After closing down Visceral Games, the publisher claimed that its new Star Wars game was not an experience that players would want to come back to and enjoy for a long time to come. As such, the publisher decided to completely cancel that version and start from the beginning. And during the UBS Global Technology Conference 2017, Electronic Arts chief financial officer Blake Jorgensen revealed what most of us already suspected from that cancellation; that EA will now invest on live services.
According to Jorgensen, Electronic Arts is trying to build a live service that will constantly add content to the game, giving people new ways to play. This live service will be all about constantly watching, listening to, and reacting to the community to try to develop great gameplay. Or at least that’s what Jorgensen claims.
Jorgensen believes that the gaming industry is moving towards a ‘play the service‘ instead of a ‘play the game‘ model. And EA will definitely be a part of it. After all, this is evident from the cancellation of Visceral’s Star Wars game. EA believed that there weren’t many ways via which players could ‘play the experience‘. And that’s the reason why the game got cancelled.
Now the problem with this model is that it’s an excuse for microtransactions. Because I still remember those days when we had level editors and proper modding tools to further extend a game’s ‘experience.’ Doom is a prime example of this as we are still getting numerous mods for it. Hell, even DICE started as a modding team for Battlefield 2 the Battlefield series wouldn’t be what it is today if it wasn’t for the Desert Combat mod for BF1942 (which was used as a baseline for Battlefield 2).
And if you still don’t believe that this model is an excuse for injecting microtransactions to games, here is what Jorgensen said about the live service on existing games.
“If Battlefield 4 had a live service on it, they (EA) could keep people engaged, give them even more to play with, and they’d also most likely be able to monetize them over time.”
So there you have it. Even though EA claims that the live service will benefit players, we all know that they are simply trying to inject microtransactions to their triple-A games. And this does not surprise us at all. Take Two, another big publisher, stated that all of its future games will feature microtransactions. However, it’s completely different stating the obvious, and lying about doing such a thing so you can provide a better experience for the players.
While it’s not clear yet whether EA will inject live services on existing games, it will certainly try to. Whether it succeeds in such a thing remains to be seen!
Thanks DualshockersGRAHAM, Wash. (KOMO) - Pierce County Sheriff's detectives have arrested a 17-year-old boy and are still looking for two more suspects after two students were shot outside Graham-Kapowsin High School on Tuesday afternoon.
One student was found in the parking lot by the football field. A second was found in the locker room.
Authorities say the shooting took place just off campus about 2:30 p.m. and that the students ran back to campus.
Graham-Kapowsin, Frontier Middle School and Nelson and Graham Elementaries were all locked down while parents got an email alert from the district.
“We just started running to the band room and we didn’t know what was going on,” said student Connor Rataezyk. “There was a lot of mixed emotions, there were people that were scared, people that were anxious and just wanted to get out.”
The victims were taken to Tacoma General Hospital. Both had surgery and are expected to survive, said Detective Ed Troyer, spokesman for the Pierce County Sheriff's Department.
The shooters apparently fled in a green mid-sized car. Tuesday night the Piece County Sheriff's office released video of the suspect car and said it appears to be a Chevrolet Impala.
Troyer said possible gang ties is one motive investigators are looking into. But there rumors of other motives, he said. Some witnesses are not being cooperative, he said.
Pierce County deputies swept the grounds. The Sheriff's Department said there were no shooters on campus and the students there were safe.
Frantic families rushed to the school trying to connect to their kids through phone and text.
Tuesday night they were re-united but the anxiety still lingered about going back to school.
Virginia Vick, who has a son at the high school, she dropped everything and rushed to the school.
Vick said her son is usually in the locker room where one of the victims was found, but today he decided to go home
“I was hysterical, I instantly, my heart dropped into my stomach, I started crying panicking, I didn’t know what to do,” said Vick. “It’s just ridiculous, it’s horrible, I don’t understand it.”
A reunification site for parents and any students remaining on campus was set up at the Frontier Middle School gymnasium. Officers escorted students to the middle school
"I pray for the parents who child it is," said James Marks, who was waiting outside to pick up his son, a sophomore at the school. "My shakes are kind of gone knowing that my son is safe at school with the teachers on lockdown."
Marks said his son called him. A teacher had he and other students move to the back of the classroom during the lockdown, Marks said.
All schools in the Bethel School District had already been scheduled to start two hours late on Wednesday; which the district saidTuesday night said is still the plan.
“It doesn’t matter who you are, where you live who you know, anything can happen so you just have to protect yourself,” said Rataezyk.
Students will also see extra security around campus and more counselors to help them.
Pierce County detectives are asking anyone who recognizes the suspects or the green Chevrolet Impala to call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS.For years, RadioShack made a habit of collecting customers’ contact information at checkout. Now, the bankrupt retailer is putting that data on the auction block.
A list of RadioShack assets for sale includes more than 65 million customer names and physical addresses, and 13 million email addresses. Bloomberg reports that the asset sale may include phone numbers and information on shopping habits as well.
The auction is already over, with Standard General—a hedge fund and RadioShack’s largest shareholder—reportedly emerging as the victor. But a bankruptcy court still has to approve the deal, and RadioShack faces a couple legal challenges in turning over customer data.
As Bloomberg points out, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has argued that selling the data would be illegal under state law. Texas doesn’t allow companies to sell personal information in a way the violates their own privacy policies, and signage in RadioShack stores claims that “We pride ourselves on not selling our private mailing list.” Paxton believes that a data sale would affect 117 million people.
Oddly enough, the other privacy defender in this case is AT&T, which wants RadioShack’s data destroyed for competitive reasons. AT&T doesn’t think RadioShack is entitled to the personal information it collected from wireless sales, and may be concerned that the data might fall into another carriers’ hands. (One bidder wants to co-brand some RadioShack stores as Sprint locations, Bloomberg reports.)
There is precedent for allowing customer data to be auctioned off in bankruptcy proceedings. In 2011, the Federal Trade Commission allowed Borders to auction personal data if the same privacy policy applied, the buyer was in the same line of business, and the data was sold alongside other assets. Standard General, which plans to keep some RadioShack stores open, may try to argue that it’s putting the data to similar uses, Bloomberg reports.
Why this matters: As if RadioShack wasn’t obnoxious enough when you had to turn over a phone number just to buy a cable splitter. Now, the store’s trying to go back on its promise to keep that data to itself. It’s one more reason to treat these contact information requests with caution, since you can never be sure where the data will end up.First responders assist a man who set himself on fire on the Mall in Washington. The man was rushed to a local hospital, officials said, and was conscious and breathing when he was taken there but has since died of his injuries.
Oct |
experience with an antagonist, with a bacterium or a new food source, and if successful, the mycelium the goes through a recombination of DNA.
The mycelial strands grow into that new food source, and there is a “memory” that then is back- channeled through the network. The network is becoming educated genetically. So, these networks are extremely adaptive to catastrophia. They evolve very, very quickly, and through natural selection these networks have emerged in a manner that allows them to cope with change.
I think one measure of intelligence is not only the ability to adapt to change, but to predict and pre-position oneself for changes in the environment. I think fungi do that in a very exquisite way.”
~Transcript exerpt from my interview with Paul Stamets, mycologist and founder of Fungi Perfecti
Mushrooms are inherently sexual. Truffles contain aromatic oils that are very closely related to human pheromones, which might be the reason that chefs and foodies are so turned on by them. Truffles tease pigs as well, and for eons truffle hunters raised sows to hunt for these subterranean lumps of precious fungus. A lady pig is highly susceptible to the scent of truffle, and when she smells it at the base of an oak or filbert tree it gets her hot and bothered.
For whatever reason, the stink of truffle has something of the husky hog in its aroma, and a sow can root out a sex-scented truffle buried several inches deep in the soil. Much to her dismay, Pig’s human counterpart traditionally breaks off the tryst at this point with a stick and snags the prize for himself.
Human enthusiasm for truffles certainly rivals our lady Pig; in 2005 a casino owner named Stanley Ho paid $330,000 for a single truffle at the astonishing price of $100,000 per pound.
A mushroom that belongs to the genus Dictyophora or Phallus (depending on who you talk to) is as controversial as it is sexy. Distinctly penis-shaped and housed inside an interlocking network of tissue that falls around it like a crocheted cloak, one tropical strain of Dictyophora indusiata invites comments both lewd and laudatory. Dictyophora mushrooms produce a pungent odor that mimics the scent of animal feces and rotting meat.
From an evolutionary standpoint, the foul smell of this mushrooms and its kin, commonly called stink horns (for obvious reasons), is quite a clever development. The fungus spores develop on the fruiting body’s lacy outer skirt and the stench attracts flies and other insects. Bugs are maddened by the enticement of fresh poop and decay and bang into the tissue that bulges out around the phallic protrusion of the mushroom, knocking spores loose into air currents that carry fungal DNA far and wide. The bug-attracting, stink-producing trait is not the source of controversy that surrounds this lurid mushroom, but anyone who has passed by a fungus of this sort can attest to its powerful and revolting aroma.
Some years ago at a conference, mycologist and keynote speaker Dr. J.C. Holliday posed an interesting theory drawn from an article he and a co-author published in The International Journal of Medicinal Mushrooms. The name of this article was certainly a crowd-pleaser: “Spontaneous Female Orgasms Triggered by Smell of a Newly Found Tropical Dictyphora Species.” Holliday told his incredulous audience that he found a special Dictyophora that produces a chemical that mimics human pheromones, one whiff of which arouses women to the point of sexual climax.
During my travels I interviewed two people about the this weird phenomenon. One of them attended Dr. Holliday’s lecture and said he was deeply skeptical of Holliday’s “sexy mushroom” theory. In the spirit of good faith, my interviewee approached the doctor after the talk and asked for clarification, assuming that if it were a bad joke the respectable mycologist would not be able to hold it together. After a few minutes of grave conversation with Dr. Holliday, my interviewee was convinced that the doctor truly believed in the hypothesis.
Another mycologist I spoke with, a mild-mannered young fellow from San Francisco, got angry the moment I uttered the word “Dictyophora.” He accused Dr. Holliday of cooking up the whole story as a cruel joke, a mean-spirited attempt to convince lady mycologists to sniff one of the most disgusting mushrooms in all creation.
Considering that this special Dictyophora supposedly grows only in the tropics I myself cannot weigh in on its sexiness, but this anecdata hints at our sensual relationship with the curious fungi.
Above and beyond powerful attraction between certain people, pigs and mushrooms, there is the basic biology of fungus to be considered when evaluating their sexiness. A mushroom is the reproductive mechanism of certain types of fungi, an explosive and unique growth with the sole purpose of distributing genetic material.
Mushrooms drop huge loads of spores, which germinate and recombine with one another to create genetically distinct strands of fungus. Ganoderma applanatum, commonly known as the Artist’s Conk, drops more than five trillion spores each year. This woody, porous fungus grows perennially on trees and is very long-lived. The abundant sporulation of Ganoderma applanatum is an exemplary case of fungal reproduction. Spores require very particular conditions to germinate and survive, and so fungi compensate by producing them in vast numbers.
Even more drastic are the green and black molds that proliferate wherever fungus can find food and moisture. On average, these organisms outstrip the spore count of mushroom-bearing fungi by a factor of ten. Thus, much of the pulmonary devilment caused by fungi is the consequence of mold spores, not mushroom spores. Fungi that make mushrooms do not often bother human noses and throats, as luck would have it; they simply aren’t numerous enough to do so.
Basically, mushrooms are the way certain fungi have sex. Most people think that mushrooms and fungus are the one and the same, but strictly speaking this is not true. Mushrooms are the biological expressions of the fungal body. It’s fruit. The true fungal body is called mycelium, a delicate network of cells that grows through wood, soil, and other organic material. Mycelium quests through its environment in search of food and moisture, absorbing both through its cell walls and secreting enzymes into its surroundings in order to digest food, fight off disease, and compete with its neighbors.
Mycelium is highly responsive to its environment, and channels resources to parts of the fungal network that most need them. When mycelium fruits, it sends a surge of moisture into the specialized cells that make up the developing mushroom drawn from all corners of the mycelial mat.
Mycelium is literally everywhere: in each cubic inch of healthy soil, there is roughly eight miles of mycelium if each cell were laid end to end, and there are about 14 billion tons of mycelium worldwide. The network of a single fungus can also grow to tremendous size and age.
The largest known organism on earth is a mycelium that permeates about 2,200 acres in the Malheur National Forest in eastern Oregon. It is unclear how old this monster is exactly, but it’s been around for at least 2,400 years, making it one of the oldest living beings on the planet as well1.
This fantastically large mycelium is an Armillaria oystae, which produces an edible mushroom that belongs to a cluster of species commonly called honey mushrooms. Another honey mushroom mycelium of the species Armillaria gallica was found in Michigan that was estimated to be 1,500 years old and weighs roughly 220,000 lbs.
Mushroom Growth and Development
When environmental conditions are just right, mushrooms pop up and drop spores imprinted with the parent mycelium’s DNA. The rapidity of mushroom development varies quite a lot, depending on genetic and environmental factors.
The fast-fruiting Coprinus comatus, or Shaggy Mane, explodes from the soil and can lift paving stones clear off the ground. Shortly after this staggering feat of fungal puissance, shaggy manes decompose, and the mushrooms transform into unrecognizable goo within the span of a few hours. By contrast, the edible chanterelle takes about 3 weeks to mature and sporulate. Mushrooms form slowly during dry spells, and may not reach the size and stature of mushrooms swollen by rainwater.
Given adequate moisture and nutrition, mushroom spores germinate and sprout hyphae, microscopic tendrils of fungal tissue that grow through the habitat in search of food and a mate. A typical hypha only has half of the chromosomes necessary to create a new fungus, and so each strand must find a partner to fuse with. In this way, each mushroom spore has a “sex,” although this is a bit deceptive if one is thinking solely in terms of “male” and “female” hyphae.
Mushroom spores have the capacity to fuse into literally thousands of possible genetic combinations. The shiitake, one of the most commonly cultivated mushrooms in the world, has roughly 22,000 possible genetic expressions or “sexes.”
Once two suitable hyphae mate, they fuse and form a branching network of tissue that is genetically distinct from the parent fungus. This new mycelium repeats the fungal lifecycle, exploring and interacting with its habitat and, when the conditions are right, producing its own fruiting bodies.
How Many Fungi Are There?
The tree of life has six branches and the fungal kingdom is one of them. There are roughly a million and a half species of fungi. Scientists have names for roughly 75,000 species, a mere 5% of the kingdom. To put it in perspective, species of fungi outnumber plants by a ratio of 6:1. At least.
During a talk at the Telluride Mushroom Festival in 2011, taxonomical whiz kid Danny Newman suggested that there are 5.1 million species of fungi, not 1.5. The assembled crowd of mycologists, hippies, and nature freaks groaned and booed in response to this daunting pronouncement, but Newman is not alone in his assessment of the profound diversity of Kingdom Fungi.
However, only about 100,000-200,000 species of fungus produce mushrooms; two phyla in Kingdom Fungi are the culprits: Basidiomycota and Ascomycota. Commonly called the club and cup fungi respectively, these two subdivisions of species use mushrooms to reproduce. The long and short of it is that fungi are everywhere, and we do not know much about them compared to other life forms on the planet.
Concluding Thoughts (For Now)
In the second half of this post, I will explore the history of mushroom taxonomy and how it is that we have come to classify fungi and mushrooms in different genera and species, and I will also explain some of the ways in which fungal organisms establish and maintain balance within the ecosystems they inhabit. Rest assured, they’re marvelous creatures with diverse lifestyles and habits, and observing them in culture and in the wild is a profound opportunity to learn new, weird things about life itself.
Without fungi, the cycle of death and life would be interrupted and ecosystems would collapse. Dead organic material would remain inert and pile up sky-high, rather than cycling back into the food web. Vital sustenance shared between species would be static without the fungal highway that delivers nutrients to plants, leading to a decline in biodiversity and food web stability.
Fungi serve as a conduit between species, constantly restoring balance between competing entities. The complexity of the forest, natural meadow and wetlands are a direct result of fungal engineering and networking. It is incumbent upon us as a species to improve our understanding of these vital life support systems so that we do not, through arrogance and carelessness, destroy the organisms that regulate the flow of nutrients and water between living beings on our planet.France could very well become the next nation to legalize same-sex marriage, but lawmakers have reportedly gone a step further with a proposal that could ban the use of the words "mother" and "father" from all government documents.
The Telegraph cites the draft law as specifying that "marriage is a union of two people, of different or the same gender," and also states that all references to "mothers and fathers" in the nation's civil code will be swapped for the non-gender-specific "parents." In addition, the law would also give equal adoption rights to same-sex couples, the publication notes.
France’s Justice Minister Christiane Taubira is quoted as telling French newspaper La Croix, "Who is to say that a heterosexual couple will bring a child up better than a homosexual couple, that they will guarantee the best conditions for the child's development? What is certain is that the interest of the child is a major preoccupation for the government."
Not surprisingly, the move has incensed France's Catholic population, who last month revived a centuries-old custom with an updated national prayer that included references to both same-sex marriage and euthanasia reforms that are currently being planned by the government. Last week, Cardinal Philippe Barbarin warned followers that legalized incest and polygamy could potentially follow if same-sex couples earn the right to wed.
"Gay marriage would herald a complete breakdown in society," he is quoted by the Daily Mail as saying during a radio interview. "This could have innumerable consequences. Afterward they will want to create couples with three or four members. And after that, perhaps one day the taboo of incest will fall."
The draft law will be reportedly be presented to President Francois Hollande's cabinet for approval on Oct. 31. Same-sex and heterosexual civil unions, which offer limited benefits for couples, have been legal in France since 1999, Reuters reports.EFF submitted a letter to the Oakland City Council opposing the Domain Awareness Center, a surveillance system that would aggregate information from multiple sources across the city—including 35 CCTV cameras, 40 live video surveillance cameras, 25 traffic camera sites, license plate readers, and Oakland’s “[gun]shot spotter” system. The project would also include partnerships with other agencies and intelligence centers, such as the Northern California Regional Intelligence Center, a fusion center located in San Francisco that has access to the FBI’s eGuardian database, among others.
Today's letter joins earlier statements from ACLU of Northern California and the Oakland Privacy Working Group against the DAC:
EFF opposes the idea of extending the DAC into a citywide system for law enforcement use, far from its original intended use as a port security measure to prevent terrorist attacks. Furthermore, the privacy policy that has been drafted by City Administrator Santana is inadequate; although given the expanded purpose of the DAC, it is doubtful that any privacy policy could salvage it.
Oakland residents have also vocally opposed the DAC. This resistance has led to the creation of a completely inadequate privacy policy framework, but the project has continued to move forward, apparently because deadlines are looming for the federal grant money that will enable the expansion of the DAC from the Port. The reason for opposing the DAC is clear:
The DAC, by its very nature, enables unconstitutional surveillance. It will enable unprecedented access to information from around the city by aggregating previously unrelated data sources. This aggregation exponentially increases the reach of every piece of technology included, creating a web of surveillance that stretches across the city and allows for a comprehensive picture of the activities of Oakland residents. Under the California Constitution, surveillance should be specific and targeted. Instead, this allows for persistent and pervasive surveillance of all Oakland residents.
EFF is happy to join in the call to halt the DAC project where it stands now.This was my first Fifth Edition campaign adventure. I will be experimenting some with format and content until I find the right balance of hard content and abstract concept to fit my style of play, especially in regards to the new Matrix rules.
Scene 1 – Meeting Mr. J.
The runners are contacted by their fixer about a low tier job that promises decent pay and the possibility to make some powerful allies in the shadows, if they play their cards right. Mr. Johnson wants to meet them at Basil’s Faulty Bar in Tacoma for 8PM.
Basil’s Faulty Bar is a known runner haunt, frequented by runners and run by a retired runner named Abe. Mr. Johnson is an obvious stand out in this crowd of dressed down runner-types, but their employer isn’t the only one hunting for talent in this place on this night. Mr. Johnson waves away prospective hopefuls as he waits for his assigned team to show up. He is a slightly pudgy Caucasian human, in a tailored suit and receding hairline. A quick look around the bar shows numerous mooks in suits watching the table intently for any signs of wanton aggression. Once everyone gathers, he takes in each of the runners, shrugs and gets down to business.
“Thanks for coming. I run a neighbourhood watch organization in the area here and I’ve noticed a disturbing trend. There has always been a significant substance abuse problem is this part of the metroplex, but the beetle users are changing and it’s not for the better. Most junkies tend to gravitate to anyplace where they can get a fix, but of late, they seem to be becoming ‘brand specific’, to coin a phrase. We’re actually tracking a form of ‘junkie migration’, as the beetleheads are making their way west toward the Tacoma shoreline to get the type of chip they’re now craving. We want you to investigate this new trend, find out who is behind it and put a stop to it. If you can salvage a small sample of their product, so we can turn it over to the proper authorities for study, there could be a bonus in it for you. We’re offering you 9,000¥ apiece for this bit of work.”
Of course, Mr. Johnson is no neighbourhood watch. He is David Meath, a Sottocapo with the Gianelli family, who has watched his profit margins fall to the point he feels he needs to act. Known Mafia associates would draw too much attention, so he needs to rely on hired help. The figure he’s offering is a low-ball figure, but he is hoping the runners will take the offer and solve the bulk of his problems. If he can get his hands on whatever technology his rivals are using to hook the junkies, all the better.
Mr. Johnson is willing to go up a little on price, but feels that raising his offer too much means he will simply go for cheaper help. If the runners sign on, he nods in appreciation. “Perfect! Thank you for helping us out. I have a list of known or suspected BTL users in the area, if that will aid you. I hope you find the people responsible for this and put a quick stop to it.”
Matrix: Many of the users in the bar are running silent (runners are a secretive bunch) and Basil’s doesn’t have much of an AR presence to speak of (and most of what is there has been tagged by deckers, leaving calling cards for needy teams to contact them). Being in the heart of Tacoma, the Noise rating here is set merely by distance to the source of the hack.
Scene 2 – Touring Junkie Country
Using Mr. Johnson’s list of known or suspected BTL users will take them throughout central Tacoma. Many of the “known users” are so far gone, most will be either zoned out on a chip, or so desperate for another fix, that they will promise the runners anything if they’ll provide them with another hit. The “suspected users” were people the Mafia had provided the initial samples to, in hopes of procuring new paying customers. Some will be unaware that the free sample they received was a BTL and may have thrown it out, while others let curiosity get the better of them and slotted the chip, and now they are already craving their next fix. Any with financial means may have stumbled onto the hot chips that Mr. Johnson wants off the street.
The runners’ best chance is to manipulate one of the heaviest junkies, though they may have moral objections to doing so. If they promise the junkie a fix, or simply search the apartment while a user is on a trip, they may find one of the suspect BTLs. The chip is solid black with the Cantonese word for “Desire” on the side of the chip in silver. Due to the chip burning itself out after use, unless the runners can find an unused one and slot it themselves (and if they did, they might have a nasty addiction and an angry junkie to deal with), they don’t really know what the chip contains.
If the GM allows a runner to slot one of these BTLs, they are subjected to an idyllic world, where the desires of that runner are made manifest, as if the chip could see into their mind. The simsense is very realistic and highly addictive. Returning to the real world, where all their dreams are no longer in their grasp is depressing and jarring and can lead to severe moodiness of the user.
Extracting information from the junkies, either by bribery or intimidation, they can learn which dealers the junkies are getting these ‘Desire’ chips from. At GM discretion, if any of the runners’ contacts are drug dealers, the GM could introduce tension between runner and contact by having the contact as one of those pushing the new chips.
The runners are going to want to put some weight on the dealers to see if they can get one of them to give up their distributor. Any dealers part of one of the large crime syndicates will refuse to yield any information, as to talk would mean death and they are willing to wager that the runners would be less likely to kill them. Independent dealers are the most likely to cough up the name of a place they buy their chips from: the Jade Empress Game Parlour.
Matrix: The Noise rating in this part of Tacoma is open and clear, offering no Noise resistance, save for distance. Should the runners do any legwork on the information they extract, they can use the Matrix to dig further.
“Desire” BTLs
Threshold – Matrix (3), Underworld (3)
1 – A brand new product hitting the streets. Supposedly a tailored chip to the buyer that is highly addictive, as the ideas seen are very much subjective to whoever slots them.
2 – Chips were named Desire because it seems to give the user their hopes and deepest desires during the trip. The whole chip lasts for one hour of the junkie’s deepest desires. Afterward, comes despondent feelings and a sense of deep loss.
4 – Rumour has it that the chips are being made in Hong Kong and are being distributed by the Triad smugglers.
5 – Chips are in the hands of the Black Chrysanthemums.
Jade Empress Game Parlour
Threshold – Matrix (1), Underworld (2)
1 – Chinese establishment, centered on giving the visitors the Macau Casino experience: Fan Tan, Baccarat, Poker, off-track betting, Sic Bo and slot machines. Traditional Western games, such as Poker, Roulette and Blackjack are also available here.
2 – Rumoured to be associated with the Octagon Triad. Run by a shady individual by the name of Zhou Cang, rumours of extortion and game fixing surrounds the place, though it still has a fair amount of loyal visitors.
4 – The Jade Empress funnels illegal goods from the Tacoma docks through its doors, sometimes selling its goods within the establishment. This includes guns, and drugs primarily.
5 – The basement of the casino serves as a drug den for the clients who want a discrete place to indulge their vice in private.
Scene 3 – Pinching the Providers
Upon learning that the Desire chips are being circulated by the Triads via the Jade Empress, they are likely going to want to close in on it and try to secure the goods (or destroy them, depending on their morality). The casino is a smaller building that is packed with games of chance with an Asian flair.
Most of the patrons are Asian, but not all are associated with the Octagon (most of the staff are). In order to keep tabs on those inside the casino, the casino maintains an active commlink policy (no running silent). The casino is all wirelessly enabled, so patrons can’t play without an active profile. Only the private section is sealed off Matrix-wise.
Anyone caught running silent or otherwise causing trouble will be detained, questioned and punished accordingly.
1 – Main Game Floor. This open area is where the main games are all set up. The right side of the layout is the only full wall and it’s along that wall the slot machines have been set up. Card tables, roulette, craps and several Asian games, such as Fan Tan, Sic Bo and Mah-jongg all have a place in this space. There is a raised dais where the game of the night takes place, where people can bet on the gambling underway. The entire floor is recessed slightly, with stairs up to the street level on all sides. The walls and ceiling are done up in jade and gold accents, adding a splash of Asian decadence to the space.
2 – Duo’s Dim Sum. Accessible from both within the casino and the street, this small Dim Sum restaurant has a recent reputation for being a clean, tasty watering hole, where you can order a sizeable portion of food, from an impressively long menu.
3 – Poker Room. For those closed door tournaments, a tournament of up to 24 players can be sequestered in this room for privacy from onlookers. Many of the tournaments here are posted on the Matrix, especially of any kind of local card shark makes an appearance.
4 – Cashier Cage. While the casino allows patrons to bet with nuyen directly from their account, many gamblers are the superstitious sort, who loves the feel of chips in their pockets. The attractive Chinese ladies behind the counters here are happy to convert any sum of nuyen into clay chips, to retain that classic feel.
5 – Coat Room. A guarded closet, where patrons can leave their heavy winter coats with a feeling of security, and are given an AR claim ticket for anything they check in.
6 – Restrooms. The washrooms in the casino are clean and tastefully decorated. Each facility has at least one troll-friendly stall.
7 – Haven. This space has been bookmarked as a spa. Shiatsu, massage, acupuncture and various branches of herbology are all available here. The women of the spa are attractive Asian women in long flowing robes. Despite the assumptions of many of the patrons, these women do not offer sexual favours on top of the “usual”. All are actually registered practitioners of their chosen branch of medicine. The fact that they are all attractive women is a by-product of Zhou Cang’s hiring practice.
8 – Chen’s Pleasure Garden. A fine dining establishment, Chen’s offers sushi and other Asian delicacies prepared by chefs of some local renown. The restaurant is established as an adults only restaurant, as there is a section of the restaurant reserved for those who wish to use the naked body of a female employee as the table (for double the price of a standard meal). The qi in the restaurant is finely attuned for an atmosphere of relaxation and tranquility.
9 – Conference Rooms. These rooms offer local businessmen a place to have a small conference (max 20 people per room) with associates before hitting the casino. These room have retractable skylights (armored glass, covered by a mechanical door) to allow extra light in on those seemingly rare sunny days.
(Rooms 10-20 are all on a separate Matrix host than the public casino. Access is limited to employees only)
10 – Freight Elevator. This extra-large elevator is used for carrying cash carts down to the lower level.
11 – Guard Room. This room houses three Triad soldiers, who will not hesitate to violently intervene with anyone who tries to come down this hallway without proper authorization.
12 – Interrogation. Anyone who has been caught making trouble or walking around with their commlink set to silent is brought in here for questioning. Cameras watch and record anything said by those detained (or are turned off, if things get violent). Those detained here are restrained “for their own safety”.
13 – Storage. Cleaning drones and supplies are kept here to keep desperate patrons from walking off with anything they feel they can hock.
14 – Conference Room. This private conference room is heavily encrypted and soundproofed, so the Triad can conduct more nefarious business matters in relative security.
15 – Floor Boss’s Office. While the casino is owned by Zhou Cang, he has a small team of floor bosses watch the day-to-day happenings of the casino. This shared office is used by whichever floor boss is working that day. Most are busy walking the floor and making contacts rather than sitting in here.
16 – Cafeteria. A simple cafeteria that helps keeps the troops fed and content. The area is mostly kitchen, since most of the employees eat at their station.
17 – Main Security. The equipment and the majority of security are stationed here. They are staffed by former runners and cops and have some training should they be called upon.
18 – Monitoring Station. The copious numbers of cameras station around the casino all get routed to this room. The on-site hackers watch for any problems in the building, while dispatching agent programs to monitor the Matrix for intrusion.
19 – Magical Resources. This room is greatly empty, showing a large summoning circle from where the on-duty mage can summon a spirit to keep an eye on astrally active patrons and ensure they aren’t cheating. There are usually a couple of watchers and one mage on duty at any time (one spirit to watch the floor, another for security purposes).
20 – Armory. Locked down with only three people able to grant access (the owner, the floor boss and the chief of security), while most security personnel use non-lethal means of pacification (to avoid complications with the authorities), there are a stash of the lethal variety in this closet. From handguns, to sub-machineguns to shotguns, this closet is well stocked, should the Triad ever need to defend the casino.
1 – Freight Elevator. This extra-large elevator is used for carrying cash carts down to the lower level.
2 – Security Checkpoint. Cash carts are scanned for weight, explosives and RFID marks that don’t belong. Until cleared by the two guards stationed here, the doors into the lower level are locked by two heavy-duty bolts that are structurally reinforced.
3 – Torture Room. Anyone that attempts to infiltrate the lower level, or has been questioned upstairs and found to be dangerous is sedated and dragged into this room. In here, they are tortured as any relevant information they have has been extracted before the body is ultimately discarded.
4 – Security. While the casino floor security forces are limited in the force they can use in the public eye, these security are not. They are well armed and not afraid to use extreme force to halt any assault.
5 – Zhou Cang’s Office. This large and spacious office shows off the man’s decadent tastes and perverted sensibilities. Images of sadism and pornography adorn the walls and several unsnorted rows of Novacoke are on the ink blotter of his desk when the runners enter. Almost instantly, he activates his panic button upon the runners’ entry. In order to extract the information they need, they will probably want to take Cang alive, though in a pinch, the info can be extracted from his commlink if the runners cut him down in a firefight.
6 – Holding Room. All collateral items are kept here, “safe” for their owners until they are done gambling. If the item is lost to the casino, items are moved from the holding room to the vault.
7 – Offices. Triad officials at the casino can conduct their affairs from here, as a base of operations away from their own turf.
8 – Cafeteria. Keeping security fed and content is important. While utilitarian in construction, it has all the needed fixtures to prepare food, as well as a decent stock of ready-made snacks and drinks.
9 – Washrooms. None of the frills from upstairs apply down here, but the bathrooms are clean and functional for the employees.
10 – Servers. This series of servers tracks win-loss ratios, user profiles, total debts and all sorts of relevant metrics, as well as serving as an internal tracking device for every person within the casino. Heavily IC-laden, the system is quick to respond to any perceived online threat.
11 – War Room. The Octagon use this place as a distribution center and this room is a large board room with holoprojectors and internal network access that allows them to coordinate the distribution of goods and services into Seattle. References to the Kong Chip trade factors heavily into the projections, though the Desire chips are not specifically named.
12 – Vault. All sorts of goods are stored in the vault. On top of the casino’s liquid assets, drugs, guns and data are all stored in here as well. Searching the vault (if the players can gain access at all) shows no evidence of the Desire chips. A data log shows that they had arrived, but had since been sold off and distributed in full to the local dealers. All items are coded with the Octagon as the owners of the goods and the Triad will hunt down anyone who steals from them…
If detained and threatened, Zhou Cang folds under pressure and will tell the runners about the chips and how they had been chosen as selling partners for the ones responsible for bringing the chips into the city: The Black Chrysanthemums. The Triad has been bringing the chips in by boat via the Tacoma harbor. While his supply has been depleted, a new shipment should be arriving very soon to meet demand.
Matrix: The casino is in the heart of Tacoma, but the sheer volume of wireless signals and extensive use of internal ARO confers a Noise modifier of 1 while inside the casino. The ARO is sculpted in heavy Chinese symbology, in a direct rip-off of the major casinos of the Far East
Host – Rating 5 (A 7, S 5, D 6, F 8)
Available IC – Patrol, Probe, Killer, Acid, Jammer, Blaster
Scene 4 – Cutting the Cord
By the time the players arrive at the Tacoma Port, the Triad shipment has already arrived and is being unloaded. The transfer is happening at the Northeastern Marine at Hylebos. The main port is still very much active with the cargo container cranes moving goods at all hours, but these smaller, personal marinas are typically shut down for the night.
The area around the pier is allocated as boat storage, auction houses and a harbour master’s booth, which the Triad are in control of. While the boat is controlled by the Black Chrysanthemums, a combination of the Chrysanthemums and the Octagons oversee the transfer. A good percentage of the goods are already loaded into trucks and if a firefight breaks out, both the boat and trucks will flee the scene, while those on the ground will attempt to kill anyone who interferes. If one of the vehicles are stopped, the runners can obtain a product sample, if they desire to.
Otherwise, the focus will be on the exchange of combat and attempting to shut down the supply chain as best they can before Knight Errant arrives. Use the Underworld Soldiers stats from the Core Book. Triads should have some magical resources available to them and likely Matrix overwatch (seeing as they subverted the harbourmaster).
Matrix: The Port at Tacoma is directly off the local grid and shares a similar look and feel to the Emerald City Grid. There is no Noise modifier on the system. While most of the major infrastructure is tied directly to the local grid, security and shipping manifests are part of the Harbourmaster Host.
Host – Rating 6 (A 7, S 6, D 8, F 9)
Available IC – Patrol, Probe, Killer, Acid, Jammer, Scramble, Marker
The Triad Decker has managed to infiltrate the system and scramble the camera system to ensure the local security network cannot identify those involved in the chip transfer. He is not interested in dealing with the runners (though if he can use a harbourmaster system to thwart them in the fight, he will) and will do his best avoid detection, if a runner decker tries to seize control.
If the runners turn over any liberated chips from the waterfront, they can earn another 2,000¥ in payment apiece for the trade-in (but likely gain a point of Notoriety for furthering the drug trade). If the runners instead, destroyed the chips despite the offered bonus, the GM should feel free to award extra karma instead.
>> Really? One of these do-some-good-by-taking-drugs-off-the-streets jobs? Why does feel like a public service announcement?
>> Glitch
>> Don’t believe it… if you find that nobility doesn’t exist, it’s probably because it doesn’t any more. It’s just someone fulfilling their selfish goals, using morality as a justification.
>> Skeptik
>> Believe what you will about the human condition, but these chips are not normal. I, for one, will sleep easier knowing something that addictive is off the street.
>> Havik
>> How do you know how addictive they are? Talking from experience?
>> Penitant
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Posted in Fifth Edition Shadowrun, Shadowrun
Tags: Campaign, Data Haven, Fifth Edition, Runs, Shadowrun, Trojan HorseReport: US troops abroad giving 6x more to Obama than McCain Nick Juliano
Published: Thursday August 14, 2008
Print This Email This A new analysis shows the vast majority of US troops serving abroad have donated to candidates running on strong anti-war platforms, with presumptive Democratic nominee Barack Obama out-raising his Republican opponent by a 6-to-1 margin. The Center for Responsive Politics, which tracks money in politics, analyzed donations from US troops in a report released Thursday. According to an analysis of campaign contributions by the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics, Democrat Barack Obama has received nearly six times as much money from troops deployed overseas at the time of their contributions than has Republican John McCain, and the fiercely anti-war Ron Paul, though he suspended his campaign for the Republican nomination months ago, has received more than four times McCain's haul.
Despite McCain's status as a decorated veteran and a historically Republican bent among the military, members of the armed services overall -- whether stationed overseas or at home -- are also favoring Obama with their campaign contributions in 2008, by a $55,000 margin. Although 59 percent of federal contributions by military personnel has gone to Republicans this cycle, of money from the military to the presumed presidential nominees, 57 percent has gone to Obama. Only Marines are more likely to donate to McCain, according to the report, with Obama leading in fundraising from members of the Army, Air Force and Navy. The report found Obama raised about $60,600 from troops deployed abroad, compared to $45,500 for Paul and $10,600 for McCain; the Democratic candidate brought in more than $335,000 |
2011. After the 2003 space shuttle Columbia broke apart on descent, then-president George W. Bush announced the phasing out of the space shuttle program. Eventually, NASA started building new multibillion dollar ships, the Orion capsule and the SLS mega-rocket.
Pence several times bemoaned a U.S. space program that had fallen behind, asking space executives what they thought.
“America is out-innovating the world in space launch,” Shotwell said, noting that her company had launched 13 rockets this year, more than any other nation.
After talking about how “we will blaze new trails into that great frontier” Pence turned the discussion to the dangers of space and how much of the U.S. intelligence system and day-to-day life are dependent on commercial satellites operating safely. And he and others outlined threats to those satellites from potential enemies that could cripple American security and daily life.
Experts worried that satellites could be destroyed and debris in orbit could ruin others.
Pence asked if the U.S. should “weaponize” space.
“The choice whether or not to weaponize space is not one that we can make. We can only decide to match and raise our adversaries who are already weaponizing space,” former NASA chief Michael Griffin said. “That horse is already out of the barn.”Maybe it’s a good thing that Sunday’s game between the Portland Timbers and New York City FC was bumped from Fox Sports 1 to Fox Sports 2 due to a NASCAR race that went longer than planned. Had it been on Fox Sports 1 as originally scheduled, even more people would have been subjected to one of the uglier performances put on by two MLS teams this season.
The thing is, at least for now, ugly works for Portland. At least it does right now. In the first two years of the Caleb Porter era in Portland the team built a reputation for playing attractive possession soccer. This year though, Porter has changed his tactics and gone with a more direct approach that hasn’t always been ugly, but has certainly had it’s moments of being hard to watch.
Coming off a 1-0 win on the road against NYCFC, here’s a few questions that could be raised:
1. How can it be said that “ugly works for Portland” when they’ve got only two wins through seven games?
Claiming that “ugly works for Portland” is matter of perspective. Compared with 2014, ugly is working just great for Portland. In 2014 the team had four points through seven matches, and no wins. In 2015 they’ve got two wins and nine points. Ugly “works” because with Diego Valeri, Will Johnson, and Ben Zemenski out and an opening schedule that has included five of their first seven games against 2014 playoff teams, the start to 2015 could’ve been a complete disaster. You can’t win MLS Cup in March and April, but as the Timbers proved last season, you can blow a season with a slow start. While they aren’t off to a flying start, and there are definitely problems that need to be addressed before this team can be called “good,” three points is three points now matter how they’re earned.
It certainly hasn’t looked pretty, and Timbers fans have a right to be frustrated, but the fact that despite all that’s gone wrong to start the season the Timbers are only seven points behind league leaders Vancouver (who have a game in hand) is a good thing.
Timbers goalkeeper Adam Kwarasey, who made a number of game-saving saves late in this one, summed it up best after the game:
“We can definitely improve. This is not our best game so far this season. We’ve played better earlier. I think we just need to win some more games. We can’t just play sexy football and not get any points.”
2. What impact did the formation change (from a 4-4-2 back to their usual 4-2-3-1) have on the Timbers?
The formation change was huge. The 4-4-2 experiment had mixed results: a loss to Vancouver in which the Timbers actually looked pretty good, a convincing win over FC Dallas, and a dismal loss to Orlando City. There was however, one constant in the 4-4-2 and it was that the partnership between Fanendo Adi and Maxi Urutti up top wasn’t working. It’s a partnership that should in theory work well. Adi and Urutti have different playing styles that should be complementary, but it was clear in the three games they started together that the chemistry wasn’t there.
Going back to the 4-2-3-1 got the Timbers into more familiar positions and, more importantly, got Darlington Nagbe back in the middle of the field. While Nagbe is always in a floating role, when he’s played on the wing this leaves empty space. Space which, if not accounted for, can burn the Timbers. Starting in the middle Nagbe has more space to roam and has an easier time leading the attack. Nagbe was one of the very few bright spots for Portland on Sunday, especially in the second half.
Nagbe was incredible in the second half, and the Timbers dearly needed it. As a team, the Timbers created only three chances in the first half. They created six in the second half, four of those by Nagbe himself. Nagbe spent much of the half dribbling his way through the NYCFC defense, completing seven successful dribbles. That’s the most any MLS player has had in an entire GAME in the 2015 season. Basically, when Nagbe got the ball in the second half, good things happened for the Timbers.
Check out the video below, beginning at the 2:04 mark. It starts with Nagbe beating Jeb Brovsky on the wing to start a break and creating a chance for Fanendo Adi. Then, after Gaston Fernandez forces a turnover, Nagbe picks the ball up and plays Adi in again on goal. Next comes the Timbers goal. Nagbe picks the ball up near midfield and dribbles towards the box. As he attacks, five (FIVE!) NYCFC defenders move towards him and while they manage to stop him, Nagbe manages to get the ball to Fernandez, who finds Asprilla to set up the goal.
3. What happens when Diego Valeri and Will Johnson return from injury?
Most likely the return of Valeri and Johnson will see the Timbers return to their regular, more aesthetically pleasing style of play. This is good for the viewers and good for Portland as they seem to be at their best when Valeri is directing traffic and they’re possessing the ball. Porter has been forced to adapt without two of his most important players and they’ve made ugly work, but expect a return to normal once Valeri and Johnson are healthy.
Part of the struggle for the Timbers against NYCFC was their inability to deal with NYCFC’s high pressure early in the game when the Timbers were trying to play out of the back. While the Timbers miss Valeri’s creativity dearly, Johnson’s ability to hold possession under pressure and get the build up going from deep is vital to Portland’s play. Here’s Johnson’s replacement, Jack Jewsbury, on facing that high-press:
“We knew that was something they’d probably do. We were a little disappointed we didn’t handle it better, but at the end of the day on the road you’re going to have to weather the storm at times and we did that.”
Jewsbury is right. They weathered the storm by going more direct as the game went on, and it worked. The small pitch at Yankee Stadium probably didn’t help with handling the pressure, but Johnson’s return will also significantly help in this area.
No doubt, the Timbers and their supporters will be looking for an improved performance in the coming weeks, and they’ll need it with a trip to Seattle coming up next weekend.
Main Photo:If you have been part of this site for a long time you might remember the StarCraft raps I did back in 2011. I posted them here and I got some good feedback and some negative feedback concerning the production value of the songs. Well... I upgraded my equipment!This is the ORIGINAL StarCraft Rap Battle that started this whole thing!!!Bacon dissing HazeI mentioned "AoFWeekly" in one of the lines in the Epic StarCraft II Rap Battle. I figured you guys might not know what I was saying so I'm going to let you know that it was a StarCraft show that I casted with two of my real life friends where we owned noobs in incredibly hilarious ways. The show is over and done with but I just wanted you to know what I was talking aboutIf you want to bother to see it it's here: youtube.com/aofweekly Here is Haze dissing Bacon
StarStruck Profile Joined April 2010 24047 Posts Last Edited: 2013-01-16 22:42:24 #4 On January 17 2013 07:29 Bacon-X wrote:
Hi, my StarCraft name is Bacon.
I came up with the idea to have a "StarCraft II" rap battle with this guy called Haze.
He plays StarCraft and he raps, just like me, so we both agreed to have a rap battle about StarCraft II.
I was originally going to post it here with a Poll to let the StarCraft community vote for the winner but... He's not making a response... I waited and waited and waited but I think after he heard my diss track he gave up. I went first.
If you have been part of this site for a long time you might remember the StarCraft raps I did back in 2011. I posted them here and I got some good feedback and some negative feedback concerning the production value of the songs. Well... I upgraded my equipment!
I already showed it to a few players on the teamliquid channel on the NA server and they said "Wow, I could actually listen to it" and "I liked it a lot, nice beat and funny lyrics"
So here is my StarCraft 2 Rap Battle track dissing Haze, enjoy.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2tLWGb0tjDo
If you want Haze to make a comeback and actually have a poll, post here saying so and that might motivate him to try and make a comeback and then we can vote for the winner!!! That would be the most exciting thing!!!
I mentioned "AoFWeekly" in one of the lines in the Epic StarCraft II Rap Battle. I figured you guys might not know what I was saying so I'm going to let you know that it was a StarCraft show that I casted with two of my real life friends where we owned noobs in incredibly hilarious ways. The show is over and done with but I just wanted you to know what I was talking about If you want to bother to see it it's here:
Yes, this is a StarCraft II Rap Battle hahaha!!
Hi, my StarCraft name is Bacon.I came up with the idea to have a "StarCraft II" rap battle with this guy called Haze.He plays StarCraft and he raps, just like me, so we both agreed to have a rap battle about StarCraft II.I was originally going to post it here with a Poll to let the StarCraft community vote for the winner but... He's not making a response... I waited and waited and waited but I think after he heard my diss track he gave up. I went first.If you have been part of this site for a long time you might remember the StarCraft raps I did back in 2011. I posted them here and I got some good feedback and some negative feedback concerning the production value of the songs. Well... I upgraded my equipment!I already showed it to a few players on the teamliquid channel on the NA server and they said "Wow, I could actually listen to it" and "I liked it a lot, nice beat and funny lyrics"So here is my StarCraft 2 Rap Battle track dissing Haze, enjoy.If you want Haze to make a comeback and actually have a poll, post here saying so and that might motivate him to try and make a comeback and then we can vote for the winner!!! That would be the most exciting thing!!!I mentioned "AoFWeekly" in one of the lines in the Epic StarCraft II Rap Battle. I figured you guys might not know what I was saying so I'm going to let you know that it was a StarCraft show that I casted with two of my real life friends where we owned noobs in incredibly hilarious ways. The show is over and done with but I just wanted you to know what I was talking aboutIf you want to bother to see it it's here: youtube.com/aofweekly Yes, this is a StarCraft II Rap Battle hahaha!!
There's another guy I know from the States who battles as well. I listened to it and neither one of you sounded like him. I just don't remember his alias but he did post some of his material in the blog section. It was a while back. lol He was the first guy who popped up when I searched rap battle lol:
http://www.teamliquid.net/blogs/viewblog.php?topic_id=358294
Tunk904! There's another guy I know from the States who battles as well. I listened to it and neither one of you sounded like him. I just don't remember his alias but he did post some of his material in the blog section. It was a while back. lol He was the first guy who popped up when I searched rap battle lol:Tunk904!It’s Sunday, which means it’s time for another Church of MO. This week’s sermon reaches back almost a full decade and comes courtesy of “Reverend” Eric Bass. The topic this week is sidecars — but not just any sidecars, but minimotos…with sidecars! Now imagine some grown adults (physically, not necessarily mentally) acting a fool on miniature sidecars, complete with both rider and side hack. The results are as comical as you could imagine. And be sure to click the link at the bottom for video evidence of some MO alum partaking in the most MOronic of evens. Here now, Reverend Bass…
Pocketbikes W/ Sidecars? Look Out World!
By Eric Bass
I was speaking with Marcelo Oliveira over at East Coast Minimoto about acquiring a carbon fiber pocketbike for MO’s test and review and a few other highly illegal schemes we had in mind (involving moving Brinks trucks and plastic explosives) when he says, “Hey, Ebass go check out this link (http://pocketbike.com/sidecars — Unfortunately, the site is no longer active. -TS) It’s got video clips of these nuts who race pocketbikes with sidecars. You’re gonna love it”!
Rruhhhh??? My ears went up like a dog that just heard the refrigerator door open.”You’ve gotta be kidding right”? He wasn’t kidding, and from the moment I first set eyes on them, I knew that these absurd creations were the province and dominion of the few, the proud, the MOrons. I simply MUST ride one! And so through a series of calls and emails it came to pass that we were able to arrange a Willow Springs Kart Track rendezvous, with Dan and Suzanne of West Coast Mini Sidecars. The whole gang was there, Fonzie, Sean, myself and even Ashley, who traveled across the Pacific Ocean and several time zones to attend this most MOronic of events.
Fonzie and I got there early and after watching Dan and Suzanne lap the circuit with grace and élan, we saddled up and with a helpful shove from the experts, were on our way. I drove first which is sort of a misnomer, since the “driver” does little more than manage the throttle and braking while the monkey abuses the sh*t out of them by either climbing over their back and laying on top of them to turn right, or yanking on handles cinched on over their leathers while hanging off the sidecar to turn left. The handlebars don’t do squat. It’s all about the monkey, Baby!
A few tentative laps later, we decided to switch positions and lo and behold, a mini-sidecar racing phenom was born! The laws of physics dictate that if you wanna go fast around a turn on one of these things, you gotta get as much weight as far to the inside as possible to keep the bike from just flipping over at 35 mph. My 210 lbs of ballast provided about a 25% increase over Fonzie’s skin and bones, and being born lacking the self-preservation gene enabled me to hang off near horizontally until my helmet was practically scraping the pavement. This led to vastly decreased lap times and some views of the world that I will not soon forget.
It was sort of like being a fly on Valentino Rossi’s toe slider. With our newfound speed, we were soon able to hang near Dan and Suzanne. What a blast! Waiter, get me a doggie bag, I’m taking mine home!
About an hour into the festivities, Sean and Ashley showed-up. Sean had never driven or monkeyed on a sidecar before, but Ashley had some prior experience as a monkey on full-sized racing hacks. Both Sean and Ashley have motorcycle roadracing championships to their credit, so we knew we were in for some trouble.
Sure enough, after a couple of awkward laps, Fonzie and I found ourselves being passed by our bosses. Dan and Suzanne were mildly impressed, but didn’t feel too threatened by Sean and Ashley’s speed.
After a bit of pondering, Sean said “I think I could go much faster solo, because I’d only lose time in left turns, but gain serious speed everywhere else on the track. Dan said he didn’t think it could be done effectively and Sean replied “Wanna Bet?” What followed can only be appreciated through the miracle of video. Suffice to say Sean lapped Dan and Suzanne about every third lap. After a while, Dan and his wife pulled-in and just stood around watching Sean abuse the hell out of and generally ride their second sidecar far beyond its limits.
We didn’t think he’d ever stop and feared we’d lose the oportunity to do anymore riding, but Sean suddenly ejected himself mid-corner and went rolling across the track.
We thought it was an accident, but turns out the Executive Editor had simply over-heated the little sidecar. He decided to bail-out when it started to puke boiling water all over his left thigh. Moral of the story? If you have a neat toy and you desire to keep it neat, don’t let an aggressive 220-lb pro racer ride it.
Click here to see VIDEO of pocketbikes with sidecars!(01/28/16) - Lead has been the big concern with Flint water, but now that the state has released water test results, we're seeing some homes are also dealing with copper levels that are too high and possibly unhealthy.
The state says acute exposure to copper can cause nausea and diarrhea, and for some people, it can mean very serious complications.
Most water filters can't stop it.
"Not everybody has a sensitivity to copper. Copper in small amount is good for you," said Jim Henry, of the Genesee County Health Department.
Recent testing by the Michigan DEQ shows some homes in Flint have higher levels of copper than the EPA allows. A small percentage of the population can't eliminate it from their bodies.
"When they can't, it builds up over time and it starts causing health problems," Henry said.
He says the blood-lead testing that's being done on children in Flint doesn't detect copper. Diets rich in zinc can reduce copper levels in the body. Beef and lamb are good sources of zinc.
Health experts say too much copper in the blood can cause hepatitis and mental confusion.
"Stumbling is something to look for, slurred speech," Henry said.
Some doctors think there could be a link with depression or dementia for those who have too much copper in their blood. If it's in the water, a reverse osmosis filter is the only easy way to remove it.
"The ones that are being distributed now are not certified to remove copper," Henry said.
The hope is that as the phosphates create a bio-film on the Flint water infrastructure, copper levels should start dropping, but nobody knows for sure.Identical twins Mike and Doug Starn presented the Structure of Thought series as part of their installation Gravity of Light, which mixed photography, video and sculpture. Based in Beacon, New York, They have made numerous works featuring light as a "life force" and drawing parallels between plants and the human body.
This image from Structure of Thought depicts a branching tree resembling the microscopic dendrites of neurons.
(Image: Mike and Doug Starn/National Academy of Sciences)
This virtual sculpture, PET Study 2 (Lung Cancer), was made by the collective (art)n, based in Chicago, in a series of steps. First, a PET scan of lung cancer was embedded into a digitised model of the lungs. The lungs were then mapped onto the figure, a virtual model made from a Man Ray photograph of the painter Francis Picabia.
The model was then rendered as 64 separate images, each from a slightly different perspective. Once assembled, the 64 images appear to exist in three dimensions when viewed through an intervening screen. This approach – building up the sculpture as a succession of layers – is similar to how medical scans build an image of the body in a series of planes.
(Image: Ellen Sandor, Keith Miller, Janine Fron, Jack Ludden, (art)n with Jim Strommer, School of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles/National Academy of Sciences)
California's Salton Sea is eerily beautiful, as shown by this 1999 chromogenic print by Terry Falke. But all is not well at this huge artificial lake: tens of thousands of birds and over 2 million dead fish were found in the area over the 12 months before Falke made his picture.
The Salton Sea was created when levees on the Colorado river broke during a flood in 1905. This accident was turned to the good when, in the 1950s, the resulting lake was stocked with fish. The fish in turn attracted millions of migrating birds, and the "sea" became a valuable natural habitat, despite its artificial origins.
Now higher temperatures and changing irrigation patterns mean the lake is evaporating rapidly. Its remaining water is becoming increasingly saline, making it inhospitable to birds and fish; pollution borne by the Mexicali New river is also affecting the environment. The sea's unusual history has made it difficult to determine what actions, if any, should be taken to save it.
(Image: Terry Falke/National Academy of Sciences) Advertisement
The work of artist Alfredo Arreguín explores Mexican culture and natural landscapes, as well as the environment and animals of the US Pacific north-west.
Arreguín was prominent in the Pattern and Decoration art movement, originating in New York in the mid-1970s. Pattern and Decoration artists used mainly brightly coloured geometric figures in their works, reacting against the idea that decorative art was somehow inferior to "fine" art.
Works like Hero's Journey, shown here, use pre-Aztec images, Mexican tiles and geometric patterns to create intricate, brightly coloured canvases.
(Image: Alfredo Arreguín/National Academy of Sciences)
New York-based artist Justine Cooper's work investigates the intersection between science, medicine and culture. This photograph, Blood Red Butterflies, was taken with a vintage large-format camera in a storage area of the American Museum of Natural History in New York, where Cooper spent a year as artist in residence. Her work there gave the public a rare look at parts of the collection they wouldn't usually see. (You can see more of Cooper's pictures in this gallery.)
(Image: Justine Cooper/National Academy of Sciences)
Jim Sanborn works with topological projections to evoke a sense of mystery and the forces of nature. Sanborn created this piece in 1995, by projecting the repeated word lux – Latin for "light" and also the international system unit for luminous emittance – onto the landscape at Blue Mesa, Utah.
Sanborn is best known for his 1988 sculpture Kryptos, which was installed at the Central Intelligence Agency's headquarters in Langley, Virginia. Kryptos contains an encrypted four-part puzzle which has yet to be completely solved.
(Image: Jim Sanborn/National Academy of Sciences)
Joy Garnett takes images of natural and human-made disasters she finds on the internet and reinterprets them in thick oil paintings. Her work explores the tensions between the fleeting images of mass media and the more settled and visceral power of paint.
This image is from the series Strange Weather, in which the New York-based artist recast media images of New Orleans in the aftermath of hurricane Katrina as evocative paintings.
(Image: Joy Garnett/National Academy of Sciences)
Katherine Sherwood's paintings explore the evolution of medical imagery. This work is based on sketches by Italian physician Camillo Golgi, who in 1873 developed a method of staining nerve tissue so that the complex structure of the brain could be seen. Golgi's method was later used by Spanish neuroanatomist Santiago Ramón y Cajal to study the organisation of the nervous system. Sherwood teaches painting and drawing at the University of California, Berkeley.
(Image: Katherine Sherwood/National Academy of Sciences)
It may look like the double helix of DNA, but a closer look reveals that the strands are spiralling grapes and pears. Artist Mia Brownell of Southern Connecticut State University in New Haven paints fruit floating in space in the dramatic chiaroscuro style of the Dutch old masters. The shapes and spirals in her works bear a striking resemblance to coiling chains of DNA, amino acids and protein chains.
(Image: Mia Brownell/National Academy of Sciences)I believe that a vote for Barack Obama or Mitt Romney is a vote for the perpetuation of the corrupted political system of special interest-driven 'Republicrat' stranglehold on our democracy, a system in which the revolving door between public and private sector thrives, corporate cash buys politicians' loyalties and ordinary citizens find themselves without a voice.I believe that a vote for Barack Obama or Mitt Romney is a vote against single-payer, universal health care, the system enjoyed by citizens of every other industrialized nation on earth, and a vote for the continuation of the for-profit, corporate-controlled health care system of the status quo, one which results in the premature deaths of tens of thousands of uninsured Americans each year.I believe that a vote for Barack Obama or Mitt Romney is a vote for inaction on climate change, possibly the most pressing environmental crisis ever faced by humanity.I believe that a vote for Barack Obama or Mitt Romney is a vote for the supremely destructive War on Drugs, a ludicrous 40-plus year affair that has cost immense blood and treasure and has resulted in the mass incarceration of millions of Americans, mostly non-violent poor people of color, destroying entire communities over an issue that should be treated as a public health issue, not a criminal one.I believe that a vote for Barack Obama or Mitt Romney is a vote for the barbaric practice of capital punishment, which has been roundly rejected by the majority of the world's nations and abolished by every Western nation save the United States.I believe that a vote for Barack Obama or Mitt Romney is a vote for the imperialist/interventionist/corporatist/Zionist policies and actions that caused the 9/11 terrorist attacks.I believe that a vote for Barack Obama or Mitt Romney is a vote for the continuation of the unjust economic policies which have wreaked havoc on developing nations as well as the environment.I believe that a vote for Barack Obama or Mitt Romney is a vote for continued US support for brutal dictators who serve US foreign policy objectives.I believe that a vote for Barack Obama or Mitt Romney is a vote for unwavering US support for Israeli ethnic cleansing apartheid, illegal occupation and colonization of Palestine via illegal settlement construction.I firmly believe that a vote for the "lesser of two evils" is still a vote for evil. Therefore, I am voting for Dr. Jill Stein and Cheri Honkala of the Green Party for president and vice president of the United States. Dr. Stein, who hails from suburban Chicago, is a graduate of Harvard Medical School who is an internist specializing in environmental medicine. She is a mother, an activist and a tireless advocate. Cheri Honkala, who grew up in poverty in Minnesota and was once homeless, is one of the nation's most respected anti-poverty activists and community organizers. She is also a mother.Stein and Honkala are offering Americans what they call the Green New Deal, an emergency four-part plan inspired by the New Deal programs that helped lift America from the Great Depression designed to move the nation to renewed prosperity in a secure green future. The Green New Deal consists of an Economic Bill of Rights, a Green Transition to a sustainable economy, meaningful financial reform and a transition to a democracy that functions for the people, not for the corporations that have hijacked our system.As Ralph Nader so eloquently put it, "the only difference between the Republican and Democratic parties is the velocities at which their knees hit the floor when the corporations come knocking at their doors." Keeping this in mind, I believe that only a candidate from outside the 'Republicrat' duopoly can help American regain a government "of the people, by the people and for the people."The Ziwiye hoard is a treasure hoard containing gold, silver, and ivory objects, also including a few Luristan pieces, that was uncovered on the south shore of Lake Urmia in Ziwiyeh, Kurdistan Province, Iran, in 1947.
Provenance [ edit ]
Objects from the hoard provide a link between the cultures of the Iranian plateau and the nomadic or Scythian art forms known as the "animal style". "The Scythian motives adopted by Urartu account for the decoration of the great Treasure of Sakiz brought to light on the south shore of Lake Urmia," was Leonard Woolley's assessment (Woolley 1961 p 176).
Style [ edit ]
The hoard contains objects in four styles: Assyrian, Scythian, proto-Achaemenid, and the provincial native pieces. Dated ca. 700 BC, this collection of objects illustrates the situation of the Iranian plateau as a crossroads of cultural highways—not least of them the Silk Road—which fused disparate cultures to inform early Iranian art. The objects have also been related to finds at Teppe Hasanlu and Marlyk.[1]
Current location [ edit ]
Examples of the Ziwiye Treasure are scattered among public and private collections. A 'Ziwiye' provenance may have been applied to comparable objects that have passed through the trade since the 1960s. Items attributed to the hoard are currently in the collections of the Metropolitan Museum in New York, the Louvre in Paris and the British Museum in London.[2][3][4]
Controversy [ edit ]
The archaeologist Oscar White Muscarella has questioned the whole account of the finding of the hoard (as he has done with the older Oxus Treasure), pointing out that none of the items were excavated under archaeological conditions, but passed through the hands of dealers. He concludes that "there are no objective sources of information that any of the attributed objects actually were found at Ziwiye, although it is probable that some were", and that the objects have no historical and archaeological value as a group",[5] although many are genuine and "exquisite works of art".[6] In a later work Muscarella denounced several "Ziwiye" objects as modern forgeries.[7]
References [ edit ]
Sources [ edit ]
Coordinates:In the past half hour an amendment to Ohio Senate Bill 137 — which would have made it impossible for Tesla Motors [NASDAQ:TSLA] to sell its cars direct to customers without using a third-party independent dealer — was defeated, allowing the original bill to pass 12-0 without negatively curtailing Tesla’s ability to sell its Model S in Ohio.
Senate Bill 137, a bi-partisan, benign bill designed to improve the safety of the men and women who look after Ohio’s roads, received a last-minute addition last week designed to halt the sale of Tesla electric cars in the state. But after successful campaigning from Tesla, EV advocates and fans in Ohio, the Senate cast out the proposed amendment to the bill before passing it 12-0.
Writing on the Tesla Motors Club Forum, forum member Ryan — aka PokerBroker — who attended the hearing in Ohio — posted the following, simple message to signal the defeat of the amendment in the Ohio Senate.
“Ohio strikes down the amendment to SB137 which would limit Tesla’s direct sales and then passes the unamended bill 12-0.”
He later added:
“No official announcement yet as the greater session was to continue. I’m sure there will be official news soon,” telling us that “It sounds like, although the amendment was defeated today, we will likely see it introduced at a later date as a stand-alone bill. The auto dealer special interest groups won’t give up so easily… but neither will we!”
Tesla had written to its Ohio customers and fans yesterday asking them to attend the Senate Bill 137 hearing, which was originally scheduled for tomorrow. But shortly after Tesla had sent its email asking for support, the bill’s hearing was moved forward a day, presumably to try and scupper any chances of the amendment to the bill being defeated.
But as The Columbus Despatch (via GreenCarReports) reports, Tesla had already put into play the biggest weapon in its arsenal to persuade lawmakers that passing the amendment was a bad thing: its Model S.
We’re not sure if it was the Model S P85 test drives Tesla offered members of the Ohio legislature yesterday outside the Ohio Statehouse, Tesla’s growing base of contented customers, or just plain common sense, but we’re glad to see this particular attempt to ban Tesla from selling in Ohio quashed at the first hurdle.
That doesn’t mean however that the battle between powerful auto dealer associations and Tesla Motors is over yet: with plenty more states to fight for a right to sell its Model S and subsequent cars in, this particular victory is just the latest match in an agonisingly long game.
______________________________________
Want to keep up with the latest news in evolving transport? Don’t forget to follow Transport Evolved on Twitter, like us on Facebook and G+, and subscribe to our YouTube channel.
You can also support us directly as a monthly supporting member by visiting Patreon.com.The second season of Supergirl has brought forth a lot of changes, many due to the show's shift from CBS to The CW. While new additions such as Maggie Sawyer (Floriana Lima), Lena Luthor (Katie McGrath) and Mon-El (Chris Wood) have allowed the show to tell different types of stories in its sophomore season, some believe it has caused the show to ignore some of its longer-standing characters.
But according to one of the show's executive producers, a future episode will draw the focus of the show back onto one of its original characters - James "Jimmy" Olsen (Mehcad Brooks)
"There’s a big James episode coming up that we’re starting to shoot this week." Andrew Kreisberg revealed to TVLine. "It’s, like, the biggest James story we’ve ever done. We’re excited, Mehcad [Brooks] is excited… It’s going to be great." It's unclear exactly what this story will be, and how it will involve the other plotlines of Supergirl's second season. But given the arc that James has gone through on the show, this news is a long time coming. The iconic sidekick of Superman made his way into the world of Supergirl in the show's pilot episode, and factored heavily into the show's first season in several different ways as the first season's male lead.
But in the second season, his main arc has consisted of him becoming the vigilante Guardian, a plot point that has only been used occasionally in episodes since. James has even been absent from the show for episodes at a time. With that in mind, fans are sure to appreciate seeing him earn more screentime in the near future. MORE:
Supergirl airs Mondays at 8 p.m. ET/PT on The CW.If ever there was a time for Saturday Night Live to have a go at Bill O’Reilly, this was the week to start snarking. With 60-plus advertisers yanking their ads from The O’Reilly Factor after the New York Times piece on charges of sexual harassment by O’Reilly — and with O’Reilly topping the bestseller lists with a brand-new book, Old School — the topic could not be more timely. Yet over the weekend, SNL failed its audience yet again. The show presented two awful sketches that featured Alec Baldwin as Donald Trump. The opening sketch, featuring Trump talking to a bunch of coal-country Trump supporters, was just routinely awful. But the second one, in which Baldwin played both the president and Bill O’Reilly, was amazingly lazy and bad.
You’d think that Baldwin, an ardent liberal who has spent a good portion of his celebrity criticizing right-wing media, would have watched enough of Fox News to be able to mount a credible, slashing O’Reilly impersonation. But every syllable Baldwin uttered as O’Reilly was off — inaccurate and slapdash. Baldwin couldn’t even be bothered to recite O’Reilly’s signature opening — the arm-waving cry, “Caution! You are about the enter the No-Spin Zone!” — with accuracy. In full O’Reilly makeup, Baldwin did what O’Reilly never does: He grinned eagerly at the camera. O’Reilly, by contrast, is never more uncomfortable than when he’s required to smile — it’s one of the things he has in common with his great defender, the president of the United States. O’Reilly’s brief smiles always look as though he’s been hit with an abdominal gas attack. It just goes to show SNL really could not care less about attacking its targets with precision — the show thinks it’s enough to offer a sneer of a sketch, knowing that its cheering audience will congratulate the performers and itself, no matter how lame the material may be.
When the sketch went to split-screen, with Baldwin-O’Reilly talking to Baldwin-Trump, things only got worse. The point of the bit was to slice and dice O’Reilly’s reputation as a sexual harasser, along with Trump’s out-of-nowhere support for the Factor host, as expressed in a non sequitur in a New York Times interview last week. One searched in vain for punchlines in this sketch; what we heard instead were mere paraphrasings of things Trump and O’Reilly have actually said.
The sketch ended with Baldwin-O’Reilly holding up a copy of O’Reilly’s Old School, mocking the host’s book as having “great morals and values, and could not have come at a better time.” If that’s SNL |
accordingly to protect your freedom of speech.
- See more at: http://healthimpactnews.com/2014/int....xcm9ZDeZ.dpuf From a fireball we came, crossed sea and mountain
We were drinking beauty with our eyes
We were given all to make our own, let us be left alone
III #2 Join Date Jun 2012 Posts 1,344 We have several here. All one needs to do is look at the thread about the Oregon standoff to see that. All good is hard. All evil is easy. Dying, losing, cheating, and mediocrity is easy. Stay away from easy. #3 Join Date Sep 2005 Location Eastern Shore, MD Posts 3,146 Originally Posted by Slatewiper Originally Posted by We have several here. All one needs to do is look at the thread about the Oregon standoff to see that. From a fireball we came, crossed sea and mountain
We were drinking beauty with our eyes
We were given all to make our own, let us be left alone
III #4 Join Date Mar 2007 Posts 50,036 Originally Posted by Slatewiper Originally Posted by We have several here. All one needs to do is look at the thread about the Oregon standoff to see that.
So night driver, T.Paine and myself as well as other long time member here are paid gov trolls. Yeah, right. https://soundcloud.com/user-309670005
Audio Bhagavad Gita downloadable
This knowledge is the king of education, the most secret of all secrets. It is the purest knowledge, and because it gives direct perception of the self by realization, it is the perfection of religion. It is everlasting, and it is joyfully performed. Audio Bhagavad Gita downloadable #5 Join Date Jun 2001 Posts 8,484 On another board I asked a big government sympathizer what did the Hammonds do to become JERKS and THUGS like he said they was. I got no reply other than they didn't follow the government protocol in fighting wild fires and that is why. So I researched the Burns 2006 fire, and there was/is no documentation of smoke jumpers or fire fighters that was called out on that suspicious fire. There is NO record of any government involvement until after the fact. #6 Join Date May 2001 Location Behind Enemy Lines Posts 160,265 FJ comes instantly to mind. #7 Join Date Sep 2005 Location Eastern Shore, MD Posts 3,146 Originally Posted by Be Well Originally Posted by The idea that everyone who doesn't support the occupation side 100% is a troll is pure crazed paranoid bulls***.
So night driver, T.Paine and myself as well as other long time member here are paid gov trolls. Yeah, right.
ps, and T Paine and night driver are ok in my book From a fireball we came, crossed sea and mountain
We were drinking beauty with our eyes
We were given all to make our own, let us be left alone
III #8 Join Date May 2004 Location N. Minnesota Posts 12,243 Both supporters and detractors could be outside agitators - there's more than one way to skin a cat. Don't be too quick to judge on position alone. #9 Join Date Feb 2005 Posts 3,233 So anyone who takes an opposing viewpoint and does not back down to you is a... What? Paid.gov infiltrator, shill, traitor?
No
What you are doing is an old and effective technique of ad hominim argument - you cannot win based on logic and reason so you attack the person. This way is even better because anyone who agrees with those who disagree with you may fear being similarly labeled.
So sad "Be Prepared" - Boy Scouts Motto
"And what I say unto you I say unto all, Watch." - Jesus Christ, Mk 13:37
"Don't worry, be happy" - Bobby Mcferrin
"Take a chill pill" - Mongo #10 Join Date Nov 2008 Location OUT SIDE OF THE FALSE REALITY Posts 11,962 Hitler comes to mind,fear/control.
Fear to say any thing for fear of being controlled by [they] in a way that goes against a free sociaty.
Hummmm............ #11 Join Date Jul 2005 Location Happy on the mountain Posts 65,546 Psyop techniques are used across the board in ALL media in the FUSA. To expect otherwise is irrational. FUSAns are the most heavily propagandized people on the planet and don't recognize the propaganda for what it is. The wonder of our time isnt how angry we are at politics and politicians; its how little weve done about it. - Fran Porretto
-http://bastionofliberty.blogspot.com/2016/10/a-wholly-rational-hatred.html #12 Join Date Sep 2005 Location Eastern Shore, MD Posts 3,146 Originally Posted by Mongo Originally Posted by So anyone who takes an opposing viewpoint and does not back down to you is a... What? Paid.gov infiltrator, shill, traitor?
No
What you are doing is an old and effective technique of ad hominim argument - you cannot win based on logic and reason so you attack the person. This way is even better because anyone who agrees with those who disagree with you may fear being similarly labeled.
So sad From a fireball we came, crossed sea and mountain
We were drinking beauty with our eyes
We were given all to make our own, let us be left alone
III #13 Join Date May 2004 Location N. Minnesota Posts 12,243 Originally Posted by Turret Buster Originally Posted by Wrong, way wrong, big time wrong. I'm talking about the individual(s) who are borderline obsessive about calling everyone involved in Oregon (except the law) an idiot, and rejoicing in the death of someone who stood up to an out of control government. Was that person you? #14 Join Date Jun 2014 Location Central Plains of North America Posts 8,352 No way of knowing. And at this point who gives a crap? #15 Join Date Jul 2005 Location Happy on the mountain Posts 65,546 And at this point who gives a crap?
It would be nice to have a scorecard, so you could keep up with the players... The wonder of our time isnt how angry we are at politics and politicians; its how little weve done about it. - Fran Porretto
-http://bastionofliberty.blogspot.com/2016/10/a-wholly-rational-hatred.html #16 Join Date Sep 2005 Location Eastern Shore, MD Posts 3,146 Originally Posted by WalknTrot Originally Posted by But what about the ones who are "borderline obsessive" about defending it? Sure works to draw out others who agree, doesn't it?
Emotions are high on both sides of the discussion, I get it. I also get that some here are having a blast trying to get others to react out of their "feels". Edit here - (I'm tired) And that makes me question their motives.
That's what I'm calling them out on.
Quid.
Pro.
Quo.
Quid pro quo ("something for something" or "this for that" in Latin) means an exchange of goods or services, where one transfer is contingent upon the other. Last edited by Turret Buster; 02-01-2016 at 11:15 AM. From a fireball we came, crossed sea and mountain
We were drinking beauty with our eyes
We were given all to make our own, let us be left alone
III #17 Join Date Jun 2004 Posts 15,201 Originally Posted by Dozdoats Originally Posted by And at this point who gives a crap?
It would be nice to have a scorecard, so you could keep up with the players... #18 Join Date Feb 2003 Posts 12,124 Originally Posted by Medical Maven Originally Posted by No way of knowing. And at this point who gives a crap?
I for one do not like to hear people cheering for another's death.
Just like David Koresh, the gov could have arrested Lavoy at anytime, he wasn't in hiding.
There just might come a time when we are all on the other side, or maybe those with other points of view will be the ones to turn us in for extra allotments from the gov. #19 Join Date Jan 2005 Location Portland, Oregon Posts 14,337 Who on the forum has it in their tag line something to the effect that we have the right to remain silent but not the ability? #20 Join Date Jun 2014 Location Central Plains of North America Posts 8,352 Originally Posted by MtnGal Originally Posted by Who gives a crap?
I for one do not like to hear people cheering for another's death.
Just like David Koresh, the gov could have arrested Lavoy at anytime, he wasn't in hiding.
There just might come a time when we are all on the other side, or maybe those with other points of view will be the ones to turn us in for extra allotments from the gov.
And we are all on a list, the first to be grabbed, (if we don't resist). Just participating in this forum will be good enough for the coming Star Chamber.
So I look past these cheerleaders to the end game. I will save my anger for then. It is better not to dissipate one's energies with things so near. #21 Join Date Jul 2004 Posts 15,909 Originally Posted by Mongo Originally Posted by So anyone who takes an opposing viewpoint and does not back down to you is a... What? Paid.gov infiltrator, shill, traitor?
No
What you are doing is an old and effective technique of ad hominim argument - you cannot win based on logic and reason so you attack the person. This way is even better because anyone who agrees with those who disagree with you may fear being similarly labeled.
So sad
I agreed with the cause. I did not agree with the way it was carried out! Was it a protest or armed stand off!
If it was a stand off they didn't bring enough food and supplies to last. If it was a protest they carried it just a little to far by allowing some members to be so as outspoken as to make threats. And once that was made there was no turning back. Who really was in charge?
I agree 1000% that what happened to the Hammonds was wrong. I agree 1000% that what is happening to the ranchers is wrong! But I know what is going to happen when 100 -150 armed people who take over any.gov property or anyone elses property!
The.gov has all the resources in the world and can wait you out or take you out it doesn't matter to them. Whether it is men woman and children if your willing to die for your cause they will give you the means and show you the way. They don't care and this is exactly why and what they train for.
I am thankful that it had not happened in a blood bath as I expected it to happen. Maybe they believed it when people hollered out no more WACO's. I doubt it but it is a nice thought.
As far as Lavoy being killed I hate that he was killed. I didn't know him had never heard of him until this incident. All I have read about him is he was an awesome person. I believe he was used as a martyr whether he was going for a gun or not. He said I ain't going to prison and he was willing to die! He was a leader there the best I could tell. I watched a documentary the other day on netgeo on the drug lords in Mexico and one of the us fed agents was talking and said they Mexican Military took this leader out and then everyone else connected ran scared and their were fights and total mayhem in there organizations it took a awhile but they finally reorganized and where back selling drugs! That hit me as I seen what they had just done with Lavoy everybody but 4 packed their crap and hit the road. "Man is not to be blamed for sinning. After all, he faces great temptations and is extremely vulnerable. What he is blamed for is not doing Teshuvah (repenting) because he can do that at any time." Rav Simcha Bunim of P'shischa #22 Join Date Dec 2008 Location Asylum 23 Posts 8,794 The feds are not here to "keep you in line". Just the opposite. They are planted to insitigate, incite, intrude, and report back potential hot-heads. They may find someone an easy target and they will feed that emotional weakling until there is something actionable.
They play in teams. Good patriot and progressive liberal anti-American. And then there are silent monitors who will never engage.
It is a shame that our government has nothing better to do than spy on common folks while the government itself is the greatest lawbreaker. Are stings good practices? Yes, if the targets are real criminals. For example- a sting to take out child porn, sex slave traffickers, drug smugglers, wall street bankers, black mobs, various mafia groups, rapists, serial killers, muslim jihadis.... many good targets.
You feds reading this: your shame will follow you. You will be guilty no matter how you reason your "good" works within yourself. Serving an evil government to frame innocent people will bring a judgment on you much worse than what you arrrange for your targets. Consider your violations of the constitution and common laws. Then consider your violations of natural laws and God's commands. Scoff at that if you want. Life is short for all and we will all face the ultimate truth. #23 Join Date May 2001 Location Central Iowa Posts 9,027 I know Night Driver offline. He ain't government. Far from it. #24 Join Date Jan 2003 Posts 2,259 Originally Posted by Meemur Originally Posted by I know Night Driver offline. He ain't government. Far from it. "Imagine if America was a dictatorship. You could let 1 % of the people have all the nation's wealth. You could help your rich friends get richer by cutting their taxes and bailing them out when they gamble and lose. You could ignore the needs of the poor for health care and education... You could wiretap phones. You could torture foreign prisoners... You could lie about why you go to war... You could use the media to scare the people into supporting policies that are against their interests." #25 Join Date Jan 2016 Posts 3,089 Originally Posted by Turret Buster Originally Posted by
ps, and T Paine and night driver are ok in my book Err....you never entered my mind as far as this go's Be Well. I've thought you and I were always ok, right?ps, and T Paine and night driver are ok in my book #26 Join Date Sep 2006 Location The loose buckle of the bible belt Posts 11,639 Originally Posted by Dennis Olson Originally Posted by FJ comes instantly to mind.
In Oregon this past week, and all the emotions involved, it's become pretty obvious we have our own very special covert agent(s) here trying to keep us inline while online. In Oregon this past week, and all the emotions involved, it's become pretty obvious we have our own very special covert agent(s) here trying to keep us inline while online. #27 Join Date May 2001 Location Behind Enemy Lines Posts 160,265 Originally Posted by Meemur Originally Posted by I know Night Driver offline. He ain't government. Far from it.
Agreed. Chuck is definitely on the "red" list - lol.... #28 Join Date May 2004 Location 2004 Soviet of Washington Posts 10,646 Originally Posted by Turret Buster Originally Posted by Wrong, way wrong, big time wrong. I'm talking about the individual(s) who are borderline obsessive about calling everyone involved in Oregon (except the law) an idiot, and rejoicing in the death of someone who stood up to an out of control government. Was that person you?
And intelligent people will realize that such techniques are being used by the US, Corporations, Big Unions,...the list goes on.
Some will see the establishment of trolling programs as their patriotic or corporate or organizational duty.
Ignoring a method will only increase its use or make it more effective.
But, just like with the dead tree media, some remedies are to be aware, find friends, challenge BS,...
Provocateurs have always been well paid, as long as they are useful, and set up and punished when convenient. Then the creatures of the high air answered to the battle,.., and the woods trembled and the wind sobbed telling them, the earth shook,; the witches of the valley, and the wolves of the forests, howled from every quarter and on every side of the armies, urging them against one another.
― Lady Gregory, Gods and Fighting Men: The Story of the Tuatha De Danaan and the Fianna of Ireland #29 Join Date Jul 2005 Location Happy on the mountain Posts 65,546 Provocateurs have always been well paid
And these days there are PLENTY of unpaid volunteers. The wonder of our time isnt how angry we are at politics and politicians; its how little weve done about it. - Fran Porretto
-http://bastionofliberty.blogspot.com/2016/10/a-wholly-rational-hatred.html #30 Join Date Feb 2003 Posts 12,124 Originally Posted by Meemur Originally Posted by I know Night Driver offline. He ain't government. Far from it.
And I never thought of FJ as a paid gov whatever. #31 Join Date Aug 2014 Posts 7,906 Sort of along the lines LightEcho described, I see the "benefits" of an effort like this to them:
1) They identify the hotheads who are capable of and actively organizing
2) Same hotheads, might just blow off enough steam... that they become a non-threat; on radar for "pre-crime"
3) They scare or confuse people into self-censoring silence; a paralysis if you will (see: cognitive dissonance) that results in a lot of people simply withdrawing into self-isolation - still a plus for gov, because they are attempting to prevent organized efforts that oppose the gov's lawlessness. #32 Join Date Jul 2011 Location NY Posts 1,007 Turret Buster, wasn't it you that started the thread about Shinmen right before he got banned too? He did plenty to get himself in trouble. But I'm noticing a trend here. Why is it that if someone holds and strenuously defends an opposing opinion they are automatically trolls or government agents? It would get pretty boring around here if everyone agreed all the time. #33 Join Date May 2001 Location Behind Enemy Lines Posts 160,265 And I never thought of FJ as a paid gov whatever.
Perhaps not GOV, but most certainly DNC. #34 Join Date Sep 2006 Location The loose buckle of the bible belt Posts 11,639 The advantage of anonymity (if desired) on forums like TB2K means that we're less subject to the self-censoring effect in Sacajawea's point 3 above.
Re: point 1 above, how would government identify Sacajawea or any other poster with a colorful screen name? Assuming no threats of violence, what's the point of such identification. You can get a list of people who generally oppose the Obama administration by going to the BoE in each state and getting a list of registered republicans. #35 Join Date Jul 2006 Location W. Georgia Posts 6,493 Originally Posted by tanstaafl Originally Posted by Who on the forum has it in their tag line something to the effect that we have the right to remain silent but not the ability? #36 Join Date Jan 2003 Location inland nw Posts 69 Originally Posted by tanstaafl Originally Posted by Who on the forum has it in their tag line something to the effect that we have the right to remain silent but not the ability?
magilla #37 Join Date Mar 2007 Posts 50,036 Originally Posted by Turret Buster Originally Posted by
ps, and T Paine and night driver are ok in my book Err....you never entered my mind as far as this go's Be Well. I've thought you and I were always ok, right?ps, and T Paine and night driver are ok in my book https://soundcloud.com/user-309670005
Audio Bhagavad Gita downloadable
This knowledge is the king of education, the most secret of all secrets. It is the purest knowledge, and because it gives direct perception of the self by realization, it is the perfection of religion. It is everlasting, and it is joyfully performed. Audio Bhagavad Gita downloadable #38 Join Date Sep 2005 Location Eastern Shore, MD Posts 3,146 Originally Posted by phelly Originally Posted by Turret Buster, wasn't it you that started the thread about Shinmen right before he got banned too? He did plenty to get himself in trouble. But I'm noticing a trend here. Why is it that if someone holds and strenuously defends an opposing opinion they are automatically trolls or government agents? It would get pretty boring around here if everyone agreed all the time. From a fireball we came, crossed sea and mountain
We were drinking beauty with our eyes
We were given all to make our own, let us be left alone
III #39 Join Date Aug 2009 Location Jefferson Posts 7,439 I just figure that everybody is working for somebody.....and don't worry about it.
We have done so much, with so little, for so long....We can now do anything, with nothing, forever. #40 Join Date Aug 2014 Posts 7,906 If FarmerJohn is a refugee from another board I used to frequent, the same person, that is... he is just a person that sees the world in different terms from the majority of us. Yeah, he can belabor his point. LOL. So can a lot of us. He was still a better behaved sparring partner than an actual troll or "paid posting identity".
I happen to think it's good thing for a community to have different points of view. Not necessarily as opponents or sparring partners or outright enemies... but how else will people ever find out what they have in common, or what everyone can agree on? + Reply to Thread Bookmarks Bookmarks Digg
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3D Robotics IRIS+ Quadcopter Overview
Do you wish you could map out where you want your drone to go and it would just listen to you? Do you enjoy being able to customize whatever you want? Do you wish your drone could follow you while filming automatically? If you answered yes to any of these questions, then the IRIS+ Quadcopter from 3D Robotics is the drone for you.
Flight Time 16-22min Charging Time 45-60min Battery Type 5100mAh 3S battery AA Battery None Camera GoPro Price $599 (no camera included)
Getting Started: 3D Robotics IRIS+ Quadcopter Review
Be forewarned, the IRIS+ Quadcopter from 3D Robotics is not for the faint of heart. Although this drone comes nearly RTF (ready to fly) out-of-the-box, we recommend that you at least have some flying experience before purchasing the IRIS+. This advanced quadcopter requires regular tinkering and firmware updates. However, the ability to customize and set many different types of settings is what sets the IRIS+ apart, making it the perfect drone for some people. Developed by ex-WIRED editor, Chris Anderson, the IRIS is aimed at makers and hobbyists who want to contribute to development of the product.
Awesome Features of the IRIS+
The ‘Geofence’: before taking off, you can set boundaries for the IRIS+’s upcoming flight. If you end up running into one of these boundaries, the quadcopter will automatically return to its launch point. This can be a very handy feature while learning to fly, making sure flights can’t get out of hand. Also, with the simple switch of a toggle, you can tell the IRIS+ to return to its launch point whenever you see fit. Mission Planning: if you know exactly where you want the IRIS to fly to, then you can opt for an autopilot mission. Using the Mission Planning application from 3d Robotics, you simply plug in to your operating environment and configure the waypoints and flightpath beforehand. Then you let the IRIS do the flying for you. Set Up a Ground Control Center: using an Android environment, the IRIS lets you stream live flight-data to your device on the ground. Follow the Leader Mode: when carrying an Android device, the IRIS+ is capable of following and filming you do… whatever the heck you want! Now, you can take a lap down the half pipe with your IRIS+ locked on and filming you from above… automatically!
Setting Up
Setting up the the IRIS is pretty straightforward. First, you’ll want to find the battery kit and charge up the battery. Even though the battery is shipped half charged, you definitely want to charge the battery all the way before flying.
The IRIS also comes along with four unattached propellers. All you need to do is attach and rotate each color coordinated propeller towards the locking direction given. Don’t worry if the propeller doesn’t seem to lock all the way, the IRIS is designed to automatically lock in these propellers before takeoff.
We recommend reading through the manual for more detailed instructions on these procedures before flying.
Learning to Fly the IRIS Quadcopter
Out of all the remote transmitters we have encountered while researching drones, the IRIS comes with one of the coolest remotes we have seen yet. Since its design mimics that of a video game controller, the functionality is pretty user intuitive.
The left stick controls ‘throttle’ and ‘yaw.’ To adjust the quadcopter’s altitude (throttle), simply move the left stick up or down, and center it to hover. To rotate the quadcopter (yaw), move the left controller stick to the left or right and the drone will rotate in the corresponding direction.
The right stick controls pitch and roll. This means that any way you tilt the right controller stick the quadcopter will tilt and move in the same direction. As with learning to fly any drone, practice small movements at first at low altitudes, and work your way up from there.
Flight Modes
The IRIS has three flight modes: standard mode (STD) allows you to fly manually, hover mode (LTR) makes the IRIS hover in place – a great tool for beginners, and auto mode (AUTO) lets you set waypoints that the IRIS will automatically fly to.
Pixhawk Autopilot System
The IRIS+ draws much of its power from the Pixhawk autopilot system. Built by 3DR and developed as an open-source project, Pixhawk interfaces with downloadable ground stations for the IRIS allowing you to customize and set many different flight variables. However, making these types of adjustments to the IRIS+ voids your warranty and is recommended only for experts with previous knowledge of quadcopter flight systems.
Processor 32-bit ARM Cortex M4 core with FPU 168 Mhz/256 KB RAM/2 MB Flash 32-bit failsafe co-processor
Sensors MPU6000 as main accel and gyro ST Micro 16-bit gyroscope ST Micro 14-bit accelerometer/magnetometer MEAS barometer
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DJI Phantom 2 Vision+ Review
Drone Buying GuideIt’s conventional wisdom that Barack Obama and the Democrats have to use their convention to persuade swing voters. OK, but how? That’s the big question. It doesn’t seem at first blush that the famous Reagan question that’s resurfaced—“Are you better off than you were four years ago?”—will work to Obama’s benefit. But it’s possible that it can, as long as Obama and the other speakers weld it tightly to another question that needs to go something like, “And how well off do you think you’ll be four years from now?”
But first, let’s review last week quickly. It was not history’s most successful convention. The bounce appears to be minimal, and it seems unlikely that many swing voters were highly impressed with the case the Republicans made. They showcased some Latino talent, and Mitt Romney talked about women for six minutes. But the real centerpiece of the convention, chairs aside, was Paul Ryan, and while he tried to come off as reassuring to moderates, his speech was such a mansion of mistruths—a fact, I think, that the Democrats communicated pretty effectively over the course of the week—that most swing voters didn’t come away with Ryanmania, according to the numbers.
So the Democrats have a big opening. How to take advantage of it?
To begin with, Obama can certainly make the case that the country overall is better off than it was four years ago. The month he took office, the country lost 818,000 jobs. The next few months were similar. On the day he took office, the Dow Jones average stood at 7,950. It’s now above 13,000. That means a lot of retirement plans have come back to where they once were and then some. Of course there’s the auto bailout, which is relevant to all of us, but especially relevant in key states. And there are the positive effects of the stimulus, which as I noted over the weekend, he should not be afraid to tout.
Obviously he’s got to be careful about how he talks all this up. We still have 12.8 million people unemployed and looking for work. If Obama presses on this good-news accelerator with too heavy a foot, the engine will backfire in a big way. He has to throw in the expected caveats, of course, but he also has to regulate the rhetoric with great care. Remember: The day after the convention ends, we’re getting the August jobs numbers. The early indicators are decent, pointing toward 140,000 or so, which is a pretty encouraging number for him politically, but if he gets smacked with a five-digit number the day after a speech when he tries to talk up the economy, there goes his bounce.
I like that there’s something Rovian about this, or reverse-Rovian: turn weakness into strength. With the right set of facts, he can do it. But the real sale to swing voters will come with the second half of the equation.
This convention must be merciless on what the Republicans are going to do to this country economically. Attacks on Romney should have nothing to do with his personality or his hair or his preference for “quiet rooms” (well, a little of that) or his friends’ and supporters’ empty chairs. It should be almost all policy. That, to invert the famous line from Captain Renault in Casablanca about his heart, is Romney’s most vulnerable spot.
I hope and expect that this convention will pound away on tax cuts for the wealthy and cuts to Medicare, yes. But there’s more. There is Romney-Ryan’s stated plans to repeal Dodd-Frank and let the banks go wild again. The banks caused the problem in the first place, and the idea that they want to repeal Dodd-Frank should be enough to signal to swing voters that a Republican administration is blithely delighted to risk the same kind of crisis happening again. Something tells me that Bill Clinton (um, never mind that Glass-Steagall repeal) can really drive that point home.
The Democrats—Joe Biden, Clinton, Obama himself—have to talk some serious smack on GOP economic plans and fantasies and paint a lucid, stark, but completely fair and accurate picture of an opposing campaign that wants to be George W. Bush on steroids. I hope they’re not afraid to dig into some detail and explain how Romney’s plans to cap domestic spending, raise defense spending, slash taxes, and balance the budget all at same time just doesn’t come close to adding up, and will, as I’ve explained previously, lead to both massive domestic cuts and huge deficits.
When Democrats talk details, they win. Because the facts are on their side. When the conversation takes place at the level of banal generalities—Big government! Low taxes!—that’s when Republicans win. People—moderate people—agree with Republican slogans, but once you explain to them what those slogans are going to mean in practice, you peel a sizeable number of them away.
That’s the job this week. It is true that the undecided vote is small to start with, and there isn’t much room for a bounce. But the Democrats can get two or three points out of this week, which may be all they need, and, unlike the Republicans, all they have to do is tell the truth.“Where’s the beef?” asked a 1980s Wendy’s commercial, suggesting its burgers offered more hamburger than those of its fast-food rivals. The well-traveled phrase popped up during an April 4 hearing in the Legislature on the finances of the state’s high-speed rail project.
“We want to see a strategy, like, how are we going to get from here to there,” said state Sen. Jim Beall, D-San Jose, chairman of the Senate Transportation Committee. “I’d like to see more beef,” he told executives of the California High-Speed Rail Authority, which is building the project.
“I think ‘Where’s the beef?’ is a good comment,” added state Sen. Lois Wolk, D-Davis, chairwoman of the Senate’s Budget Subcommittee No. 2 on Resources, Environmental Protection, Energy and Transportation. Bakersfield Now reported that Sen. Wolk “praised the plan to build north first, but said major questions remain.”
In February, the authority’s Draft 2016 Business Plan for the 400-plus-mile system shifted Phase 1 to the Bay Area, from Southern California. The projected cost of the whole project also was cut a bit, to $64 billion from $68 billion. And expectations persisted of more federal funding.
But the $64 billion question remains: Where will the money come from? Where’s the beef?
So far, there are only three sources: The $9.95 billion in seed money from Proposition 1A in 2008, $3.5 billion from President Obama’s 2009 stimulus plan and $500 million a year from state carbon cap-and-trade revenue, from the 2016-17 budget proposal by Gov. Jerry Brown, a key bullet-train backer.
Prop. 1A’s summary in the pamphlet sent to voters solemnly promised, “private and public matching funds required, including, but not limited to, federal funds, funds from revenue bonds and local funds.” But no private investments have been forthcoming. And even if anti-rail Republicans lose control of Congress, it’s doubtful enough Democrats in other states would pony up more money for a California project.
Except for part of Phase I under construction in the Central Valley, there just isn’t enough money to build what has become the state’s biggest boondoggle, benefiting only politically connected contractors and construction unions. Instead of “Where’s the beef?” it’s more apt to point at the project and proclaim, “There’s the pork.”Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras met with government and political leaders Thursday to finalize details of the debt-laden country’s last-ditch request for a fresh bailout. (Reuters)
Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras met with government and political leaders Thursday to finalize details of the debt-laden country’s last-ditch request for a fresh bailout. (Reuters)
ATHENS — Greece is seeking another bailout totaling at least 50 billion euros ($55 billion) from its European creditors and offering to make painful spending cuts and tax increases as it races to avert a financial meltdown, according to government sources.
Under a 10-page blueprint completed late Thursday, the country said it would undertake austerity measures worth between 12 billion and 13 billion euros ($13 billion to $14 billion), including raising taxes on cafes, bars and restaurants.
The amount is significantly higher than the package of cuts that Greek voters rejected in a hastily called referendum on the bailout Sunday. But nearly two weeks of a banking shutdown that has brought the economy to a virtual standstill have left this Mediterranean nation with few other options to avoid sliding into bankruptcy.
Government leaders will bring the proposal before the Greek parliament for approval over the next few days as a display of good faith as Greece attempts to rebuild trust with its European creditors after months of rocky negotiations.
1 of 58 Full Screen Autoplay Close Advertisement Skip Ad × What Greece looks like today View Photos All eyes are on Greece amid fears that the country could soon go bankrupt. Caption All eyes are on Greece amid fears that the country could soon go bankrupt. -- July 7, 2015 | Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras arrives in Brussels for an E.U. leaders emergency summit on the situation in Greece. ( Eric Vidal/Reuters ) Buy Photo Wait 1 second to continue.
The debt-laden country has a reputation as a money pit for Europe’s richer nations and must make a convincing case that it is prepared to conduct a painful fiscal housecleaning in order to receive a new lifeline.
A spokesman for Eurogroup President Jeroen Dijsselbloem confirmed via Twitter on Thursday that the group has received Greece’s proposal, stating that it is “important for institutions to consider these in their assessment.”
European finance ministers are slated to review the plan Saturday, and an emergency summit of European Union leaders will make a final decision Sunday on whether to throw Greece a financial lifeline or allow it to become the first nation to fall out of the 19-member currency club.
The midnight deadline for Greece’s proposals — 5 p.m. EDT — stood as the ultimate test after weeks of brinksmanship, bluster and warnings across the euro zone.
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If Greece is forced off |
of people? I wish I could just leave my job for three weeks, get paid, live in hotels, because I don't like what is said. I don't think many of us could get away with that.
What of the many teachers who closed schools due to them going and protesting not thinking of the same students they are supposedly fighting for? Were they thinking of the parents who had to find last minute daycare and most importantly paying for it? Did they care of the burden that some may not have had the additional money to pay for daycare and the financial strain that they put on them and their households? The parents who did not know school was closed to find locked buildings? Students being forced to extend the school year and not thinking of summer opportunities/ camp obligations that could be missed because of the teachers actions? Were these parents and students ever considered before leaving their job? Oh wait that is right they got medical excuses in Madison from a doctor on the street. Was it like a lemonade stand; medical excuses 5 cents? (this I have heard not sure if this happened)
What makes one person better than another or are we all equal? Will we ever be able to please everyone? No of course not and maybe we should all keep that in mind.
I leave with one thought: If concessions were made years ago when first asked would we be going through this now?
Let's question the media narrative on the 14... We live in an age of wi-fi and smart phones. They were working while they were out of state, not twiddling their thumbs.
Also, why didn't Rep. senator Alberta Darling attend to her full voicemail inbox and email in box? She has the same server for email as the senators in Illinois, but she didn't know how to "save as incoming" or how to send bulk emails acknowledging receipt? She didn't know how to clear her voicemail and retain calls? Was it a technical problem, or was she contemptuous?
Those of us who reject soundbites and simplistic narratives would like to know!!!
@tiggerim5 - Valerie Cass is that you?
@Shane
Civil rights of 1964 - from wiki : "The bill was called for by President John F. Kennedy in his civil rights speech of June 11, 1963,[1] in which he asked for legislation "giving all Americans the right to be served in facilities which are open to the public—hotels, restaurants, theaters, retail stores, and similar establishments," as well as "greater protection for the right to vote.'"
JFK/LBJ committed political suicide by pushing for such legislation. Knowing the racist elements in the south would split the party. Democrats did what was right and not what was politically expedient.
Walker on the other hand doesn't care what is right, he only does what the Koch brothers tell him to do.
I doesn't surprise me to hear conservatives harping about how dems fled the state to avoid quorum. Repulbicans can't seem to stomach protest or dissent. Anyone remember george w's "Free Speech Zones?"
Watch for them soon in your state as public opinion continues to turn against republikkans in office.
Are all Republicans bad? Of course not. Here's a great story on some conservatives who actually walk it they talk it.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26315908/ns/msnbc_tv-rachel_maddow_show/#41918532
Wow! Well said tigger. It's nice to see actual informed thought in here from time to time.
Alpuz, what is the paranoia about? Don’t you believe that there are some original, independent opinions differing from yours?
alpuz3 no I am not Valerie Cass
Ah yes. 18 liberals filibustering AGAINST the civil rights bill was "right".
I might have to start compiling a list of "bbrocko-isms".
"Ah yes. 18 liberals filibustering AGAINST the civil rights bill was "right"."
Not one "liberal" filibustered against the civil rights bill. Those were all CONSERVATIVES.
Just thought I would point out that Fitzgerald had his illegal move pulled right out from under him by the...Republicans in the WI state Senate. John, Taxed (Not) Enough Already, and any other "conservative" (read:over compensating little man who wants his economic betters to some day kick him some scraps for all of said little man's efforts at installing an aristocracy AND the worship of authority in the U.S.), the people spoke and called enough republicans to scare the crap out of them, thereby making them act under the rule of law and rescind Fitzgerald's serious overreach. Go make up whatever you want, but to quote Grandpa Caligula, a.k.a. Ronnie Raygun, "Actions speak louder than words". Now, stfu.
But one more passing note, it was indeed as Red XIV said; it was CONSERVATIVE Democrats and republicans from SOUTHERN STATES who filibustered against the Voting Rights Act and the Civil Rights Bill. It was Liberal Republicans in the late 19th century who helped agitate for abolition and emancipation as well as Liberal Democrats who helped pass both latter pieces of legislation, but petty little authoritarians like the majority of you supposed "conservatives" can't ever let anything like facts get in your way of your Two Minute Hate. Learn your American history and again, stfu. :} :) :@
Hmmm, I'm sensing a lot of anger here. The Dark Side is strong in you. Perhaps you should rethink the recipient of your hate label.
You use the word “illegal” and the phrase “rule of law” but they are utterly misused. Other than the panic ridden posts on this site, I have seen nothing that even questions the legality of the resolution that resulted in the dem’s being in contempt. Further, I have seen nothing questioning the enforcement of it. Why do you guys still think you can post your feelings as facts?
Poor Jake. Still reading his 'rule book' like his bible.
Heh heh heh, speaking of the dark side... here's an oldie but a goodie. Cheney telling the truth about Iraq... republikkan integrity in action.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EstVJo6URdQ
@John
Hey Johnny boy, you still haven't provided that JSonline link to back up your refutation of the maddow piece highlighting how Milwaukee is now paying double for security services thanks to Walker's stupidity.
:-)
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26315908/ns/msnbc_tv-rachel_maddow_show/#41917648
The MJS doesn't counter the Maddow story. It affirms it.
http://www.jsonline.com/news/milwaukee/117276913.html
Bbrocko, On March 14th at 10:19 PM I said “It did not go to court and was not unconstitutional.” I never refuted Rachel’s little piece, I corrected your factual error. Again, if you take some initiative you would be able to find this stuff out for yourself instead of waiting for someone else to tell you what to think.
With every passing day it is becoming evident that the thousands of people who listened to their union’s scare tactics are starting to wake up. My hope is that many are starting to think for themselves and realize that the fear was unwarranted.
P.S. Cheney??? Really??? Seeing as this has gone completely off topic, I’ll share a link with you that I really enjoyed…hope you do too. ;)
http://iowahawk.typepad.com/iowahawk/2011/03/feed-your-family-on-10-billion-a-day.html
Even though the WI Senate is entitled to make its own rules, it nonetheless is obligated to provide some minimum process for challenging the contempts, which should be INCLUDED IN THE RULES FOR CONTEMPT before any citations are issued.
This would involve, at minimum, a hearing, before a neutral arbiter, at which the WI Dem Senators would be able to challenge the contempts and provide witnesses and testimony on their behalf. The nuetral arbiter would have to either dismiss the contempts, or uphold them with a record of the basis for upholding them, and a easonable means to end the contempts.
Of course, this is if we are still operating under the assumption that the WI Republicans take "the rule of law" seriously.
This country is (supposedly) NOT founded on a system of "the ones in power get to make up the rules on the fly to suit their political ends."
Eric, the resolution says the senators held in contempt will be heard in the senate. They will get their day and all will be forgiven. The senate is responsible for its own members. That’s just the way the 3-party system is set up.
What's the 3rd party, Jake? Careful, kid... Independents isn't the answer, but it is a giveaway. ;)
Hows Navy retirement treating you anyway, ya salty old dog?The final issue of The Coming of the Supermen is here and if you’ve read this far there’s really no sense in not finishing it, is there? Will things start to make sense, will we get answers, is it good?
Superman: The Coming of the Supermen #6 (DC Comics)
So what’s it about? The official summary reads:
Superman’s final confrontation with the army of Darkseid is at hand! What will be the fate of the three new Supermen, and what is the secret of Krypton?!
Why does this book matter?
Neal Adams is one of the greats and has contributed so much to the industry; you could make a good argument that the comic book industry wouldn’t be where it is today without him. He also wrote and drew one of the most insane Batman comics ever with Batman Odyssey and this series might be every bit as bodacious and out there.
Fine, you have my attention. What’s good about it?
Okay….
If you pretend there are no word balloons (there isn’t a single caption in this issue) you’ll note this art feels like it came from another time. Neal Adams draws some of the most wickedly bombastic and in your face panels with Lex Luthor, Superman, and Darkseid all positively screaming right at you on the page. If no one has thought of the idea of turning this and other Adams works into 3D they best do it soon, because his style was made for it. The art is also rather easy to follow even when the plot completely turns on its head and changes direction entirely. Even if the plot makes little sense you’ll never be lost as to where the characters are spatially.
It can’t be perfect can it?
There are pages in this book that bewilder me. It’s so strange and offputting I can’t tell if it’s bad, or just misguided. Characters say and do things seemingly at random. Take for instance a scene where Darkseid – in a fit of rage (everyone seems to go in and out of a fit of rage in this series including Superman) lets slip, “I cannot believe this putrid mudball…birthed the greatness that is Darkseid, and all mankind that–” to which he is interrupted by Lex Luthor. The very next page is below.
The comic goes from postulating and screaming to the characters frustratingly asking “What” over and over. This dialogue changes the pace completely leaving you confused. Adams then has Darkseid lie to Superman and Lex about what he just said, Lex recounts it via a “recorder” he doesn’t even show, and then Darkseid changes the subject to his “little cube.” Two full pages are spent on what Darkseid slipping up and saying…something, only to never speak of it again! Not only does this make Darkseid look like a fool, but it’s blatantly padding out the issue with nonsense. Instead of being interested at all in this “reveal” the reader will be left dumbfounded and confused as to whether they missed the point.
Missing the point is greatly the main issue with this comic book. Characters say and do strange things, then seemingly forget that happened and move on as if turning the page of the comic literally gave them amnesia. When the goblin creature El pops up again you really could care less. He appeared in the first issue, and then briefly later, and here he again appears touting some sort of power even Darkseid can’t rival. In another scene Orion punches Superman in the nose because he’s angry (that’ll really help Orion), a giant dog wolf thing is the key to beating Darkseid’s entire army flowing out of a boom tube, and Superman’s undying love for Rafi is capped off with the character shouting “Go go Power Rangers” for absolutely no reason at all. To cap all this off Lex professes to Superman that he is a far better human than Darkseid will ever be. Isn’t Darkseid a New God? What the hell? On top of all this, nothing is learned, nobody (including Lex) is punished, and nothing of much value is revealed.
Lol what?!
Is It Good?
There were times when this series was so bad it was good… and made me laugh out loud more than once along the way. Not so here. This issue is hard to read, confusing at times, and serves no purpose at all beyond having characters make screaming professions and act with schizophrenic temperaments. There are no answers here (even Superman says, “I have no real answers at all”) nor is there much of anything to hang a conclusion on.BAYAMÓN, P.R. — Tom Payne, the president of Puerto Rico F.C., is too anxious to sit during his team’s soccer matches. So he paces the concourse here at Estadio Juan Ramón Loubriel, a converted baseball stadium in a commercial neighborhood about 10 miles from San Juan, and fields text messages from his boss.
“Why aren’t they tackling more?” the boss wants to know. “We need to get tougher!”
The boss is Carmelo Anthony, whose role as owner of Puerto Rico F.C., a second-year club in the North American Soccer League, serves multiple purposes. It is a form of community outreach, a pull he felt as a result of his Puerto Rican heritage. It is an investment opportunity. And it is a welcome diversion from his day job as a starting forward for the Knicks.
“I try to watch every game,” Anthony said.
As the Knicks lurch toward the end of another disastrous season, Anthony’s future with the organization seems tenuous at best. Phil Jackson, the team president, wants to ship him elsewhere, which would require Anthony to waive his no-trade clause. Anthony has warned of reading “the writing on the wall.” Amid so much dysfunction, at least he has his other team — the one he gets to run.The Auschwitz camp had been opened in June 1940. At the time of Pilecki’s arrival, it primarily held Polish resistance fighters and intellectuals, though there was also a significant numbers of Jews and Soviet POWs.His account of entering Auschwitz is harrowing: "Here our hair of head and body were cut off, and we were slightly sprinkled by cold water. I got a blow in my jaw with a heavy rod. I spat out my two teeth. Bleeding began. From that moment we became mere numbers — I wore the number 4859." Pilecki soon established the Union of Military Organizations, a network of five-man cells working toward rebellion. Within a month, Pilecki was smuggling out intelligence reports detailing conditions inside the camp.He confirmed in 1941 that the Nazis were intent on exterminating Jews, and the following year his organization discovered the gas chambers. His reports reached Britain and the United States, serving as the most detailed source on the inner working of the concentration camps.Pilecki pressured his senior officers in the Home Army to unite all the resistance movements in Auschwitz and prepare an uprising. The merger was achieved in late 1941, and the prisoners were ready to revolt if the Germans decided to destroy the camp, but that moment did not come.In the spring of 1943, the Nazi SS began arresting high-level resistance officers within the camp. Realizing that the chance of a revolt was diminishing, Pilecki decided to escape.Late on the night of April 26, Pilecki and two members of his organization took advantage of an off-camp assignment and escaped from the bakery where they were working. After a few days of travel, all three made it safely to the base of a Home Army unit.Pilecki tried to convince the Home Army and other Allied forces to attack the camp and free the prisoners, but the resistance leadership determined that an attack on Auschwitz would be futile and likely end in the slaughter of many prisoners.In August 1944, the Home Army launched a rebellion against German troops in Warsaw. Pilecki, who had joined an underground anti-communist movement, initially took part in the Warsaw Uprising anonymously. However, as the fighting dragged on, he soon revealed himself and took a leadership role.The Warsaw Uprising was crushed in early October and Pilecki was arrested. He spent the remainder of the war in a German POW camp until being liberated on July 9, 1945.- At Klein Collins High they teach the importance of hard, scientific proof and the value of equal justice for all.
But when it comes to sophomore Hailey Gibbons, there's strong evidence educators on this campus aren't practicing what they preach.
"I would say I am not on drugs and they would say you are, just give it up, you are. I started breaking down," said Hailey who is 16 years old.
It all started when Hailey was late to class and took a tardy form to the office. An assistant principal she'd never met decided she was acting odd and summoned a nurse who conducted a field sobriety test.
Accusations of intoxication soon followed.
Hailey, who maintains solid grades and has never been in trouble, insisted more than a dozen times she was completely sober and a simple drug test would prove it.
"If they would have known me they would have known that I would not be on any type of drugs and the fact that they kept accusing me over and over again, when they just don't know anything," said Hailey.
Summoned to campus, Hailey's Mom Jennifer Saxton made a beeline for Quest Diagnostics where an 11 panel drug test was administered to her daughter.
The results were completely negative.
No marijuana, no cocaine, no barbiturates, no opiates, no amphetamines, no alcohol.
With irrefutable scientific proof, Hailey and Jennifer hoped the misjudgment would be rapidly rectified.
They were wrong.
"I didn't ask for an apology. I didn't ask them to admit they were wrong. I just wanted my daughter back in class and he told me that was not going to happen," said Saxton.
Turns out Klein ISD, ignored the drug test and based solely on the nurse's opinion, sentenced Hailey to 30 days in alternative school.
"So now you have a student with proof, scientific evidence the she was not taking drugs. The school district says we don't care about that, you are gone anyway. And they label this child a drug abuser in her permanent school record. It's wrong and it's a civil rights violation," said Chris Tritico, Hailey's attorney.
Saxton has considered filing a lawsuit and is certain she will withdraw her daughter from Klein ISD as soon as her term in alternative school is complete.
"They are more worried about being right than doing what's right. Her reputation, her school record, I mean it effects everything. She's not going to graduate with her friends, she's not going to go to prom," said Saxton, her voice cracking with emotion.
Klein ISD refused multiple offers to explain their policy and actions on camera.
A KISD spokesperson claims the drug test was not accepted because the district could not confirm its validity.
Saxton says Quest Diagnostic was the lab recommended to her by administrators at Collins High School.
Klein also issued to Fox 26 the following statement:The Libertarian Alliance Liberty Posted by David McDonagh Wed, April 25, 2018 14:06:49
The Libertarian Alliance [LA].
This is an alliance between classical liberals and anarcho-liberals. It uses the longer word of "libertarian" in its title as the word, "liberal", has been largely taken over by statists, ironically the very opposite of the free traders they replaced, as the statists are protectionists, ipso facto.
The new statist liberals arose within the UK Liberal Party, from about 1870 onwards and by the 1930s they were, by far, the great majority in the Liberal Party. The statists, who want more state activity, as they feel there is not enough politicians or enough politics in society but the traditional, or the pristine, liberals always felt was way too many politicians and far too much state activity and that it was actually dysfunctional for both individual and for social welfare.
So today's Liberal Democrats, whom are nearly all statists, seek yet more state control but the LA members seek far less; or even none at all if they happen to be anarcho-liberals.
This is because the LA members find the state to be both uneconomic and anti-social too, as politics both wastes the money it taxes off the public and it also fosters a dependency culture that tends to sap all individual responsibility. This personal responsibility, that arises from liberty, is held by LA members to be vital to the good society.
So the main aim of the LA is social liberty; i.e. the full individual liberty that also respects, and fits in with the liberty of one and all. The means to this is both by reducing taxation and whatever the state provides, replacing it with free, or freer, institutions, to be achieved by persuading the general public, of the value of social liberty though free discussion with anyone who wants to discuss those matters with LA members but maybe more so with keen intellectuals or with outgoing extroverts who will be keen to freely discuss those matters. Thus the LA aims at repealing most of the current statutory law. It expects social liberty to allow most people, if not one and all, to flourish to the extent that they can do so as a result a freer society, if not immediately of a completely a free one. The more liberty we have the better for all people.
The LA holds public meetings, that are recorded and then placed on YouTube and the LA members take part in its own and in other Internet discussion groups to that end.
The Libertarian Alliance [LA].This is an alliance between classical liberals and anarcho-liberals. It uses the longer word of "libertarian" in its title as the word, "liberal", has been largely taken over by statists, ironically the very opposite of the free traders they replaced, as the statists are protectionists, ipso facto.The new statist liberals arose within the UK Liberal Party, from about 1870 onwards and by the 1930s they were, by far, the great majority in the Liberal Party. The statists, who want more state activity, as they feel there is not enough politicians or enough politics in society but the traditional, or the pristine, liberals always felt was way too many politicians and far too much state activity and that it was actually dysfunctional for both individual and for social welfare.So today's Liberal Democrats, whom are nearly all statists, seek yet more state control but the LA members seek far less; or even none at all if they happen to be anarcho-liberals.This is because the LA members find the state to be both uneconomic and anti-social too, as politics both wastes the money it taxes off the public and it also fosters a dependency culture that tends to sap all individual responsibility. This personal responsibility, that arises from liberty, is held by LA members to be vital to the good society.So the main aim of the LA is social liberty; i.e. the full individual liberty that also respects, and fits in with the liberty of one and all. The means to this is both by reducing taxation and whatever the state provides, replacing it with free, or freer, institutions, to be achieved by persuading the general public, of the value of social liberty though free discussion with anyone who wants to discuss those matters with LA members but maybe more so with keen intellectuals or with outgoing extroverts who will be keen to freely discuss those matters. Thus the LA aims at repealing most of the current statutory law. It expects social liberty to allow most people, if not one and all, to flourish to the extent that they can do so as a result a freer society, if not immediately of a completely a free one. The more liberty we have the better for all people.The LA holds public meetings, that are recorded and then placed on YouTube and the LA members take part in its own and in other Internet discussion groups to that end.
How I Could Have Made Hillary President Politics Posted by David Ramsay Steele Thu, February 22, 2018 06:31:41
How I Could Have Made Hillary President In his book Win Bigly: Persuasion in a World Where Facts Don’t Matter, Scott Adams analyzes the formidable persuasion skills of Donald Trump and the comparatively feeble persuasion techniques of the Hillary Clinton campaign of 2016. The book is very funny, full of insights, and well worth reading. For those who haven’t read it, what I’m going to talk about here is a tiny sliver of the richly entertaining material in the book, but it does illustrate Adams’s approach. Adams compares what he calls Trump’s “linguistic kill shots” with the attempted kill shots of the Hillary campaign, and he compares Trump’s slogan, “Make America Great Again” with the numerous easily forgettable slogans considered or actually employed by the Hillary campaign. Here are the more powerful of Trump’s linguistic kill shots: ● Low-energy Jeb ● Crooked Hillary ● Lyin’ Ted ● Lil’ Marco ● Pocahontas Scott Adams analyzes these in detail to show exactly why they’re so effective. They all appeal to the visual and they all plan for “confirmation bias.” Probably the best of them is “Low-energy Jeb.” The very day this nickname came out of Trump’s mouth, Scott Adams blogged that Jeb was finished, as indeed he was, though no other commentator saw what had just happened. Recall that Jeb Bush had a war chest of many millions and spent far more than Trump. He was a natural for traditional Republican voters and for the fabled “Republican establishment,” as yet another dynastic Bush but a more likeable personality than the preceding two Bushes. Even after Trump had released his kill shot into what we can call the rhetorosphere, most seasoned pundits were still naming “Jeb!” as the most likely nominee. Yet, Trump had given Jeb Bush what Adams calls his “forever name,” and it was henceforth to be altogether impossible for anyone to see Jeb or think about him without instantly thinking Low-energy. His presidential ambition had been killed stone dead, not just for that electoral cycle but for all time, in a fraction of a second, by the Master Persuader, Donald Trump. Adams offers similar analyses for the other nicknames. “Pocahontas” was the name given to Elizabeth Warren, one of the leading Democratic Party politicians and a likely future Democratic presidential candidate. Warren, a blue-eyed blonde, had claimed to be of Native American, specifically Cherokee, ancestry and had gotten an academic job by impersonating a “minority.” The Cherokee Nation, which has a database of everyone they have been able to find with Cherokee ancestry, has repeatedly protested against Warren’s claim. Warren also once contributed a “Native American” recipe to a book of supposedly Native American recipes called... wait for it... Pow Wow Chow. It turns out that Warren is not Native American, the recipe was not Native American but French, and the recipe itself was plagiarized from another source. A look at this book on Amazon shows that Warren is in even deeper trouble. The subtitle of Pow Wow Chow is A Collection of Recipes from Families of the Five Civilized Tribes, and the book is published by Five Civilized Tribes Museum. This blatantly insinuates that the Apache didn’t routinely solve quadratics or use trig to calculate the circumference of the Earth, and this is indisputably the filthiest kind of racism. I would be irresponsible if I didn’t point out that this kill shot illustrates Donald Trump’s disgraceful carelessness with facts. The Cherokee belong to the Iroquoian group, whereas the historical Pocahontas belonged to an Algonquian-speaking tribe. How low have we sunk when our president tells such appalling lies? Everyone could see that Trump’s nicknames were effective, and so the Hillary campaign burned the midnight oil to come up with an effective nickname for Trump himself. They tried three in succession: ● Donald Duck ● Dangerous Donald ● Drumpf “Donald Duck” is obviously the sort of thing a committee would come up with. “Duck” tries to make the point that Trump was “ducking” various issues and various criticisms, including releasing his tax returns. But of course, associating Trump with a beloved if distinctly ridiculous cartoon character doesn’t mesh well with the idea that Trump is a fearful Hitler-like menace. “Dangerous Donald” doesn’t really work, especially because a large portion of the electorate positively wanted someone “dangerous,” someone who would go to Washington and break things. “Drumpf” is the real surname of Trump’s Austrian immigrant ancestor, a perfectly respectable German name which isn’t so congenial to Americans, so it was changed to “Trump.” This idea that having a non-Anglo-Saxon name in your family tree is a dirty little secret is not a winner, for several obvious reasons. As everyone knows, Trump’s election slogan was “Make America Great Again.” This is a brilliant slogan which can hardly be faulted. Adams lists its strong points (Win Bigly, pp. 155–56). As against this, the Hillary campaign considered eighty-five slogans (yes, 85!, according to Scott Adams, p. 157, citing the New York Times) and eventually ended up with “Stronger Together.” Here are the ones which were actually tried out. ● Love Trumps Hate ● I’m with Her ● I’m ready for Hillary ● Fighting for Us ● Breaking Down Barriers ● Stronger Together These all have the flavor of mediocrity and ineffectiveness that comes out of committees, and especially committees of bigoted leftists. “Love Trumps Hate” literally begins with “Love Trump,” and as Scott Adams points out, people’s attentiveness declines steeply, so they often pay more attention to the beginning than to the end of a sentence. “I’m with Her” and “I’m Ready for Hillary” both have a patronizing tone, as though you can prove yourself by being open to a female candidate, just because she’s female; that kind of thing is off-putting to some voters. And as Bill Maher pointed out, “Ready for Hillary” evokes the resignation of being “ready” for that uncomfortable tetanus shot from that possibly sadistic nurse. “Fighting for Us” makes you wonder who the “Us” really is. During World War II, George Orwell pointed out how a British working man might interpret the government poster that said: “Your Courage, Your Cheerfulness, Your Resolution, will bring Us Victory” (the first three sets of italics in the original, the fourth definitely not!). “Breaking Down Barriers” has good rhythm but an uncertain appeal because most people feel strongly that they really want some barriers between them and some kinds of other people. “Stronger Together” was the final throw, and it came just as voters could hardly ignore the fact that violence was coming from the left. Some of Hillary supporters were bullies, and bullies are always stronger together. The news was already out that the “violence at Trump’s rallies” was deliberately engineered by paid agents of the DNC. Scott Adams Doesn’t Give His Alternatives! Although Scott Adams does an excellent job of identifying the strengths of Trump’s slogan and nicknames for opponents, and the weaknesses of Hillary’s, he doesn’t come up with his own, better proposals for Hillary. This is a bit of a disappointment, and a surprise, as he emphasizes that it’s all a matter of conscious technique, not instinct. And so, I decided to cook up my own suggestions. Here goes! My proposal for the nickname Hillary should have given Trump is: ● The Don Here’s how this works. Before Trump announced for president, he was often called “The Donald,” a phrase which usually went along with either patronizing amusement or mild and grudging admiration. Use of “The Donald” died out, presumably because the US population was mobilizing into two great camps, one of which viewed Trump as a satanic monster, the other of which saw him as the nation’s redeemer, and neither of these would perceive “The Donald” as entirely apt. My plan would be for Hillary supporters to refer to him several times as “The Don,” and just occasionally, for those who might be a bit slow on the uptake, “The Godfather” (or variations like “The Godfather of Greed”). Hillary would then take up “The Don,” as an already established nickname for Trump. Trump has many of the popular attributes of the Mafia boss: a commanding presence and a weakness for vulgar display (his golden toilets). All the points actually made against Trump’s character by Clinton could have been given a slightly different coloration. Thus, when making the allegation that Trump had stiffed some of his sub-contractors (which the Hillary campaign did), this would be described as “making them an offer they couldn’t refuse.” You could throw in a reference to one of Trump’s business dealings with someone who has since passed on, and add the jocular remark, “He now sleeps with the fishes.” When complaining about the fact that Trump wouldn’t release his tax returns, this could be framed as “the Trump Family [Family, get it?] has sworn the oath of Omertà never to reveal their sources of income.” But aren’t mafiosi supposed to be Italian? Yes, but now they’re often Russian too. Hillary’s campaign promoted the story that Trump had “colluded with the Russians.” This appears to have been a pure fabrication, simply made up (no one has ever faulted Hillary for being over-scrupulous or excessively candid) but it would have been so much more believable if associated with the Russian mafia. It’s a self-evident truth that every Russian has “ties to Vladimir Putin,” and this can always be asserted of any Russian without fear of rebuttal. Similarly, it’s a self-evident truism that every Russian businessman has “ties to the Russian mob.” It would have been a simple matter to dig up every occasion when Trump did business with a Russian, call that Russian an “oligarch” (who could deny it?) and declare that this Russian oligarch had ties to organized crime (or deny that?). In this way, it would have become impossible for voters not to think of Trump’s business activities as steeped in criminality. Now, what about a campaign slogan for Hillary? This is quite difficult, because of the fact that Hillary had spent the previous eight years as Secretary of State within the Obama administration. She could not therefore put any emphasis on “change,” and it would be hard to imply anything radically new. But anything that looked like a defense of the last eight years could only run the risk of implying that “the status quo is fine and we just want to keep things the way they are.” This is a disadvantageous position to be in. A slogan that goes negative and tries to focus on the evil of Trump is liable to boomerang—remember that meeting of Democrats, where a speaker referred to Hillary using the word “honest,” and the entire room spontaneously erupted into laughter? As Scott Adams hilariously points out (p. 159), a rather different kind of boomerang was a major feature of the campaign. One of Trump’s problems, as a former reality TV host, was to get voters to take him seriously as a real president. Hillary continually urged voters to “imagine” Trump as president, and thus provided Trump with exactly what he needed. He needed people to imagine him as president, and Hillary did an excellent job of helping voters to do just that. The Hillary campaign slogan has to have the following qualities: ● It mustn’t directly mention the rival product. ● It mustn’t be easily interpreted as merely a response to Trump’s slogan or campaign. ● It can’t, unfortunately, make a bold plea for change. ● It can’t, unfortunately, make a bold claim for Hillary’s trustworthiness or other personal virtues. ● It must have rhythm. ● It mustn’t allow the interpretation that some special interest will be benefited. ● It must take the high ground. So here’s my proposal: ● A Win-Win for America This slogan would occasionally follow the words “Hillary Rodham Clinton.” (It’s bad luck that “HRC” doesn’t trip off the tongue like “LBJ” or even “JFK.” There is no other memorable version comparable with “Doubleya”. “HRC” might evoke “hardcore,” but we probably don’t want to go there.) The slogan is positive and inclusively patriotic. It therefore crowds out the undesirable thought that Hillary appeals chiefly to welfare recipients, criminal aliens, and billionaire hedge-fund managers. “For America” takes the high ground and crowds out the thought that Hillary’s election would be a win for Hillary, an undesirable thought because Hillary might be considered a loser, and also because we don’t want voters thinking about any personal advantage Hillary might reap. The term “Win-Win” has several functions. Literally it refers to a situation where we win, whichever of two alternate possibilities occurs. There would have to be a story about this, ready for those times when Hillary or her henchmen were directly asked about the meaning. But that’s unimportant. We could even come up with a dozen different stories and get people arguing about which one was true. Really the term is simply a repetition of the positive word “win,” and gives the slogan distinctiveness and rhythm. It also has something which Scott Adams has talked about on a number of occasions: he has pointed out how President Trump utilizes the tried and tested marketing ploy of putting slightly “wrong” formulations into his tweets to enhance their effectiveness. A slightly doubtful formulation or a feeling that something is not quite conventionally correct helps a phrase to lodge in the memory. “Win-Win” therefore gains something from the fact that what it means is slightly obscure and off-key, while its emotional associations are entirely positive. So there we are, Trump is The Don and Hillary’s slogan is A Win-Win for America. This would have been enough to give her the electoral college, though it wouldn’t have hurt to have also done a bit more campaigning in Michigan and Wisconsin. Hillary threw tens of millions of dollars at various “consultants” who were out of their depth and out of touch with public feeling. As I’ve just proved, I could have gotten Hillary elected by a few commonsense marketing |
. “I remember we met in the garden shed and she asked what I wanted, and I said all of my freedom to roam, and yet the home and family. It was a stupid, macho, dumb attitude to have. It was my folly. You make choices, and choices can bite.”
“How did I come back from that?” Carol says. “I went to see a divorce person who said don’t fight, it’s not worth it; work it out between you. I was able to keep the man separate from the actor and, little by little, the birth of our three children, the death of our son, those things you shared, count. They represent the real core values of you two as people, as against the accidents of making bad decisions.”
Barry says it was entirely Carol’s “leading” that set them on the footing they are on today. “‘It’s got to be about the future’: I remember her saying that. I myself didn’t have it in me to come up with anything like that. It’s a testament to her. I’d hope she is my best friend. She’s kept the name [Rutter]. I’ve always been rather pleased about that.”
These days, their daughters are both married, and they still see each other at least once a month and speak often. Carol goes to watch her ex-husband perform. She says he is perhaps better at expressing his emotions on stage, but he always made her laugh off it, and always will.
Tara Saglio has been a couples and individual psychotherapist for two decades. She believes that most divorced couples have to experience a period of proper separation before they can actively be friends again. “As a generalisation, I think it takes five years for people to settle post-divorce,” she says. “It helps if both parties have reached a point where they can feel equally content, instead of one being miserable and the other blissfully loved-up with a new partner – or even of one being blissfully alone and the other in a less than ideal rebound relationship.” The chance of friendship depends on the emotional maturity of both parties. “In my experience,” Saglio adds, “it is usually the couples for whom the passion has dwindled or gone, and who don’t feel so betrayed or rejected, who can be friends. Sexual rejection or broken trust can skewer things.”
Facebook, Instagram and so on can make it harder for couples to move on. “Of course, social media always presents a happy if not idealised picture of everyone’s lives,” Saglio says. “It is hard to separate fully while having one’s nose rubbed in the ex’s new life. On the upside, technology can be a force for good, depending on how it is used. It makes continued contact quicker and easier. A text or email is more emotionally distant than a face-to-face or phone conversation. A bit of a barrier can be a good thing.”
Resolution is an organisation of family law professionals that promotes nonconfrontational divorce settlements. Nigel Shepherd, its national chair, says that avoiding unnecessary argument demands a shift of perspective: “By nonconfrontational, we mean focusing on what is required for the future, as opposed to getting stuck in what happened in the past.” A Resolution survey found that 90% of cases settle without a judge.
Current divorce law doesn’t exactly help people to remain friendly: unless former couples are prepared to wait for two years once they have separated, they have no option but to cite adultery, unreasonable behaviour or (admittedly rarely) desertion on the paperwork. Resolution believes that a couple should be allowed to divorce simply if they think the marriage has broken down, a so-called “no-fault divorce”, and are lobbying for change. “The current process, which pushes the majority into blame, often against their will, can really put the spanner in the works,” Shepherd says.
***
Businesswoman Sarah Bevan never lost sight of the fact that she wanted to retain her friendship with her husband, Tim, despite her deep sadness when their marriage came to an end. “We were originally friends, and I wanted very strongly to maintain that for the greater good of our family,” she says. “We always had a lot of fun and we managed to retain that.”
Sarah, who is now single and in her 40s, lives in south London, and is setting up her own company. Tim, 50, the MD of a packaging and design company, lives in Hove. The pair met at work in London and married in 1994. They have three teenage children. “The friendship was overriding in the relationship,” Tim says. “Any other issues were put to one side. That’s what carried us. But then I started to do better in my career, which made me more confident and, when other possibilities presented themselves, I was weak enough to succumb.”
It was 2004. He admitted he was having an affair (not his first); they finally parted in 2005 and divorced in 2011. Tim says he walked away with two pictures, a stereo and a pink tea towel.
There were no lawyers, and nothing on paper; money was divided according to their own agreement. The divorce cost £560. Rather than argue in court, he wanted Sarah and the children to have a home and security. He credits their friendship today to his ex-wife’s openness and strength, and thinks they have both pulled off something “pretty extraordinary”. According to Tim, both realise they are not going to be “jumping into bed with each other” again, but hopes they’ll be best friends for life.
“She’s currently offering me advice on cholesterol,” he laughs. “She’s still got my back!” It helped that neither of them “slagged each other off” to the children. The family has a group chat online most days and he visits them every Tuesday for a curry evening.
There were phases of extreme anger and massive hurt, Sarah says, but “even though he’s certainly a difficult character, I love him and we hug and say we love each other”. He remains an important part of her life, all the more so because her parents died recently in tragic circumstances. As Tim says, that “focused everyone on what’s important”.
“Despite everything we’ve put each other through,” Tim says, “we’ve come out of it. We will be sitting in our deckchairs in 30 years’ time with our mint tea, looking at the children, and thinking, ‘We’ve done good.’”
How to divorce well
1. Slow down. Reactive decisions are usually bad ones; if you are feeling hurt, or have just discovered your partner with someone else, don’t take any legal action until the red mist has gone.
2. Try to be rational. Going through a separation is highly emotional, but try to put that to one side and sit down with a neutral party with the aim of making sensible decisions. Remember that you loved the other person once.
3. Decide on your priorities. More often than not one of the biggest goals is to move on with your life with your dignity intact. The more amicable the divorce, the quicker it will be over, leaving you to get on with the next chapter of your life. It is also a lot cheaper.
4. Go to a good family lawyer. Find a family specialist committed to working out solutions as amicably as possible and in a way that will preserve your relationship with your spouse.
5. Expect a big change in your lifestyle. Your life is going to change dramatically; being shocked by this can often lead to resentment and breed conflict. Your partner’s life will be changing, too, and they will have the same problems adjusting as you are. Yes, really.
6. Don’t do it the celebrity way. You don’t have to fight dirty to get the best result – in fact, judges will frown upon it when making their settlement.
7. Don’t listen to your friends. Turn to them for emotional support but remember that every marriage is different and every divorce is different. Just because friends think it is a good idea, doesn’t mean it is.
8. Be the bigger person. Even if your nearly ex is trying to play dirty, don’t rise to the bait. It is easier said than done, but I often hear from people who, years later, regret that they allowed themselves to be brought down to that level.
9. Think about divorce before you get married. What will your situation be if things don’t work out? Consider how your partner is likely to behave in those circumstances as well. Think about a prenuptial agreement – realism does not have to be anti-romantic.
10. If you have children, be nice for their sake. It is only in the most exceptional circumstances that it is not in the children’s interests for their parents to remain friendly.
Peter Martin, family lawyer, OGR Stock DentonHillary Clinton is seen aboard the campaign bus in Cleveland on the third day of a bus tour through Pennsylvania and Ohio.
July 31, 2016 Hillary Clinton is seen aboard the campaign bus in Cleveland on the third day of a bus tour through Pennsylvania and Ohio. Melina Mara/The Washington Post
The former secretary of state, senator and first lady is the Democratic nominee for president.
The former secretary of state visits key states in her quest to become the Democratic nominee for president.
The former secretary of state visits key states in her quest to become the Democratic nominee for president.
Congressional Democrats set out on a mission Wednesday to tie Donald Trump to every possible Republican running in competitive down-ballot races, following the real estate mogul’s elevation to the GOP’s presumptive presidential nominee.
In memos, in news releases and across social media, Democrats tried to take advantage of Trump’s unchallenged hold on the presidential nomination by linking Republican incumbents to his controversial statements and proposals on the campaign trail. Democrats believe Trump’s triumph will allow them to make electoral inroads that could flip the Senate to their control and provide major gains in the House.
“The bottom line is, the battlefield is going to shift in our favor,” Kelly Ward, executive director of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, said Wednesday. Her committee issued a memo to the Colorado news media highlighting Trump’s positions and how they will play in the highly competitive race involving Rep. Mike Coffman (R), who represents Denver’s eastern suburbs. The memo was headlined “Coffman and Trump: Welcome to the Trump ticket.”
In New Hampshire, Gov. Maggie Hassan (D) is in a closely watched Senate contest with the GOP incumbent Kelly Ayotte. On Wednesday, Hassan denounced “the Donald Trump-Kelly Ayotte Republican Ticket,” in an effort to link the incumbent to Trump’s views on defunding Planned Parenthood and blocking the consideration of Supreme Court nominee Merrick Garland. That came as Ayotte, back home for the congressional recess this week, told local media that she would support but not formally endorse Trump.
Positions like those have boosted Democratic hopes. Republicans can either embrace Trump or distance themselves, but either prospect risks alienating some important bloc of voters.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), for instance, walked a fine line in a statement Friday evening that noted his previous commitment to supporting the GOP nominee without explicitly endorsing Trump or his platform.
“Republicans are committed to preventing what would be a third term of Barack Obama and restoring economic and national security after eight years of a Democrat in the White House,” McConnell said. “As the presumptive nominee, he now has the opportunity and the obligation to unite our party around our goals.”
Majority control of the Senate, which was considered a close call before primary voters starting going to the polls in February, is now getting more difficult by the week for Republicans. One analyst, Charlie Cook, now gives Democrats a 60 percent chance of reclaiming the majority.
Trump’s rise has Democratic strategists salivating at the prospect of expanding the Senate battleground from states that were already expected to be competitive in a place as inhospitable as Arkansas. In 2010 and 2014, well-funded Democratic incumbents could not even get 40 percent of the vote there.
Illustrating the perceived potency of a Trump nomination, Connor Eldridge, the Democratic challenger waging an uphill fight against Sen. John Boozman of Arkansas, released a lengthy web video this week that included a variety of misogynistic comments by Trump alongside Boozman’s pledge to support the eventual GOP presidential nominee. The video has drawn more than 90,000 views and media coverage in Arkansas and nationally.
Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-Tex.) said Tuesday on Fox Business that he “had no fear of losing the House until I saw” the Eldridge commercial. “This is a dangerous time,” he said.
Republicans, however, pointed to the already well-structured, well-financed campaigns that their incumbents have built in anticipation of a rocky relationship with their presidential nominee since Trump and his main rival, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.), surged to the front of the pack earlier this year.
As Donald Trump appeared to soon be the last candidate standing in the race for the GOP nomination, Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton tweeted this video, showing Republicans launching attacks at Trump. (Hillary Clinton)
GOP strategists signaled Wednesday that they intended to run their campaigns against the likely Democratic nominee, Hillary Clinton, whose favorable ratings are at an all-time low.
“Republicans will continue to lay out their visions to help our country recover from eight years of the Obama economy and get people back to work. There is a reason Democrats aren’t lining up to campaign with Hillary Clinton. She is a toxic candidate whose failed leadership has put the security of our country at risk,” said Andrea Bozek, spokeswoman for the National Republican Senatorial Committee.
Additionally, Republican super PACs for congressional candidates will probably see their cash advantage grow as some conservatives have signaled their intention to move resources from the presidential campaign to Senate and House races.
This week, Freedom Partners Action Fund, one of several groups aligned with billionaires Charles and David Koch, unleashed a $2 million media campaign against Wisconsin Democrat Russ Feingold, a month after another Koch-aligned group, Americans for Prosperity, unveiled a more than $1 million round of ads praising Feingold’s opponent, Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.)
The Senate field has been largely set for several months. The first tier of Republican seats at risk are five incumbents running for their first reelection in states that President Obama won twice, along with the seat of retiring Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.). A second tier of seats includes GOP incumbents in North Carolina, Missouri, Arizona and Iowa who were once considered safe but could be in trouble depending on how Trump performs.
Democrats, facing a difficult race in one seat of their own, that of retiring Minority Leader Harry M. Reid (Nev.), need to win just four seats to claim the majority if Clinton wins the presidency.
House Democrats have been racing to confront this new reality, trying to line up candidates in districts that previously seemed securely in Republican hands.
But House Republicans dismiss claims that their majority is at risk.
“The road back to majority for House Democrats this cycle doesn’t exist, and they know it,” said Katie Martin, spokeswoman for the National Republican Congressional Committee.Just as DC Comics did recently, Marvel Comics are liquidating the following hardcovers to retailers at massive discounts to retailers right now. As you can see, some of these are already unavailable to Amazon.. but some are already at up to 60% off.
It is likely that the direct market comic stores will suck many of these books up at the prices being offered and then will never be able to order copies again as the books go officially out of print. This will also go towards improving Marvel’s internal statistics reports by improving the dollar-per-product-item-in-stock ratio.
5 Ronin HC Cassaday Cvr
Agents Of Atlas Vs Premiere HC Avengers Cover
Agents Of Atlas Vs Premiere HC DM Var Ed X-Men Cvr
Annihilators HC Garner
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About Rich Johnston Chief writer and founder of Bleeding Cool. Father of two. Comic book clairvoyant. Political cartoonist.
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None foundSRINAGAR, India (Reuters) - The Indian army killed four militants during a sixteen-hour gun battle in the disputed Kashmir region that ended late on Sunday, foiling an attack on a military base after the men crossed the heavily militarized border from Pakistan, police said. The fighting erupted near the border town of Tangdhar after the men were spotted approaching the base and then took shelter in two homes, said a police officer, who asked not to be identified because he is not authorized to discuss the matter.The army fired mortars and machine guns at the buildings and airlifted 40 soldiers from an elite commando unit to battle the men, the officer said. The army is searching for two militants who may have escaped, he said.”There were multiple blasts in these two houses as the militants were carrying a large quantity of ammunition that went off in the army operation,” the officer said.
Senior police official Garib Dass confirmed that the four had been killed in the clash.
India and Pakistan have fought two of their three wars since independence in 1947 over Muslim-majority Kashmir, which they both claim in full but rule in part.Muslim separatists have been fighting Indian forces in the Indian portion of Kashmir since 1989. India accuses Pakistan of training and arming the rebels in the portion it controls and sending them to the Indian side.
Pakistan denies that, saying it only offers diplomatic support to Kashmir’s Muslims who face human rights abuses at the hands of Indian security forces. India denies rights abuses.
This was the second major attack on the Indian army in the last week after three soldiers were shot dead by militants. Militants in Kashmir also shot dead two men and threatened to kill employees working for mobile phone companies in the last week. In May, a previously unknown militant group called Lashkar-e-Islam put up posters demanding phone companies shut down their operations amid concerns their cell towers were being used to locate and target fighters.Michael Bloomberg and his gun-grabbing billionaire friends might have the cash to effective “buy” anti-gun laws like Washington’s I-594, but forcing citizens to comply with these laws, and getting prosecutors and law enforcement officers who were strong opposed to the draconian legislation in the first place to enforce it, are other matters entirely.
Just days after 1,000 people rallied at the state Capitol to intentionally violate the law (without consequence), Lewis County, Washington’s top law enforcers have released a public statement that they will not be enforcing the new provisions of I-594 as written. They will instead only go after those offenders intending to commit criminal transfers.
You know… the real kind.
The new law stemming from I-594 is just 12 days old and already stirring up controversy. The initiative passed by nearly 60 percent of Washington voters requires background checks for private transactions of guns whether at gun shows, online or in person. Last weekend, the state patrol estimated 1,000 people gathered at the state Capitol for an “I will not comply” rally. Now a public letter has gone out from sheriff-elect Rob Snaza and prosecutor Jonathan Meyer of Lewis County saying they won’t be going out and prosecuting people who inadvertently violate the background check law. “We wanted to make sure that the citizens of Lewis County knew that we weren’t looking to make criminals out of ordinary citizens,” Meyer said. Meyer and Snaza are the first elected officials to come out publicly saying I-594 is too over-reaching. They put this message out because they feel there’s too much confusion about I-594 and they want to make it clear about what they’ll do and what they won’t do. “‘We’re not going to try to trap citizens into transferring a gun to a friend and then try to nab them on a violation of 594,” Meyer said. “That’s not what we’re interested in.”
Gun control supporters are running into this problem of compliance more and more frequently.
In New York, Andrew Cuomo and his consortium of downstate Democrats were able to ram through the NY SAFE Act in the dead of night without public debate… but they’re having a heck of a time getting New York’s citizens to comply, or for New York’s sheriffs to force compliance.
The same goes next door in Connecticut. Anti-gun Dannel Malloy and his liberal allies rammed through a draconian raft of gun control legislation after Sandy Hook, only to find that Connecticut’s owners of banned semi-automatic rifles and standard capacity magazines have blatantly refused to comply with registration requirements. These gun owners have all but dared outright war with the Connecticut State Police if they dare attempt to come after an estimated 80,000-100,000+ gun owners who refuse to comply with the law. For now, the state police and Malloy simply pretend that the non-compliance never occurred.
In Colorado, John Hickenlooper’s government has quietly conceded that gun owners are simply refusing to comply with the new background check laws mandating checks for private transfers.
Perhaps the Republic’s citizen’s are simply following our leadership from the White House.
The word from 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, over and over again, is that if President Obama doesn’t like a law, he’ll refuse to enforce it, or unilaterally attempt to make his own laws.
Why should the American people in Washington state or anywhere else act any differently?A poster depicting Andrej Babis hangs on a bus stop near the town of Benesov, Czech Republic. It says, “This is not Babis’s land.” (David W. Cerny/Reuters)
The parallels are easy to draw. A rich businessman who has played on anti-establishment and anti-politician appeals looks set to win the Czech elections this week, with voters going to the polls Friday and Saturday. But the real question is not why Andrej Babis, who has inevitably been described as a Trump-like figure, has so much support. It’s why he has managed to increase his support since the 2013 elections.
In 2013, Babis’s party, the Action of Dissatisfied Citizens (ANO), an acronym that spells “yes” in Czech, won 18.65 percent in national parliamentary elections. Its pitch was straight out of the new-party-led-by-a-businessman playbook: Trust me, I’m a successful businessman, and I know how to get things done. The party became a junior partner in a coalition with the Social Democrats and Christian Democrats. Babis became finance minister.
1. It’s the economy, stupid
Economic performance is a key shaper of voting behavior in Central and Eastern Europe. Indeed, voters are exceptionally attentive to economic performance, a phenomenon political scientist Andrew Roberts called “hyperaccountability.” And just now, the Czech Republic is thriving economically. GDP is growing at its highest level since the economic crisis of 2007; at 2.9 percent, unemployment is the lowest in the European Union; and the state budget is in surplus for the first time in more than two decades.
Although Babis left his post in the finance ministry this year, ANO has been selling the story of a successful finance minister who improved ordinary Czechs’ economic positions.
2. Remaining anti-establishment while in power
Political scientists Duncan McDonnell and Daniele Albertazzi’s study of Italy and Switzerland shows that parties employing anti-establishment and populist appeals face a choice when they get into power: Either shed the anti-elite appeals and become mainstream or try to maintain a protest stance and outsider appeal.
Babis has followed the second strategy. Despite being finance minister and a deputy prime minister, he has continued to project himself as apart from the system. He frequently criticizes the “old” established parties — including his coalition partners — contrasting his experience of the effective world of business with the dirty world of politics. When he was accused of tax evasion and sacked as finance minister in May, he claimed it was part of a conspiracy to remove him from politics, a charge he used to bolster his anti-establishment credibility.
[Will global populism continue to erode democracies?]
Czechs have long been highly disillusioned with established politicians and parties. As a result, Babis’s strategy of contrasting himself with the allegedly corrupt and incompetent established parties has been effective.
3. Populism that’s not only about protest but also delivering the goods
ANO’s pitch, however, has not just been an anti-establishment appeal. In 2013, the party’s populist criticism of the “political class” was accompanied by a simple promise of a better future “bude líp” (“it will be better” in Czech) inspired by Barack Obama’s slogan “Yes, we can.”
In the run-up to this election, the party’s marketing experts invested heavily in presenting real or alleged successes of ANO’s ministers. Those claims have included the country’s economic performance, modernizing the military’s equipment and passing a new law on funeral services — all claimed as fulfilling ANO promises.
Difficult to place on a left-right spectrum, ANO presents its lack of ideological clarity as a virtue. Its election manifesto, as political scientist Sean Hanley remarked, is “an anodyne grab-bag of technocratic promises.”
4. Mingling with the people
Most Czech political parties have turned into electoral machines that are apparently only interested in voters at election time. Babis — acutely aware of the power of his anti-politics appeal — has invested a lot of energy into attending public events across the country, including concerts, sporting occasions, and — in a country with the world’s highest per capita beer consumption — pubs. He used this strategy through his electoral term but intensified it after being removed as finance minister, emphasizing that this gave him more time to do what he loves: mingling with the people.
[The ‘wave’ of right-wing populism is a myth. It’s a reservoir.]
He amplified his populist presence through social media, especially Facebook, displaying his man-of-the-people appeal through pictures of himself drinking beer, wearing a fireman’s uniform and even urinating at a concert. And he has used social media to publicize his book ‘What I dream about when I have the chance to dream, (“O Cem snim, kdyz nahodou spim”) which gives his 2035 vision for “our children.” The title highlights not just where he wants the country to go but also that he works so hard he does not have time to daydream.
5. Keeping the party together
Scandal has surrounded Babis. He’s been accused of corrupt business practices and tax fraud and has been linked to communist-era security services. When other new parties in Central and Eastern Europe have been faced with the choices and compromises of holding office or the challenges of scandal, they have often split and splintered.
ANO, however, has avoided major splits. That’s partly because Babis has a very centralized, leader-focused party organization. As political scientist Lubomir Kopecek has noted, Babis is more an “owner” than a “chairman” of his party. Most of the party’s key posts are filled by his close business collaborators. The party employs an HR specialist who administers psychological testing to vet prospective members. At times, especially during the party’s congresses, ANO resembles a Babis personality cult.
Will Babis win?
Europe has had a series of recent elections that have confounded pollsters. Many Czech voters say they have yet to make up their minds. One must therefore be cautious in making predictions.
However, around a quarter of likely voters say they will vote for ANO. Even if this dips and the Czech government is formed without including Babis’s party, the past four years show how a party run by a businessman can be electorally successful after its initial breakthrough. That lesson may resonate well beyond the confines of Central Europe.
Vlastimil Havlik is associate professor of political science at Masaryk University in Brno and a Fulbright fellow at Northwestern University.
Tim Haughton is associate professor and head of the department of political science and international studies at the University of Birmingham.CLOSE A Charleston County, SC grand jury has returned an indictment against former North Charleston police officer Michael Slager in the shooting death of Walter Scott, an unarmed man that he'd pulled over. VPC
Michael Thomas Slager, a former North Charleston, S.C., police officer was indicted Monday, June 8, 2015, in the shooting death of an unarmed man. Video showed the final seconds of Slager's confrontation with Walter Scott on April 11, 2015. (Photo11: Charleston County (S.C.) Sheriff's Office)
NORTH CHARLESTON, S.C. — A grand jury has returned an indictment against a former South Carolina police officer in the shooting death of an unarmed black man who he had pulled over.
Solicitor Scarlett Wilson announced Monday that the Charleston County, S.C., grand jury had come back with the indictment against Michael Slager, 33, in the killing of Walter Scott, 50.
Slager was originally charged with murder April 7, and was subsequently fired from the police department.
Slager pulled over Scott's green Mercedes-Benz around 9:30 a.m. April 4. On the officer's dash cam, Slager said he pulled Scott over because of a non-functioning tail light. Several minutes after the stop, Scott ran from his car, and Slager ran after him, and the two eventually ended up in a private park a short distance away.
Initially, Slager said he used a Taser on the man, and the two struggled, and he was forced to pull out his gun and shoot him because he feared for his safety.
CLOSE Newly released raw dashcam video reveals some of the conversation that took place in the moments following the fatal shooting of a South Carolina man by an officer. VPC
But a video recorded by Feidin Santana, a man walking after the event contradicted that version of events. The video, which shows the final seconds of the confrontation, shows Scott running away, Slager pulling out his service weapon, then firing eight shots at Scott, killing him. Scott had a warrant out for his arrest.
Wilson explained the charge implies a form of premeditation, but that does not mean a person had to consider their actions for a long time. "There's no time limit or time requirement in proving malice of forethought," said Wilson.
In the moments after the shooting, the video shows Slager putting handcuffs on Scott as the man was on the ground. A second officer then responds to the scene. About two and a half minutes after the shooting, Slager can be seen putting his hand on Scott's neck, apparently checking his pulse.
Santana gave the video to the police and Scott's family, and within days, charges were filed against Slager.
At the time of Slager's arrest |
in society to allow him to exist without a job or a home as we know them,” Visnovske wrote. “Tucker had become a master of counter-surveillance and would go through incredible routines to insure that he was not being followed.”
The case of United States of America vs. Charles V. Tucker opened before federal Magistrate Judge William M. Wunderlich of the Eastern District of California on Oct. 5, 2005. In his small courtroom near Yosemite Village, the judge heard two days of testimony.
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“When he had his trial here, we had his courthouse packed every day,” said Fidelman, the photographer. “He means something to a lot of people here.”
Several climbers, including Dean Potter, testified for the defense. Seeking to discredit the prosecution’s circumstantial evidence of illegal camping, Potter and others swore they had driven Chongo in and out of the park, putting him up in their homes for weeks on end.
Chongo was convicted on three of the four counts. He left Yosemite National Park by bus.
A New View of the Stars
Along the American River through central Sacramento, the Dos Rios Triangle neighborhood gives way to a nameless expanse of industrial parks, depots, drainage systems and halfway houses where the homeless, the formerly homeless and the soon-to-be homeless pass from station to station.
Across from a pornography shop, the Sisters of Mercy operate an expansive day shelter called Loaves & Fishes. From inside a trailer, the Sacramento Homeless Organizing Committee publishes the Homeward Street Journal, chronicling advocacy efforts. Its back pages carry advertisements, cartoons, obituaries, poetry and, in recent issues, a full-page column on topics like special relativity, credited to “the homeless science writer, Chongo.”
To the regular crowd at Loaves & Fishes, Chongo has become a familiar figure, discussing his thoughts on quantum mechanics and giving demonstrations of slack-lining. He has returned to Yosemite only briefly. Jerry Maciulla, 53, who works part-time in the shelter’s storage shed, said he was aware that Chongo “was supposedly a world-class rock climber.”
“I know what he’s talking about, but I wouldn’t try it now that I’ve got a wife and two kids,” Maciulla said. “You’re taking your life in your hands with those sports.”
But others have found Chongo’s place in sports history of smaller consequence than his gentle approach to everyday troubles. He has forged friendships, or at least truces, with security guards at several transit yards, warehouse facilities and other places considered prime for clandestine bivouacking. In this manner, he has helped negotiate safe harbor for homeless men like John Kraintz, 54, a skeletal figure who wears a rubber band in his beard and sways from side to side when he speaks.
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“He’s sort of a guru, sort of a teacher who sort of raises a bar that needs a lot of raising,” Kraintz said. “Inspiration in a place where there’s a lack of hope.”
From the trailer office, Chongo emerged one morning on crutches, which he used to propel himself across the courtyard.
“This place is kind of where you can go and the cops don’t mess with you,” he said. “I’ve learned a lot about the true homeless lifestyle here. This is the jail fodder. It used to be you could go out and stay at these places I stayed at, but as time went on, they made laws against that. You couldn’t just go out and rock-climb and not consume.”
In the dining room, volunteers were spooning out meals designed to provide the full caloric content for an entire day, nacho pie with meat, beans and olives, sliced bread with thick slabs of butter, salad, oranges, Fig Newtons and Gatorade.
Picking at his meal, Chongo spoke of his time climbing rocks at Yosemite.
“I provided a great deal of inspiration to a lot of people to pursue a narcissistic activity, and I wonder if I’ve done good,” he said. Though camping in the park had been a kind of homelessness, he said, “I didn’t understand what it meant. I didn’t realize I was automatically a member of this community.”
Later, as the shelter locked its gates, Chongo hauled his pack through the procession trudging toward the riverbeds, night shelters and overpasses. He passed a man strapped with an ankle monitor, another marcher in the homeless parade.
“I love to sleep outdoors,” Chongo said. “Fresh air is best.”
At an abandoned parking lot by the Alkali Flats train station, he dropped his knapsack and his crutches and climbed onto a cable drooping between two 4-foot-high poles, momentarily converting this small piece of the urban landscape into a slack-line. He took a tentative step, found his balance and then danced ahead with no partner as the wire tautened behind his weight.WITH GOOVERNMENT BAILOUTS COME GOVERNMENT CONTROL
By Dr. Laurie Roth
February 6, 2009
NewsWithViews.com
Where is the inner sense of restraint and personal accountability with our nation’s financial institutions? President Obama said this week that he had imposed a cap on the senior executive salaries for messed up financial institutions. Instead of the “big dog talents” getting several million a year in salaries and bonuses they are capped now at 500,000, if they have received a bail out from the Feds.
In reading all about this I was troubled at our Government imposing controls on achievement and business regarding salaries, but I was more troubled and horrified that bank after bank would DARE beg for billions in tax funded bail out money and not pull salaries and bonuses dramatically back in themselves. Why should we even have to mention this?
When millions in the country are losing their jobs and/or homes, when many are feeling the singe of the flow of what may be a depression, the last thing we want to hear is bail out after bail out, golden parachutes of 10, 20 or 30 million dollars reward for their failures, with an emergency speech thrown in.
I hate Government control and am most concerned about starting with common sense sounding controls with top executive salaries (that makes total sense in a national emergency), but what will be the other controls, regulations and demands of business?
Just recently, Dr. Jerri Corsi reminded us of the glowing thrill of the globalist/global warming crowd looking at all our national suffering and losses as a huge opportunity to insert and manipulate their change and solutions! Do you get it yet? Misery and our losses are the golden parachutes of the far left, environmental psychos and globalist freaks! They must have the struggle to swoop in while we are not noticing and collecting benefits.
Are we to hear in the month’s ahead dictates on what cars the manufacturers are required to make regardless of national preference and practical reality? I say, yes.
Will we see the nationalization and control of our main banks as Europe has done and is doing? I say, yes.
Will we start to hear “socialist” speeches about us all cutting back, thus giving more taxes to the Government to solve endless emergencies? Salaries might need to be cut everywhere and business achievement and profit swiped bit by bit, of course for the betterment of a troubled society. Watch it unfold.
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Yes, there should be significant salary limitations and spending requirements if a troubled company receives national financial aid, but a way to independent achievement and reward, not prolonged Government control, taxation, litigation and regulation!!!
Ronald Reagan said it best many years ago and was right! “Big Government is not the solution. It is the problem.”Welcome to another edition of the MedPage Today Tweet of the Week! Every Sunday, the editorial team highlights its favorite 140-character contribution from the healthcare twittersphere.
Scientists have been seeking to organize a march in Washington to protest what they see as the Trump administration's anti-science attitude. The movement began a little more than a week ago and was quickly gaining momentum in its Twitter recruitment numbers, with nearly 250,000 followers as of Friday.
A message from the organizers #ScienceMarch pic.twitter.com/2h7DOJjap5 — March for Science (@ScienceMarchDC) January 26, 2017
A YUUUGE #ScienceMarch in Washington DC is being planned to tell Trump's cabinet "Alt" facts won't sell #resist https://t.co/pvTQMZoCqM — AltUSNatParkService (@AltNatParkSer) January 26, 2017
We need leaders who understand, and respect, science and the scientific process -- which really isn't that hard. pic.twitter.com/EyHN7v5cS1 — Wendy Zukerman (@wendyzuk) January 23, 2017
Thanks for sending your nominations! We want to hear from you. Nominate your favorite tweets by sending an email to [email protected].
Past Winners:
2017-01-29T08:00:00-0500An Ontario public health unit is getting ahead of federal promises to legalize marijuana by issuing resolutions on how to regulate the drug.
Officials from the Windsor-Essex County Health Unit outlined their concerns in a report last week. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau made it a campaign promise to legalize the drug. Former Toronto police chief, turned Liberal M-P Bill Blair is leading an investigation into what regulations might be adopted.
"From a public health perspective, if we can't get rid of something, let's look at how we can use it safely," said Dr. Wajid Ahmed, the health unit's associate officer of health.
Drawing on data from Statistics Canada that suggests 12 per cent of Canadians over the age of 15 use marijuana, the health unit says regulations need to keep the drug out of the hands of youth and away from drivers.
Dr. Wajid Ahmed says he wants to see a plan for regulating marijuana in place before marijuana is legalized. (CBC)
"If we think marijuana is not going away, we need to regulate it in a way that the people who want to use it safely can use it without affecting others," Ahmed said.
Research from the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health in Toronto suggests almost one out of 10 high school students drove while under the influence of marijuana in 2015.
Ahmed said that number might be higher as some youth do not report their marijuana use because it's a controlled substance.
"The bottom line is we do not want kids and youth using [marijuana]," Ahmed said. "We cannot stop adults from using it."
But when looking at public health policy, it's critical to have a plan in place first, explained Kristy McBeth, the director of knowledge management for the Windsor-Essex County Health Unit.
"We're putting out all the information on what we think are the important health considerations before [legalization] happens," McBeth said. "We wouldn't want to see a model implemented without considerations for the health effects."
McBeth said a whole system of regulations needs to be in place, similar to alcohol and tobacco. This would set clear rules that can be followed, she said.
Of the 36 public health units in Ontario, McBeth says a few have put out similar resolutions. The letter drafted by the Windsor-Essex County Health Unit is being delivered to Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne and will make its way to Trudeau's office.
"We want to be more proactive than reactive," McBeth said. "If we're being reactive that means we didn't get a chance to think things through ahead of time."Windows 10 performance is one of the hardest things to nail down right now. Testing of the new OS, due to ship on July 29, isn’t exactly easy, because the public doesn’t yet have a way to install the RTM version. Microsoft has been pretty mum about any under-the-hood changes. Even worse, Microsoft's hardware partners have been handcuffed from talking about the OS at all.
One thing we do know: Among the many big changes over Windows 8, Windows 10 may literally change the game in graphics performance as the only Microsoft OS with DirectX 12. Early testing of the OS shows performance gains elsewhere will be far smaller, though.
For testing, I used two identical HP Spectre x360 laptops. One had build 10240 of Windows 10 Home, which Microsoft has officially blessed as “reviewable code.” The other had Windows 8.1 Home.
Both laptops have the same screen, same battery, same 8GB of LPDDR3, same 128GB SSD make and models, the same Intel Core i5-5200U CPUs, and the same BIOSes. Other than OSes, they are exactly the same.
I threw a bunch of different benchmarks at the machines to see if I could coax out any performance differences. I ran compression tests, chess benchmarks, and 3D rendering, as well as a spate of DX9 and DX11 benchmarks.
We were hoping for a dramatic face-off. But what we got was essentially a tie—results so close, they were separated by a margin of error.
For example, here’s the performance in PCMark 8 Creative Conventional. PCMark, for those who don’t know, simulates various “real-world” application loads. The Creative Conventional, for example, tests simulated web browsing, photo editing, video editing, gaming and group video chat. The Home load adds writing and casual gaming.
PCWorld On identical laptops, it’s pretty much tie between OSes
As the chart above indicates, performance is near identical. Similar results persisted just about everywhere between Windows 8.1 and Windows 10: mostly a tie with some loads giving Windows 10 a very slight edge. I could produce a lengthy page of graphs between the two in WinRar, CineBench, Valve’s old Particle Test, 7Zip, Passmark and 3DMark, but what’s the point? The bars would be almost the same on all of them, and I’d just be wasting Internet bandwidth. If you want to see a graph, just take the chart above and change the name of it to 7Zip... or whatever test you want.
I won’t throw away a day of testing without giving you more numbers, though, so here’s some of the results I saw. Other tests I simply didn’t record because after a while, it felt silly essentially writing down the same number twice.
PCWorld It’s pretty much a tie between Windows 10 and Windows 8.1—in these tests at least.
But what about gaming?
There is more promise for Windows 10 on the gaming side. DirectX 12, in games that implement it, should see healthy improvements. But in games that don’t use DX12, it’s probably going to be a lot closer.
For example, I ran Tomb Raider on our PCWorld zero-point system. It has an Intel Core i7-4770K, 16GB of DDR3/1600, and a GeForce GTX 980. I used the same Nvidia drivers with both OSes. Note that I ran Wndows 10 build 10162 rather than the current build 10240, as that’s the last ISO of Windows 10 preview that Microsoft made available—no amount of coaxing would get Microsoft’s servers to kick down anything newer. My tests show a definite, if small, edge for Windows 10. Here’s Tomb Raider for you to gawk at:
PCWorld Gaming using an older build actually shows a very slight edge for Windows 10.
Other tests gave up a little more of a win for Win10, but this won’t set the world on fire like DX12 is expected to once games that support it are out. We’re planning a more in-depth look at Windows 10 gaming performance, so stay tuned.
PCWorld Windows 10 best showing was in BioShock: Infinite at medium setttings.
Here are the takeaways: The first is that despite all the Windows 8 hate out there, the OS is actually quite fast. Anecdotal reports I’ve seen from when Battlefield 4 was released, for instance, attributed many performance improvements to running Windows 8 over the beloved Windows 7. Windows 8 offered improvements in video and audio decoding that made it faster, too. Another takeaway is that if Windows 8 was zippy, Windows 10 will be, too.
This isn’t the last word
There’s a lot my initial testing doesn’t cover. Battery life improvements, file system improvements and other areas may indeed have been buffed up by Microsoft. Once I get a proper ISO of the OS, I can perform clean installs, and I’ll have a better feel for its performance outside of the areas I’ve touched on today.
OS performance testing has other challenges. Many of the benchmarks I ran are designed to test hardware, not the OS. Cinebench R15, for example, is a pure CPU test, though the OS has some impact. Windows Vista famously destroyed USB performance until SP1 was released, and the overhead from the OS can pull down performance elsewhere too.
Conclusion
Windows 10 seems to offer basically no relevant performance advantage over Windows 8 in mainstream tests, but let’s not be too negative—because there’s no reason to be. With Windows 7, Microsoft updated the scheduler for how the OS dealt with CPUs, which promised improvements and battery life savings for both Intel and AMD CPUs. That wasn’t a check-off item for Windows 10. because Windows 8.1 performance was already very good.
And, again, let’s not forget that Windows 10 ushers in DirectX 12, which should very much yield significant performance increases in games that support it.The contemporary shadow of the Scramble for Africa
Stelios Michalopoulos, Elias Papaioannou
The Scramble for Africa has contributed to economic, social, and political underdevelopment by spurring ethnic-tainted civil conflict and discrimination and by shaping the ethnic composition, size, shape and landlocked status of the newly independent states. This column, taken from a recent VoxEU eBook, summarises the key findings of studies that use high-resolution geo-referenced data and econometric methods to estimate the long-lasting impact of the various aspects of the Scramble for Africa.
Editor's note: This column first appeared as a chapter in the Vox eBook, The Long Economic and Political Shadow of History, Volume 2, available to download here.
When economists debate the long-lasting legacies of colonisation, the discussion usually revolves around the establishment of those ‘extractive’ colonial institutions that outlasted independence (e.g. Acemoglu et al. 2001), the underinvestment in infrastructure (e.g. Jedwab and Moradi 2016), the identity of colonial power (e.g. La Porta et al. 2008) and the coloniser’s influence on early human capital (Easterly and Levine 2016).1 Following the influential work of Nunn (2008), recent works have explored the deleterious long-lasting consequences of Africa’s slave trades (see Nunn 2016, for an overview). Yet, between the slave-trade period (1400-1800) and the arrival of the colonisers at the end of the 19th century, the Scramble for Africa stands out as a watershed event in the continent’s history. The partitioning of Africa by Europeans starts, roughly, in the 1860s and is completed by the early 1900s. The colonial powers signed hundreds of treaties, which involved drawing on maps the boundaries of colonies, protectorates, and ‘free-trade’ areas of a largely unexplored and mysterious continent (see Wesseling 1996 for a thorough discussion).2 In this context it is perhaps not surprising that many influential scholars of the African historiography (e.g. Asiwaju 1985, Wesseling 1996, Herbst 2000) and a plethora of case studies suggest that the most consequential aspect of European involvement in Africa was not colonisation per se, but the erratic border designation that took place in European capitals in the late 19th century.
At the time of the Scramble for Africa, Europeans had limited knowledge of the local political, economic and geographic conditions. Furthermore, they were in a rush to partition the continent, in order to finance industrialisation in Europe and the Americas. As such, they did not even wait for reports from the great explorers who were then mapping the continent.3 Whilst conspiracy theories abound, A. I. Asiwaju (1985) summarises the consensus view of the African historiography: “the study of European archives supports the accidental rather than a conspiratorial theory of the marking of African boundaries.”4 A key objective shared by the colonisers, with memories of the Napoleonic Wars fresh in their minds, was to prevent conflict amongst themselves over African territory. As British Foreign Secretary and Prime Minister, Lord Salisbury, famously put it:
“We have engaged in drawing lines upon maps where no white man’s feet have ever trod. We have been giving away mountains and rivers and lakes to each other, only hindered by the small impediment that we never knew exactly where the mountains and rivers and lakes were.”
While, upon African independence, policymakers, scholars, and development experts argued for the need to redraw borders, departing colonisers did not want to open this perceived ‘Pandora’s box’; and many of the leaders of African independence harboured a firm belief that nation-building policies, industrialisation, and a notion of Pan-Africanism would eventually attenuate ethnic differences and animosity.5
Jeffrey Herbst (2000) summarises: “for the first time in Africa’s history [at independence], territorial boundaries acquired salience...The boundaries were, in many ways, the most consequential part of the colonial state.”
Recent research shows that the Scramble for Africa has contributed to economic, social and political underdevelopment, via several channels. First, by partitioning numerous ethnic groups into more than one contemporary country,6 it has spurred ethnic-tainted civil conflict and also promoted repression and ethnic-based discrimination (Michalopoulos and Papaioannou 2016). Second, the Scramble for Africa crucially shaped the ethnic composition of the newly independent states (leading to ethnic polarisation, fractionalisation, and inequality), which, in turn, has influenced institutional and economic development, public goods provision, and conflict. Third, the Scramble resulted in Africa having a large share of landlocked countries, a situation which crucially inhibits their access to global markets (Collier 2007). Fourth, as a consequence of the artificial colony/protectorate design, many African countries are either tiny or absurdly large, while others have peculiar shapes (Herbst 2000); these features limit the reach of a state beyond its capital, and thus weaken the enforcement of laws, which, in turn, impedes development (Michalopoulos and Papaioannou 2014).
In this column, we summarise the key findings of recent empirical works that use high- resolution geo-referenced data and econometric methods to estimate the long-lasting impact of the various aspects of the Scramble for Africa.
Ethnic partitioning and civil conflict
Identifying partitioned ethnicities
Quantifying the impact of the Scramble for Africa requires the identification of partitioned groups in a systematic manner. In Michalopoulos and Papaioannou (2016), we project contemporary country borders onto George Peter Murdock’s Ethnolinguistic Map (1959), which depicts the spatial distribution of African ethnicities at the time of colonisation, during the late 19th and early 20th century (Figure 1a).
We classify as partitioned those ethnicities with at least 10% of their ancestral landmass belonging to more than one country. As a result, out of the 825 mapped groups, 229 are classified as partitioned (Figure 1b). There is clearly noise in Murdock’s map and the map does not allow for ethnic overlapping, something that obviously was the case; moreover, Africans evidently could, and did, move. Yet, although not perfect, this simple and transparent procedure identifies most major partitioned ethnic groups, based on both qualitative evidence (Asiwaju 1985) and casual empiricism. For example, the Maasai have been split between Kenya and Tanzania, the Anyi between Ghana and the Ivory Coast, and the Chewa between Mozambique, Malawi, and Zimbabwe.
Figure 1a
Figure 1b
A primer on border artificiality
The African historiography provides ample case-study evidence on the artificial nature of colonial borders; but in some cases Europeans did try to accommodate local conditions. Hence, we examine whether partitioned and non-split homelands differ with respect to various geographic, ecological, political, and other historical features, since this may shed light on whether these traits influenced the colonisers’ map making. With the exception of the land mass of the historical ethnic homeland and (weakly) the presence of lakes, there are no major differences in the regions of split and non-split groups across dozens of geographic-ecological aspects (e.g. soil quality, elevation, prevalence of malaria).
There are also no systematic differences across several pre-colonial, ethnic-specific, institutional, cultural, and economic features, such as the size of settlements, the type of subsistence economy, and proxies of pre-colonial conflict.
Ethnic partitioning and conflict
We then quantify the impact of ethnic partitioning on civil conflict, using data from the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project (ACLED) This dataset reports georeferenced information on battles between government forces, rebels and militias; violence against civilians; foreign interventions; conflict between non-state actors; and riots/protests.
Figure 2a portrays the spatial distribution of violence in Africa over the period 1997-2013 (coverage increases considerably after 2010, but this does not much affect the results). The map plots 64,650 high-precision georeferenced conflicts. There is noteworthy heterogeneity. There are numerous events in Central Africa, mostly in Eastern Congo, Rwanda, Burundi, and Uganda. In Western Africa, conflict and political violence are concentrated in Nigeria and Sierra Leone. In Eastern Africa, violence is pervasive in Somalia. There is also considerable variation within countries. For example, while conflict in Tanzania is low, there are several violent events along the border with Kenya and Rwanda. Most of the conflict in Angola is close to the northern border with DRC and in the oil-rich Cabinda enclave.
Both early works, examining the long-run effects of historical factors on economic development, and the voluminous academic literature on the correlates of civil conflict, have relied on cross-country comparisons (Blattman and Miguel 2010); yet this approach, while naturally the first step, is prone to various conceptual and econometric shortcomings, as countries differ along many dimensions, the features shaping warfare and underdevelopment are correlated and there are not that many observations. We thus conduct the analysis at the historic-ethnic-homeland level, comparing conflict intensity across ethnic regions in the same country. By doing so, we effectively account for national politics, colonial and post-independence country-wide institutions, and other country features that may affect conflict. Moreover, since we examine ethnic regions in the same country, unobserved heterogeneity is less of a concern. Figure 2b portrays the spatial distribution of all conflict events at the country-ethnic homeland level.
Figure 2a
Figure 2b
The econometric analysis reveals that civil conflict is significantly higher in the ethnic regions of partitioned, as compared to non-split, groups. This applies to conflict intensity (number of conflict events), the duration (in years) of conflict, fatalities, and the likelihood of conflict. The significant association between ethnic partitioning and conflict is present, when we restrict estimation to ethnic homelands close to the national borders, so as to account for any border effects (which nonetheless may be driven by partitioning). The estimates suggest that conflict intensity is approximately 40% higher and conflict lasts on average 55% longer in the homelands of partitioned ethnicities. Moreover, the likelihood of conflict is approximately 8% higher in the homelands of split ethnicities.
The econometric analysis reveals sizable spillovers – conflict intensity is approximately 30% higher and the likelihood of conflict increases by 7% in the homelands of groups where 50% of surrounding groups are split (as compared to groups whose neighbours are not partitioned).
We then examine what type of conflict is more likely to occur in partitioned ethnic homelands. First, we document that military interventions from adjacent countries are more common in the homelands of partitioned groups than in nearby border areas where non-split groups reside. Second, we find that partitioning is a key factor for conflict between government troops and rebel groups “whose goal is to counter an established national governing regime by violent acts” and, to a lesser extent, for one-sided violence against civilians. These patterns are corroborated using a different georeferenced conflict database (the Uppsala Conflict Data Program Georeferenced Event Dataset) that records only deadly events associated with major civil wars. There is no link between ethnic partitioning and riots/protests, which are predominantly an urban phenomenon; and there is no association between partitioning and conflict between non-state actors.
Ethnic partitioning and political violence
We then dig deeper regarding the partitioning-repression-civil war nexus, using the Ethnic Power Relations (EPR) dataset (Wimmer et al. 2009), which offers an assessment of ethnic-specific political participation and discrimination since independence. This dataset also gives a classification of ethnic-based civil wars.
The within-country analysis reveals three key findings. First, partitioned ethnicities are significantly more likely (an 11%-14% higher likelihood) to engage in civil wars that have an explicit ethnic dimension. Out of the 234 split groups, 72 (31%) have participated in an ethnic civil war – with the corresponding statistic for non-split groups being 69 out of the 359 (19%) (Figure 3). Second, the likelihood that split ethnicities are subject to political discrimination from the national government is approximately seven percentage points higher when compared to non-split groups. Of split groups, 25% (58 of the 234) have been subject to discrimination by the government, while the respective likelihood for non-split groups is ten percentage points lower (Figure 3).
Third, when we examine the impact of ethnic partitioning, jointly on one-sided violence (repression) and two-sided violence (civil war), we find that, in the weakly institutionalised African countries, ethnic partitioning leads much more often to major two-sided conflict, than to discrimination.
Figure 3
We complement the group-based analysis with results linking individual-level access to public goods and education to the location and the ethnicity of roughly 85,000 households across 20 African countries (using the Demographic and Health Surveys, DHS). The econometric analysis reveals that individuals who identify with partitioned groups have fewer household assets, poorer access to utilities, and worse educational outcomes, as compared to individuals from non-split groups in the same country (and even residing in the same town/village). This pattern is not due to a generalised decline in the standards of living for all households residing in split homelands; rather, it is driven by the poorer economic performance of members of split ethnicities, irrespective of their residence.
The evidence from the EPR and DHS shows that the consequences of ethnic partitioning are not circumscribed by the contours of ancestral ethnic homelands, but have significant repercussions for the members of partitioned groups, irrespective of their whereabouts.
Country level characteristics shaped by the Scramble and contemporary development
Besides ethnic partitioning, scholars have emphasised the negative impact of various country-wide aspects stemming from the Scramble for Africa.
Access to the coast
The Scramble for Africa and the administrative splits within colonial powers led, upon independence, to the creation of many landlocked countries, with no access to the global shipping lanes. Out of 49 countries, 16 are landlocked: Botswana, Lesotho, Swaziland, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Malawi, Rwanda, Burundi, Uganda, Ethiopia, Central African Republic, Chad, Niger, Mali, Burkina Faso and South Sudan. And the largest country (in terms of land area), the Democratic Republic of Congo (the former Congo Free State), only has access to the sea (Atlantic Ocean) via a tiny 30-kilometre strip of land between the mainland of Angola (in the South) and the Cabinda enclave (which is part of Angola, in the North). Close to 300 million Africans (400 million if we add DRC) live in landlocked countries. Collier (2007) argued that being landlocked increases the likelihood that the country will be subject to ‘poverty trap’ dynamics, since it is associated with various costs.7 First, transportation costs are higher and trade with the rest of the world is limited for landlocked countries (Storeygard 2015). The costs of being landlocked are higher for those African countries that depend heavily on export proceeds from agriculture (e.g. Burundi, Rwanda, and Uganda) or minerals (e.g. Chad, Zambia, Zimbabwe). Second, landlocked countries depend extensively on their neighbours for both exports and imports. Since the neighbours are themselves often unstable, African landlocked countries face serious challenges. For example, Zimbabwe exports to the rest of the world via the Beira corridor and port in Mozambique in the Indian Ocean. During the Mozambican civil war (1977-1992), access to Beira was severely limited or shut down altogether, impeding Zimbabwean exports from reaching world markets.
Likewise, almost all of Ugandan exports are channelled via the port of Mombasa in Kenya. The railroad connecting Mombasa to Uganda, the so-called Lunatic Express, has been blocked on many occasions by protests, or has stopped functioning because of conflict, harming Ugandan producers.
Country shapes and sizes
Herbst (2000) has argued that, by creating states with peculiar sizes and shapes, the Scramble for Africa has had sizable adverse long-run impacts. He also emphasises the ‘inappropriate’ location of capitals. Upon independence, the newly-minted entities, particularly the inefficiently large ones, found it difficult to broadcast power outside their capital centres. African countries have very low levels of state (fiscal and legal) capacity (Besley and Persson 2011). Because of the limited presence of courts and state authorities outside the capitals, many Africans settle disputes (especially over rural land) in tribal courts and seek the advice of traditional leaders and chiefs (Michalopoulos and Papaioannou 2015). Quite often the state cannot monopolise violence. In Michalopoulos and Papaioannou (2014), we provide indirect evidence along these lines; showing that differences in country-wide institutions, across the national border, map into differences in regional development across the border, only when we look at (ethnic) areas close to the respective capitals. Using survey level data, we further show that proxies of state capacity, related to tax collection and policing, rapidly decay as one moves away from the capitals. In line with this, Campante et al. (2016) show that countries with isolated capital cities have lower quality institutions.
Ethnic composition (fractionalisation, polarisation, and inequality)
The Scramble for Africa has also inadvertently shaped the ethnic composition of the newly independent states. While the link between ethnic fractionalisation (the likelihood that two randomly drawn individuals of a country do not come from the same ethnic group) and development and/or conflict is weak, there is a tight relationship between ethnic polarisation (which takes the maximum value when there are two groups of equal proportions) and conflict (Montalvo and Reynal-Querol 2005, Esteban et al. 2012).
Alesina et al. (2016) show that ethnic-specific differences in economic prosperity and geographic endowments, which are highest in Africa, map into overall underdevelopment (see also Huber and Mayoral 2015). Alesina and Zhuravskaya (2012) show that ethnic segregation, which again tends to be higher in Africa than elsewhere, is linked to low levels of institutional development.
Conclusion
Research quantifying the impact of ethnic partitioning, state artificiality, and other features of the Scramble for Africa with formal econometric techniques and theory, is still in its infancy. The preliminary empirical findings of the economics literature bode well, however, with the case-studies and narratives of the African historiography highlighting the multi-faceted consequences of the Scramble for Africa. More research is needed to better understand how those colonial borders and colonial artefacts that survived decolonisation affect the present. And, since border artificiality and ethnic partitioning are not phenomena exclusive to the African continent, subsequent works could focus on other parts of the world, such as the Middle East.
References
Acemoglu, D, S Johnson and J A. Robinson (2001), “The Colonial Origins of Comparative Development: An Empirical Investigation”, American Economic Review, 91 (5), 1369–1401.
Acemoglu, D, S Johnson and J A Robinson (2015), “Institutions as a Fundamental Cause of Long-Run Growth”, in The Handbook of Economic Growth, edited by Philippe Aghion, and Steven. N. Durlauf, pp. 109.139. Elsevier North- Holland, Amsterdam, Netherlands.
Acemoglu, D, T Reed, and J A Robinson (2014), “Chiefs: Economic Development and Elite Control of Civil Society in Sierra Leone”, Journal of Political Economy, 122(2): 319–68.
Alesina, A, W Easterly, and J Matuszeski (2011), “Artificial States”, Journal of the European Economic Association, 9(2): 246-277.
Alesina, A, S Michalopoulos and E Papaioannou (2016), “Ethnic Inequality”, Journal of Political Economy, 124(2): 428-488.
Alesina, A and E Zhuravskaya (2011), “Segregation and the Quality of Government in a Cross-Section of Countries”, American Economic Review, 101(6): 1872-1911.
Asiwaju, A I (1985), Partitioned Africans. The Conceptual Framework, St. Martin Press, New York.
Besley, T and T Persson, (2011), “The Logic of Political Violence”, Quarterly Journal of Economics, 126(3): 1411-1445.
Blattman, C and E Miguel (2010), “Civil War”, Journal of Economic Literature, 48(1): 3-57.
Bluin, A (2016), Who Still Uses Pre-colonial Institutions? The Role of Colonial Policy and (Mis)Trust among Hutu and Tutsi, Working Paper, University of Toronto.
Bolt, J (2013), “The Partitioning of Africa”, in The History of African Development, edited by Ewout Frankema and |
likely to be top-tier contenders. It is questionable whether the Stoneblade shells I mentioned previously will have enough staying power compared to these BUG shells – maybe just incorporating Black into Stoneblade ala DeathBlade is a good idea, splashing Leovold and Decay too for good measure. Combo-midrange hybrids like Food Chain and Aluren should also still be out in force. Both of these decks had pretty reasonable Miracles matchups due to their ability to grind very, very well thanks to their engine cards, but now they may have more room to focus on their middling combo matchups, which are now a little more of a worry.
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Speaking of Abrupt Decay, how great is that card now anyway?
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Decay’s primary reason for printing was to break up the Counterbalance lock, but that lock is no longer existent. Without Counterbalance around, Decay is now simply a somewhat clunky but unstoppable removal spell for creatures, though Chalice of the Void and other lock pieces still can be issues that need solving. I wouldn’t be surprised to see numbers of Decays reduced, and instead Fatal Push or other hard creature removal being prioritized.
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What Happens to Combo?
No more Top means no more Counterbalance. For many combo decks this is a great thing. But one combo deck lost not only Counterbalance as an enemy, but also Terminus.
Elves. Elves. ELVES.
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Elves is likely to be the biggest gainer from the Top ban. Miracles was Elves largest predator, but other than faster combo decks Elves had solid plans against all of the Delver and control decks – simply grind them out with Visionary + Symbiote or Glimpse of Nature and play around (or through!) their sweepers. Even with Miracles, Elves had been on a dominating run of the format, taking three spots at European Eternal Weekend. I wholeheartedly expect Elves to rocket into Tier 1 in the weeks ahead, and everyone should be packing some sweepers in their sideboards in preparation. Sadly, this leaves decks like Death & Taxes in a troubling position. Not only is their worst matchup more prominent, but more sweepers are going to hit D&T for splash damage.
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Looking to other combo decks, Storm variants are now going to undergo a revolution. Counterbalance meant that Storm needed to splash Abrupt Decay, but that is necessary no more. Green may still be splashed for Xantid Swarm or Carpet of Flowers if needed (and maybe Decay is still just great), but I’m sure many Storm players are salivating at the chance to play a purely Grixis-colored mana base. TES may become a bit more popular than its ANT brethren. Going faster is now a much more reliable choice too, as slowing down for natural Tendrils or Abrupt Decay is unnecessary. Especially if Empty the Warrens is involved because there will be less Terminus floating around.
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Other combo decks that could see a bit of an uptick include Turbo Depths, which can now reliably make Marit Lage without fearing Terminus or Plow. Lands, although more of a control-combo hybrid, should also see a pretty nice uptick thanks to the uptick in many greedy mana bases to Wasteland into oblivion and, once again, more reliable Marit Lages.
What Happens to Delver?
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Delver of Secrets decks are likely to gravitate even harder towards Deathrite Shaman and further away from Stifle. Stifle was excellent at adding percentage points against Miracles (because Stifling Terminus is great), but utilizing favorites such as Hymn to Tourach or Cabal Therapy may be more potent until the metagame develops a little more. I fully expect typical Team America (Hymn BUG Delver) and Cabal Therapy Grixis Delver to be the new sheriffs keeping combo in check.
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RUG Delver will have to be remodeled entirely. The deck’s primary strength was its one-mana Shroud threat that punished Miracles players incredibly, along with its package of Winter Orbs for further punishment. Now RUG Delver has to contend with a surge in BUG decks too, which have always been somewhat troublesome because of Deathrite Shaman. Maybe a version featuring Mandrills and Tarmogoyf (who may actually be good again) is playable. Maybe becoming more Zoo-ish (I mean… There is no more Terminus to fear) and taking queues from Narnam Renegade and Kird Ape could be useful.
I also think Dark Thresh may need to call itself quits now too. Going through so many hoops to get Mongoose active only to have it meet a Baleful Strix or two is going to be some sad scenarios to experience ahead.
Honestly, I hope I’m wrong. I hope that Stifle’s power against greedy three- or four- color mana bases keeps the classic core that surrounded Mongoose alive. He is one of my favorite cards, after all.
What Happens to Chalice of the Void?
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Chalice of the Void is the new premier lock piece of the format with CounterTop gone. But Eldrazi’s primary prey in Miracles gone is likely to lead to a downswing in the deck. Eldrazi also has to contend with many BUG decks that can put Strixes in their way or destroy Chalice with Decay. Big Eldrazi lists who aimed to go over the top may still be feasible. Although they really preyed on Miracles, I’m sure that they too can beat up on the 4c Control deck as long as their mana is developed. Baleful Strix looks pretty idiotic in the face of Ulamog, the Ceasless Hunger, but Grim Monolith and other ramp rocks look pretty silly in the face of Kolaghan’s Command too.
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I think the best Chalice of the Void shell will truly be one featuring Blood Moon to damage the BUG mana bases of the world, however. Dragon Stompy has continued to show strength in previous months, and now with Miracles gone only Blood Moon-prone mana bases remain in the control decks. The deck still has to contend with problem matchups against Sneak & Show and Death & Taxes, though Death & Taxes may be less on an issue with Elves so prominent.
Who Are the Other Losers?
Other than Miracles, there are a variety of decks that have also been neutered by the Sensei’s Divining Top ban. Imperial Painter immediately comes to mind, and although recently mono-Red lists have seen a strong presence thanks to the grind plan of Chandra, Torch of Defiance being so reliable, without Top these decks have little to no card selection ability. Moving back into White-Red and adding even up to four Enlightened Tutor may be the plan, or maybe leaning harder on Goblin Welder and synergy with cards like Faithless Looting could be possible… Though I admit that is likely a bit too janky.
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12Post took a huge hit as well. Not only did many lists run Sensei’s Divining Top themselves (especially non-Blue versions), but 12Post prided itself on being the default “Miracles-crusher” of the format thanks to it having the greatest amount of inevitability, and now that matchup is gone. It may still be a reasonable choice, though it may need a fair bit of retooling for the metagame ahead.
Nic Fit, interestingly, although using Sensei’s Divining Top in many lists, still has access to Sylvan Library, and any Green deck that ran Top will now likely move on to the Legends enchantment. Note it does have poor synergy with Pernicious Deed, however.
Some Archetypes Live Again
This is perhaps the most interesting and unpredictable part of the format ahead. Many decks that were once pushed to the fringes of the format by Terminus and Counterbalance can now likely be relevant once more. The first few decks that come to mind are Maverick and Zoo. Maverick, as a strategy, was incredibly prone to Miracles due to it being all about dorking out some powerful bomb creatures – which were all swept away by a timely Terminus. That’s no longer the case. Zoo, on the other hand, is a typical aggro deck that folds to fast efficient sweepers. Zoo may be a bit of a stretch when Delver of Secrets is much better than Wild Nacatl, and Burn may simply be a better choice moving ahead (especially with all these greedy mana bases to Price of Progress to death!). But I do think Maverick could be a really solid contender in the weeks ahead though.
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I also wouldn’t be surprised to see something completely different blind side everyone and come to the forefront of the format.
Conclusion
All this is by no means exhaustive. There are many things that are simply impossible to predict, and it’s definitely an interesting time to be a player of Legacy. I’ll be here as always, keeping everyone up to speed with the changing format ahead.
Some links!
‘Til next time,
Sean Brown
Email: [email protected]
Reddit: ChemicalBurns156
Twitter: @Sean_Brown156
What I’m Playing This Week
I’m honestly even more lost on what to play, especially with the large Australian Masters event coming up. For this week, I may play it a little safe:
A pretty stock Grixis Delver list, which should be able to pretty efficient attack whatever randomness new format brings our way. Jeez… It feels weird not having to play any sideboard cards like Orb or Vortex for Miracles, and honestly, I’m a little lost on what the sideboard should consist of – who knows what the primary decks to target will be. For now, I’ve got Forests in mind, with double Submerge and main deck Forked Bolt ready to slay some Elves.
In all honesty though, I’m probably just going to play something a little weird until the format shakes itself out.
I recently purchased some Goblin Lackeys because, honestly, I wasn’t sure why I didn’t own Goblins since I already have the mana base ready to go. This deck certainly lost a deck it preyed on too, but there may be some fresh technology ready to go once Commander 2017 rolls around. Wizards please be kind to Goblins and give them something actually useful. The sideboard also looks hilarious with its eight-pack of combo-hating permanents. But such is Goblin life.
The Spice Corner
JPA93 has brought a pretty stylish Eureka-Tell deck to a 5-0 appearance. He crushed me as I tried to Dredge on. Of course, losing Red sideboard cards is a bit of an issue, especially the utility of removal. But Carpet of Flowers and Elvish Spirit Guide are pretty neat!Financial services giant Credit Suisse says that bitcoin integration “confers legitimacy” on bitcoin and will prove to be a financial boom for payment processing startup Square.
Credit Suisse Bullish on Square’s Bitcoin Play
Credit Suisse is not known for being bullish on bitcoin. Tidjane Thiam, the firm’s CEO, has called bitcoin the very definition of the bubble, and the company has not shown an interest in directly engaging with the crypto markets. That said, Credit Suisse is very optimistic about Square’s recent decision to test bitcoin sales within its popular Square Cash app.
As reported by CNBC, Credit Suisse analyst Paul Condra predicts that Square will attract or convert 10 million users into bitcoin buyers within two years, leading to an incremental $30 million in annual revenue. This estimate is based on the assumption that users will spend $200 per year — leading to $2 billion in annual volume — and Square will charge a modest 1.5 percent transaction fee. In response to the announcement, Condra raised his price target for Square shares to $37 from $31.
Square Cash ‘Confers Legitimacy’ on Bitcoin
In a note to Credit Suisse clients, Condra went a step further, forecasting that bitcoin integration will “confe[r] legitimacy” on bitcoin and lead other mainstream businesses to feel comfortable adding support for digital currencies.
From the note:
“While we are positive on Square’s strategy, to the extent it confers legitimacy on Bitcoin and prompts adoption by other providers (i.e., PayPal) the biggest beneficiary may be the crypto-asset industry,” Condra reportedly wrote.
The bitcoin price has risen considerably since Square began its bitcoin trial, in part based on speculation that Square will eventually enable merchants to accept bitcoin through its payment processing platform. On Monday, the bitcoin price rose to a new all-time high, peaking at $8,315 on bitcoin exchange Bitfinex.
Not lucky enough to be able to participate in Square Cash’s bitcoin trial? You can buy bitcoin using a credit card through Block Explorer using USD or EUR.Sweet Potato and Carrot Soup – a 5:2 Diet Recipe for Winter:
I love cooking but I have to admit sometimes I struggle cooking for just myself, though on a 5:2 diet fast day it seems to give me some comfort and obviously distracts me. While my fellow 5:2 dieters bemoan having to cook for their families, perhaps I should count myself lucky that I can avoid having temptation at hand while I am still trying to lose a little weight on the 5:2 diet. But, at various points in my life, I’ve had family, boyfriends and flatmates to cook for and with and there’s a real joy about cooking and sharing food that you don’t get if you live alone. But, I still believe it’s healthier and a more cost-effective option, so I continue to make an effort to cook from scratch. I do have a few shortcuts though – cooking and freezing homemade ready-meals, making up mixtures that can be used in a variety of dishes (mince for example – one day for spaghetti bolognese, the next for chilli). One thing I get a bit lazy about is making vegetable dishes like mash – but this particular use for leftover carrot and sweet potato mash is a bit of a winner!
I made up the mash yesterday as part of a review I was writing. It’s a flavour combination I really enjoy, but one sweet potato and two carrots made enough mash for about 4 portions! And as always I’m out quite a lot in the next few days – one meal at home will be about all I can manage and I doubt I’ll want more than soup. I could of course, have frozen the mixture. But, I also want soup at the moment. The danger otherwise is that I’ll go out for a reception with nothing but those dainty little canapes, feel hungry on the way home and end up buying chips! And with boot-camp coming up I just need to avoid that risk!!!
Print Sweet Potato and Carrot Soup for a 5:2 Diet Fast Day Prep Time 1 min Cook Time 15 mins Total Time 16 mins Course: Soup Cuisine: British Servings : 4 Author : Fiona Maclean Ingredients 400 g Sweet Potato and Carrot Mash I made my mash with 50% sweet potato and 50% carrot by weight. Just boil until soft, drain and mash.
1/2 teaspoon Ground Coriander
500 ml Stock I used Knorr touch of taste vegetable stock
2 tablespoons Low fat creme fraiche
Salt and Pepper to taste
2-3 shots 1-cal oil spray
1/2 teaspoon Ground Cumin
a fewFresh Coriander leaves Chopped - to garnish Instructions Spray the base of a heavy pan with 1 cal Sprinkle in the spices and a good grinding of black pepper. Warm through gently till you can smell them Pour in the stock and the mash, mix well Bring to the boil and simmer gently to reduce down a little for 5-10 minutues Taste and adjust the soup, adding salt and pepper as necessary. Serve with half a tablespoon of creme fraiche stirred through each bowlful. If you are freezing this soup do so before adding the creme fraiche
So, I’ve used the mash to make soup. Using up mash in soup is nothing new, it works very well as a way to thicken all sorts of soups. But this version stands on it’s own! This particular combination of ingredients makes a 100cal a portion soup. If you are not dieting, consider making it up with coconut milk to replace half the stock. Delicious! But, that would double the calories so for the sake of creating a 5:2 diet friendly recipe, I’ve just added a little creme fraiche and a few fresh coriander leaves at the end, resulting in a soup at about 100 calories a bowlful. It’s a vitamin packed mixture that could easily be made vegan by leaving out the creme fraiche and substituting a little coconut cream.Even Barack Obama’s former strategist sees electors turning against Donald Trump will do more harm than good.
That’s why David Axelrod is calling on electors — who will convene in all 50 state capitols on Monday — to vote for the candidate they were elected on November 8th to support.
Though I share deep concerns about election & @realDonaldTrump, most electors will follow states & should. Reversal would rip country apart. — David Axelrod (@davidaxelrod) December 18, 2016
“Though I share deep concerns about election & (Donald Trump), most electors will follow states & should,” he tweeted on Sunday. “Reversal would rip country apart.”
Axelrod is going against the line of thinking progressives are pushing in urging electors to buck Trump and vote for someone else.
Democrats are taking comfort in a TV ad led by fake president Martin Sheen and other Hollywood elites demanding electors withhold their vote from Trump on Monday.WASHINGTON -- Yahoo's free email service could have cost the company an extra quarter of a million dollars a day.
The government called for the huge fine in 2008 if Yahoo didn't go along with an expansion of U.S. surveillance by surrendering online information, a step the company regarded as unconstitutional. At stake, according to the government, was the nation's security.
"International terrorists, and (redacted) in particular, use Yahoo to communicate over the Internet," the director of national intelligence at the time, Mike McConnell, said in a court document supporting the government's position. "Any further delay in Yahoo's compliance could cause great harm to the United States, as vital foreign intelligence information contained in communications to which only Yahoo has access, will go uncollected."
The outlines of Yahoo's secret and ultimately unsuccessful court fight against government surveillance emerged when a federal judge ordered the unsealing of some material about Yahoo's court challenge. Sections of some of the documents were redacted, such as the names of the terrorists McConnell cited.
In a statement Thursday, Yahoo said the government amended a law to demand user information from online services, prompting a challenge in 2007 during the George W. Bush administration.
"Our challenge, and a later appeal in the case, did not succeed," Yahoo general counsel Ron Bell said.
The new material about the case underscores "how we had to fight every step of the way to challenge the U.S. government's surveillance efforts," Bell added. "At one point, the U.S. government threatened the imposition of $250,000 in fines per day if we refused to comply."
Bell said the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court upheld the predecessor to Section 702 of the FISA Amendments Act. Section 702 refers to the program called PRISM, which gave the government access to online communications by users of Yahoo.
Former National Security Agency systems analyst Edward Snowden disclosed the program last year.
Yahoo said it is committed to protecting users' data and that it will continue to contest requests and laws that it considers unlawful, unclear or overly broad.
"We consider this an important win for transparency, and hope that these records help promote informed discussion about the relationship between privacy, due process and intelligence gathering," Bell said.
The newly released documents show that the Bush administration was taking a hard line and was miffed that Yahoo had even been allowed to get into court with its complaint.
In sum, the FISA court erred in permitting Yahoo to challenge the directives, said a court brief signed by then-Attorney General Michael Mukasey.
Yahoo was arguing that what the Bush administration was doing violated the Fourth Amendment rights of customers of Yahoo customers.
"The government has conducted warrantless foreign intelligence surveillance for decades, and such surveillance has been upheld under the Fourth Amendment by every appellate court to decide the question," Mukasey wrote.
"The government's implementation of the Protect America Act is consistent with decades of past practice and adequately protects the privacy of U.S. persons," Mukasey said.
In its court papers, Yahoo urged that the government be reined in.
Yahoo requested that the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court of Review reverse the lower court's judgment and find that "the surveillance authorized by the directives is not 'otherwise lawful,'" wrote Marc Zwillinger, a lawyer representing the Internet service provider.
Yahoo lost the battle in the surveillance review court.
In a statement late Thursday, the Obama administration said it is "even more protective" of the rights of U.S. citizens than the law upheld by the review court.
The American Civil Liberties Union said the case shows the need for more openness about government surveillance.
"The secrecy that surrounds these court proceedings prevents the public from understanding our surveillance laws," ACLU staff attorney Patrick Toomey said. "Today's release only underscores the need for basic structural reforms to bring transparency to the NSA's surveillance activities."Albert Almora has always carried himself with confidence. However, due perhaps to falling further in the draft than he had hoped or losing much of the past season to injury, Almora now seems to have developed a chip on his shoulder. Gone is the quiet, soft-spoken kid from the summer. Almora is anything but, possessing a boldness that a team coming off its third straight 90-loss season needs.
After suffering through a pair of rough seasons under a regime that initially instilled much hope, Chicago Cubs fans are growing weary of the poor play they’re witnessing on the field. Maybe even more tiresome to a few are the constant refrain of patience and the reminders that the Cubs' highly rated farm system will be pumping top talent up to the big leagues in the very near future.
There are plenty who are ready to start questioning whether the complete rebuild of the organization that team president Theo Epstein, general manager Jed Hoyer and the rest of the Cubs front office have overseen will really lead to sustained success on the North Side.
Almora is not one of those people.
“You can tell when everything is going in the right direction,” Almora recently said prior to participating in an Arizona Fall League game. “That’s the first thing everyone in the organization put in our heads: winning a World Series is going to happen. It’s not an ‘if,’ it’s a ‘when.’”
Almora, who suffered through multiple injuries this summer during his first full season of professional baseball with the Kane County Cougars, appears to be playing in the AFL with something to prove. Though he’s the second youngest player in the league, Almora has posted a.286/.340/.531 line in 13 games and is playing his usual outstanding defense all over the outfield. Despite playing no higher than low-A in his career, Almora appears to be undaunted by the task of facing pitchers who are both older and more experienced.
“To be honest, I’m confident in my game,” Almora said. “I’m not trying to sound cocky or arrogant here, but it’s the same game, the pitchers are just smarter. They throw a little harder than what I’m used to seeing, but after a week of 98 (mph) every day... I’m not saying it’s easy, but you see it better. As a player, I might be 19, but I’m ready, I’m ready to play against all these guys. Age is nothing but a number. I feel like I’m capable of playing and my baseball IQ is the same as these guys'.”
Almora’s impressive numbers helped earn him an appearance in this past Saturday’s Fall Stars game. His Mesa Solar Sox teammates and fellow Cubs prospects Jorge Soler and Kris Bryant both joined him on the roster.
“Those guys are monsters,” Almora said of Bryant and Soler. “I’m lucky to be in the same organization and not have to face them. There are a lot of guys here that say, ‘Man, we’re going to have face these guys today?’”
Almora added that the trio has gotten along well off the field, forming a natural bond that the Cubs hope carries through to the big leagues.
“This Cubs organization now is a big family. Those two guys are great guys,” Almora said. “Soler is like a big teddy bear, he’s a great guy and he always has a smile on his face. And Bryant’s a big goofball too, we get along wonderful. We went mini-golfing the other day and had a lot of fun. We’re great on and off the field, it’s not just business.”
Do the three discuss the chance that they could all be playing together at Wrigley in the not so distant future? According to Almora, their goals aren’t set so low.
“Our focus is the World Series,” Almora said. “That’s our goal at the end of the day, whenever it happens, but it’s gonna happen. This organization is going to have that ring in the near future. We’re working really hard to get there.”
Many expect the Cubs' top prospect, Javier Baez, to arrive at Wrigley in 2014, with Bryant, the No. 2 overall pick in last summer’s amateur draft, possibly close behind. A reasonable expectation for Soler and Almora, who both saw their development stymied by injuries this season, would be sometime in 2015.
But Almora doesn’t care for those predictions.
“You say 2015 for me and Soler, but if they call our names tomorrow, it’s going to happen,” he said. “I’m not going to be scared of the challenge of being up there. If they think that we’re ready and they want to win a World Series, let’s go.”
While the Cubs' minor league system is clearly weighted towards the offensive side at the top, Almora knows there’s pitching on the farm as well. Almora played with Pierce Johnson at Kane County before Johnson ended the season winning the Florida State League championship with High-A Daytona, a team headlined by its strong rotation, with Johnson, C.J. Edwards and Corey Black leading the way.
Scouts will rattle off names like Paul Blackburn and Tyler Skulina when mentioning pitchers who could break out for the Cubs in the coming years. The Cubs' strategy of drafting and acquiring power arms in bulk over the past two seasons should start paying off in the near future in both the starting rotation and the bullpen.
Almora has never doubted the process.
“Theo, (VP of scouting and player development) Jason (McLeod) and Jed, they all know what they’re doing,” Almora said. “They’re not just forming an offensive-crazy lineup, they’re doing it all. From pitching, to coaching, to everything, they’re doing it right. It’s just a matter of time when everything explodes in Chicago. The winning starts and the championships start coming.”
Prior to Anthony Rizzo's arrival in Chicago, the hype got a little out of hand for the Cubs first baseman, who those in the industry believe has a high floor due to his impeccable work ethic, but a lower ceiling than a star, viewing him as more of an above average player who could develop into a leader in the clubhouse. The Cubs' current quartet of prospects are all rated higher than Rizzo ever was and as they continue to climb the ranks, the inevitable hype is bound to come for them as well. But Almora says he’ll embrace that challenge when it comes.
“Hype or no hype, you still have to strap your cleats on and play this game,” Almora said. “If there’s hype, hey, bring it on, I love it. It gives me reason to work harder every day and to come and be the best that there is.”
It’s clear that restless Cubs fans are are ready for more than just hype, they’re hungry for wins. But it’s not just the fans who are ready for things to change on the field -- Almora is sick of the poor results as well.
“I said one thing to the Chicago Cubs when they drafted me, I said I’m going to prove those other five teams that passed me up in the draft wrong,” Almora said. “I’m gonna do all in my heart and my soul to get you that World Series ring. I’m tired of the organization not winning and I’m not even there. That’s just the competitor that I am.”
Almora’s outspoken attitude may seem brash to some, but it’s not the type of confidence that often rubs others the wrong way, but rather the kind that coaches and teammates embrace. It should be a breath of fresh air and maybe just the right demeanor to help turn things around at Wrigley.'The Young Turks' founder Cenk Uygur responds to this footage of an audience both booing and laughing when former Florida Gov. Charlie Crist said he is voting for Hillary Clinton because she is "honest."
“They LOL'd," Uygur said. "That's literally a LOL."
The prominent Bernie Sanders supporter said it is time for the "Democratic establishment" to admit that they were wrong, that Sanders was the stronger candidate, and if he had been nominated he would be winning right now.
"We’ve got 48 days to Armageddon," Uygur said about Trump's impending victory over Clinton. "Get your head out of your--... let’s be polite here and say, 'get your head out of the sand.' She’s losing! She’s a terrible candidate!"
Transcript:
CENK UYGUR: Democratic party establishment, you knuckleheads. What have you done? What have you done? You thought that she was the better candidate. The state of Florida is pretty relevant, electorally, in a national election for president. And you've got a crowd there laughing out loud at the idea that your candidate it honest. Oops!
It turns out that we weren't just telling you Hillary Clinton is a bad candidate because we like the other guy. It’s because we were right, but they’ll never admit it. I don't know if the Democratic Party is just stupid... or if they think,'maybe we get fired if Bernie Sanders comes in here and has a revolution, so I don't want Bernie Sanders under any circumstance. I'd rather have Trump as president.'
Or it is a combination of the two... The whole country, and maybe even the whole world, is in a world of trouble because the Democratic Party thought Hillary Clinton would be a better candidate...
I'm telling you this not just to rub it in to the Democratic Party, because they were wrong and we were right, and not just because if Hillary Clinton loses, they will go around blaming the people who were right, instead of taking responsibility for their idiotic actions. It is not about that.
It is about: We’ve got 48 days to Armageddon. Trump is leading in Ohio, he is leading in Florida, and the Democratic Party still thinks they can't lose...
Get your head out of your — let’s be polite and say, get your head out of the sand. Okay? She’s losing! She’s a terrible candidate! Figure out a strategy in the next 48 days to turn around, otherwise you’re going to make Donald Trump, the monster, idiot, whatever you want to call him, loser… Donald Trump will become the most powerful man on earth.
Jesus, what have you done to us? Turn around quickly, find a way to win this election, otherwise you might have ruined the whole world with your arrogance.Rumour: ‘Paulinho takes out Neymar’ spreads on social media
‘Paulinho takes out Neymar’
The international break often sees a lull football news, which opens the way for fake news to get more of an airing.
On Tuesday, such a story has taken hold on social media as Barcelona fans gloat about a reported injury to Neymar.
Neymar is currently with the Brazilian national squad for the international break.
Brazil has already qualified for the 2018 World Cup in Russia, while they close out their qualifiers with games against Bolivia and Chile.
PSG v Barcelona
Neymar became a divisive figure in the summer when he left Barcelona for PSG.
The South American smashed the world transfer record in the process, as PSG paid 222 million euros for his services.
In the aftermath of football’s ‘transfer of the century’, it’s clear that Barcelona remain shell-shocked by the deal.
At the start of the summer, no one at the Camp Nou even considered Neymar would walk out of the club. But then it happened.
Wishing harm on Neymar
It now seems that some Barcelona fans wish the worst for Neymar.
In that regard, rumours are spreading that Paulinho, who joined Barcelona in the summer, injured Neymar at Brazil’s training on Tuesday.
The rumours seem to have originated from a couple of Twitter accounts who write in Arabic.
اضطر نيمار لمغادرة تدريبات منتخب #البرازيل اليوم بسبب تعرضه لإصابة خفيفة علي اثر تدخل من باولينيو! pic.twitter.com/2gTHEvRSF2 — باريس سان جيرمان (@Bbm7mad) October 3, 2017
EuroSport | نيمار غادر تدريبات المُنتخب البرازيلي مُصاباً وملامح الألم على وجهه بعد تدخُّل قوي من باولينهو pic.twitter.com/1A3w82yrPA — FCB World (@FCBW_A7) October 3, 2017
Those tweets have then been amplified by other Barcelona accounts in English.
| Paulinho training with Brazil NT. #FCBlive • It is been reported that Paulinho has injured Neymar with an intervention. pic.twitter.com/onLMg6wpmr — Catalan Edition (@CatalanEdition) October 3, 2017
Reports coming in that Paulinho has tackled and injured Neymar in Brazil practice today Paulinho always delivering the goods pic.twitter.com/xNl2Vrjzo0 — ~ (@UltraAutistic) October 3, 2017
And it’s not taken long for the memes to start as well.
The only problem is that it seems the whole story is fabricated. No reputable news outlet have confirmed the Neymar-Paulinho rumour.
Neymar arriving like a boss and Paulinho pic.twitter.com/2guMR4N4hR — Samir A Sharfadi (@samir_sharfadi) October 3, 2017Update as of May 21, 2012: We have started to roll out this change. When the new fee structure is live for your shop, you’ll see a notice on your listings page.
Today we’re excited to announce a highly-requested change to fees for listings with a quantity greater than one. This change will roll out the week of May 21, 2012. Sellers will only be charged $0.20 USD to list or renew an item, regardless of quantity. Fees for additional quantities will only apply when an item sells. It works like an auto-renew feature — when your item sells and you still have quantity left, your listing automatically renews for $0.20 USD. If your listing sells out, the total fees are effectively the same. If your listing doesn’t sell out within four months, your fees will be lower because you won’t pay for unsold quantities.
Currently when sellers list their items on Etsy, they pay $0.20 USD per quantity up front when the listing is published. (For example: I have six handmade mugs. If I list with a quantity of six, then my listing costs $1.20 USD right away.) Many sellers instead choose to list a quantity of one to avoid fees for unsold items, and to reduce the cost of renewing. This can confuse shoppers (maybe they want to buy six as part of a wedding registry but only one is listed!), and sellers are stuck manually watching and renewing sold-out listings. With the new system, sellers can add as many items as they have in stock or are able to make, and shoppers can check out easily and add their desired quantity to the order. We hope this will be a time-saver for sellers: you’ll have to renew your items less often!
Our Fees Policy is being updated to reflect these changes, which will roll out to shops over the course of the week of May 21, 2012. When the new fee structure is live for your shop, we’ll notify you in the shop management area of the site. Be sure to check out our lovingly-illustrated FAQs for details about how the new structure works!The Future of Body Horror: Can Our Art Keep up with Our Suffering?
x.
You see, what we’re talkin’ about here is an organism that imitates other life-forms, and it imitates ‘em perfectly.
–Dr. Blair, The Thing
John Carpenter’s The Thing opens with the desolation of space, but it’s on an Antarctic research station, so remote that it might as well be another world, where the action happens. Above, Dr. Blair—played by early-Internet meme Wilford Brimley—describes the alien that has infiltrated the facility, destroyed all means of external communication, and begun to mimic the group of American men living there, assimilating their bodies as it kills them off, one by one. Unable to tell who is human and who is one of the Thing’s perfect imitations, the survivors figure out a way to test each other’s blood, killing the creatures that fail to demonstrate their humanity.
It’s in one of The Thing’s most disturbing scenes that we see a sympathetic character reveal himself as one of the alien’s conquests. In an apparent state of shock, Norris goes into the throes of a heart attack, but when another man, Copper, attempts to revive him, Norris’s chest suddenly opens up, |
as to say it was all really about slave reparations. But, after the dust had settled, the mainstream feminist response seemed to be that this video was anti-women, pure and simple. Writing in the Observer, Barbara Ellen summed up the sentiment: ‘The main issue here is surely: misogyny, who’s allowed to do it? And the only answer can be: nobody.’
While this may be just one in a long line of feminist nontroversies, there’s something new here. Up to now, black artists have largely been spared from the Jezebel jihad on popular culture. This is why Robin Thicke could be so pilloried, while Lil Wayne, whose lines about women are far from blurred, could escape unscathed. Now, all the power-relations calculations, the interminable assessments of whether an artist had quite enough white and/or male privilege to make them fair game, are becoming a thing of the past. The blue-rinse nature of the feminist fun police has really come to the fore. While all the handwringing commentary on BBHMM pays lip service to artistic expression, the idea that no pop star can do misogyny reflects just what philistines these people are. Just because Rihanna’s video sees her exacting semi-torture on another woman doesn’t make it, or her, misogynist – let alone ‘dangerous’. This is the logic of Mary Whitehouse. Filth is filth, whatever way you slice it.Shares
A new study looked at clinical trials for neuropathic pain over the last 23 years and found that the response of subjects in the placebo group has been increasing over time, but only in the United States. The cause of this increase is unknown, and has provoked a fascinating discussion about the nature of placebos and their role in medical research.
What is the placebo effect?
We have discussed the placebo response at length here at SBM because the concept is critical to understanding clinical science, and it is largely misunderstood. Most often it is presented as a mind-over-matter response to the expectation of benefit. Proponents of worthless treatments often hype the placebo response as if it can have real healing power, when the evidence shows it does not.
In reality, there are a large number of placebo effects and the phenomenon is quite complex. In clinical trials “the placebo effect” is whatever happens in the placebo group of the study, the group receiving an inactive treatment. This is not one effect, however, but a complex combination of many effects.
These placebo effects include the non-specific effects of participating in a clinical trial, regression to the mean, reporting bias, improved mood from the hope of being treated and getting attention from a practitioner, researcher bias, and other effects. Placebo responses vary by the outcome being measured. In general pain and other subjective outcomes have a larger placebo response than objective hard outcomes.
The evidence suggests that placebo effects are mostly an illusion of doing clinical trials. They are artifacts, not real healing effects. Any real placebo benefits are due to such things as taking better care of yourself and being more compliant with your treatments in general because you are being watched in a clinical trial.
Placebos “getting stronger”
What the current research shows is that the size of the response in the placebo arm of US clinical trials looking at drugs to treat neuropathic pain has increased steadily over the last 23 years (1990 to 2013). This has reduced the margin of benefit for the active drugs, essentially making it more difficult to demonstrate a statistical benefit.
The data is fairly clear. The only real question is what is causing this trend. Here even the authors of the article disagree. The hypotheses seem to fall into two main categories – Americans are having a greater psychological response to placebos, or the way that clinical trials are being conducted is resulting in a greater placebo artifact. I tend to find the latter explanations more compelling.
One cultural factor that has been suggested is that drug advertising has subtly made Americans have higher expectations in the effectiveness of drugs overall. This seems like a bit of a stretch.
I could not find any specific study addressing this question, but there are a number of studies looking at public attitudes toward direct-to-consumer drug advertising. One survey found that advertising does affect consumer preference for a branded drug, but that consumers do not feel the advertised drug is superior to another option offered by their physician. This would seem to undercut the above hypothesis, but again this should be considered an open question.
Other speculations focus on the trials themselves. The authors did find that clinical trials in pain have been getting bigger and longer over the study period, and that the size of the study is associated with a larger placebo response. This could just be due to the fact that both trends were occurring over the study period, without the one causing the other.
If the change in the size of the placebo response is due to the way clinical trials are designed, is this a good thing or a bad thing? In other words, are trials showing less of a difference between treatment and placebo because they are getting better (implying that older studies were more false positive) or because they are getting worse (newer studies are more false negative)? This is a critical question.
One possibility that has been raised is that often pharmaceutical companies turn over the running of their clinical trials to private companies. These companies are motivated to recruit large numbers of subjects. This may motivate them to fudge the inclusion criteria by encouraging prospective subjects to exaggerate their symptoms. The exaggeration would then go away once they are in the trial, resulting in an apparent treatment effect. This would affect both the treatment and placebo arms of the study, but would statistically obscure the treatment effect (which would be proportionally smaller).
The way subjects are being treated in trials is also changing over time. They are getting more attention, perhaps more encouragement, and their overall experience in the trial is better. All of these things would magnify their placebo response to the experience.
How to fix it?
It is difficult to know how to fix the problem of growing placebo responses obscuring treatment effects without knowing the cause(s) (and even if it’s a problem). Reducing possible artifacts, however, is generally a good idea and might fix the problem (and provide evidence for the cause(s)).
For example, subjects in a clinical trial could be given more balanced information about what to expect. They could be given, for example, statistically accurate information about the chance of getting the drug vs placebo, the probability that the drug works and the percentage of subjects for whom drugs typically work. This would shift subject expectations. It may also hamper recruitment, but recruitment number does not seem to be an issue.
Steps could be taken also to make it more difficult for recruiters to fudge inclusion criteria. Perhaps they are not told what the criteria are, only what information to gather. Then a centralized unit will review the data and determine if the criteria are met. Careful attention can also be paid to inclusion criteria, to make them as objective as possible.
Another approach already being used is to have a placebo lead-in period. In this study design all subjects are given a placebo prior to randomization, and those that have a placebo response are then statistically excluded from the primary outcome. Those who did not have a significant placebo response are randomized to treatment vs placebo. The effectiveness of this approach has yet to be determined, with results so far being mixed.
Conclusion: Tuttle et al. raises more questions than it answers
The new study provokes more questions than it answers, which is the sign of a good study. It is yet more evidence that placebo effects are complicated and are largely due to artifacts in the way clinical trials are designed and executed.
The technology of clinical trials is getting more sophisticated, and this is yet one more factor that needs to be taken into consideration. It is potentially a huge problem, as hundreds of millions of dollars of development costs can be wasted if clinical trials are coming up false negative because of a subtle flaw in their execution.
Another lesson to derive from this controversy is how difficult it is to determine if a treatment works. This is precisely why anecdotal evidence is mostly worthless, and cannot be used as definitive evidence of efficacy. Even under careful scientific conditions it is difficult to tease out all the various placebo effects. It is virtually impossible in anecdotal conditions.Oscar-nominee Agnieszka Holland and daughter Kasia Adamik will direct the alternative history series, set in a Poland where the Cold War never ended.
Oscar-nominated Polish director Agnieszka Holland (In Darkness) has signed on to direct Netflix's first-ever Polish-language series.
The still-unnamed series will be set in 2002 in an alternative history where the Cold War never ended. The show focuses on an idealistic law student and a disgraced police investigator who uncover the conspiracy that has kept Poland under a repressive police state. Together, their revelations have the power to spark a popular revolution.
The series was created and written by Joshua Long and will be produced for Netflix by The Kennedy/Marshall Company and The House Media Company. Frank Marshall (Jason Bourne) and Robert Zotnowski (House of Cards) will be executive producers on the series for The Kennedy/Marshall Company, along with Polish producer Andrzej Besztak (House Media), Long, Maciej Musial and Holland.
Holland will co-direct the series together with her daughter Kasia Adamik, who directed HBO Europe's acclaimed Polish-language series The Border. Holland is no stranger to Netflix, having helmed several episodes of House of Cards.
“We are really happy that we'll be able to combine the wonderful experience of the Netflix team, our great American producers and writer, with Polish talent and a Polish sensibility,” said Holland.
Added producer Marshall: “I have wanted to work with Agnieszka for a long time, so I’m very excited to be producing this series for Netflix alongside a very talented Polish cast and crew.”
The first, eight-episode season of the series will be shot in various cities and regions in Poland this year and is set to launch to Netflix members worldwide in 2018.“Bad things do happen; how I respond to them defines my character and the quality of my life. I can choose to sit in perpetual sadness, immobilized by the gravity of my loss, or I can choose to rise from the pain and treasure the most precious gift I have – life itself.” – Walter Anderson
Every one has had their share of adversities. There is no one, absolutely no one, on this earth who can claim that his life has always been a bed of roses. Yes, there are people who are said to be born with a silver spoon. Children of royal families, siblings of celebrities or parents of billionaires are thought to be born lucky. But trust me or ask them and you will know that they also have times of difficulty. You have money, power and everything that everyone wishes for but a heart break, losing out on the top slot, falling prey to a terminal illness or experiencing loss of a loved one – these are those hardships that are almost beyond control. And they can be devastating.
But there are ways with which a person can resurge from asperities and can chalk out his own opaline destiny. Keeping the following things in mind helps a person in overcoming the hurdles and standing up again.
Acknowledge that things are not right at the moment – the best way to deal with a problem is to face it. By facing I mean, acknowledging. Tell yourself that things are not going right and that you are in trouble. There is no use of keeping yourself in illusions. Facing the truth helps in understanding the situation and thus you can then focus on your next step.
By acknowledging the current situation, you are in a way introspecting. Do a reality check and find out the root causes of the present condition. If you think you made a mistake somewhere, admit it. Confess to yourself the deepest truths. And if you think you are in downfall because of your own acts, admit it and accept it. No excuses, no blames. Take it upon yourself and recognize your habits or decisions that got you here. If you had no role to play in it, well and good. Accept it as it comes, as part of the game and get ready to play it again.
Find and focus on the solution – once you are done with admitting the rut, next comes finding the way out. Since you are fully aware of the problem and the causes, it is much easier for you to find the best possible solution. Learn from your past mistakes and make sure you don’t repeat the mistakes. Sometimes, things just happen. In that case also, find out the best way to get over it. Once you find out what would work best for you, focus on it.
– once you are done with admitting the rut, next comes finding the way out. Since you are fully aware of the problem and the causes, it is much easier for you to find the best possible solution. Learn from your past mistakes and make sure you don’t repeat the mistakes. Sometimes, things just happen. In that case also, find out the best way to get over it. Once you find out what would work best for you, focus on it. Pull yourself up – standing up again requires a lot of courage and strength. But this is the ultimate test of endurance. Whatever the calamity may be, you need to gather the courage and get up. Look at the future and ask yourself, ‘do I want to be here for the rest of my life?’ The answer is no and you know what you need to do next.
– standing up again requires a lot of courage and strength. But this is the ultimate test of endurance. Whatever the calamity may be, you need to gather the courage and get up. Look at the future and ask yourself, ‘do I want to be here for the rest of my life?’ The answer is no and you know what you need to do next. Avoid the excuse of ‘I am done with it and I don’t want to do it again’ – many people take the shelter of this excuse to escape from their life. You hurt your knee once while running doesn’t mean you give up running. Similarly, your heart was broken once certainly does not mean you stop looking for love or you do not allow anyone to fall in love with you. Ofcourse, once burnt, a lesson learnt. Learn the lesson, avoid the pitfalls and go on. Sometimes we are frightened to an extent that we seriously do not want to pursue it anymore. If this happens to you, its okay. Put your heart into something else and pursue it. You must always have something to get you up. Lying out there thinking ‘I am okay with doing nothing’ will only help you in perishing faster.
– many people take the shelter of this excuse to escape from their life. You hurt your knee once while running doesn’t mean you give up running. Similarly, your heart was broken once certainly does not mean you stop looking for love or you do not allow anyone to fall in love with you. Ofcourse, once burnt, a lesson learnt. Learn the lesson, avoid the pitfalls and go on. Sometimes we are frightened to an extent that we seriously do not want to pursue it anymore. If this happens to you, its okay. Put your heart into something else and pursue it. You must always have something to get you up. Lying out there thinking ‘I am okay with doing nothing’ will only help you in perishing faster. Just do it – this Nike’s tagline is the shortest and yet most motivating line. If you have decided to do it, just do it. Catch hold of that rope of hope that your dreams and will power have built, and simply come out of the shell. Rise up. Look at the dawn. And there will be a day when you would not even remember that you actually fell down there!
We must take lessons from legends like Abraham Lincoln, Thomas Edison, Mahatma Gandhi and many others. There are countless such examples where people have resurged after losing out completely re-affirming the fact that it is not only the Phoenix that rises from ashes. All we need is a heart beat. If your heart is still beating, you are alive. And this means you can do it!
About the Author
Surabhi Surendra quit her lucrative corporate day job to settle down peacefully in her marriage. She lives in Andamans and blogs at Womanatics. She would be more than delighted if you follow her on Twitter or become a fan!
Photo credit: ‘Phoenix‘ by Big StockEarlier this year Mozilla, creators of the Firefox web browser, announced its plans to make mixed reality (MR) more accessible by using WebVR to bring MR to a wider audience. The company are now planning on expanding this concept by bringing enabling social MR in a web browser.
Bringing a social aspect into virtual reality (VR) and MR has been the goal of several companies, including Valve and Facebook, aiming to dispel the idea of VR/MR an inherently isolating. Mozilla’s project, titled Social 3D Web, is aimed at allowing users to connect, socialise and collaborate without barriers.
Mozilla has long been critical of the ‘Walled Garden’ approach used by companies such as Facebook, and has presented the idea of a virtual space where connecting with another person is a simple and intuitive as sharing a link, regardless of what software or device involved.
A dedicated team has been formed to work on Mozilla’s Social Mixed Reality platform, which will be using the WebVR and A-Frame set of libraries and APIs in order to build a platform that allows users a consistent experience, letting the same avatar, settings and tools follow the user so they never have to learn a new user interface from scratch when engaging with Social 3D Web.
To support the creation of this platform, Mozilla are investing in open source components and services which will allow A-Frame developers to create rich Social MR experiences as a showcase of the platform’s capabilities.
Mozilla has opened up its Github repositories in order to invite the community to provide feedback to the process and begin contributing to the creation of this new platform. The specific areas that Mozilla is currently focussing on are:
Avatars and Identity
Communication
Entities
Tools
Search & Discovery
For those who are interested in getting involved, there is a Social channel on the WebVR Slash which is collaborating on these new features. There are also five Github repositories to browse which can be found below:
VRFocus will bring you further news on Social 3D Web as it becomes available.Recent discoveries suggest DLC weaponry will be making its way to Call of Duty: Ghosts this year.
Mining through the game’s PC files, @syncohboyy stumbled on a few lines of code related to what looks like DLC-specific weapon attachment purchases. The files listed entries like “ch_dlcweap02 silencer_purchase” or “ch_dlcweap04 reflex_purchase”, indicating that future downloadable content may include up to a total of four additional weapons; one weapons per map pack.
Only a few days ago, a similar discovery was made regarding possible DLC map names.
Previously, Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 introduced the idea of adding weaponry in their map packs, though it was only the case for the game’s first map pack, Revolution, which added the Peacekeeper sub-machine gun.
With regards to Modern Warfare 3, Infinity Ward Executive Producer mentioned earlier that weapon DLC was not possible due to memory limitations, but with the mandatory install required for all versions of Call of Duty: Ghosts, it would not be far fetched that developers allowed room for additional downloadable content this time around.
Lastly, with rival shooter Battlefield 4 offering both maps and weapons in their expansions, it would make sense that Call of Duty: Ghosts would want to stay competitive and offer similar content, if not more. But until an official unveiling of any future Ghosts DLC is made, we’ll have to consider this one speculation.
What do you think? Are you down for more weapons in Call of Duty: Ghosts. What sort of weapons would you like to see make an appearance or, perhaps, a return?
Thanks, CharlieINTEL.UCF Continuing Education has expanded its Coding Boot Camp program line-up to include a full-time intensive program, in addition to its existing successful 24-week part-time programs. All Coding Boot Camps are designed to teach students the skills they need for careers in “full-stack” web development, covering both front- and back-end technologies. UCF is the only university-based boot camp of this type in Florida.
“Web development remains one of the fastest growing careers in the US with a projected growth rate of 20 percent by 2020,” explained Todd Freece, director of Continuing Education at UCF. “Web development also happens to be the highest in-demand skill set in the State of Florida, with a growth rate of 112 percent in 2014-2015. UCF Coding Boot Camp was designed to help students develop the skills and network needed to capitalize on this high-demand career track.
The program is appealing to students from varied backgrounds who have a genuine passion for computer coding and wish to change jobs or start a career in a field with opportunities for growth, creativity and flexibility. Although the program is open to anyone with the desire to learn, most students have an associate’s or bachelor’s degree; some have a graduate degree.
Registration is open through early July for the 24-week part-time classes, starting July 11 at UCF Sanford/Lake Mary Campus, and starting on July 18 at UCF Valencia West Campus. Part-time classes are conducted during the evenings and weekends. The new full-time intensive program runs August 14 – November 10 at UCF Orlando-Research Park and runs Monday thru Friday from 9am – 4pm.
UCF Sanford/Lake Mary Campus – 100 Weldon Blvd., Sanford, FL 32771
UCF Valencia West Campus – 1800 S. Kirkman Rd. Orlando, FL 32811
UCF Orlando-Research Park – 3280 Progress Dr., Orlando, FL 32826
UCF Coding Boot Camp teaches the most highly sought-after web development skills, including JavaScript and Node.js, HTML, CSS, jQuery, and PHP. Hands-on experience is a central focus as group projects, employer input and building a professional portfolio are part of the program. The program includes career services to assist graduates in applying and interviewing for web developer positions. The boot camp is non-credit course offered through UCF Continuing Education and includes 250 hours of classroom instruction and requires a significant amount of homework in support of coding projects and career preparation.
As part of the program students learn web development and computer language skills to produce interesting and responsive web pages to efficiently exchange information and help businesses with databases, inventory, payment and tracking. Students may qualify for private loans, workforce development grants and other education funding up to the full cost of registration. UCF alumni are eligible for reduced tuition. For details and registration information contact 407-454-9823 or click here to learn more.Marouane Chamakh has admitted that a blackmail case, which involved a police investigation in 2011 shortly after he moved to England, destabilised him just as his career in the Premier League was taking shape.
The Moroccan striker told L'Equipe that the situation was "pretty serious" and wore him down. "It was not easy for me because things about my private life were disclosed," he said. "The tabloids did not have the right to publish photos or videos. The story weighed me down. People tried to blackmail me. I filed a complaint, the police intervened and found these people."
While Chamakh hoped football would help him to move on, he found his career stalled. After a decent start at Arsenal, with 11 goals from his first 22 games, his chance to play was limited when Robin van Persie returned from injury. "I wish I had more time to play at Arsenal," he said. "With the system of one up front there was no comparison between him [Van Persie] and me. I respect the choice of the manager, but I didn't really have my chance. I may have been too stubborn to want to stay too long at Arsenal."
He was led to expect things would be different at West Ham United, when he moved to east London on loan last winter, but ended up feeling let down by Sam Allardyce. "I made a bad choice. It did not go well at all," Chamakh said. "The manager promised me that with Andy Carroll's injury, I would have playing time. We had a conversation but he didn't respect it. It's because of that I needed some time before saying yes to Crystal Palace. I do not want to make the same mistake twice."
Chamakh signed a one-year deal at Selhurst Park last week. "There were several opportunities in Greece, Turkey, Spain, France and even the Middle East. But I prefer another season in England because I love this championship. I know I'll have plenty of time to play here [at Palace]. I'm going to get chances, and find the net."Would you like whipped cream with that? Conservative Christians worry that Starbucks is using “sodomites’ semen” to flavor their coffee after hearing some outrageous claims made by an anti-gay New York City pastor.
The controversial leader of the anti-gay Harlem ATLAH Missionary Church, James Manning, is making news after claiming that Starbucks is using “sodomites’ semen” to flavor their lattes.
Manning says that the reason all these “untoward types” (gays) hang out at Starbucks is because the semen “flavors up” the coffee “and it makes you think that you’re having a good time drinking that cup of latte with the semen in it.”
The following is an excerpt from the recently released video via the Manning Report:
Starbucks is a place where these types (gays) frequent and a lot of body fluids are exchanged there. The thing that I was not aware of is that … what Starbucks was doing is that they were taking specimens of male semen and they were putting it in the blends of their latte. Now this is the absolute truth… It was a big article about an investigation into Starbucks using male semen and putting it into the blends of coffee that they sell. I mean, can you imagine? And I believe that they were doing that. You know, Coca-Cola got started 100 years ago by using cocaine — they were actually using cocaine! — and they stayed off the federal government… because during the time they were using it there was no FDA… But the deal is… that Starbucks has been… legally accused of using male semen in their latte… you know, my suspicion is that they’re getting their semen from sodomites. That’s what my suspicion is. And somebody has discovered that semen, like cord blood… has millions and millions of little zygotes in it, and it flavors up the coffee, and it makes you think you’re having a good time drinking that cup of latte with the semen in it.
Manning’s assertions are absurd, and more importantly, false. The information used to back up his outrageous claims was first published on the satirical site Huzlers
Last week the homophobic minister claimed Starbucks patrons were “upscale sodomites” who spread Ebola. His remarks sparked a protest in which gay rights advocates handed out free coffee outside his church.
Previously Manning accused President Barack Obama of “[releasing] homo demons on the black man” and asserted that gay athletes are pedophiles.
Manning is a twisted and confused man preaching a gospel of ignorance and bigotry; it is tragic that some take him seriously.
For the record, Starbucks is not serving lattes laced with “sodomites’ semen.”Pastor David Manning (Atlah Worldwide Church/screen grab)
In the wake of the terror attack on a gay nightclub in Orlando this weekend, presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump has tried to paint himself as a champion of LGBT rights. In particular, Trump has claimed that his plan to ban Muslims from entering the country would save gay people from being massacred by crazed Islamist killers.
However, Trump’s newfound love for the LGBT community has come at a price: He’s alienated some of his most homophobic supporters.
Pastor James David Manning, a notoriously anti-gay preacher who is a frequent guest on conspiracy theorist Alex Jones’s show, took to Twitter on Wednesday to announce with great sorrow that he’s rescinding his endorsement of Trump due to Trump’s rhetorical overtures to the LGBT community.
“I am sadden to withdraw support [for Trump],” he solemnly wrote. “My bible beliefs are deeply held. Sodomy is more dangerous to America than radical Islam.”
I am sadden to withdraw support @realDonaldTrump. My bible beliefs are deeply held. Sodomy is more dangerous to America than radical Islam — James David Manning (@DrJamesDManning) June 15, 2016
Many have often wondered throughout the course of his campaign whether Donald Trump could say or do anything so offensive that even his hardcore supporters would abandon him. Now it seems the answer to that is clear: Some of them will flee only if he doesn’t sufficiently hate gay people.ADVERTISEMENTS
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About 18 months have passed since the finance sector woke up, en masse, to the possibilities of permissioned Blockchains, or to use the more general term, “distributed ledgers”. The period since has seen a tsunami of activity, including research reports, strategic investments, pilot projects, and the formation of many consortia. No one can accuse the banking world of not taking the potential of this technology seriously.
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Naturally, the explosive growth in Blockchain projects has driven the development of permissioned Blockchain platforms, on which those projects are built. For example, our product MultiChain has tripled in usage over the past year, whether we measure web traffic, monthly downloads or commercial inquiries. And of course, there are many other platforms, such as BigChainDB, Chain, Corda, Credits, Elements, Eris, Fabric, Ethereum (deployed in a closed network), HydraChain and Openchain. Not to mention still more startups who have developed some kind of Blockchain platform but have not made it publicly available.
For companies wishing to explore and understand a new technology, an abundance of choice is generally a good thing. However, in the case of Blockchains, which still remain loosely defined and poorly understood, this cornucopia comes with a significant downside: many of the available “Blockchain” platforms don’t actually address the core problem they are meant to solve. And what is that problem? Allow me to quote the succinct video definition by Richard Gendal Brown, CTO of R3, in full:
A distributed ledger is a system that allows parties who don’t fully trust each other to come to consensus about the existence, nature and evolution of a set of shared facts without having to rely on a fully trusted centralized third party.
R3 – Definition of a Distributed Ledger from R3 on Vimeo.
To take an extreme example, consider a bunch of Lego bricks tied together with string. If we use the term “block chain” to describe this fashion item, who’s to say that we’re not describing it accurately? And yet, that particular chain of blocks will not help multiple parties to safely and directly share a database without a central intermediary. Similarly, many “Blockchain” platforms do something related to chains of blocks, but also lack the necessary properties to serve as the basis for a peer-to-peer database.
Another chain of blocks that does not help with database sharing – source.
Minimum viable Blockchain
In order to understand the basic requirements of a distributed ledger, it helps to clarify how these systems differ from regular databases, which are controlled by a single entity. For example, let’s consider a simple system for tracking who owns a particular company’s shares. The ledger, as implemented in a database, has one row for each owner containing two columns: the owner’s identifier, such as their name, and the corresponding quantity of shares.
Here are six crucial ways in which this system could fail its users:
Forgery : Transferring shares from one person to another without the sender’s permission.
: Transferring shares from one person to another without the sender’s permission. Censorship : Refusing to fulfill someone’s request to transfer some shares elsewhere.
: Refusing to fulfill someone’s request to transfer some shares elsewhere. Reversal : Undoing a transfer that took place at some point in the past.
: Undoing a transfer that took place at some point in the past. Illegitimacy : Changing the total quantity of shares in the system without a corresponding action by the issuer.
: Changing the total quantity of shares in the system without a corresponding action by the issuer. Inconsistency : Giving different responses to inquiries from different users.
: Giving different responses to inquiries from different users. Downtime: Not responding to incoming requests for information at all.
Because of all these possibilities, the shareholders must maintain a high level of trust in whoever is managing this ledger on their behalf. Building and running an organization worthy of that trust comes with substantial hassle and cost.
Blockchains or distributed ledgers remove the need for this kind of central database operator, by allowing the users of a database to interact directly with each other on a peer-to-peer basis. In our example, the stockholders could safely hold their shares on a Blockchain which they collectively manage, and make transfers to each other instantly over that chain. (The disadvantage is a significant loss of confidentiality between the chain’s users, which we won’t address here but I’ve previously discussed at length.)
All this brings us back to the question of Blockchain platforms. In order to serve as a viable basis for peer-to-peer database sharing, a Blockchain has to protect its participants against all six types of database failure – forgery, censorship, reversal, illegitimate transactions, inconsistency and downtime. While many products in the market fulfill these requirements, quite a few of them come up short.
I call these Blockchains “half-baked” because they may address some of these risks, but not all. In some respects at least, the database’s users remain dependent on the good behavior of a single participant, which is precisely the scenario we want to avoid.
These half-baked Blockchains come in any number of varieties, but three archetypes stand out as the most common or obvious. I’m not going to name individual products because, well, I don’t want to offend. The Blockchain startup community is small enough that most of us know each other through conferences and other meetings, and the interactions tend to be positive. Nevertheless, if Blockchains (in the sense of useful peer-to-peer databases) are ever going to emerge as a coherent product category, it’s important to distinguish between half-baked and real solutions.
The one validator Blockchain
One pattern we’ve seen a few times is a Blockchain in which only one participant can generate the blocks in which transactions are confirmed. Transactions are sent to this one node instead of being broadcast to the network as a whole, so their acceptance is subject to this party’s whims rather than some kind of majority consensus. Still, once a block has been built by this central party, it is broadcast to the other nodes in the network, who can independently confirm the validity of the transactions within, and record the new block locally and permanently.
To return to our six forms of database malfunction, this type of Blockchain is far from useless. Transactions must be digitally signed by the entity whose funds they move, so they cannot be forged by the central party. They cannot be reversed because each node maintains its own copy of the chain. And transactions cannot perform illegal operations like creating assets out of thin air, because every node independently validates each transaction for correctness. Finally, each node maintains its own copy of the database, so its content is always available for reading.
Unfortunately, four out of six is not enough. The validating node can easily censor individual transactions, by refusing to include them in the blocks it creates. Even if the operators of this node are honest, a system or communications failure can render it unavailable, causing all transaction processing to come to a halt. In addition, depending on the setup, the validating node may be able to transmit different versions of the Blockchain to different participants. In terms of censorship and consistency, the database still contains a single point of failure, on which all the other nodes rely.
One platform offers a twist on this scheme, in which blocks are centrally generated by a single node, but a quorum of other designated nodes signs them to indicate consensus. In terms of the risk of inconsistency, this certainly helps. The nodes in the quorum will only lend their signatures to a single version of the Blockchain, which can therefore be considered as authoritative. Nonetheless, the quorum nodes cannot help if the block generator censors transactions, or loses its connection to the Internet. Ultimately, this type of Blockchain still uses a hub-and-spoke architecture, rather than a peer-to-peer network.
The shared state Blockchain
Technically speaking, there are many similarities between Blockchains and more traditional distributed databases such as Cassandra and MongoDB. In both cases, transactions can be initiated by any node in the network, and must reach all the other nodes as part of a consensus about the database’s developing state. Both Blockchains and distributed databases have to cope with latency (communication delays which stem from the distance between nodes) and the possibility of some nodes and/or communication links intermittently failing.
Distributed databases have been around for a while, so any Blockchain platform developer would do well to understand their consensus algorithms and the strategies they use to globally order transactions and resolve conflicts. Nonetheless, it’s important not to take the comparison too far, because Blockchains must contend with a crucial additional challenge – an absence of trust between the database’s nodes. Whereas distributed databases focus on providing scalability, robustness and high performance within a single organization’s boundaries, Blockchains must be redesigned in order to safely traverse those boundaries.
To return to our six types of database risk, a node in a distributed database need only worry about downtime, i.e. the possibility of other nodes becoming unavailable. Nodes can safely assume that every transaction and message on the network is valid, and are not concerned with forgery, censorship, reversal, illegitimacy or inconsistency. Their worst problem is dealing with two simultaneous but valid transactions, initiated on different nodes, which affect the same piece of data. Solving these conflicts is by no means trivial, but it’s still a lot easier than worrying about “Byzantine faults“, in which some nodes deliberately act to disrupt the functioning of others.
A database can only be shared safely across trust boundaries if nodes treat all activity on the network with a certain degree of suspicion. For example, every transaction which modifies the database must be individually digitally signed since, in a peer-to-peer architecture, there is no other way to know its true point of origin. Similarly, every incoming message, such as the announcement of a new block, has to be critically assessed for its content and context. Unlike in distributed databases, nodes must not be able to immediately and directly modify another node’s state.
Some “Blockchain” platforms have been developed by starting with a distributed database, and sprinkling some features on top to make them more Blockchainy. For example, by grouping transactions into blocks and storing hashes (digital fingerprints) of those blocks in the database, they aim to add a form of immutability. But unless each node can be sure that its list of hashes cannot be modified by another node, this type of immutability is easily gamed. The standard response to these criticisms is that every security problem can be solved with sufficient time and coding. But this is rather like holding some prisoners in an open field, and trying to stop them escaping with trip |
boasting (inaccurately) that his electoral college win was the largest margin since Ronald Reagan’s, the president turned his attention to the damaging information coming out about his administration’s potential ties to the Russian government. Trump called all of the reporting about Russia “fake news” and blasted the media for reporting “lies.”
Trump then fielded questions from the press. After the president once again berated the media for reporting on former National Security Advisor Mike Flynn’s contact with the Russian ambassador, NBC’s Alexander seized on the opportunity to point out a fundamental question pertaining to the president’s credibility.
“You said today that you had the biggest electoral margin since Ronald Reagan,” Alexander began, reading off a list of several recent previous presidents who had larger margins than Trump.
“Why should Americans trust you,” Alexander asked.
The president insisted he was talking about Republican presidents before saying he was “given” that information.
“I don’t know,” Trump added.
“Why should Americans trust you when you accuse the information they receive as being fake when you’re providing information that’s fake?” Alexander pressed.
“I don’t know,” Trump repeated. “I was given that information.”
Watch the exchange below, via MSNBC:Another night, another oh-for at the plate for an Orioles designated hitter.
On Wednesday night, it was Nolan Reimold who kept his glove in the clubhouse and took some hacks as the designated hitter. He was hitless in four at-bats -- with three strikeouts -- in a 6-2 loss to the Tampa Bay Rays.
Through 14 games, the Orioles have gotten just three hits in 53 plate appearances from their designated hitters.
So just how poorly have their designated hitters performed?
Seven National League teams have gotten more production from their pitchers than the Orioles have from designated hitters.
According to Matt Snyder of CBS Sports, the pitchers from the Milwaukee Brewers, San Francisco Giants, Los Angeles Dodgers, Cincinnati Reds, Philadelphia Phillies, Atlanta Braves and St. Louis Cardinals collectively have higher averages, on-base percentages and slugging percentages than Orioles designated hitters so far.
In fact, 16 big league teams have gotten a higher batting average from their pitchers than the Orioles have from DHs, but Snyder eliminated teams with fewer than 30 pitcher plate appearances.
Orioles manager Buck Showalter says he has confidence in his guys and 14 games out of a 162-game season is still a small sample size, so you can expect the designated hitters to slowly make their numbers more respectable over the long haul.
But that lack of production has hamstrung the Orioles recently.News came out late last year that Gigantic, a new take on the MOBA experience, had hit some roadblocks. Actually, it was the roadblock, money. The development house behind the title, Motiga, was struggling to stay afloat. Rumors persisted over the holidays until news dropped in early 2016 that was entirely good. F2P publisher Perfect World Entertainment would be taking over duties and returning developers to work. The deal left some, let’s say conflicts, given the previously announced exclusivity agreement for Windows 10 and Xbox One.
That wasn’t the only query we tossed at James Phinney during our latest interview with the designer. We went to the human element, the layoffs and anxiety staffers must have felt during those hard times before returning to the MOBA they are attempting to launch in the near future. That begged a final direction of questions, since returning to work what exactly has the team been working on and when the heck will they be done?!Online poker payouts report on US friendly poker rooms & networks; information, grades, reported poker cashouts from actual players, analysis, & more.
Need to know how long it takes to get payouts from US-friendly online poker rooms? Look no further than our Monthly Online Poker Room Cashout Report!
This report is from July 2014 - click below
for our most CURRENT US Poker Payouts Report
Every month here on ProfRB.com, we provide our players and the online poker community as a whole with a comprehensive, easy to read report aimed at giving US players pivotal information on poker room and network payout and withdrawal timeframes. We use data from player reported experiences (including rest-of-world or "ROW" data as well) provided on leading online poker forums and compare that information with our industry knowledge and business contacts to present a report that gives all players the best possible information on online poker room cashouts, payouts, and/or withdrawal speeds.
We currently track information from US-facing online poker homes such as Bovada on the Bodog Network, Carbon Poker on the Merge Gaming Network, America's Cardroom (and partner skins Black Chip Poker and True Poker) on the Winning Poker Network, Full Flush Poker and Pokerhost (which utilize separate cashiers) on the Equity Poker Network, Seals With Clubs (the leading Bitcoin poker room), Juicy Stakes and Intertops Poker (also use separate cashiers) on the Revolution Network, BetOnline on the Chico Network, and Lock Poker (an independent online poker room -- AVOID THIS ROOM; more below).
We've also added a speculative "Outlook" portion to each room or network's section. Utilizing our exhaustive research and data, along with our experience in the industry, we give you a glimpse into how strong we feel the future will be for each room or network in terms of paying players in a timely manner. More white stars means a stronger outlook (five white stars being the brightest outlook), while more black stars mean a weaker outlook (five black stars being the worst possible outlook).
PLEASE NOTE: All of our player samples are cataloged from publicly available player reported experiences via online forums - we do not accept privately submitted player experiences for this report.
JULY 2014 CASHOUT REPORT | REVIEW
Bovada, the US-facing online poker room on the Bodog Network, works its way through the dog days of summer with continued excellence in paying its players in a highly timely manner. Average player reported waiting times for check withdrawals reached another all-time low in June, dipping below four days from date of request to date of receiving for the first time since we began this report in July of 2013. Since January, Bovada has cut their waiting time for checks in half and then some, while continuing to process cash tranfer, debit card, and bank wire payouts largely within a calendar week. If you're looking for a US-friendly online poker room with tons of cash game, tournament, and sit-n-go action that pays its players promptly, look no further than Bovada.
For more details, please visit our Bovada review, information and instructions page.
The Winning Poker Network improved nicely from a slight increase in check withdrawal waiting averages in May, while managing to decrease wait times for their popular debit card payout option - hence their increased score for this months report. On the whole, WPN has made steady and marked improvements in the cashout department, and continues to sit firmly entrenched among the top options available to US players. They've earned the #2 spot on this month's report through continued dedication to paying players timely among many methods. One strong indicator of their prowess has been their steady 1-4 day range for Rest-Of-World payouts throughout 2014, making them a desired destination for players around the world.
If you want to know more about WPN, check out our Winning Poker Network rakeback review and information page and consider Professional Rakeback as your affiliate and advocate. Our preferred skin is America's Cardroom, read review.
* = stated check withdrawal timeframes from Merge were decreased from 42-56 days in May
Another welcome place for US players that has made steady improvement in payouts to its players in 2014 is the Merge Gaming Network. Via leading online poker room Carbon Poker, players are reporting decreases in waiting periods in check and cash transfer withdrawals. The network also lowered its stated timeframes for checks in half last May, indicating its renewed dedication after reintegrating its partnered rooms and absorbing Aced Poker earlier this month. With payouts flowing from the same source and network partnered rooms desegregated, Merge has positioned itself as the clear #2 option for US players.
Be sure to check out our Carbon and Aced Poker Review for more information.
Pokerhost continues its opening few months on the Equity Poker Network, having moved from Merge this past April. Though there have been adjustments in some areas and the overall transition continues, their ability to pay their players remains high. Pokerhost is one of the top options for players who seek quick cashouts, as they utilize their own cashier to better process withdrawals. ProfRB.com can confirm through our industry contacts that Pokerhost continues to exceed their stated waiting periods, keeping them quite high on the list of dependable options for US players. The only blemish to their score this month was due to a lack of player reported activity, but we will continue to monitor this in the ensuing weeks and months.
For a more detailed breakdown, check out our Pokerhost review information page and sign up with Professional Rakeback.
Reported player data has always been low for payouts on Intertops. However, ProfRB.com has easily been able to confirm through our industry contacts that despite some minor hiccups earlier this year, Intertops is paying players well within their impressively stated timeframes. Intertops and fellow network partner Juicy Stakes are the only safe and secure ProfRB.com recommended rooms on the Revolution Network, and for US players seeking dependability, count on a company that has been in business for over 30 years.
For more on Intertops Poker, which is available to US players by invitation only, be sure to check out this Intertops Poker review.
We haven't seen much by way of player reported data for leading Equity Poker Network room Full Flush Poker. But as above, through our industry knowledge and contacts we've been able to confirm that Equity is paying players within their stated timeframes. Timeframes of which, by the way, are among the lowest of any US-friendly online poker destination. Our own players have been reporting positive experiences with cashouts and promotions as well, leading us to report that we highly recommend Full Flush and Pokerhost on EPN to all players.
Be sure to check out our Full Flush Poker Rakeback Review instructional page for more information.
Most players do not feel the need to report their payout experiences on Seals With Clubs, and ProfRB.com can confirm the reason why. When players are receiving withdrawals within 12-24 hours on the whole (if not sooner), they don't have time to post their experience before its complete! Seals With Clubs is a Bitcoin-only operated room touting themselves as the "wild west of online poker", and when you factor in the continual sway of Bitcoin value on top of their 'frontier' attitude, you can easily see why. Typically, the higher the value of Bitcoins, the more traffic at Seals With Clubs. And although the Bitcoin market may fluctuate from time to time, Seals With Clubs remains the most sought place to play online poker for those using the popular crypto-currency.
Learn all about bitcoins and bitcoin poker in our Seals With Clubs Rakeback Review.
Juicy Stakes is another online poker room that has proven to be light with players reporting their payout experiences. We can confirm through our industry contacts that this is largely due to player satisfaction with stated timeframes. As such, Juicy Stakes continues to rebuild their brand by putting the players first. Though player traffic may be light compared to the rooms and networks above, Juicy Stakes is still a dependable place to play and is available to most US players. And with Intertops being invite-only for US players, we recommend this room for American grinders as a comparable experience - particularly with payouts.
Sign up via Professional Rakeback and earn dealt 36 percent Juicy Stakes rakeback and up to a $2,000 signup bonus.
BetOnline and SportsBetting.ag made their debut on our report last month and though we do not yet have player reported data to display, we continue to meticulously scour the internet to provide recent player experiences for this online poker room. The only cashout data we have found thus far has been quite old, but we will continue to work towards bringing you current information. However, despite recent player data, we've been able to ascertain that BetOnline is meeting its obligations to players and as such, has earned its first score on our report. Stay tuned on this front, and we hope to have more information for our August report.
A handful of payouts have been reported from players on Lock Poker in 2014 but on the whole, this online poker room hasn't been paying its players for more than a calendar year. ProfRB.com continues to highly recommend staying away from this poker room at all costs. As continually reported by our own "IHasTehNutz" on the popular forum Twoplustwo, nearly 400 players are confirmed as being owed outstanding withdrawals from Lock - some with payment requests dating back to 2012. The alarming information is worth reading for all poker players and we hope you will share this information with others. Lock is a classic Ponzi scheme and with the bevy of options available to US players as described above, there's no reason to play at Lock Poker at all. AVOID THIS ROOM!
Lock Poker Payout Scam Report (last updated on 6/24/14)
You can also check out our exclusive Lock Poker review in our new commentary titled "Lock Poker Reaches "God Level" Mistreatment Of Its Players.More on Copyright Enforcement and Surveillance
TLF reader Timon makes a really good point about the choice between authenticated and unauthenticated networks:
Lawyers are trained to view complex questions and come up with balanced approaches to them — ie “balancing” privacy with police prerogatives and subpoenas. The technical world is rather the opposite; no matter how complex, an encryption algorithm, for example, either is or is not secure, and as soon as it isn’t it really isn’t. In a legal class it makes for good discussion to say, on the one hand, IP addresses should be private, except when they are used to commit a crime. In direct technical terms what this amounts to is a full surveillance state that is then ruled by court procedure: the law requires someone keep records of all mail or other communications, and then provide them to the authorities when told to. While under law there could be a protection of privacy, in technical terms there is absolutely no privacy, except that which the state decides to concede, the information it declines to look at but which is permanently stored on its orders and available for its inspection. It may seem to you that some people are just unwilling to split the difference and be reasonable, but it really is the case that where lawyers see gray others see black and white, with good technical reasons. There is no way to enforce copyright, for example, and allow anonymous speech online, as you seem to be picking up on. That is not because we are unwilling to be fair, it is a characteristic of information.
Demanding that government limit itself is never a very effective strategy, because if government can do something, it probably will. It’s far more effective to limit government by design. The Internet’s open architecture is, among other things, an important limitation on the government’s surveillance power. Precisely because there are so many ways to get on the Internet without authentication, the government has to do a lot of extra work if it wants to spy on people. For those of us who care about civil liberties, this is a feature, not a bug.
Of course, freedom isn’t free. The same characteristics that make the Internet resistant to a surveillance state also make it harder to enforce copyright, laws against child pornography, etc. This is unfortunate, but I don’t think it’s so unfortunate that we should be willing to toss out the liberty-enhancing benefits of the open Internet. Because as Timon says, there isn’t a middle ground here. Either ISPs have a reliable way to identify their users or they don’t. And if we require them to have this ability for what we regard as good reasons, it’s inevitable that the government will use that same power for bad purposes down the road.With a simple thumbs down, Sen. John McCain dramatically ended Republicans’ seven-year campaign to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act.
McCain, in the early hours of Friday morning, voted against his party’s scaled-back version of an Obamacare repeal, becoming the decisive vote preventing the GOP from succeeding on its top agenda item and throwing its legislative agenda into deep uncertainty. The Arizona Republican, along with Maine Sen. Susan Collins and Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski, joined all Democrats in opposing the legislation gutting key portions of the ACA. All other Republicans voted for the repeal, which failed by a tally of 51-49.
Republican senators appeared stunned walking off the floor following the vote, with several declining to comment to reporters as they departed. "Needless to say, pretty disappointed," Sen Pat Toomey said. "It’s just sad," Sen. Ron Johnson added.
Sen. Ted Cruz called it a "sad day for the American people." He also criticized his Republican colleagues who voted against the measure, essentially calling them hypocrites.
"I sadly feel a great many Americans will feel betrayed, that they were lied to. And that sentiment will not be unjustified," Cruz told reporters. "You cannot campaign against Obamacare and then vote for Obamacare. Those are inconsistent actions."
Trump tweeted his frustration shortly after the vote failed:
"3 Republicans and 48 Democrats let the American people down. As I said from the beginning, let ObamaCare implode, then deal. Watch!"
The vote came after seven years of promises to undo President Obama’s signature law and seven months of Republican legislative efforts since taking control of the government in January. There were numerous fits and starts, and deep divisions within the party made threading the needle and passing any legislation extremely difficult. Ultimately, after narrowly agreeing to debate the bill earlier this week, Republicans searched for the “least common denominator,” in their own words, hoping to find any measure of Obamacare repeal that could pass.
Even the scaled-back effort proved unsuccessful.
Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, in a somber speech after the failed vote, acknowledged defeat and thanked President Trump, Vice President Mike Pence and his fellow GOP senators for their efforts.
“This is a disappointment. A disappointment, indeed,” McConnell said, adding his thanks to House Republicans, who narrowly passed Obamacare repeal in May. “I regret that our efforts were simply not enough this time.”
McCain, for his part, downplayed his vote as he departed the Senate chamber shortly after 2 a.m.
“I thought it was the right thing to do,” he told reporters.
Later, in a statement, McCain said the legislation he voted against did not accomplish his goals of increased competition, lower costs and improved care:
“We must now return to the correct way of legislating and send the bill back to committee, hold hearings, receive input from both sides of aisle, heed the recommendations of the nation’s governors, and produce a bill that finally delivers affordable health care for the American people.”
The GOP senators opposing the measure had received a full-court press from their party. The vote was held open more than an hour longer than expected as Republicans spoke with McCain and Murkowski, pushing for a change of heart. Pence, there to cast a potential tie-breaking vote, spoke with McCain in a small group of senators for an extended period. He then spoke to him at length one-on-one on the Senate floor, and again in the private cloakroom off the chamber. Meanwhile, several members of Senate leadership spoke with Murkowski on the floor right until the moment she cast her no vote.
At one point, McCain crossed the Senate to speak with Democratic leader Chuck Schumer, and was surrounded by a crowd of Democrats, who appeared upbeat and jovial. Before the vote, he got hugs on the floor from two fellow longtime lawmakers, Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein and Republican Sen. Orrin Hatch.
Both Collins and Murkowski voted no before McCain, who waited until after the full roll call of senators came and went before catching the attention of the chamber and putting his thumb down. Audible gasps could be heard in the chamber as he cast the vote.
The legislation that failed was a far cry from the repeal-and-replace measure the House passed, or the repeal bill Senate Republicans passed in 2015. It would have undone key provisions of the Affordable Care Act by gutting the individual mandate, temporarily removing the employer health care mandate, repealing the tax on medical devices and defunding Planned Parenthood for one year.
It was the simplest version of the legislation McConnell thought could pass the chamber. He unveiled it just after 10 Thursday night, and the vote was scheduled to take place shortly after midnight. After the delay to try to persuade McCain, Collins or Murkowski to sign on to the bill, the Senate voted shortly before 2 a.m.
The dramatic failure capped a suspenseful and uncertain day on Capitol Hill, with Republican senators expressing doubts in the late afternoon hours about the details of what they would vote on. Many were opposed to the policy details of the legislation, and said they were supporting it only as a means to begin a conference with the House, hoping the two chambers could craft something that could pass several weeks down the road. Few senators were supportive of the legislation on its own, and though the vast majority ultimately backed it, many of them expressed hope that it would not become law in its current state.
McCain, along with Johnson and Sen. Lindsey Graham, held a press conference in the late afternoon signaling that they would oppose the legislation unless they received assurances from Speaker Paul Ryan that the House would not simply pass the legislation and send it to Trump to sign.
Graham called the repeal bill “woefully inadequate” in the afternoon, and later called it “terrible” and a “fraud.” Others shared the sentiment. The Congressional Budget Office predicted that the legislation would have caused 16 million fewer people to have health insurance next year, and for health insurance premiums to rise by 20 percent.
Ryan ultimately gave an assurance. He put out a statement in the early evening saying that going to conference was “something that the House is willing to do.” But he also made clear that Senate Republicans needed to prove they could pass a comprehensive replacement plan, which the House had already done, and he gave no guarantee that the plan before the Senate would never come up for a vote in the lower chamber. There was frustration among House Republicans, according to aides, that the Senate was asking for assurances when they had yet to pass a bill. Ryan later spoke to five senators -- though notably not McCain -- on speakerphone in Sen. John Cornyn’s office just off the Senate floor to repeat his guarantee that the bill would go to conference. His assurances convinced all five to support the legislation.
“This is something we’ve got to move on. That’s why I’m taking a chance on this skinny bill,” said Sen. David Perdue, who shared the group of five’s concerns but was not part of the call with Ryan. “I would not want the skinny bill to be the law of the land. The only reason I’m voting on it is as a vehicle to get to conference.”
After the five senators came out in favor of the GOP plan, most eyes in the Senate turned to McCain as the likeliest lawmaker left to oppose it -- Collins and Murkowski, who earlier in the week voted against debating the legislation, were expected to oppose it. At that point, however, McCain’s position was not clear. Even Graham, McCain’s closest friend in the Senate, appeared uncertain.
“I think John is rightfully upset with the process, and whatever he does, he’s earned the right to do it,” he told reporters well before the vote.
Democrats, hoping to persuade McCain to vote no, cited the Arizona Republican’s speech on the Senate floor Tuesday where he criticized the process and product of his party’s health care efforts, and predicted that it would fail.
After the vote, Democrats sang his praises.
“John McCain is a hero and has courage and does the right thing,” Schumer said.
McConnell, in his speech after the failed vote, said that Democrats had refused to engage “in a serious way” on repealing the law, and challenged them to put forward health care legislation. He said he would not support “bailing out insurance companies” without other reforms.
“I suspect there are not many folks over here that are interested in that. But it’ll be interesting to see what they have in mind,” McConnell said.
Still, Republicans and Democrats have said for weeks that if the GOP repeal effort failed, there would likely be bipartisan movement on health care legislation. Sen. Lamar Alexander, the chairman of the health committee, said earlier this month he would hold hearings on health care regardless of the outcome of the repeal effort.
Schumer, in a speech on the floor following the vote, said Democrats were celebrating, but relieved.
“Obamacare was hardly perfect. It did a lot of good things, but it needs improvement,” he said. “I hope that one part of turning that page is that we go back to regular order, work in the committees together to improve Obamacare.”(The Noah Project) — Hi Everyone! Did you happen to watch the Super Bowl? I didn't. In fact, I don't get to watch anything. I was found wandering in the street by this nice person who could see that seeing was a problem for me. Not knowing what else to do, she brought me to Noah Project to help save my life.
The Noah people could see that I had been through a pretty rough time. They didn't really know what happened, but they did know that my eyes were very badly damaged and my eyesight was gone. I was also very cold, malnourished and dehydrated. But what they did notice right away was that my spirit was very much intact.
So, even though they can't help my eyes, they are doing everything needed to restore me to good health. Despite everything I've been through, I couldn't be a happier kitty.
My name is Emby ("MB"), which means Miracle Baby. I'm a young orange tiger female who absolutely loves to be held and petted. I may not be able to see you, but I know you are there. And just because I can't see, it doesn't mean I can't live in your world as long as I stay in an environment that is safe.
Although eyesight is important, it's not necessary in order for me to live a long and happy life. My other senses become more acute and I have an extremely keen sense of space and awareness of my surroundings. So please don't think of me as flawed. Think of me as special.
I'd love to be your new best friend for life. So I hope you'll come and Meet Me @ Noah Project. I may not be able to show you around, but I'll show you an enormous amount of genuine friendship and affection.
For more information about MB and all of her friends at The Noah Project, please visit www.noahproject.petfinder.com.
The Noah Project is located at 5205 Airline Road in Muskegon.Terminator: Questions and Answers
I like the Terminator franchise. I wholeheartedly agree with the more or less general consensus that Terminator 2 is one of the best sci-fi movies ever made.
Of course the movies leave quite many questions about their internal logic (especially related to time-travel and how it affects the timeline) unanswered, and they could be considered outright plotholes. On the other hand, it's a fun exercise to come up with plausible explanations for these potential plotholes.
So here are my speculations in the form of questions and answers. To understand the timelines better, see the main timelines graph page.
I will consider only the four movies here. I won't consider the TV series nor the different video games and other works as part of the "movie canon" (although they could work as separate timelines, except that some details in them contradict my theories below).
How can Kyle Reese be John Connor's father? Wouldn't that be an ontological paradox?
In this case, the ontological paradox would be the following: Kyle Reese was sent to the past because John Connor was the leader of the resistance (Connor being the leader of the resistance caused Skynet to send a Terminator to the past to kill his mother, which caused the resistance to send Kyle Reese to protect her), but John Connor existed in the first place because Kyle Reese was sent to the past. Without the time travel there would have not been a "need" for the time travel in the first place; in other words, the time travel itself generated its own need (by causing John Connor to be conceived), making it self-referential.
In this case no information or objects were created ex nihilo (that is, the information or the object having no creation point at all), but the reason for the time travel is: The time travel created its own reason to have been performed in the first place, which is the ontological paradox.
On the other hand, there is an even worse ontological paradox where seemingly ex nihilo information creation happens: The Terminator sent to the past causes Skynet to be created (because the Terminator's CPU was intact enough for it to be reverse-engineered). In this case Skynet caused its own creation by sending a Terminator to the past, and thus information was created from nothing.
There's a fandom-created theory that every time that something is sent to the past in the movies, a new timeline is created, distinct from the original one. While I'm personally not very fond of multiple-timelines theories in movies and TV series involving time travel (because it waters down the original motives for the time traveling), in this particular case it actually fits extremely well.
By this theory Kyle Reese was not the original father of John Connor. Instead, in the original timeline John Connor's father was someone else. When the T-800 and Reese are sent to 1984, the timeline is split and a new alternate timeline is created, and in this new timeline Reese becomes John Connor's father. (Even though now John Connor's history is quite different, he still ends up becoming the leader of the resistance because of ontological intertia.)
Also Skynet was created by regular means in the original timeline, rather than being inspired by the reverse-engineered Terminator CPU.
We never get to know who John's father was in the original timeline because the first Terminator movie happens completely in this alternate timeline. In this timeline it's just some guy somewhere who never even meets Sarah Connor.
This new timeline is different from the original one. Kyle Reese has a different father (and was very probably born on a different day, probably earlier), and the development of skynet changes. However, on the grand scale this timeline is very similar to the original one.
Details about all the timelines are given in the main timelines graph page. I recommend having that graph in another tab or window for reference, while reading the questions and answers below.
From here forward I will use the following terms:
Original timeline The very first timeline, which we have never seen in the movies (except for the "flashforwards" in the first movie). We don't know who John Connor's father is in this timeline. Judgment Day happens in 1997, and Skynet sends a T-800 back in time from 2029 to 1984. 1984-timeline This timeline was created by the original timeline being split by the Skynet in that timeline sending a T-800 back to 1984. In this new timeline Kyle Reese is John Connor's father, Judgment day still happens in 1997, even though Skynet is created in a different way than originally. 1995-timeline The 1984-timeline was split in 1995, by the Skynet in the 1984-timeline sending a T-1000 back to that year. In this new timeline the creation of Skynet and the Judgment Day is delayed because of the original developer dying (and the Terminator CPU being destroyed), and doesn't happen until 2004. 2004-timeline A new timeline is created in 2004, by the 1995-timeline Skynet sending a T-X back to that year.
Why send just one Terminator to 1984, the next one to 1995 and a third one to 2004? Why not send a whole army of them, or individual ones more often?
My theory: Whatever the time-traveling physics and technology involved might be, it only allows using certain precisely-defined "time windows" within which the destination can be set. Maybe it has something to do with the position of the Earth with respect to the Sun or galaxy, or something like that. Whatever the reason, the amount of possible destination times for time travel is very limited, either because of some property of physics or because of some limitation of the technology involved.
1984 might have been the earliest possible time window that Skynet's time-travel technology allowed to reach, from 2029 in the original timeline, and it was a one-time shot to that window (because as the Skynet's own time advances forward, 1984 gets farther and farther away to the past, too far to be reached again). It also explains why Skynet didn't send a Terminator even further back in time, to kill Connor's grandfather or whoever.
It's possible that the Skynet in the original timeline also sent a T-1000 to 1995 and a T-X to 2004, but if that happened, they created their own separate and independent timelines which do not affect the ones seen in the movies.
(Sending a T-1000 to 1995 in the original timeline makes sense because it was before Judgment Day, and Skynet attempted to kill the teen John Connor before it. However, why send a T-X to 2004, which was well after judgment day? It still makes sense, though: To kill John Connor before he becomes the resistance leader. Also, the John Connor of 2004 in the original timeline wouldn't be prepared for such an advanced Terminator.)
The Skynet of the 1984-timeline probably also sent a T-800 to 1984, but this simply spawned a separate, independent timeline (separate from the original timeline and the timelines in the movies). Most importantly, it later sent a T-1000 to 1995.
This second time travel spawned a third timeline from 1995 forwards. In this timeline Skynet is created later (because the original Terminator CPU is destroyed and the original developer is killed), but not so much later as to miss the 1984 time window.
(Likewise the Skynet in this new 1995-timeline probably also sent a T-800 to 1984 and later a T-1000 to 1995, spawning their own independent timelines, after which it sent the T-X to 2004.)
The reason to send only one Terminator may have to do with the amount of energy and resources needed to send anything. Perhaps sending something back in time requires such a humongous amount of energy that even with all the available resources only one Terminator can be sent.
It might require so much energy and so many resources that organizing a new time travel could require many years of work (and by the time that enough resources have been gathered for a new time travel, the time window gets too far and no more can be sent to that time.)
Ok, that may be a reasonable explanation, but how then did the resistance send Kyle Reese and the reprogrammed Terminators to the past?
This is admittedly a bit more difficult to explain, but here are two possible theories:
Spies of the resistance got information about Skynet developing time travel technology in its early stages (and the reason for it to be created), copied it and developed their own in secrecy. When Skynet sent a Terminator to 1984, the resistance did so too with Kyle Reese, using the same wormhole or whatever as Skynet was using (and the resistance was naturally also limited to one person because of energy consumption or other reasons). Of course this assumes that the resistance had all the same resources and energy supplies as Skynet. Knowing what Skynet was doing and when, the resistance infiltrated the facilities and succeeded somehow in sending Reese alongside the Terminator using the same time-traveling machine. (It may be that sending a human requires significantly less energy than sending a Terminator, which explains why the energy was enough to send both.) This explanation is admittedly a lot more far-fetched and contrived, but could perhaps be plausibly scripted.
Of course the second theory cannot account very well for the Terminators that the resistance sent later, so at least with them the first theory is more plausible.
On the other hand, it would probably be much easier for a Terminator to infiltrate Skynet's facilities ("reverse infiltration") than for a human, making that aspect slightly more plausible.
Machines can be sent if enclosed in living tissue. Why not send some futuristic weapons with the Terminator, enclosed in living tissue?
Maybe the energy and resource requirements for sending something back in time are so humongous that Skynet could barely send one Terminator. Sending weapons with him would have been too much.
The T-800 was the most advanced of infiltrator Terminators (can completely pass for a human) and the smallest one, compared to previous versions (according to Terminator Salvation, the T-600 series was considerably larger and bulkier, besides not being at all human-looking at close range). Skynet had to send a T-800 because it had to find Sarah Connor without the authorities or military stopping it first (which is why Skynet couldn't send any other type of killing machine).
One could also speculate that perhaps energy weapons don't survive the time travel because of their composition (ie. perhaps their energy sources get destroyed, damaging the Terminator), and sending regular projectile weapons alongside the Terminator would be rather pointless because it can acquire such weapons in the destination time.
But nevertheless some weaponry was sent to the past in Terminator 3?
By the time Skynet had developed the T-X series, it also had clearly developed technology further to allow some kind of weaponry to be sent embedded to the Terminator (which is what we see in the Terminator 3 movie). This development probably happened to the weapons themselves, rather than the time-traveling technology. The latter was clearly still limited to sending only one Terminator.
How did the T-1000 and the T-X get sent to the past? They weren't covered in living tissue.
Polymimetic alloy can be sent as-is through time while harder, more basic metals cannot. Might be related to the physical properties of these materials. The T-X was completely covered by polymimetic alloy when it was sent to the past, protecting the endoskeleton.
There are many alternate timelines in your graph. Couldn't some of the movies have been situated at those timelines instead of "main" timeline sequence marked in the graph?
It's rather clear in each sequel that the protagonists (mainly Sarah Connor, John Connor and the different Terminators) remember the events of the previous movie. Thus no movie can happen in any of the "possible alternate timelines" of my graph. In those timelines some of the movies have never happened.
They could happen in any of the "alternate timelines" in the graph, but the timeline sequence shown in the graph is the shortest one leading to the events of each movie. Placing any movie on those alternate timelines would require at least one extra "loop". While logically not impossible, it's unnecessary.
(Such "extra loops" could, however, be used to explain some things better. For instance, it could be used to explain how the original Skynet was created |
hub, like a bicycle wheel.
He told Johnson it was part of the CF-100 project, but refused to elaborate.
After a series of tests in which Frost dazzled workers by making the little disc fly around the room using a jet of compressed air, the designer presented a rough concept for an aircraft with vertical take-off and landing capabilities to Avro management.
Codenamed "Project Y," the central feature of the Avro flying saucer was a special flat engine capable of lifting itself off the ground by propelling its thrust in a circle.
The first full-size mock-up, financed by Avro with an eye to producing a working fighter jet, dispensed with the early frisbee shape and looked more like the blade of a shovel. Nicknamed "Flying Manta" and "Stingray," it was 7.8 metres long, 6.4 metres wide and could, in theory, reach speeds of up to 2,400 km/h, according to wind tunnel calculations.
Two natural phenomena made the underlying principle viable: The Coanda or "ground" effect, which causes a jet to be attracted to a nearby surface, and the ground cushion effect that generates increased lift and drag on airplane wings when they are close the ground.
Engineers in Britain helped with research and development, but Project Y was still highly classified. Design tweaks were made on scrap paper and immediately destroyed but the cloak and dagger tactics couldn't stop people talking, and the Toronto Star jumped on the story when it eventually leaked.
"Takes off straight up: report. Malton 'flying saucer' to do 1,500 mph," read the headline on Feb. 11, 1953. "A wooden mock-up reported to lie behind tarpaulin screens in Avro Canada's experimental hangar at Malton, to which only holders of'super-security' cards are permitted."
"No project of this kind is known to be under development elsewhere in the Western world."
Despite promising results in the wind tunnel, the Canadian government balked at the $100 million Avro estimated to fully develop the craft and pulled out entirely, having sunk about $2 million on development.
However, the American military had already inspected several prototypes of the aircraft, which was now circular again, and stepped into the breach.
The U.S. Air Force agreed to finance Frost's design in 1954 to the tune of $784,492, extending its development until 1956 and opening up wind tunnel and test facility access in Ohio and Massachusetts.
Now all Avro had to was build the thing.
A special indoor rig was erected at Malton to test various engine configurations as Frost realized early on a single engine would not be capable of generating enough power for lift and supersonic flight. Due to the thrusts and speeds involved, observers had to be sheltered behind a quarter-inch steel wall with little windows - it was a good thing, too.
During an indoor trial run, one of the engines caught fire and began to accelerate out of control. Frost and the team fled but were spared from disaster by a quick-thinking engineer who hit the fuel cut-off switch on his way out.
While Frost was trying to get his aircraft off the ground, the U.S. Army expressed an interest in doing exactly the opposite.
The U.S. had already spent more than $1.7 million in search of a viable design for an "air jeep," a one-man reconnaissance vehicle capable of floating just above the ground at low altitude, but had not received any viable designs. The Avro craft looked promising.
Frost was still intent on making his design a supersonic fighter but the complex engine had proved almost impossible to complete. In the meantime, a scaled-down model was built for testing by the army.
It was out of this craft the Avrocar was born.
Amid internal turmoil at Avro and the eventual cancellation of the Avro Arrow on "Black Friday," Frost was forced to put his supersonic ambitions on hold. As it was, the low-altitude model was beset with power and control issues.
In videos, the Avrocar hovers about a metre above the ground. Reports suggest it never got above 3 metres and the brilliantly named test pilot Spud Potocki struggled to move the aircraft in any direction except forward without losing stability.
"A conventional aircraft is controlled by the tail fin and rudder and the stabilizers. The saucer had nothing, Frost's idea was to maintain control by manipulating vanes mounted around the periphery of the saucer... the trouble was, the system didn't work," the Winnipeg Tribune reported in 1976.
Frustrated with the lack of progress, the U.S. military pulled out of the Avrocar project in 1960 and it was cancelled completely in 1961 without realizing its potential either as a supersonic fighter or a low-altitude, all-terrain vehicle.
Subsequent endeavours would eventually prove Frost's science sound. Modern hovercraft rely a similar method of lift, though many use a separate set of engines for forward thrust.
One of the two working Avrocar prototypes, still in its American livery, are on display at the U.S. Army Transportation Museum in Fort Eustis, Virginia.
Chris Bateman is a staff writer at blogTO. Follow him on Twitter at @chrisbateman.
Images: Wikimedia CommonsPeople who receive a financial incentive to raise money for a charity they care about are actually less effective in soliciting donations, even when potential donors have no idea that incentives were involved, according to new findings published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science. The research suggests that incentives may have this effect because they result in the fundraisers coming off as less sincere to the people they’re trying to persuade.
“We show that incentives make persuaders less effective at communicating sincere concern for a charitable cause, which means the incentive is having harmful effects on the very activity it was designed to improve,” says psychological scientist and study author Alixandra Barasch of the Stern School of Business at New York University. “This is important because it helps us understand the costs and benefits of incentives in the context of philanthropy.”
Although financial incentives can provide motivation to perform a task well, Barasch and colleagues Jonathan Z. Berman (London Business School) and Deborah A. Small (the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania) wondered whether paying people to advocate for a cause that they were already motivated to support might have unintended negative consequences.
In one study, the researchers recruited 36 “persuaders” at a community event intended to raise money for an organization supporting breast cancer research and awareness. The persuaders were asked to make a video pitch for the organization, doing their best to persuade potential donors to contribute. Some of the persuaders were offered a personal incentive: For every $10 donated in response to their video, they would receive $1.
Later, 243 participants were randomly assigned to watch one of the video pitches. In addition to the standard $10 participation fee, they received an extra $3 that they could keep for themselves or donate to the cause promoted in the video.
The data showed that participants donated less of their extra cash in response to pitches from persuaders who had received an incentive compared to pitches from persuaders who hadn’t been incentivized. This occurred despite the fact that the participants had no idea that the persuaders might have received incentives.
A second study, in which college students made video pitches for community-service organizations, showed similar results. Again, persuaders who received an incentive were less effective in soliciting donations; moreover, participants rated the videos of incentivized persuaders as less sincere.
The researchers hypothesized that the inherent conflict between benefits to others, or altruism, and benefits to the self might inhibit persuaders from behaving in a sincere manner. Additional data from a follow-up study supported this idea: Persuaders who were given a charitable incentive — any money raised from their pitch would be matched by the researchers – seemed to be just as effective in raising funds as those who received no incentive. In this case, the incentive didn’t benefit the persuaders personally, and so it didn’t inhibit them from being sincere.
Together, the findings underscore the notion the incentives compromise persuaders’ ability to convey sincerity. Barasch and colleagues are currently planning follow-up studies to examine the cues – both verbal and nonverbal – that might convey sincerity.
Even if incentives do have a negative effect on sincerity, the researchers note that there may be other reasons to use incentives in the context of fundraising campaigns:
“Incentives may engage people who would otherwise not help at all, and they may help recruit better talent within a competitive landscape,” says Barasch.Where to Stream: The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story
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The first image is not, as you might expect, the iconic white Bronco, rambling down the sun-kissed California freeway. Nor is it Simpson himself — neither the luggage-leaping spokesperson, nor the glove-wiggling suspect in Judge Ito’s kangaroo court. It’s not even slow-mo gridiron footage, like his epic 1969 Rose Bowl dash, or a dissembling juke that leaves a linebacker’s cleats where his knees were.
The first images in The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story, the true crime dramatic reenactment series that premiered last night on FX, have nothing (directly) to do with The Juice. The vivid pilot episode instead commences in 1992, with a montage of Rodney King, being pulverized by the LAPD, and the ensuing race riots in South Central Los Angeles — two years before Orenthal James Simpson would be accused of a brutal double murder, including that of his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson.
This is what lawyers call a strong opening argument.
That argument, made with a clamor by the show’s mischievous director and executive producer, Ryan Murphy, posits that one simple factor — race — propelled the entire trial of O.J. Simpson. This is not a wildly unique claim, mostly because no claim about the relentlessly discussed “trial of the century” could be wildly unique. The same assertion was proposed by Jeffrey Toobin in his New Yorker reporting at the time, later upgraded to a book, The Run of His Life, from which the show is adapted:
If race does become a significant factor in this case — if the case becomes transformed from a mere soap opera to a civil-rights melodrama; that is, from the Menendez brothers writ large to Rodney King redux — then the stakes will change dramatically.
In this 10-episode anthology, the stakes do change dramatically. Anyone who has grown accustomed to the plodding binges of the past few years will be jolted out of their Serial Reddit boards by O.J.‘s tabloid tempo. This true crime epic is raucous and soapy, but only marginally investigatory, with little interest in levying innocence or guilt. More Empire than The Staircase, and therefore destined to win Emmys, the hyperreal series stakes no claim in adjudicating history. It would rather revel in the playground of memory than challenge perceptions.
This retro-history is a stark contrast to today’s other longform true crime, especially Making a Murderer, the legal process Netflix doc that, to distinguish itself from an overwrought whodunit mystery, cleverly dubbed its genre howdunit. If that’s the case, one might say that The People v. O.J. is a whendunit — a show that bathes in the history of its time.
This gleeful nostalgia — on the precipice of camp, but shrewd enough not to cross — glares brightest in the casting, which plops characters from your youth onto the TV room beanbag. Here are some of the major players from that era, spliced with the actor playing them in the series:
The waves of television memory roar loudest when Malcolm-Jamal Warner bounds into a scene with the audacity of a where-are-they-now? slideshow that you can’t… not… click. He’s playing O.J.’s Bronco pilot, Al “AC” Cowlings, but he’s also, in a sense, embodying himself, or the character from our memories of The Cosby Show living room.
It’s almost as if the cast was chosen by asking “Where were you when the white Bronco fled down the Los Angeles asphalt?” That was June 1994, so John Travolta, here hijacking scenes as inimical defense attorney Robert Shapiro, would have been preparing for the release of Pulp Fiction in a few months. Sarah Paulson (Marcia Clark) would soon break through in the CBS series American Gothic, as would, in a few years, Selma Blair (Kris Jenner) with the movie Cruel Intentions. Nathan Lane (F. Lee Bailey) would soon be nominated for a Golden Globe (and win an MTV Movie Award) for The Birdcage. And Cuba Gooding, Jr. (O.J. Simpson), who had been celebrated in Boyz N The Hood a couple years earlier, would go on to win an Oscar for Jerry Maguire.
In 1994, O.J. himself was promoting a movie (his last), Naked Gun 33⅓: The Final Insult, with co-star, Anna Nicole Smith. Here they are having the time of their life on Donahue:
The fiction/nonfiction line blurs even more when Johnnie Cochran enters the scene. Almost everyone in Los Angeles would eventually end up a degree of separation from O.J.’s lead defense attorney, who compiled a massive entertainment clientele that included actors (Todd Bridges), athletes (Jim Brown, Riddick Bowe, Marion Jones), and musicians (Snoop Dogg, Michael Jackson, Sean Combs, Tupac Shakur). Here he is played by Courtney B. Vance, fittingly most known from Law & Order.
But it is the actor Evan Handler (most known for his roles in Sex and the City and Californication) who, as sagacious defense attorney Alan Dershowitz, embodies the most insane example of this I Love the ’90s retrospective. Six weeks after O.J. creeped up I-405 with a fleet of cop sirens trailing, Handler was in the cineplex with a bit role in Natural Born Killers. (Oliver Stone actually spliced a few frames of the Bronco chase into the final cut of the psychedelic road film written by Quentin Tarantino.) But less auspiciously, he also had a new TV series coming out on NBC in the Fall, with an improbable lead actor:
Yes, Frogmen really starred O.J., as a Navy SEAL, and yes, the tagline really was “Trained killers. Killer waves.” NBC never released this “A-Team in water” series, for obvious reasons, not including how terrible it looks. (See also: This article by Brian Lowry of the Los Angeles Times, originally published on May 8, 2000, entitled “The Saga of O.J.’s Last, Lost Pilot.”)
And David Schwimmer? In 1994, Schwimmer’s life would change forever, when as part of NBC’s new Fall lineup, Friends would drop like a scalding venti latte on an unsuspecting public. And now, 22 years later, Schwimmer plays the role of O.J.’s literal best friend, Robert Kardashian — a name that will send off alarms that reverberate through time.
Oh yeah, O.J. was Kim Kardashian’s godfather.
Toward the end of the first episode, this scene appears, the platonic ideal of three decades of pop culture mashing itself to pulp:
That is supposed to be a typical ’90s teenager’s bedroom. But an extremely atypical teen slept here — it’s Kim Kardashian’s bedroom!
This house in the hills of Encino, the “hideout” home of Robert Kardashian, is where O.J. stayed the day he was to be arrested. (If you would like to own a piece of entertainment history, the actual five-bedroom house is currently up for sale — a steal at $1.3M.) Sleeping in Kimmy’s room, under heartthrob posters of Jonathan Taylor Thomas (Home Improvement) and Joey Lawrence (Blossom), O.J. almost committed suicide in this room, but according to new reporting, was interrupted by Kris Jenner, who was pregnant with Kendall at the time. (So this room is basically ground zero of three generations of pop culture.)
In the dramatized version, Dr. Ross pleads with his gun-wielding friend: “O.J. no please, this is where my daughter sleeps. O.J., please do not kill yourself in Kimmy’s bedroom.” Immediately after this, O.J. flees out the back door, into a white Bronco and onto the freeway grid, for the joy ride of his life.
If all this seems a historical phantasmagoria, like a mashup of your child television memories, consider how this photo has accrued meaning over time:
That’s O.J. Simpson serving as the best man in Ahmad Rashad’s wedding, where Bill Cosby gave away the bride (and his TV wife) Phylicia. All of that happened!
The People v. O.J. Simpson elicits this dreamy mood: a nostalgia for an alternate universe that was our actual universe. Like a conspiracy theory minus the conspiracy, the O.J. Simpson case has inextricably knotted itself to the future of media and entertainment. As Kanye — himself once a product of this era; now, a participant in it — said, long before Kimye:
You know how long I’ve been on you? / Since Prince was on Apollonia / Since O.J. had Isotoners.
How long, indeed.
As we will discuss in the coming weeks, The People v. O.J. Simpson is a battlefield of race and celebrity and media, but mostly it is a show about memory, particularly how our creaky remembrances stretch their boney fingers into the present. Even the genre itself — the made-for-television movie — is a legacy act of a bygone era. But like the dusty couch in the attic, our refurbished memories can become modern conversation pieces, when renovated by prestige cable.
Settle into your dusty couch, it will be a bumpy ride.
Miscellaneous Historical Notes:
The bloody-pawed dog seen in the opening scene was the family pet — an Akita named Kato. O.J. and Nicole’s son changed the name of the dog to Satchmo during the trial.
In 1977, O.J. was the first football player to land on the cover of Rolling Stone. The following year, he became the second player (after Fran Tarkenton) to host SNL.
O.J. received a lie detector test in this episode. The person who actually administered that test was a famous polygrapher, Ed Gelb. Those who have an especially good memory for ’90s conspiracies might remember that name — Ed Gelb also conducted a lie detector test on El Duce, the punk rocker who claimed that Courtney Love tried to hire him to murder Kurt Cobain. Interestingly, O.J. bombed his lie detector test, but El Duce aced his.
During the filming of Naked Gun 33⅓, O.J. and Anna Nicole Smith apparently hooked up, because he later claimed possible paternity of her daughter, Dannielynn.
When President Bill Clinton met Boris Yeltsin for the first time in 1995, the Russian President’s first question was, “Do you think O.J. did it?”
If you’ve ever pondered the democratizing effect that recaps have had on television culture, you might be interested in a recap of this episode written by Kato Kaelin.
Next week: Episode 2: The Juice is loose!
Rex Sorgatz flees The Man down a highway called @fimoculous.By Tom Watkins, (CNN) — A lot of things can go wrong in life that you can plan for, but some are just too far-fetched to bother with — or so you’d think.
Just ask the man who stole a trailer from outside a Florida home, unconcerned about the small plane buzzing overhead.
Turns out the pilot of the single-engine Cessna was the home owner who just happened to be flying by when he spotted the theft in progress.
“We watched him just walk out right in front of us,” David Zehntner, the homeowner, recounted Tuesday. “Two or three times, he literally looked up at us. At one point, he even stood with his hands on his hips and looked up at us.”
The incident occurred Sunday afternoon, when Zehntner was flying back to Labelle, outside Fort Myers, from Franklin, North Carolina, where he and his wife had spent Christmas at their second home.
“The flight path and the landing procedure here in Labelle flies right over our property anyway,” the 56-year-old retired auto parts store manager said. “So we always make a circle over our property.”
As they reached an altitude of 800 feet, his wife noticed something odd.
“My wife says, ‘Honey, there’s somebody at our house. There’s a truck parked in our driveway,'” Zehntner said.
Zehntner dropped the plane to 300 feet and buzzed their ranch home.
“We see this guy walking around our house looking in windows, checking the doors, scoping the house out,” he said. “And it wasn’t anybody we knew.”
The man then picked up a 6-foot-by-12-foot red utility trailer that was parked outside the house, set it on the bumper hitch to a pickup truck, hooked it up and drove off, Zehntner said.
“My wife kept saying, ‘Land, land,'” he said.
But Zehntner couldn’t land; there was no airport nearby.
“I said, ‘Honey, he’s not going to get away. There’s no way he’s going to get away.'”
Zehntner followed the truck and trailer the seven miles into town.
“At no point did he act like he made any correlation — like, ‘Wait a minute, this guy is following me,'” Zehntner said.
At one point, the truck stopped at a red light in front of the police station, but Zehntner could do nothing.
He had a cell phone, but the prop noise would have drowned out any attempt at conversation.
When the truck pulled onto State Road 80 headed west out of Labelle, Zehntner made a quick landing and called the Hendry County 911 dispatcher, who put out a be-on-the-lookout call for the silver truck with a white top pulling a stolen trailer.
Within half an hour, he got a call from deputies flying a helicopter in nearby Lee County and gave them a description of the vehicle.
“They said, ‘I think we’ve got him. Hold on. Somebody will call you back shortly.'”
Some five minutes later, a Lee County deputy sheriff called and asked for a description of the man. That was easy, since the view from 300 feet had been clear: Handlebar mustache, 6-foot tall, medium build.
A few minutes later, he got another call asking him to drive over to where they had stopped the truck on I-75 heading into Charlotte County and verify that the trailer was his.
Police said they had found guns inside the truck and wanted to know whether they were Zehntner’s, he said.
They were not.
“We went back, recovered our trailer; they impounded his truck, took him to the Charlotte County Jail and we took our trailer home — and we were happy,” Zehntner said.
He said police told him the obvious — he was lucky.
“Most of the time — crimes like this — they get away and it’s hell for the police to try to find the stuff,” he said. “I don’t think my wife’s still gotten over it.”
Since Zehntner built the house in 1980 for his parents, it had been broken into several times, but that occurred before he installed motion detectors, cameras and electronic switches on the windows.
“That’s probably what kept him from going in the house,” he said.
Zehntner said he was elated with the way the system worked.
“I hear people all the time say there’s never a cop around when you need one,” he said. “I just want people to know that, when I needed one, there was a bunch around and they did an excellent job.”
Police identified the suspect as Gary Robert Haines, a 59-year-old Virginia man, and charged him with grand theft auto.
He was released from Charlotte County Jail Tuesday morning on a $2,500 bond.
CNN left a message at a telephone number listed in his name.
No one responded.
™ & © 2013 Cable News Network, Inc., a Time Warner Company. All rights reserved.Bumblebee Profile Blog Joined August 2010 2733 Posts Last Edited: 2012-04-15 15:18:37 #1 [PokerStrategy.com] The Battle of the Century: The Rematch
PokerStrategy.com brings you a showmatch of epic proportions between the ever loveable TLO and Grubby. The winner will be determined in a best-of-15 series, with only one of the two huggable nerds coming out as the champion. For your entertainment, this showmatch will be run with two personal first person streams. You will be able to follow the showmatch on the players' TwitchTV channels where they will chip in with a comment or two about the games, biting back defeat or gloating in victory.
Format: BO15
Date: 17 April 2012
Time: 09:00 PDT // 12:00 EST // 18:00 CET
Players: Manuel "Grubby" Schenkhuizen vs Dario "Liquid`TLO" Wünsch
Sponsor: PokerStrategy.com
Prize: $300 for winner, $150 for runner-up
Maps: + Show Spoiler [Map list] + 1st: Entombed Valley
2nd: Sanshorn Mists AE
3rd: Antiga Shipyard
4th: Calm Before the Storm
5th: Vicious (from DreamHack mappool)
6th: Shakuras Plateau
7th: Atlantis Spaceship
8th: Odyssey
9th: Bel'Shir Beach
10th: Daybreak
11th: Frigid Pass (from DreamHack mappool)
12th: Metropolis
13th: Ohana
14th: Cloud Kingdom
15th: Dual Sight
Be sure to check out the players at
Manuel "Grubby" Schenkhuizen
Stream: http://twitch.tv/followgrubby
Twitter: http://twitter.com/followgrubby
Facebook: http://facebook.com/followgrubby
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Manuel "" Schenkhuizen
Dario "Liquid`TLO" Wünsch
Stream: http://twitch.tv/liquidtlo
Twitter: http://twitter.com/liquidtlo
Facebook: http://facebook.com/dariotlo
Liquipedia: http://wiki.teamliquid.net/starcraft2/TLO
Dario "" Wünsch
brings you a showmatch of epic proportions between the ever loveable TLO and Grubby. The winner will be determined in a best-of-15 series, with only one of the two huggable nerds coming out as the champion. For your entertainment, this showmatch will be run with two personal first person streams. You will be able to follow the showmatch on the players' TwitchTV channels where they will chip in with a comment or two about the games, biting back defeat or gloating in victory.: BO15: 17 April 2012: 09:00 PDT // 12:00 EST // 18:00 CET: Manuel "Grubby" Schenkhuizen vs Dario "Liquid`TLO" Wünsch: PokerStrategy.com: $300 for winner, $150 for runner-up There is no difference between a knight and any other man aside from what he wears. @robinnymann"Hamas on Wednesday issued a statement essentially thanking the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) for siding with the terrorist group in its struggle against Israel.
A day earlier, UNESCO's World Heritage Council passed a Jordanian-sponsored resolution calling Israel 'the occupying power' on the eastern side of Jerusalem, including the Old City, Temple Mount and Western Wall.
The resolution reaffirmed past UN decisions denying any Jewish religious or historical connections that would give Israel claim to that half of the Holy City.
In response, Hamas spokesman Abdel Latif al-Qanua said that the international community had taken another important step toward defeating what he called the 'false Israeli narrative' regarding Jerusalem.
He urged the UN to follow up with firm action on the ground to'save Jerusalem and Al-Aqsa Mosque from Judaization, excavations and Zionist projects.'...
The United States under President Donald Trump has repeatedly condemned UNESCO and other UN bodies for their obsession with Israel, and has threatened to withdraw American funding if the situation is not remedied."Five years ago, a bunch of Buddhist monks from Taiwan moved into the old Lobster Shanty in Montague, Prince Edward Island and made it their home. At first, there were only four of them, but more kept coming, scores filling up the defunct hotel. They were very friendly, and they wore their orange robes, of course, and mostly everyone thought it was nice enough and a good idea and all that. Some of the things they did, such as buying live lobsters from the Atlantic Superstore and releasing them back into the ocean, seemed odd, but what harm could come of it?
That might have been the whole story, but more monks kept showing up—there are about 250 today—and before long they had built their own brand-new monastery in Little Sands, about half an hour’s drive south, a hidden place by the shore where no mere visitor could ever go. They brought some of their lay associates, who began fanning out across the countryside, reportedly purchasing properties that no one else would buy. The Buddhists talked about organic farming and told of a grocery chain in Taiwan. These monks were not what the people of Prince Edward Island had expected.
PEI is beautiful, but Montague is the Beautiful. At least, that’s what the town has called itself—“Montague the Beautiful”—ever since “we got into beautification a number of years ago,” Mayor Richard Collins told me. (He was referring mainly to the waterfront, half of which is now a park that services more tourists than fishermen.) Collins is a short, amiable man who operated Collins’ Variety Store down by the bridge for twenty-three years. He’s run for mayor fourteen times (won eight, lost six), and he views his mayoralty of Montague, population two thousand, as “an interesting hobby,” preferable to golf. I was born in Montague and lived there until the age of twelve, but I’ve only come back once or twice in the intervening years. Collins nonetheless evinced that remarkable Island capacity for remembering everything about everybody, dazzling me with detailed questions about “my people” and what we’re all up to.
I first heard about the Buddhists from my brother, who lives in Rustico Bay on the north shore, and it was the image of the monks occupying the Lobster Shanty that captivated me. The Shanty was a Montague institution, a sprawling, half-decrepit motel that offered semi-fine dining and hosted the annual antique-car show. The monks have since decamped to their new monastery, but the “Montague Campus” is still used as lodging for guests on retreat. Peering through the windows, one can see beds lining the walls in each of the rooms. Plain white trailers, of the sort used for overflow classes in rural high schools, creep down the wide expanse of lawn to the Montague River.
Collins remembers the early days fondly, when the monks were still close by and everyone was getting to know each other. The Great Enlightenment Buddhist Institute Society, as their organization is called, hosted several public “gratitude teas” at the Shanty, where locals could enjoy a bit of hospitality and get a glimpse of the Buddhist lifestyle up close. Collins told me of being invited, prior to one such meet-and-greet, to a special briefing with some of their “top brass,” where he learned from a PowerPoint presentation what time they go to bed and what time they get up and what time they pray. Since then, the Buddhists have continued to stop by his office to drop off “boxes of treats” and “bags of stuff.” “You have to speak about people as you find them,” he said, “and I find them to be very genuine, very honest, straightforward, loving, caring, gentle people.”
The first Buddhist I found was Geoffrey Yang, the enormously smiling and endlessly stonewalling public face of GEBIS. Yang went on to become the only Buddhist with whom I had any meaningful contact. Apart from 1) an unnecessarily off-the-record phone interview with the organization’s president, an elusive monk named Venerable Liu, about how to start believing in Buddhism if you don’t; 2) a class on goodwill with a monk named Venerable Frank, in which I shamefully fell asleep; and 3) an encounter with some asshole at a Buddhist restaurant, Geoffrey Yang was pretty much it. He was my only direct source for information about what the monks were doing on PEI. Though I found him to be (in the words of Mayor Collins) very genuine and very honest, he was also cautious and reticent. His first question to me was, “Why do you find it interesting to write about the monastery?” He went on to challenge my intentions for another ten minutes. Exposure—especially exposure beyond GEBIS’ control—obviously made him nervous.
When I first met Yang, all I knew about GEBIS was what I’d learned from Collins, the local newspapers and my brother. (Another organization, the Moon Light International Foundation, is connected to GEBIS but run by disciples of the monks’ Taiwanese spiritual leader rather than by the monks themselves.) It was clear that the monks have business interests in organic farming, and that they might even hold the key to a vast Taiwanese market for PEI-grown soybeans. But who are these Buddhists, really? How are they so mobilized? And why are they so wealthy and ambitious?
When I asked Islanders what they thought, I encountered a complex atmosphere of curiosity and suspicion. The monks are not helping matters by playing their cards so close to the chest. While they are happy to talk about Buddhism, other details are in short supply. It’s almost as if they didn’t expect their sudden appearance on PEI to seem strange—as if masses of cash-laden monks were just the sort of run-of-the-mill export you’d expect to come out of Taiwan. As I dug deeper, though, the secrecy began to recede, and a picture of an intricate international organization began to emerge—one with at least a few good reasons to stay under the radar, but also one with something special to share: an innovative and highly successful solution to the problem of destructive farming practices.
Splendid Essence, in Charlottetown, is one of those vegetarian restaurants that specializes in making things look like meat. It opened in 2011, and is operated out of a converted clapboard house by lay adherents of the monks’ Buddhist tradition; Moon Light’s office is upstairs. On my first visit, I had the soy chicken nuggets, which were crispy and delicious, and, after finishing my plate and consuming a few sweet crumbly things, I asked to speak to a manager.
The server went three booths down and brought over an effortlessly stylish man in his fifties with a beautiful, round face. He said his name was Max. But when I brought out my recorder, he practically squealed his refusal. I asked about the relationship between the restaurant and Buddhism, and he peevishly declared that “Christians have businesses too,” but it doesn’t mean they are expressions of Christianity. (This would be a fair point if it weren’t so misleading, since the restaurant is linked, however obliquely, to a Buddhist organization.) When I asked Max what position he held at the restaurant, he laughed and said he didn’t work here at all. Okay, I said, so why did the server retrieve you when I asked to speak to a manager? Is the restaurant in the habit of having strangers represent it to the media?
Max’s demurral is typical of the general unwillingness of the Buddhists to speak about themselves. This reticence is matched only by the hesitancy of the Islanders to comment on them. The very presence of the Buddhists on the Island has created an awkward situation, an awkwardness that consists of the awkwardness itself. Islanders are not awkward people. I was recently in PEI conducting interviews for another article on another subject that was far more sensitive, and, even though those conversations could easily have felt very uncomfortable, every single person I spoke to either outright declared or otherwise exuded the following maxim: We’ve got nothing to hide. But this time, whenever I asked about the Buddhists, it was all shy smiles and retreating grins and nervous chuckles. Clearly people have an opinion, but something stops them from expressing it.
One plausible explanation is that they don’t want to seem racist. People secluded on islands aren’t exactly known for their immunity to xenophobia. On PEI, they’ve even got an acronym for outsiders: CFAs, the “Come From Aways.” And, certainly, I occasionally detected something other than open-mindedness. One Islander could hardly talk about the Buddhists without searching for insect analogies; another worried about the long-term “social and cultural effects” of their presence; one farmer declared that he’d let his property “go to the trees” before he sold to the Buddhists. But, mostly, Islanders reminded me that everyone’s an immigrant and spoke of cultural differences with fond curiosity. Brad Oliver is a ubiquitous real-estate agent in King’s County, on the eastern side of PEI, where Montague and the monastery are located and where the Buddhists are buying their land. He likes to respond to any grumblings about the monks with the sardonic retort that “there are too many Irish Catholics around here.”
For their part, the Buddhists claim to feel very welcome, and have gone to great lengths and expense to let this be known. In February 2012, they flew in from Taiwan a sixty-member choir and a small orchestra for a free performance of praise music composed by their spiritual leader, Mary Jin. In an interview with the CBC, Yang declared that the concert was presented “as a way to express our gratitude to all the Islanders.”
But the inveterate secrecy of the Buddhists keeps inviting suspicion. If you go to PEI and start asking about them, it’s their seemingly bottomless coffers that will eventually dominate the conversation. “The perception is they come with a lot of money,” said Stephen Visser, a potato farmer in King’s County.
This is not a misperception. Because |
(£60) if they left the site, but when they went to the mayor’s office to collect the money, gangs smashed and looted their camps.
‘Gangsters turned up with machetes and broke down our tents and frightened the people away.
'Then the UN came with tear gas to stop us protesting. There is no one here to protect us and we have nowhere else to go.’
All that’s left behind are pathetic scraps of cardboard, plastic sheeting and clothing. Deba admits the camp will soon return, as the homeless have no alternatives. It’s a depressingly common story here.
Three years ago a powerful earthquake claimed the lives of over 200,000 people and displaced thousands more. Over 350,000 are still living in camps like this despite a multi-billion pound aid effort
Well-meaning celebrities such as Angelina Jolie, Brad Pitt, George Clooney and Robbie Williams raised money after the earthquake, but after the photo shoots they vanished.
Only Hollywood actor Sean Penn bothered to stay – helping to pull down the crumbling palace last year and offering support to a sprawling camp of tens of thousands of people living on a golf course.
Penn still has a base in Haiti where he spends time, and continues to raise funds back home in Los Angeles.
But a medical centre above the camp that he opened is now closed and boarded up, solar-powered lights have been smashed and there’s a perimeter of razor wire. No one knows if it’s to keep people in or out.
Of the five cholera treatment centres around the Port-au-Prince area run by charity Médecins Sans Frontières, one is a tent compound in Carrefour.
Doctors there say they can receive 50 patients a day, and the epidemic isn’t over. Treatment is a simple rehydration process, but the poor struggle to meet the cost of clean water.
Around the city ‘MINUSTAH = Cholera’ is graffitied on the walls – MINUSTAH being the acronym for the United Nations Stabilisation Mission in Haiti.
The Université d’Etat d’Haiti hospital receives about 100 patients a day. The majority walk out the same day, but some – including patients with gunshot wounds – require a bed if one can be found.
The hospital is funded by a number of charities, but is struggling to attract money due to ‘donor fatigue’ setting in three years after the quake.
The Red Cross has just cut aid to the hospital by £1.6 million, so a third of the 18 long-term beds have been lost and patients in dire need of help must be turned away.
Laguerre Mercier, 57, has been lying in a hot, cramped ward with nine others for three months and has steel pins in his left leg, which was crushed by a UN vehicle.
UN troops from Brazil go out on patrol in the beleagured city
‘I got the doctors to write to the UN and ask if they might help towards the cost of treatment and painkillers,’ he says. ‘They haven’t even bothered to reply.’
Among those helping patients is Carwyn Hill, 29, of Bromley, south-east London. He is the director of the Haiti Hospital Appeal, and explains how a three-year Disasters Emergency Committee plan that ended in January means the axe is falling on many services.
‘Of course not all the aid has been spent wisely, but life still goes on and we still need money for essentials – such as medical and maternity support.’
Women are the biggest victims in Haiti, but they may also prove to be the key to any future recovery, thanks to a new initiative by the British arm of the charity CARE International – offering a blueprint for others to follow.
Rather than just throw money at the crisis, as so many outfits have done to little effect, CARE is training women to rebuild the nation, cultivating skills that they’ve traditionally been barred from learning.
These include building, carpentry and even establishing their own bank. The banks help women pool resources so they can set up small businesses together.
Morance Methmise, 22, enjoys the toughest jobs at a building site in Port-au-Prince where CARE is training women to rebuild houses.
She lugs cement, carries boulders and mixes mortar. The charity is enrolling her onto a month-long course, along with 40 other women, that will give her the construction skills to compete for work with men.
‘I have three young children to look after,’ she says. ‘My husband was killed in the earthquake.
'I used to come and help the builders out for a few gourdes, as I didn’t have enough money to feed the children. I now have hope and want to build our own home.’
With sweat pouring down her face, her work ethic is impressive. She’s watched from the side by her two youngest, Blandina, two, and Richard, seven. Wearing odd shoes scavenged from a rubbish tip, she still lives in poverty in a nearby tent city.Pittsburgh Penguins defenceman Kris Letang left Saturday’s game against the Arizona Coyotes after a scary fall.
With 4:45 remaining in the second period, Coyotes forward Shane Doan shoved Letang after the Penguins defenceman sent a pass through the neutral zone. Letang ended up on his back and his head fell into the end boards.
The 27-year-old was shaken up and remained seated on the ice for several minutes as he was treated by trainers. He did not return to the game.
Following the game, Penguins head coach Mike Johnston told reporters that Letang was checked out at the hospital and the team should have a further update on Sunday.
Letang played 14:24 minutes of ice and registered two shots on goal in Pittsburgh’s 3-2 victory over the Coyotes.Responding to stabbing attacks on soldiers by Muslim Uyghurs, China orders Muslim merchants to sell alcohol to 'weaken' Islam.
China has employed an unusual method in trying to crack down on Muslim violence and attacks by Uyghurs in the western Xinjiang region - in a new notice, it has ordered Muslim merchants to sell alcohol prominently to "weaken" Islam, which forbids the consumption of alcohol.
In the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region separatist Sunni Muslim Uyghur factions have conducted numerous attacks, including those with guns and explosives. China has cracked down in response and is trying to have them blacklisted as terrorists, although much of the international community has denounced the Chinese actions accusing the state of repression.
In its latest move, Chinese authorities ordered all Muslim store and restaurant owners in the village of Aktash to sell five types of alcohol and cigarettes, and to display them in "eye-catching displays," reports Radio Free Asia (RFA) as cited by the Washington Post.
The notice warns that, "anybody who neglects this notice and fails to act will see their shops sealed off, their businesses suspended, and legal action pursued against them."
RFA noted that Hotan prefecture in Xinjiang, which is where Aktash is found, has become "a hotbed of violent stabbing and shooting incidents between ethnic Uyghurs and Chinese security forces."
The move clearly seeks to crack down on Muslim influence and fundamentalism; just this January, China reported that 300 citizens, most of them likely Uyghurs, had gone to join Islamic State (ISIS) in Syria and Iraq via Malasyia.
Adil Sulayman, a Communist Party official in Aktash, told RFA that local authorities consider Uyghurs who do not smoke due to religious rulings forbidding smoking to be following "a form of religious extremism," and issued the new notice to block growing Muslim religiosity that was "affecting stability."
The official, representing the secular Communist Party ruling China, said, "we have a campaign to weaken religion here, and this is part of that campaign."
Sulayman added that thus far around 60 shops and restaurants had followed the order, and no protests have yet been reported.
The notice is the latest in a series of steps China has taken to try and lessen Islam's influence in Xinjiang.
Past moves have included banning government employees and children from going to mosques or observing Ramadan, the Muslim month of fasting. Women are also blocked from wearing Muslim veils covering their faces in various places, and men have been encouraged against growing long beards.If you were to stick a stamp on a five pound note and drop it in the post box addressed to somebody, what would happen?Curiosity, if it hasn't already killed the cat, also enjoys walking the dog somewhere new and exciting. The threat of feline death often nips creativity in the bud, but not on this occasion. After passing a post box on a journey into town, my mum Pixie popped a cap in conventional proverbs and let her imagination run away with her. The only way to find out the answer to the 'fiver-in-the-post' question was to do it.A straw poll of family and friends had the outcome divided, with honesty prevailing on one side, and the worst of human nature five pounds better off on the other. Pixie's creative process involved a small revision of the existing plan. Instead of 'vandalising' a Bank of England note with address and sticky stamp, she would place the fiver inside a transparent envelope. Money in plain sight.First class and dropped straight in the box, she sent three in total: one to my nephew Jack in Norwich; one to my niece Chloe in London; and one to me in Eastbourne. A handful of people thought she'd lost the plot, others thought it was pretty cool, whilst I sat in wait, maybe a little bit TOO excited by the experiment.Do you like a gamble? I know I do. We know Pixie certainly does (in fact, my mum asked that if the money turns up, I should buy a scratchcard with it). But would you place £15 on seeing the best in human nature, like my mum has? Or would you bet a person wouldn't steal it from fear of being caught? It's a curious proposition. Even if the package turns up safe and sound, we'll never know what drove the cash along or whose hands moved it through the Royal Mail delivery network. Maybe a similar sense of fun and curiosity could help it on its journey...Then guess what?It arrived. Theyarrived. In Norwich, London and Eastbourne. All intact and un-tampered with. Except mine. Royal Mail had placed the envelope in one of their own transparent bags, made for when post has been damaged and they want to keep the contents safe.It's a little clue as to how staff considered this strange delivery, by acknowledging the best and the worst in people. Basically,. So with the package dropping on the doormat, the worst was indeed prevented, and hopefully, my mum's curiosity satiated, before she starts distributing fifties to every member of an alarmingly big family.Fun whilst it lasted, now I can go off and get that scratchcard. I bet £5 I don't win.Whatever can be automated, should be. And regardless of whether it should, it will be. Automation has been a persistent economic force since the first industrial revolution, and an essential feature of any competitive business.
The use of machines and other forms of automation to boost productivity is a major factor behind the rapid global progression of the past 300 years. Johan Norberg, historian and author of Progress, links automation to such improvements as the doubling of life expectancy in the last hundred years, and the decrease of extreme poverty from 94 per cent in 1820 to 11 per cent today.
A study by Deloitte based on UK census data since 1871 found that machine technology had also had a positive impact on job growth, as well as transitioning the labour market away from physical labour.
Despite compelling predictions such as that by the Oxford Martin School that nearly half of all current jobs in the US labour market will become automated in the next 20 years, history has always demonstrated that job growth from new technology eventually exceeds the losses it creates. There is no reason to expect any different from this current wave of automation.
I work in digital advertising, an industry that has profited immensely from automation over the past decade. The trading of media inventory used to take place much more slowly, with negotiations between media agencies and publishers happening over the phone or during long lunches. The measurement of performance might take months. The introduction of the live auction enabled automated media buying; the use of digital advertising technology allowed us to measure audience response immediately.
Digital advertising has led the UK ad industry to consecutive annual growth for the past decade. Between 2004-2014, digital ad spend increased from £800m to £7.2bn, and is predicted to reach 50 per cent of overall ad spend by 2020 (based on a recent report by the IAB). There would have been far fewer jobs in advertising without the rise of automated media buying.
The rise of automation in advertising didn’t destroy jobs, it just changed the game, leading to a burst in roles that had never before existed. Computer scientists suddenly found themselves developing ad copy testing software, traditional marketers started writing code to interact with the algorithms controlling search ranking. PPC experts, SEO specialists, ad fraud prevention vendors, and thousands of other new jobs relating to the digital era of advertising emerged.
History has always demonstrated that job growth from new technology eventually exceeds the losses it creates.
Advertising is one industry among many, and each will have a unique relationship with automation. Still, what seems to be consistently overlooked, or simply not imagined, is the tendency for technological disruption to lead to the creation of new types of labour.
Many of the jobs performed by this generation would have been simply inconceivable to the generation that preceded it. Social media influencers, for example, or front-end developers. Thomas Frey, former IBM engineer and author of Communicating with the Future, provides a list of 162 jobs he foresees being created in the near future, based on the growth of new technologies such as IoT, VR, biotech, and 3D printing. A report by the World Economic Forum predicts that 65 per cent of children entering primary school today will ultimately end up working in completely new job types that don’t yet exist.
Automation can increase demand for, and create new types of, labour. It can also enhance existing jobs. My company (Brainlabs) was recently given some media attention for our decision to replace our receptionist with a robot, and inevitably there was some social media contempt directed our way for facilitating the rise of the machines.
In reality, the receptionist that was replaced remained an employee, just with more time to focus on the tasks that were exclusive to human intelligence. Until AI reaches AGI, automation will only be able to replace the aspects of human labour that frankly aren’t that interesting. Automation, at least for the foreseeable future, will normally facilitate a better quality of human work.
Whether via a robot receptionist or through automating reporting or any of the thousands of other applications within our business, automation has accelerated our growth. In five years, we have expanded from one to 150 staff, largely thanks to the enhanced productivity automation causes.
It’s partly a question of investing in technology. Imagine how inaccessible, slow and inefficient the world of investing would still be if it wasn’t for the digitisation of securities (formerly traded using paper certificates), for example. But more important is adapting the culture of a business to one that is willing to implement automation wherever possible: identifying opportunities, rather than anxiously resisting it.
In my industry, sophisticated uses of machine learning are being used for processing data, optimising targeting, adjusting bidding strategies.
Yet still, the bulk of the automation we have benefited from has been far more mundane: scripts to automate tasks on Excel, routine emails HR would otherwise have to manually type hundreds of times a week, repetitive processes the new business team use every day.
New technology just expands the scope of tasks that can be automated – the principle is always the same.
Automation does not represent the death of human labour, but it may lead to the decline of many businesses – that is, at least those that don’t fully embrace it.By T. R. Hawkins
In the heart of downtown Meridian, located at the intersection of Main St. and Broadway, you’ll find a new organization that is well worth checking out. Meridian Library’s new subsidiary company, unBound, is described on their website as “a technology library and educational facility to experiment with emerging technology, attend classes, meetings, and other events. unBound provides access to the equipment and instruction for you to Make, Learn, and Design on your own, with special focus on supporting entrepreneurs, small business owners, and Millennials.”
So, obviously, we decided to check it out.
One of the first things you’ll notice about unBound is how quickly the energetic team of employees will want to show you around the building and tell you about all of the many different sects of technology they have to offer. (Spoiler alert: It’s a lot).
It seems that there is something here for anyone who might have interest in bettering themselves with modern technology. Whether that might be learning how to use a 3D-printer (from the conceptual stage, designing your 3D print on a computer, to actually using their machines to create them), beginning to use Photoshop, Illustrator, or any of the Adobe Creative Cloud programs in their computer lab (For free, mind you - and these programs can run upwards of $200/ a month if you bought them for home use), or making use of their in-house recording studio.
Yep. You read that correctly. They’ve built a small recording studio in one of the rooms. Once inside, you’ll find two Macs with Audacity, Garage Band, and a few other recording programs already installed on them. They provide Blue Yeti Microphones, MIDI keyboards, and the digitizing equipment to ensure you have everything you need to record whatever you want - a new song, perhaps? A silly podcast with your friends? Voice-over work for an animated project? All of these are possible to record at UnBound. For free.
Not only do they offer all of these spaces / tools to utilize, but they also teach free classes on all of them. And, as this is a subsidiary of the Meridian Library, they have educational books on all of these subjects that you can check out for a week at a time.
Speaking of checking things out for a week at a time - Here’s just a few of the items that you can check out for a week at a time: an LCD digital projector, a GoPro Hero 4, a Canon DSLR camera (with three additional lenses - they have a variety to choose from), a mobile podcast kit, bicycles (complete with helmets, lights, and locks) and mobile hotspots for wifi on-the-go. The only time you have to pay for these tools is if you are late to returning them. Standard library practice.
Inside unBound you will also find a large open-area in the center complete with work tables and, as a nice bonus, some free coffee. They have in-house WiFi that is free to use, which makes this space a nice alternative to working on your computer from home, and an excellent spot to work on group projects with your friends. Off to the south-side of the building is a section where you can book time to give presentations or host meetings, complete with an HD TV, white boards, and some modern-contemporary furniture.
If you’re interested in exploring the seemingly endless possibilities that come from modern technology, you might have just found a second home at unBound.Gov. John Kasich said he will support Attorney General Mike DeWine's appeal of an upcoming ruling by a federal judge that will require the state of Ohio to recognize same-sex marriages performed in other states.
Gov. John Kasich reaffirmed his position on gay marriage yesterday. He�s still against it.
Following an economic-development announcement at AmerisourceBergen in Lockbourne, Kasich said he supports Attorney General Mike DeWine�s appeal of an upcoming ruling by a federal judge that will require the state of Ohio to recognize same-sexmarriages performed in other states and areas where it�s legal.
�He is going to appeal it; he should,� Kasich said in response to a reporter�s question. Kasich�s comments on the subject were his first since U.S. District Court Judge Timothy Black announced his intentions on Friday.
DeWine�s office says if Black rules as he said he would, DeWine will appeal his decision to the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals and also seek an immediate stay to prevent the ruling from taking effect.
Black�s ruling is not expected to immediately affect Ohio�s ban on gay marriages inside the state.
�The people of the state, including me, voted years ago on a constitutional amendment to say that marriage is between a man and a woman,� Kasich said. �(Black) has overruled that in some respects, and that�s what a federal judge can do. But it doesn�t change the fact of how people voted.�
Kasich�s likely Democratic opponent in November, Cuyahoga County Executive Ed FitzGerald, said the governor wasted an opportunity to send an important signal that Ohio is a tolerant and welcoming state.
�Not only is accepting the federal ruling the right thing to do, but increasingly businesses, conventions, and major sporting events are considering a state�s openness when deciding whether or not to bring their business here. Gov. Kasich�s announcement today was a step in the wrong direction for Ohio�s LGBT community and for our economy,� FitzGerald said in a statement.
David Pepper, DeWine�s electoral opponent, said he would not appeal Black�s decision because opposing same-sex marriage is indefensible.
�I believe your first and most important duty is to stand for the constitutional rights of citizens,� the former Hamilton County commissioner said. �You just don�t defend the law blindly."
Kasich was visiting AmerisourceBergen�s new distribution center, which is under construction and scheduled to open in the fall, creating about 100 jobs. Dozens of company employees and local officials were on hand for Kasich�s visit.
Dispatch Reporter Alan Johnson contributed to this story.
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@joevardonTransfer News: Dejan Lovren remains tight-lipped about possible move
Saints defender, Dejan Lovren has remained evasive regarding the much reported rumours of a £40million deal to bring him and Saints skipper Adam Lallana to Liverpool this summer.
The Croatian, has admitted he is aware of the interest LFC bosses have shown in both him and fellow Southampton player Lallana but is refusing to comment directly. All he is prepared to say is that he is happy to leave any decisions regarding his future at St Mary’s up to his bosses.
24 year old Lovren made an impressive debut season and is set to play for his home country in the World Cup. He is reported as saying:
“I also heard something about that, I follow the media and I saw that Liverpool is allegedly interested in me, but that is all that I know so far.
“I feel great at Southampton and my contract is valid for the next three years.
“So the only thing I can say right now is that the club is the one who decides.”"In the course of the investigation, U.S. agents were able to locate and seize approximately 600 of the stolen bitcoin and, as part of his plea, Bridges agreed to turn over the remaining stolen Bitcoin," the DoJ said in the statement.
A former the United States Secret Service agent who stole hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of Bitcoins during an investigation into then-largest underground marketplace Silk Road has now pleaded guilty to money laundering. Shaun W. Bridges is one of two former US undercover agents who pleaded guilty in 2015 to one count of money laundering and one count of obstruction and was sentenced in December same year to almost six years in prison for stealing over $800,000 in Bitcoin while investigating Silk Road.35-years-old Bridges, who had been a Special Agent with the U.S. Secret Service for almost 6 years, along with his partner stole money from Silk Road accounts and framed someone else for the laundering, which even led the Silk Road founder Ross Ulbricht to plan a murder.Ulbricht was convicted in February 2015 of running the Silk Road underground black market and is now serving life in prison sentence According to the Department of Justice, Bridges is believed to have stolen additional funds from a digital wallet belonging the Secret Service on two different occasions months after he was initially charged.The missing Bitcoins were found by the Secret Service agency in December when Bridges was sentenced after admitting that he moved and stole approximately 1,600 Bitcoin (at the time valued nearly $359,005 and almost $6.6 million today).According to his guilty plea in this case, Bridges said it used a private key to access a digital wallet belonging to the Secret Service account, and subsequently transferred the bitcoins toSilk Road was shut down in 2013 after the arrest of Ulbricht. The FBI seized bitcoins (worth about $33.6 million, at the time) from the site, which were later sold in a series of auctions by the United States Marshals Service (USMS).Before the shutdown, Silk Road was one of the most extensive, sophisticated, and widely-used illegal marketplaces on the internet.The other Bridges' partner is a 47-year-old former Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) special agent Carl Mark Force, who is also facing criminal charges.On Tuesday, Bridges pleaded guilty to one count of money laundering before the United States District Court Judge of the Northern District of California. He will be sentenced on November 7, 2017."Heaven has no rage like love to hatred turned, nor hell a fury like a woman scorned," playwright William Congreve wrote.
In a suburb of Chicago, fury has overtaken a jilted bride who is suing her former fiancé for the wedding costs. Dominique Buttitta, dumped four days before the wedding was to take place, is seeking damages of $95,942 from Vito Salerno to cover wedding expenses and the cost of the lawsuit.
According to the case filed on Friday in Cook County Circuit Court, Buttitta, an attorney, claimed breach of promise to marry and intentional infliction of emotional distress.
Buttitta and Salerno began dating in March 2007, were engaged in December 2007 and the wedding was set for October 2 of this year in Barrington, Illinois.
Buttitta and Salerno did not return requests for comment.
The case claims Salerno told others the wedding was cancelled but denied saying so when Buttitta confronted him on Sept. 25. According to the suit, he called off the wedding two days later.
The suit's itemized list of expenses included over $30,000 for the banquet hall, $11,000 on lighting and flowers, $10,000 for an orchestra, $7,550 for a photographer, $5,000 for a wedding dress and accessories, and $1,700 for wedding favors. The expenses include other non-refundable purchases, including a bridesmaid luncheon, bridal shower and a deposit for a wedding planner.
The suit also claims that one month before the wedding date, the groom attended a bachelor party at an adult entertainment business called the Pink Monkey. He allegedly engaged in lewd acts, including lap dances with strippers, of which the bride was unaware.
John Zielinski, a civil attorney not connected with the case, said because Buttitta is suing to recover damages from documented expenses, she has a chance. Some states, including Illinois and Georgia, have "breach of promise" to marry laws.
Zielinski said it would be more difficult to win monetary damages just for emotional distress.
"Illinois has limited recovery to actual damages so you can't complain about extra damages," he said.
This is not the first time a heartbroken bride sued her former groom. In July 2008, a jury in Georgia ordered Wayne Gibbs to pay RoseMary Shell $150,000 for breaking off their engagement three days before their wedding. Wells had moved from Florida to Georgia to be with her ex-fiancé and in doing so took a pay cut to do so.Bayern Munich suffered their first defeat for three months when the Bundesliga leaders lost 2-1 at home to Mainz. The Colombian Jhon Córdoba snatched the winner in the 86th minute.
Pep Guardiola’s team gave a lacklustre display and Mainz, who are fifth in the table, went 1-0 up when Jairo Samperio arrived at the far post to hammer Giulio Donati’s cross past Manuel Neuer in the 26th minute.
Cristiano Ronaldo penalty helps Real Madrid to victory against Levante Read more
Bayern, who were last beaten by Borussia Mönchengladbach on 5 December, equalised with a 25-metre drive from Arjen Robben in the 64th minute. The winger was set up by Arturo Vidal and Robben controlled the ball before hitting a thunderous left-foot shot to score his first goal since November.
Bayern pushed for a second goal but Mainz hit them on the break when Daniel Brosinski found Julian Baumgartlinger and his cutback was converted from the edge of the area by Córdoba.
“The game was a clear indication that it’s not easy to win in the Bundesliga,” said the Bayern coach, Pep Guardiola. “Congratulations to Mainz for the victory. In the second half it wasn’t easy, with 10 players in their penalty area, but we had enough chances to win the game. We still have much work to do to defend our title.”
Bayern are on 62 points while Borussia Dortmund have 57 after they beat SV Darmstadt 2-0.
Adrian Ramos’ first-half header gave Dortmund a 38th-minute lead at Darmstadt, the striker flicking Gonzalo Castro’s fine curling ball past Christian Mathenia, before Erik Durm finished from close range after more good work by Castro.
“The victory gives us an enormous boost,” said the Dortmund coach, Thomas Tuchel. Dortmund play Bayern on Saturday.
Gladbach remained fourth on 39 points after outclassing Stuttgart 4-0 while Schalke 04 defeated Hamburg SV, who had Johan Djourou sent off in the 45th minute, 3-2.
Bayer Leverkusen lost 4-1 at home to Werder Bremen while relegation-threatened Hoffenheim sank Augsburg 2-1 with Mark Uth grabbing the 81st-minute winner.This Seattle Seahawks team showed they were capable of being dominant two weeks ago. They solidified that notion last week. Today, they shoved the fact down the country's throats. How can you say that? you might ask, had you not watched the game. They only won by 10. Here's how: the Seahawks held the ball for 70% of the game, ran 66% of the plays, and gained 76% of the yards.
In doing so, they snapped an incredible 86 plays and held the Eagles to the lowest yardage output (139) of any game in Chip Kelly's career at any level. For every play the Eagles ran, the Seahawks ran two. For every yard Philadelphia gained, Seattle gained three. It was a boxing match that made it to the judges cards but it was the kind of fight that the crowd didn't have to wait on for the official announcement. And while the Seahawks failed to land the knockout blow, they never gave the Eagles even a glimpse of weakness. Well, maybe one.
The biggest mistake the Seahawks would make all day came early enough to throw the outcome of the game into far more doubt than the remainder of the matchup would suggest. Punting deep in his own territory, Jon Ryan, his brilliant orange plume hidden by his helmet, dropped a snap that hit him right in his hands. The resulting buffoonery concluded with Philadelphia starting a drive on Seattle's 14 yard line. Six plays including a fourth down conversion later, Mark Sanchez was hitting Jeremy Maclin on an unrecognized sweep pass for the game's initial score.
The turnover was Seattle's first in 37 possessions, a remarkable number that I have to think is at or near the top of the list of such streaks in the NFL. It was also the last major mistake the team would make for the next 50 minutes. Unfazed, Seattle took the ball back and marched a deliberate 82 yards on a business-like 10 plays, racking up a couple of long third down conversions. After nine powerful offensive thrusts, the Seahawks culminated all over the Eagles when Russell Wilson kept a read-option and sprinted 26 yards for an easy touchdown. That tied the game at seven and would be the last score in which Philadelphia didn't trail.
Russell Wilson, who I swear is a quarterback, now ranks 15th in the NFL in rushing yards, 14th in rushing TDs, and 1st in yards per carry. He became just the sixth QB in modern NFL history to rush for 700 yards in a season. His ability to run the football has always been a weapon but this year it's one he has a more complete feel of. It's one of the main reasons that he's literally never played a pro game in which the Seahawks didn't have the lead at some point.
In addition to Wilson's rushing prowess, he had a great deal of success in the longed-for vertical passing game. The Seahawks hit on five explosive (20+ yard) plays in the first half and would finish with eight, a huge number for a team that has gone long stretches without them this season and not even including two long defensive penalties against the Eagles caused by the downfield attack. It was the type of passing game that gives you hope in the team's ability to score quickly if necessary.
The rushing game got off to a slow start and while it never fully clicked, Seattle was able to rush the ball a staggering 46 times for 188 yards and was a major reason that they held the ball for just under 42 minutes. The team failed to rip off any big chunks with Marshawn Lynch in the first half, but they hardly ever went backwards, getting consistent forward pushes from the offensive line, enough to keep the Philly D honest and open up passing lines for the receivers.
As the game slogged along, it became clear that Seattle was playing on a downwardly tilted field. Even though the score stayed 7-7 until the last play of the first half (a 44-yard Steven Hauschka field goal), it was a decidedly one-sided affair. Seattle out-gained the #4 offense in the NFL 242-67 in the first half, holding the Eagles to a flaccid 2.9 yards per play.
If I'm being completely honest,* I fully expected Chip Kelly to make some significant adjustments that would even out the flow of the game but I was brutally incorrect. On the first play of the second half, K.J. Wright beat his man on the backside (of the play) and chased down LeSean McCoy, who was waiting for a hole that never appeared. Wright stripped McCoy and Earl Thomas dove through the wriggling pile of linemen like the last puppy to mama's teat and somehow resurfaced with the ball held high for all to see. The Seahawks magnified the Eagles' mistake shortly thereafter, with a slow-developing 15-yard touchdown pass from Wilson to Lynch. The TD extended Seattle's lead to 17-7 and when Jeron Johnson appeared to strip Josh Huff on the ensuing kick return, Pete Carroll went for the throat with a challenge flag. The call stood but I loved that Pete wanted to make it three huge wins in a four-play stretch.
*And when wouldn't I be, dear friends?
In a vacuum, the decision to challenge was a net loss for Seattle, especially considering how the drive would end, but it signaled an aggression that this team had last year. The Seahawks defense broke down one time all game and it happened on this drive, a 35-yard wheel route to Zach Ertz who beat a linebacker (Wright, I think) down the left sideline for the score. It was the same play that Peyton Manning and the Broncos ran four times in their game-tying drive vs the 'Hawks in week three and the same one that Philip Rivers hit Antonio Gates on for a TD in Week 2. It's a play that requires time to develop and when the pass rush doesn't throw the timing off, a linebacker is left covering a receiver far from home and with no safety help over the top.
The play closed the gap to three but would be the last points that Philly would score. In fact, it was the last time their offense would even have a heartbeat, as they failed to gain even the 67 yards they mustered in the first half, making their two halves today the two lowest single-half yardage outputs in Chip Kelly's career. To make matters worse for the home team, Seattle answered their second touchdown the same way they responded to the first, with a long touchdown drive of their own. This one covered 91 yards but only took five plays, ending in style when Wilson went over the top to Doug Baldwin on a 23-yard loft down the right seam for a pretty little touchdown that capped the day's scoring.
The Seahawks continued to move the ball for the remainder of the game and snuffed out the Eagles offense with the same consistency. The only moment of hesitation the game's outcome ever had after Baldwin's TD was when Lynch took a swing pass into field goal range on a third down, only to fumble when he was hit from behind. The Eagles recovered the ball but the hope in their collective breast was crushed underfoot like when Tharold Simon leaped high in the wet Philly wind to steal a Sanchez pass on the very next play. Wilson gave them one more murmur of excitement when an ill-advised throw was nearly intercepted but Russell's passes are reserved only for the worthy and the ball deflected harmlessly to the turf. The rest of the game was a series of consequence-free formalities and Seattle left the field with a double-digit victory over a nine-win team for the second time in 15 days.
Some other stuff
-Over the last three weeks, the Seahawks' opponents' combined record at the time of their matchup is 25-8 (.758 winning percentage). The Seahawks have outscored those teams 62-20 and have held them to an I-can't-believe-it's-really-that-low 3.8 yards per play.
-That incredible stretch has coincided with the return of Bobby Wagner, who had some thoughts on the Eagles' tempo after the game and finished with team-leading (surprise!) seven tackles. In the seven full games the Seahawks have had Wagner for, they've allowed 14.1 points per game. In the other six? 22 PPG.
-All told, the Seattle defense racked up three sacks (Michael Bennett, Jordan Hill, and Marcus Burley), five tackles for loss, broke up four passes, forced two turnovers, and held an offense averaging 286 passing yards to 82 of them. They play like eleven individuals stingers on the same jellyfish, expanding and contracting in unison like they shared some inhuman exoskeleton.
-Entering this game, opposing QBs had a 12.5 passer efficiency when targeting Richard Sherman over the last four games. For context, if a quarterback went 0-20 with an interception, his rating would be 50% |
machines used in Venezuela are widely suspected of, though never proven conclusively to be, susceptible to fraud,” the memo continued. “The Venezuelan opposition is convinced that the Smartmatic machines robbed them of victory in the August 2004 referendum. Since then, there have been at least eight statistical analyses performed on the referendum results.”
This planned undermining of the American people is unacceptable and must be stopped before the election. Please call your congressmen, senators and local media.
Shepard Ambellas is an opinion journalist, filmmaker, radio talk show host and the founder and editor-in-chief of Intellihub News & Politics. Established in 2013, Intellihub.com is ranked in the upper 1% traffic tier on the World Wide Web. Read more from Shep’s World. Get the Podcast. Follow Shep on Facebook and Twitter.Vote Time Draft Team Best
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The best and worst All Star Game Final Vote gimmicks.You’ve chosen wisely. Steph and his picks were no match for LeBron’s collection of superstars. Congratulations! Time to add to King James’ trophy case you know, behind all the rings and MVPs..If Every Team Was Homegrown AL Central. We look at what the Indians, Twins, White Sox, Royals and Tigers would look like in if they were made up only solely of homegrown players..Vote your favorite NHL superstars to the four final spots in the NHL All Star Game in San Jose, California on January th,..Visit ESPN to get up to the minute sports news coverage, scores, highlights and commentary for AFL, NRL, Rugby, Cricket, Football and more..The NBA Draft will be one of the deepest and most talented drafts in recent memory. With college basketball stars like DeAndre Ayton, Marvin Bagley III and Michael Porter Jr., and even an.Career WAR. Career highlights One time All Star finished ninth in Cy Young voting in. MLB MOCK DRAFT Who will go No.? Having the best season of his career at this writing.Draft Status of Super Bowl Starters By Chris Malumphy. The Los Angeles Rams will likely start seven st round draft picks on defense and three on offense in Super Bowl LIII..The NBA Draft lottery is an annual event held by the National Basketball Association NBA, in which the teams who had missed the playoffs that previous year participate in a lottery process to determine the draft order in the NBA draft.The NBA Draft lottery started in. In the NBA draft, the teams obtain the rights to amateur U.S. college basketball players and other eligible players.Download the NHL app and set the Hurricanes as your favorite team to get news, video and more delivered straight to your phone..
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Integrins are receptor proteins found on the surface of cells that determine whether or not cells adhere to adjacent cells and the surrounding extracellular matrix. Under normal circumstances, integrins only become activated -- which allows them to bind to other cells or extracellular molecules -- in response to specific signals from within the cell. If integrins become overactive, cells become too "sticky" -- leading to clogged arteries, pathological inflammation, the excess tissue growth called fibrosis or the spread of cancer. Current drugs developed to inhibit integrin activation by mimicking the shape of ligands -- the molecules that interact with receptors -- have had unintended effects in some patients, and as a result only a handful have received FDA approval.
"Integrins have an intrinsic ability to shape-shift when they switch from an inactive to an active, adhesive state," explains M. Amin Arnaout, MD, director of the MGH Leukocyte Biology Program and the Inflammation and Structural Biology Program, senior author of the study. "Unfortunately, under some circumstances the integrin inhibitors that have been developed to date can inadventently induce this shape shifting, and use of these drugs have produced serious, sometimes fatal side effects such as excessive bleeding."
In their search for drugs that would not induce these complications, the MGH team focused on an extracellular matrix protein called fibronectin, which binds to an integrin called αvβ3. Their detailed structural analysis of the bond between αvβ3 and various forms of FN10, the fibronectin molecule that interacts with αvβ3, identified a high-affinity version of FN10 that binds more strongly than the common form without causing unintended receptor activation. This first report of the three-dimensional atomic structure of an integrin binding with a ligand-mimicking molecule that does not cause inadvertent activation could enable the design of a new generation of integrin inhibitors without the complications that have limited their application.Animal Crossing Universal Codes
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rug 261f tatami floor 2620 bamboo flooring 2621 kitchen flooring 2622 charcoal tile 2623 stone tile 2624 imperial tile 2625 opulent rug 2626 slate flooring 2627 ceramic tile 2628 fancy carpet 2629 cowhide rug 262a steel flooring 262b office flooring 262c ancient tile 262d exquisite rug 262e sandlot 262f Jingle carpet 2630 daisy meadow 2631 sidewalk 2632 mosaic tile 2633 parquet floor 2634 basement floor 2635 chessboard rug 2636 kiddie carpet 2637 shanty mat 2638 concrete floor 2639 Saharah's desert 263a tartan rug 263b palace tile 263c tropical floor 263d playroom rug 263e kitschy tile 263f diner tile 2640 block flooring 2641 boxing ring mat 2642 harvest rug 2700 chic wall 2701 classic wall 2702 parlor wall 2703 stone wall 2704 blue-trim wall 2705 plaster wall 2706 classroom wall 2707 lovely wall 2708 exotic wall 2709 mortar wall 270a gold screen wall 270b tea room wall 270c citrus wall 270d cabin wall 270e blue tarp 270f lunar horizon 2710 garden wall 2711 spooky wall 2712 western vista 2713 green wall 2714 blue wall 2715 regal wall 2716 ranch wall 2717 modern wall 2718 cabana wall 2719 Snowman wall 271a backyard fence 271b music room wall 271c plaza wall 271d lattice wall 271e ornate wall 271f modern screen 2720 bamboo wall 2721 kitchen wall 2722 old brick wall 2723 stately wall 2724 imperial wall 2725 manor wall 2726 ivy wall 2727 mod wall 2728 rose wall 2729 wood paneling 272a concrete wall 272b office wall 272c ancient wall 272d exquisite wall 272e sandlot wall 272f Jingle wall 2730 meadow vista 2731 tree-lined wall 2732 arched window 2734 basement wall 2735 backgammon wall 2736 kiddie wall 2737 shanty wall 2738 industrial wall 2739 desert vista 273a library wall 273b floral wall 273c tropical vista 273d playroom wall 273e kitschy wall 273f groovy wall 2740 mushroom mural 2741 ringside seating 2742 harvest wall 2800 apple 2801 cherry 2802 pear 2803 peach 2804 orange 2805 mushroom 2806 candy 2807 coconut 2900 sapling 2901 cedar sapling 2902 white pansy bag 2903 purple pansy bag 2904 yellow pansy bag 2905 white cosmos bag 2906 pink cosmos bag 2907 blue cosmos bag 2908 red tulip bag 2909 white tulip bag 290a yellow tulip bag 2a00 K.K. Chorale 2a01 K.K. March 2a02 K.K. Waltz 2a03 K.K. Swing 2a04 K.K. Jazz 2a05 K.K. Fusion 2a06 K.K. Etude 2a07 K.K. Lullaby 2a08 K.K. Aria 2a09 K.K. Samba 2a0a K.K. Bossa 2a0b K.K. Calypso 2a0c K.K. Salsa 2a0d K.K. Mambo 2a0e K.K. Reggae 2a0f K.K. Ska 2a10 K.K. Tango 2a11 K.K. Faire 2a12 Aloha K.K. 2a13 Lucky K.K. 2a14 K.K. Condor 2a15 K.K. Steppe 2a16 Imperial K.K. 2a17 K.K. Casbah 2a18 K.K. Safari 2a19 K.K. Folk 2a1a K.K. Rock 2a1b Rockin' K.K. 2a1c K.K. Ragtime 2a1d K.K. Gumbo 2a1e The K. Funk 2a1f K.K. Blues 2a20 Soulful K.K. 2a21 K.K. Soul 2a22 K.K. Cruisin' 2a23 K.K. Love Song 2a24 K.K. D & B 2a25 K.K. Technopop 2a26 DJ K.K. 2a27 Only Me 2a28 K.K. Country 2a29 Surfin' K.K. 2a2a K.K. Ballad 2a2b Comrade K.K. 2a2c K.K. Lament 2a2d Go K.K. Rider! 2a2e K.K. Dirge 2a2f K.K. Western 2a30 Mr. K.K. 2a31 Caf� K.K. 2a32 K.K. Parade 2a33 Se�or K.K. 2a34 K.K. Song 2a35 I Love You 2a36 Two Days Ago 2b00 college rule 2b01 school pad 2b02 organizer 2b03 diary 2b04 journal 2b05 pink diary 2b06 captain's log 2b07 blue diary 2b08 french notebook 2b09 scroll 2b0a pink plaid pad 2b0b blue polka pad 2b0c green plaid pad 2b0d red polka pad 2b0e yellow plaid pad 2b0f calligraphy pad 2c00 January Ticket 2e00
2e01 Grab Bag 2f00 10 turnips 2f01 50 turnips 2f02 100 turnips 2f03 Spoiled turnips 3000 purple balloon 3004 Bunny P. balloon 3008 Bunny B. balloon 300c Bunny O. balloon 3010 Lady Liberty 3014 Arc De Triomphe 3018 stone coin 301c mermaid statue 3020 post model 3024 house model 3028 manor model 302c police model 3030 |
. In their view paper isn’t the problem, and gold isn’t the answer. Private profit is the problem, and nationalizing the Fed so that the issuance of fiat paper is controlled by Congress is the answer.
Now, I’ve learned enough along the way to know that “nationalize” is a dirty word, but because of Edward Griffin and all the Gold Bug talking points I’d picked up I was accustomed to arguing that the Fed being privately held was at least part of the problem. So, that contradiction bounced back and forth in my head like a tennis ball for about a year. But now, thanks to Ben Stone from Bad Quaker Dot Com I think I’ve reconciled my thinking.
Ben recently did an episode of the Bad Quaker Podcast titled “Do Libertarians Want Government to Fix Government” in which he discusses a wide variety of issues in his delightful meandering way. In it he asserts, in no uncertain terms, that the Federal Reserve is a private corporation, and libertarians have no business asking Congress to audit or abolish privately held companies. Well, that scratched my brain right where it itched.
For some reason, even though libertarians trumpet that the Fed is a private banking cartel, we’ve been treating the problem as if it was a government agency, just as we’ve advocated the abolition of the IRS, or the Department of Education or the CIA. In reality we should take the same approach we take with all corporations. We should be dissolving the public/private partnership. The problem is not profit. The problem is not bureaucracy. The problem is not even economics. The problem is aggression. The problem is the monopoly privilege granted to the Fed by the State through legal tender laws. That is why Senator Nelson Aldrich was invited to that meeting of bankers on Jekyll Island in 1910. If they’d just wanted to form a cartel they wouldn’t have needed a Senator. They needed Aldrich because they needed the color of law.
Fundamentally I don’t care if they audit the Fed. There is nothing Congress could tell me about the Federal Reserve that would convince me to support it. But now I’m thinking I don’t really care if they abolish the Fed either. Why shouldn’t Ben Bernanke print as much paper as he wants? It’s no crime to put ink to paper. Destroying the value of paper by overprinting is no more a tax than destroying the value of iPods by over manufacturing would be. But we wouldn’t demand a congressional audit of Apple. The same economics applies. The Federal Reserve’s product is dollars. What business is it of Congress how much product a private company produces, or what they sell it for, or who they lend it to?
The act of aggression in the Federal Reserve System is not the printing of money, or the inflation of prices. It’s the enforcement of legal tender laws, and the stifling of competition by the State. It’s the fact that the State demands taxes in dollars, so even if the counter economy had sufficient labor, commodity and capital to sustain without transacting in the dollar economy the Feds would still come after us demanding dollars. It’s the fact that the State goes after almost every viable alternative currency whether it’s the Liberty Dollar or the Gold Dinar and finds some pretense to shut them down. Without this aggression from the State the value of paper would be subject to natural market forces and the Federal Reserve would be little more than a novelty certificate printing company.
So, I’m going to keep wearing my End the Fed t-shirt, and so should you if you’ve got one. But when people ask me what it means I’m not going to go into a long rant about the history and function of the Federal Reserve. I’m going to tell them what I really want deep down. I want to abolish the Federal Government.
Tags: Bad Quaker, Ben Stone, Edward Griffin, End the Fed, Federal Reserve, Jekyll Island, Occupy San FranciscoUrsula Andress, who appeared in the first Bond film, Dr No, says of current 007, Daniel Craig: ‘He’s a great actor, but not James Bond.’ Adding that her old co-star, Sir Sean Connery, remains the ‘true’ Bond. Now 78, Ursula might be regarded as the true Bond girl. She emerged, bikini-clad, from the ocean in the 1962 movie. Morecambe and Wise later parodied the scene. Their half-naked ‘Ursula’ wondered, suggestively, if there was anything she could do for the boys. A startled Eric demands: ‘You haven’t got a chip pan!?’
Ursula Andress, pictured right, says that Daniel Craig, pictured left, is a great actor, but not James Bond
The second wife of ex-Telegraph boss Conrad Black, sexy writer Barbara Amiel sighs: ‘The Right’s long-standing problem is not that it lacks great intellectuals and great writers, but that it has never taken culture seriously. By default, the world of cultural literacy— theatre, books, entertainment—has become the property of the Left.’ Not while boilingly Right-wing Babs, 74, is with us!
Texan ex-model Jerry Hall, 58, pictured, tells Harper’s Bazaar: ‘I think plastic surgery is dangerous and makes people look a bit silly. There’s nothing wrong with a handsome woman with a few lines on her face.’ No doubt her ex-husband – Sir Mick Jagger, 71 – agrees. Not that there’s many lines on the face of model Alicia Rountree, 28, with whom the wrinkled brute now canoodles.
Texan model Jerry Hall says plastic surgery is dangerous and makes people look a bit silly
Distracted by shadow chancellor Ed Balls’s heckling while discussing rail services in the Commons, David Cameron snaps: ‘We’re hearing a lot from the shadow chancellor today. He told us that he was a “long slow burn”... but I have to say the only thing lying in ashes is Labour’s economic credibility.’ The PM refers to Balls’s description himself as a ‘long slow burn’ between the sheets, in a debate about politicians as lovers. Balls’s stony-faced consort, shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper, sat nearby.
NO 10 officials have asked the Department for Education to find out the names of any children who’ve signed up for trips to Syria, presumably fearing more ‘jihadi schoolgirl’ stories. Shouldn’t they ask the chatelaine of No 10, Samantha Cameron, to help with this problem? She visited Syrian refugee camps for Save The Children in 2013.
Speaking in the Commons after the ‘cash for access’ incident, ex-Labour minister Jack Straw had to give way to interrupting Tory MP, Jacob Rees-Mogg. Who, instead of hurling a barb, as might have been expected, paid gracious tribute to Straw’s chairmanship of the House of Commons Governance Committee, adding: ‘I hope he doesn’t mind me interrupting him to put that on record.’ Rees-Mogg explains: ‘I admire him. At Christmas he arrived with mince pies for the committee.’
Couldn't the Duke of Cambridge have spoken to reporters pressing for a comment about performing elephants kept in chains adjacent to a wildlife sanctuary he was visiting in China? Surely it isn’t beyond William to think of something concerned yet diplomatic.Periscope streams are about to get a whole lot more interesting with the latest app update for iPhone. Periscope version 1.3.3 adds GoPro integration that actually lets you live broadcast from the view of your action camera.
Periscope says the update works specifically with the GoPro HERO4 Silver and Black 4K series. The iPhone connects to the action camera’s Wi-Fi to grab the feed, then Periscope handles the live broadcasting to the rest of the world.
What’s New in Version 1.3.3 Broadcast LIVE from your GoPro! If your iPhone is connected to your GoPro Hero 4’s WiFi, simply open Periscope and start broadcasting. During your broadcast, double tap to switch back to your iPhone. It’s that simple to change cameras, giving you the flexibility to make your broadcasts even better. For more information, please go to help.periscope.tv This version also fixes an issue where some profile images would not load.
GoPro’s allow you to film in environments where iPhones otherwise couldn’t safely travel like underwater and during rough and tumble, fast-paced activities.
So long as your iPhone is nearby, tucked away securely, this new Periscope and GoPro integration should be a major win for going live from your action camera.
Meerkat, which launched before Twitter’s Periscope but largely lost in popularity shortly after, previously added GoPro integration for older 3-series action cameras about six months ago. Unfortunately, the $199 GoPro HERO4 Session isn’t supported with Periscope’s integration yet.
Here’s what the experience looks like:
Periscope also recently gained deeper integration with the official Twitter app. Grab the latest update to Periscope for free from the App Store.Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Players can explore Ben Nevis in the new game
Britain's tallest mountain has been recreated in a virtual reality game that is played using 3D headgear.
Map-maker Ordnance Survey (OS) worked on the game that challenges players to find a hidden marker on Ben Nevis.
The game has been made for use with Oculus Rift and Google Cardboard 3D devices.
OS said players would also be able to explore the virtual mountain, which was created using data the mapping agency has on the real Ben Nevis.
Image copyright Ordnance Survey Image caption The game is played using 3D headgear
The organisation's OS Labs worked with 3D technology companies to create the new virtual world.
John Abbott, of OS Labs, said: "OS has no plans at present to create further virtual worlds, but what we have demonstrated is that it can be done, and in terms of future uses it is the perfect medium for visualisation.
"It can be used for planning, as a test environment for running scenarios.
"Put real-world data into the virtual world and you gain a level of experience and understanding of an environment that can only be bettered by actually being there."After watching Dawn of the Dead, I am left to wonder about one thing: If we were to suffer an apocalypse where most of the living became flesh-eating zombies, how long, assuming I survived, would I continue to receive hydroelectricity from my power company? Is it a mean-time-before-failure situation, or would the system automatically shut itself down after a few days? (I am assuming that most of the people who were supposed to be maintaining things at my hydro company would be out looking for brains, and that the surviving hydro employees would be busy digging shelters, etc.) Also, what's the outlook like for people whose chunk of the power grid is supplied by coal, nuclear, and other types of energy? Just wondering how many solar panels I should be putting on my roof!
SDStaff Una replies:
Believe it or not, this is a question I’ve been asked before. Many people wonder how key parts of civilized society might continue after a post-apocalyptic Dawn of the Dead / Night of the Comet / Omega Man / Teletubbies Go to Paris scenario. Your question has two possible answers depending on which scenario of zombie conquest you envision.
In Dawn of the Dead, the zombification process doesn’t happen all at once. We can imagine a gradual scenario in which the infrastructure systems controllers plan ahead for shortages of personnel and try to keep the power going as long as possible. Alternatively, zombification could happen fairly quickly — say, over a few hours. I’ll address the second, more dire scenario in detail first, then the first, slightly less alarming one briefly.
How long the power supply would last in the most critical zombie situation depends on two key factors — first, how long a given power plant can operate without human intervention, and second, how long before enough power plants fail to bring down the entire transmission grid. I’ll ignore the side issues of whether the zombies would want to try to run the power plant themselves, or if they would be a union or non-union shop.
Power plants are incredibly complex facilities with an enormous number of controls, and consequently an enormous number of things that can go wrong. The level of complexity and reliability of the plants is a function of the type of power plant, the control systems installed, and the plant’s age and condition. In addition to the possibility of unplanned events causing shutdowns, there is also the problem of maintaining a fuel supply without human intervention. Given all these variables, coming up with hard and fast numbers is difficult. To address your question as well as I can, I’ll break down power plants by type (coal, nuclear, hydro, and natural gas) and discuss each one separately, focusing on the U.S. and Canada, since their electrical systems are closely tied. I’ll ignore oil-based plants because, contrary to popular belief, oil provides only a small fraction of total utility power generation in North America.
About 51% of U.S. and 16% of Canadian electrical generation comes from coal-fired plants. Coal power plants are generally the most problematic in terms of supplying enough fuel to remain in operation, and I could write (and have written) hundreds of pages about them. Mercifully, I’ll summarize. At most coal power plants the coal is stored in a huge outdoor pile, where it is typically pushed by bulldozers onto a conveyor and carried to large silos or bunkers at an upper level of the plant, from which it is fed to the burners. When the plant is operating at full output, these bunkers theoretically have a capacity ranging from 8 hours to more than 24 hours. As a practical matter, depending on the amount of coal in the bunkers and the way the plant distributes coal to the burners, the plant may start losing power in as little as 2-4 hours. Whether or not this initial reduction in coal flow shuts the plant down depends on the sophistication of the control systems and the ability of the plant to continue at partial power output without operator intervention.
Coal plants commonly require a lot of operator input to keep running. The controls at coal plants vary tremendously, from systems that are essentially unchanged since the 1950s to modern closed-loop neural network predictive models. In my experience from many months spent in control rooms of power plants around the world, coal plants on average require some sort of operator response for a “critical alarm” every 1-3 hours. Sometimes this is a relatively minor issue, such as a warning to flush the ash systems; sometimes it’s more serious, such as excessively high steam temperature or low coal supply. Whatever the case, if the control room were left unattended, I think it’s likely that a large number of coal power plants would “trip” (automatically shut down and disconnect from the electrical grid) within 12-18 hours.
About 20% of United States’ and 12% of Canadian electrical generation comes from nuclear power plants. Nuclear plants can operate a long time between refuelings — 500 days is a typical quoted figure, and some plants (Brunswick 1 and Pickering 7) are notable for having gone more than 700 days between refuelings. Nuclear plants tend to be more stable in operation than coal plants, and generally have more advanced control systems that can correct for minor problems or routine fluctuations. Two nuclear plant operators I asked about this wondered what I had been drinking, then said that a modern North American nuclear plant would likely run unattended for quite a bit longer than a coal power plant barring a mandated operator response — perhaps as long as a few days to a week. This could vary considerably depending on the plant.
Hydroelectric plants supply roughly 60% of the electricity in Canada and 7% in the United States. In addition, the northern U.S. imports a significant amount of Canadian hydro power on top of that 7%. Hydro plants for the most part are highly reliable and require relatively few controls. Since their “fuel” is the water contained behind the dam, their “fuel reserve” can often be measured in weeks or months. Barring sudden equipment failure or other unusual circumstances, most hydroelectric plants in good operating condition would last days or weeks unattended.
Natural gas is the last significant fuel source for power plants in the United States and Canada. Most natural gas power plants in North America use turbines, which resemble a stationary jet engine. (Boilers, the other major gas technology used for electricity generation, typically are used for emergency power or startup power at coal plants.) A turbine receives its gas supply from a pipeline; as long as the pipeline has sufficient pressure, the turbine will have fuel. How long a pipeline would keep its pressure during a Dawn of the Dead event is difficult to determine. Experts I asked thought that pipelines in most regions would maintain pressure for only 1-3 days without human intervention — maybe less, depending on the status of power to the controls and other electrically-powered equipment. In other words, failure of a few key power plants or transmission systems could result in a cascade failure of natural gas supply to large portions of the system.
Simple-cycle natural gas turbines are highly automated systems with relatively few moving parts. I have worked at a power plant with simple-cycle natural gas turbines that ran essentially unattended for three days at a time, with operator input limited to dropping the power output at night and ramping it back up in the morning. That particular plant operated so well and so safely with minimal attention that the operators tended to read a lot, tie flies for fishing lures, and engage in Greco-Roman wrestling when the urge hit them (don’t ask). Combined-cycle gas turbines, which include a steam generation component, have more controls and moving parts and require greater attention. Combined-cycle gas turbines would likely operate unattended for a shorter length of time — perhaps only a day or two, depending on the age of the plant and the degree of automation.
Focusing on individual plants doesn’t give us the whole story, though. The North American power grid is a classic illustration of a chain being only as strong as its weakest link. As we saw during the blackout of August 2003, a relatively minor event or series of events can, under the right circumstances, bring down large portions of the whole system. During the August blackout, despite massive non-zombified human intervention, enough parts of the system failed to result in the loss of more than 265 power plants and 508 generating units within a few hours. As bad as the blackout was, without human intervention to shut down plants safely, balance load, transfer power to different lines, and disconnect salvageable chunks of the system from those that had totally collapsed, it could have been much worse. Quick intervention allowed isolated “islands” of power to remain in service — one large island in western New York supplied nearly 6,000 megawatts and was used to restart the power grid days later. But without humans working to isolate it, that island would not have been formed in the first place.
Bottom line? My guess is that within 4-6 hours there would be scattered blackouts and brownouts in numerous areas, within 12 hours much of the system would be unstable, and within 24 hours most portions of the United States and Canada, aside from a rare island of service in a rural area near a hydroelectric source, would be without power. Some installations served by wind farms and solar might continue, but they would be very small. By the end of a week, I’d be surprised if more than a few abandoned sites were still supplying power.
Now, let’s address a scenario where the zombification process is gradual. If the operators and utilities had sufficient advance warning they could take measures to keep the power going for a while. The first thing would be to isolate key portions of the grid, reducing the interties and connections, and then cease power delivery altogether to areas of highest zombie density. After all, it’s not like the zombies need light to read or electricity to play Everquest. Whole blocks and zones would be purposely cut off to reduce the potential drains (and to cope with downed lines from zombies climbing poles or driving trucks into transformers). Operators would work to create islands of power plants wherever possible, so if a plant were overrun by zombies and went down it wouldn’t drag others down with it. In cooperation with regional reliability coordinators, the plant operators would improve plant reliability by disabling or eliminating non-critical alarm systems that might otherwise shut down a power plant, and ignoring many safety and emissions issues.
Fuel supply would eventually be a problem. Hydro plants would fare best, essentially having an unlimited fuel supply given normal rainfall, and could operate until some essential component failed or wore out. Nuclear plants could run for perhaps a year or more before they would need refueling. Refueling is a tricky operation requiring many specialized personnel, and it’s doubtful that a nuclear plant could effectively refuel if 90% of the nuclear technicians and engineers in the country were running around glassy-eyed in the parking lot. Coal power plants on average have maybe 45-60 days’ worth of coal on hand. If the power output of the plant were reduced, this could be stretched for six months or more, but eventually it would run out unless deliveries could be maintained. There are a few mine-mouth coal power plants in the U.S. that could conceivably run for years, provided enough miners and operators remained un-zombified. Natural gas plants might be the most vulnerable, since maintaining the gas wells, balancing the gas flow, and otherwise keeping the pipeline system intact requires considerable effort. In addition, most power plants have little or no gas storage available on-site, so a zombie situation could put natural gas plants in a real bind.
So there you have it. As to your final question, I can suggest a better tactic than relying on solar. Go to the abandoned hardware stores, load up a flatbed trailer with gasoline generators, and take them and a few dozen tanker trucks of gasoline to your house. You could have power for a long time, possibly years or more, until the zombies finally come for you.
SDStaff Karen inquires:
What about random zombie sabotage? For example, if some zombies got into the power plant and started randomly pushing buttons, pulling levers, and yanking cables, how much damage could they do?
SDStaff Una replies:
Outside the control room, most essential wires and cables are contained in armored cable trays, or else are tucked well out of the way. However, once you get into that control room … well, the ones at the power plants I have been to are amazingly fragile. Most coal plants have an incredible number of exposed controls that can trip the unit, and I have met engineers who had accidentally done just that during a site visit. That’s why I instruct all the engineers working under me on their first visit to the control room to not only not touch anything, but to leave a “magic foot,” or one-foot barrier, between them and any and all controls, tables, chairs, etc.
Sometimes that doesn’t work. A co-worker was notorious for years for having bumped an empty ceramic coffee mug that fell onto a control panel, hit a control, and ended up tripping the unit. A $20,000 mistake. Thankfully, I’ve never done that.
Gas turbine plants are typically self-contained and the controls are out of the way. However, punching or clawing at a few panels would shut them down hard. My understanding is nuclear plants have more safeguards, but they’re not my area of expertise, and times being what they are, I’d just as soon not know.
References
Canadian Electricity Association Website – http://www.canelect.ca/english/electricity_in_canada_snapshot_Demand_1.html
US DOE Energy Information Administration Website – http://www.eia.doe.gov/cneaf/electricity/epm/table1_1.html
Nuclear Energy Institute Website – http://www.nei.org/index.asp?catnum =2&catid=47
U.S.-Canada Power System Outage Task Force, Final Report on the August 14th Blackout in the United States and Canada – https://reports.energy.gov.
Send questions to Cecil via [email protected].
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STAFF REPORTS ARE WRITTEN BY THE STRAIGHT DOPE SCIENCE ADVISORY BOARD, CECIL'S ONLINE AUXILIARY. THOUGH THE SDSAB DOES ITS BEST, THESE COLUMNS ARE EDITED BY ED ZOTTI, NOT CECIL, SO ACCURACYWISE YOU'D BETTER KEEP YOUR FINGERS CROSSED.This is the Triumph Speed Twin Concept, a bike commissioned by Triumph to show what the Bonneville might have evolved into, in a parallel universe.
I love the concept.
Designed by Roy Norton and Tom Kasher who were on a placement at a design studio, I get the impression the pair are into motorcycle and not just designers.
The girder forks-alone do it for me. I know they're a throwback to old times but you don't see enough of them on today's bikes. Riding a bike with girder forks is a mesmerising experience, seeing that front shock working hard, confirming that you're pressing on.
The sculpted tank and the direct line across and through the line of the seat gives the bike a clean, uncluttered look.
Big thumbs up from here. When do we get one, Triumph?Like vultures to offal or flies buzzing the garbage pail, the misanthropic among us didn't take long to attach their approvals to Wednesday's bizarre attack on a state vehicle used for speed camera enforcement along the Baltimore-Washington Parkway.
The only surprise was that comments posted on this newspaper's website and other forums didn't couch their plaudits in some manner that would at least give the appearance of civility. Something like, "I don't condone what happened, but …"
Instead, there was an unapologetic, "this is what happens when government runs amok" posted within minutes of the parkway's shutdown, when little was known about the incident except that a parked State Highway Administration Jeep had been attacked by a man wielding a shotgun and hammer who remained on the loose.
Needless to say, far less sympathy was shown by these "striking a blow for freedom" posters on the Internet over the last 24 hours to the frightened contractual worker inside the vehicle who was left to frantically blow the horn as his attacker smashed the SUV's windshield.
Let's make this clear: This was no civil libertarian exercising his right to protest. It was assault with a deadly weapon, a serious felony, and state police acted prudently when they chose to close the highway for hours Wednesday in an attempt to apprehend this criminal and protect surrounding communities.
That it took place practically in the shadow of Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport should only add to the public outrage over this. That anyone would elevate the perpetrator (who was allegedly yelling incoherently at the time) to folk hero status suggests that he may not be the only one with anger management issues.
Speed cameras — and their equally attentive sister, red light cameras — have certainly stirred ugly behavior in other parts of the country. Acts of vandalism against them are not unknown, and even their supporters have to acknowledge there's a Big Brother element to them that can be unsettling to those of us who like our privacy intact.
But the indisputable truth about them is that they cause traffic to slow down, and that makes the roads where they are used safer. The SHA uses this particular vehicle to calm traffic in work zones. The agency even posts warning signs where it's in use.
As a moneymaker, speed cameras are not all that great. So far, the SHA has raked in $18.4 million (as of May 31) and netted $12.7 million since October 2009, when the cameras were first used, all of which has gone to the Maryland State Police. Not only is that peanuts in the context of a $14.6 billion state general fund budget, but future revenues will likely decline as motorists grow accustomed to their presence.
But as a way to change driver behavior, they've been quite successful. SHA surveys have found fewer cars speeding in work zones since they went into use. It's too early to tell whether that will, in turn, significantly reduce the fatality rate. About a dozen people die in work zone accidents each year inMaryland.
The growing number of counties that have deployed speed cameras to enforce speed limits near schools have reported similar findings. The added bonus is that they allow police to devote themselves to other, usually more important, duties than running speed traps.
Shame on those who refused to acknowledge the public benefit accrued from such devices and prefer to foment hostility toward law enforcement efforts. Theirs is no more a crusade for a libertarian ideal than spray painting gang signs on an overpass. As for the B-W Parkway attacker, at best, his action constitutes vandalism; at worst, a felony. In either case, it should be unequivocally condemned.
Automated speed enforcement program violation rates per 1,000 passing vehiclesJuly, 2010February, 20110-5 mph over limit57186-10 mph over limit10311-20 mph over limit2.20.5>20 mph over limit0.30.3Source: Maryland State Highway AdministrationInsisting on the truth in times of chaos — Jordan Peterson
David Fuller Blocked Unblock Follow Following May 19, 2017
Edit: Since writing this — I made the above documentary, also called Truth in the Time of Chaos — and — based largely on Jordan Peterson’s work, I have started a new men’s movement called Rebel Wisdom — with events, meetings and content — in London, UK. More details here: www.rebelwisdom.co.uk
“This man could single-handedly save Western Civilization, if people would listen.”
A typically bombastic quote from a Youtube commenter on one of Jordan Peterson’s online lectures. But in the last weeks of listening to him, I’ve come to think that he might have a point.
Jordan Peterson is a clinical psychologist and professor at the University of Toronto. I would say that what gives his words such impact is the way he combines the deep insights into the individual human psyche he has gained from clinical practice — working with people in states of psychological crisis and personal transformation — with a deep engagement with the ideas and thinkers who have most clearly grappled with the deepest existential questions of the human condition.
And more than that, his is a voice deeply engaged with the problems of the present moment, and he himself believes that the stakes are high: “I do believe we are in a period of chaos — and in a period of chaos the time horizon shrinks — because the outcome is uncertain … sometimes the outcome is catastrophe.”
In the last few weeks, I suddenly started hearing the name Jordan Peterson everywhere, on mailing lists, discussion groups and from friends’ recommendations. I checked out one of his lectures and suddenly I was hooked.
Youtube has made his ubiquity possible — his philosophy is tied into the concept of truth as a performance, an embodiment of aligning oneself with the creative principle itself — so watching and listening cannot be replaced with articles like this one. But I’ve transcribed a lot of his words as an introduction for others, and quote him extensively below — with links at the bottom for the curious to go and listen to the lectures.
I have rarely if ever felt so clearly that one person’s thinking resonated so deeply with me, that his words were both crystallising thoughts that were partially formed in myself, AND felt like they were cutting new tracks in my brain at the same time. Even more importantly — that this was an essential voice for the times.
And I’m clearly not the only one, as he says in a different lecture:
“That’s another hallmark of truth, is that it snaps things together. People write to me all the time and say it’s as if things were coming together in my mind. It’s like the Platonic idea that all learning was remembering. You have a nature and when you feel that nature articulated it’s it’s like the act of snapping the puzzle pieces together.”
In a way he applies Darwinian evolutionary theory to the history of ideas (memes). In particular he brings an understanding and appreciation for mythology and religion and the deeper truths hidden inside them, and explains how it is essential to understand the mythological structure of western society — and how not understanding it has led to ideologies that caused untold suffering in the past, and may well do again.
Since discovering him I have been bombarding friends with clips and links — I am writing this as a brief introduction to his thinking, with transcribed quotes from him, with some of my interpretations, with links and references to allow anyone interested to go and listen to the man himself.
And you should go and listen, because the core of his philosophy is about learning to embody truth more and more in yourself, becoming more and more aligned with this truth which gives your words more power and impact. That actually this process is the hidden message of the unfolding story of western culture that goes back millennia. Listening to him speak is to hear that process itself unfold.
“Truth is something that burns”
He distils the essence of his religious and mythological thought to the point where even atheists online are saying that they finally have an appreciation for religion — but it is also deliberately challenging to many — especially a set of ideas on the ‘left’ that have hardened into a kind of distinct ideology — often called post-modernism or post-structuralism.
He sees the process of arriving at truth as a process of personal growth and transformation which can be extremely painful to undergo. It’s a harder-edged version of the spiritual idea that we must overcome the ‘ego’ to arrive at the truth of our being.
“The truth is something that burns. It burns off dead wood. And people don’t like having the dead wood burnt off often because they’re 95 percent dead wood. Believe me I’m not being snide about that. It’s no joke. When you start to realise how much of what you’ve constructed of yourself is based on deception and lies, that is a horrifying realisation. It can easily be 95 percent of you and the things you say and the things you act out.”
Listening to Peterson is to begin, or continue this journey of self discovery — to dare to learn just how much of yourself is made up from ideas you have inherited from others, and how many of the words you speak and thoughts you think are not your own. Are you ready for that journey?
As a Jungian psychologist he explicitly links this journey to the concept of the encounter with our personal ‘shadow’ — the part of ourselves we repress or deny. He also links it to the great stories of mythology from prehistory onwards — how the hero goes into the underworld, encounters the dragon and comes back with the gold. Echoes of Joseph Campbell’s hero’s journey.
How do we do that? We begin by really paying attention the things that we say:
“If you’re not using your own words, you’re the puppet of an ideology or another thinker or your own impulsive desires. You can tell when you’re speaking like that because it makes you feel weak — it makes you feel weak and ashamed, and you can localise that feeling physiologically if you listen to yourself talk. When you are speaking properly you will experience a feeling of integration and strength and when you’re speaking in a deceitful or manipulative manner you’ll feel that you’re starting to come apart at the seams. What you need to do is practice only saying things that make you feel stronger. At first you’ll notice that almost everything you say is a lie. It’s either a lie or someone else’s words. It’s very hard to find your own words — and you don’t actually exist until you have your own words.”
Peterson’s journey was highly influenced by the Cold War, and the sense in the 80s that we were potentially only moments away from annihilation. This sparked something of a personal crisis in himself and he looked closely at how ideologies were created, how totalitarianism seemed to result regularly from these ideologies.
Though he himself says it’s almost impossible to simplify his thought — a speech earlier this year came closest to doing it:
“There’s a principle at the heart of western civilisation and it’s older than Christianity and it’s older than Judaism, although Christianity developed it to a great degree. It’s the idea of the Logos — which means something like coherent interpersonal communication of the truth — and from an archetypal perspective it’s the action of the logos that extracts order from chaos.
We make order by articulating truth and then we inhabit the order. The order is the negotiated social agreements we come to to live among each other without tearing each other to shreds — which is basically what chimpanzees do to each other — so we need to negotiate the social order and we do that through articulated speech.
What Christianity did was take that proposition — derived partly from Mesopotamia, partly from Judaism and partly from Egypt and turn it into a symbolic doctrine — taking the figure of Christ, who from a psychological and archetypal perspective is the ideal man — an image of the ideal — which is the word made flesh, the instantiation of the logos in the body so that it’s acted out in the world. It’s the fundamental proposition of western culture — and we’ve lost it, and we will not survive without it.”
Rise to fame
His current moment of fame started in at the end of 2016 when a couple of Youtube videos he made about changes to the law in Canada went viral. The law was enacted supposedly in favour of transgender rights, and which in effect would compel people to use specific gender pronouns under the threat of the law.
He argued that — far from just opposing oppression and discrimination, the law was in fact built on a set of assumptions about human nature that were not only controversial, but also highly dangerous, a form of postmodern ideology that had echoes of totalitarianism. A longer explanation of how this controversy played out is at the start of this podcast with Joe Rogan.
“So then the argument started in the media and online as well; “What the hell was going on, was I just this bigoted transphobic fossil dinosaur, or was something else happening?” And I believe when I made the videos that the legislation itself and the policies were signifying a crisis, a disjunction in western society — of which the gender pronoun argument was only a tiny tendril. I put my finger on a nerve.”
This is a central feature of his thought — that the universities in particular (and culture at large) have fallen under the sway of a new version of Marxist thought — hidden inside a worldview of ‘opposing oppression’. How even if this worldview has elements of truth, and is followed by people driven by compassion and a desire for justice — it has become a fixed and divisive ideology.
And also that the vast majority of people who use the language of the postmodernists, the arguments of ‘power and privilege’ and oppression, are unwitting exponents of a neo-Marxist ideology which is essentially identical to the worldview that caused mass murder wherever it was implemented in the 20th century.
My reading of him is that he isn’t saying he thinks it is likely that this ideology will take over the world in the same way that communism did (although the Canadian law he objected to was a real world example of it being put into practice) — more that it’s a prison of the intellect — |
's in Serbia's interests to be aligned with Europe and the Serbian people can know that they have a friend in America."[74]
Russia reacted with condemnation, stating they "expect the UN mission and NATO-led forces in Kosovo to take immediate action to carry out their mandate [...] including the annulling of the decisions of Pristina's self-governing organs and the taking of tough administrative measures against them."[74]
In Tirana, the capital of Albania, 'Kosovo Day' was held as a celebration.[75]
Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdoğan phoned Prime Minister of Kosovo Hashim Thaçi saying the declaration of independence "will bring to Balkans peace and stability".[76]
The Republic of China's (commonly known as Taiwan; non-UN member) Foreign Ministry stated "We congratulate the Kosovo people on their winning independence and hope they enjoy the fruits of democracy and freedom. [...] Democracy and self-determination are the rights endorsed by the United Nations. The Republic of China always supports sovereign countries' seeking democracy, sovereignty and independence through peaceful means."[77] Taiwan's political rival, the People's Republic of China, responded quickly, saying that "Taiwan, as a part of China, has no right and qualification at all to make the so-called recognition".[78]
Amongst Southeast Asian countries where Muslim separatist movements were active in at least three states, Indonesia, with the world's largest Muslim population, deferred recognition of an independent Kosovo,[79] while the Philippines declared it will not oppose, but nor will it support Kosovo's independence.[80][81] Both countries face pressures from Muslim separatist movements within their territories, notably Aceh and southern Mindanao respectively. Vietnam expressed opposition,[82] while Singapore reported that it was still studying the situation.[83] Malaysia, which headed the Organisation of the Islamic Conference at the time, formally recognized Kosovo's sovereignty three days after its independence.[84]
Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd backed Kosovan independence on the morning of 18 February, saying "This would appear to be the right course of action. That's why, diplomatically, we would extend recognition at the earliest opportunity."[85] New Zealand's Former Prime Minister Helen Clark said that New Zealand would neither recognise nor not recognise an independent Kosovo.[86] Pro-Independence rallies were held by ethnic Albanians in Canada in the days leading up to the declaration.[87]
On 9 November 2009 New Zealand officially accepted Kosovo's independence.
President of Northern Cyprus (a state not recognised by the UN) Mehmet Ali Talat saluted the independence of Kosovo and hopes that the state is respected and assisted, in staunch opposition to the position of the Republic of Cyprus.[88]
United Nations [ edit ]
Following a request from Russia, the United Nations Security Council held an emergency session in the afternoon of 17 February.[73] The United Nations Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon, issued a statement that avoided taking sides and urged all parties "to refrain from any actions of statements that could endanger peace, incite violence or jeopardize security in Kosovo or the region."[89] Speaking on behalf of six countries—Belgium, Croatia, France, Germany, Italy and the United States—the Belgian ambassador expressed regret "that the Security Council cannot agree on the way forward, but this impasse has been clear for many months. Today's events... represent the conclusion of a status process that has exhausted all avenues in pursuit of a negotiated outcome."[90]
ICJ ruling [ edit ]
On July 22, 2010 the International Court of Justice ruled that the declaration did not violate international law, holding that the authors were acting in their capacity as representatives of the people of Kosovo outside the framework of the interim administration (the Assembly of Kosovo and the Provisional Institutions of Self-Government), and were therefore not bound by the Constitutional Framework (promulgated by UNMIK) or by UNSCR1244 that is addressed only to United Nations Member States and organs of the United Nations.[1] Prior to the announcement Hashim Thaçi said there would be no "winners or losers" and that "I expect this to be a correct decision, according to the will of Kosovo's citizens. Kosovo will respect the advisory opinion." For his part, Boris Tadić, the Serbian president, warned that "If the International Court of Justice sets a new principle, it would trigger a process that would create several new countries and destabilise numerous regions in the world."[91]
See also [ edit ]
References [ edit ]
Further reading [ edit ]How did you spend your summer? If you’re like many, rather than spending money you don’t have visiting exotic foreign lands, you chose to leave your passport at home and visit one of the many wonders available in our very own country, our national or state parks. If Mitt Romney is elected, as one GOP Congressman claims, state and national parks could begin to disappear.
Rep. Steve Pearce (R-NM) said in a speech to the Colorado Conservative Political Action Conference,
America, each state, the public lands were given back to the states after they were chartered. But in the West, starting with Teddy Roosevelt who had the big ideas of big forests and big national parks, they held that land. And so the next chart shows you the effect on us in the West. Just understand this is the education. The red is of course bad. We’re starved in the West for education funds because of policies that Mitt Romney sat and listened to Rob Bishop and myself explain when it came to Hobbs. He knows that if we want to reverse the trend, we’ll reverse this trend of public ownership of lands starving education. (Think Progress)
Here’s the video:
When Mitt Romney looks at national parks, he, like Congressman Pearce, sees wasted space. Instead of beauty, they see the potential for oil or coal underneath. Republicans often frame the debate as a complaint that the big, bad gubment owns land. Oh, for shame! Romney himself said, “I don’t know why the government owns so much of this land.”
Why don’t we try replacing the word “government” with “people.” How does that sound? “I don’t know why the people own so much of this land.” Then let’s talk about Mitt Romney’s energy policy, in which he proposes to sell our land to the highest bidder.
Romney denies that the national parks would be under threat but The Center for American Progress thinks that at least five parks are at risk.Forget Russia. Forget WikiLeaks and its document dumps. Forget, even, all of those undocumented residents who, according to President Donald Trump, voted illegally and cost him the popular vote.
U.S. Rep. Brian Mast, R-Palm City, said the press was “the greatest saboteur” in the 2016 election.
Mast, whose district includes northern Palm Beach County and the Treasure Coast, made the comment during a roundtable discussion with other members of Congress filmed by CBS News.
“If I would point to anyone as the greatest saboteur of our election, it would be the press and the way they drive the message that they want to drive – hands down,” Mast said.
His comment drew an immediate response from U.S. Rep. Bill Pascrell, D-N.J.
“Yeah, but what’s the alternative?” Pascrell asked Mast. “You want to do it like Greece and Turkey in terms of how they control their media, particularly their print media? I think the press has done a fantastic job.”
Pascrell then decried attacks on the press over the past six months.
“I would say the alternative is more editorializing and less opinion,” Mast said.
Members of both parties told CBS News that the press seizes on political discord, but, with Trump branding unfavorable reports as “fake news,” ripping the press has become a staple of some Republicans.
Asked for comment Wednesday, a spokesman for Mast said the congressman will let his remarks speak for themselves.
While Mast described the press as the “greatest saboteur” of the 2016 election, he has been critical of Russia, which U.S. intelligence agencies said tried to influence the election.
“Unfortunately, the vacuum of power created by the Obama Administration has also been filled by Russia to sow chaos through both physical and cyber warfare,” the congressman says on his web site. “Russia’s expansion in Eastern Europe must be stopped and their attempts to influence the outcome of American elections must not be tolerated.”
Democrats have said their internal polling indicates that Mast will be among the most vulnerable Republicans in the country when he seeks re-election next year. The seat is expected to be a key part of the Democrats’ push to recapture a majority in the U.S. House of Representatives.
In an effort to tie Mast to the unfolding Russia scandal, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee has cited reporting that a Mast consultant used information the Russians stole from the DCCC’s computers in 2016.
“Congressman Mast’s campaign used information stolen by Russian hackers and then got caught trying to mislead his voters about what his campaign had done,” Cole Leiter, a DCCC spokesman, said Wednesday. “Frankly, it’s telling how far Washington he’s gone that he’s now pointing fingers at the media instead of taking responsibility for his own dirty tricks.”
Republicans have said they aren’t worried about Mast’s re-election prospects and have labeled the used-hacked-information charge as a “ridiculous lie.”Insisting that people vote for the lesser evil is essentially saying the end justifies the means. And to abandon what we think is right is to throw standards of right and wrong in the trash.
In this election, we seem to be faced with a choice between the lesser of two evils. The problem affects partisans on both sides of the aisle. Progressives, turned off by Hillary Clinton’s ties to Wall Street, her support of free trade and modest interventionism, and general corruption (Clinton Foundation donations, email server in the bathroom closet, etc.), are debating whether they need to hold their noses and pull the lever for Clinton to stop Donald Trump.
Conservatives are weighing whether to listen to Ted Cruz’s call to “vote your conscience” or to cast their lot in with Trump to stop Clinton. Both groups agree they wouldn’t vote for Trump or Clinton on an up or down vote. However, given the two options, many argue we ought to pick the lesser of two evils.
The basic principle behind such arguments (let’s call it “lesser evil voting,” or LEV) is fairly straightforward: In an election in which there are only two candidates with a reasonable chance of winning, if both candidates are bad, we are morally obligated support the candidate who will do less harm.
Lesser Evil Voting Analyzed
However, we must unpack what this entails to evaluate whether the argument holds water. There are two main implications of using this argument to support Trump.
Not voting for Trump is the same as supporting or aiding Clinton.
According to those using the LEV argument against Never Trumpers on the Right, choosing not to perform one action (i.e., not actively voting for or supporting Trump) is equivalent to choosing to perform the opposite action (actively voting for or supporting Clinton). The logic here is fairly straightforward: If you don’t vote for Trump, that’s one less vote Clinton needs to overcome to win. If you refrain from praising Trump or actively criticize him, you are, in effect, helping Clinton, since that discourages potential Trump voters, thus lowering the threshold for a Clinton electoral victory.
An action’s morality is judged solely based on outcomes.
LEV is a consequentialist view of voting. It holds that the morality of an action is determined by whether it maximizes good effects and minimizes bad effects. LEV says voting should be based solely on the perceived consequences of an action or choice. According to LEV, if casting a vote for Clinton and refraining from voting at all or voting third party lead to the same outcome of Hillary being elected, they are morally equivalent.
Since pro-Trumpers see Hillary being elected as worse than Trump being elected, then not voting for Trump is equivalent to voting for Clinton. A further conclusion is drawn from this: If they are morally equivalent, then if your action helps Clinton get elected you are morally responsible for all that follows upon her election.
Not Acting Is Not the Same as Acting
There is an important distinction between actions and omissions. Advocates of LEV claim that not acting is as much of a voluntary choice as acting; therefore, choosing not to oppose Hillary is the same as helping her. It may be true that not voting for Trump is a voluntary act, but this does not mean omitting to prevent an evil is always morally equivalent to performing the evil.
Sometimes a failure to act is equivalent to acting. If Frank is drowning in a swimming pool, and I choose to do nothing to help him, I am responsible for his death just as much as if I actively chose to hold his head underwater. Why, however, are these two equivalent? It is because I have a prior duty to help those in need to the best of my ability and a prior duty not to drown people. If I can help Frank, I should. The equivalence here comes from the duties I have, not necessarily from the similar outcomes.
You do not owe Donald Trump a vote any more than you owe Hillary Clinton a vote.
However, if there is no obligation, then in such cases not acting is not the same as acting. Even if the results may be the same, I am not responsible when I am not obliged. If I have no obligation to buy Timmy a Christmas present, I am not responsible for any potential disappointment Timmy might experience on Christmas morning. Likewise, and most relevant for voting, we must consider whether we have an obligation to vote for a candidate.
Here, we see that we do not. You do not owe Donald Trump a vote any more than you owe Hillary Clinton a vote. There is no moral demand that you must support a particular candidate. Furthermore, if in good conscience you cannot support Trump, you must obey your prior duty to obey your conscience. When Cruz said conservatives should “vote their conscience,” he was reiterating a basic moral duty. To abandon what we think is right is to throw standards of right and wrong in the trash.
Consequentialism Is an Unworkable, Incomplete Standard
While at first blush we sense the intuitive appeal of LEV because of the seemingly straightforward nature of consequentialist thinking, there are two basic problems with adopting this moral standard.
It is impossible to take into account every possible effect of an action or choice and weigh the various outcomes against each other.
First, judging an election solely based on its consequences is impossible and unworkable. It is impossible to take into account every possible effect of an action or choice and weigh the various outcomes against each other. This is especially true of arguments for Trump. Since we are voting for someone in terms of what might happen, there is no way to know every possible outcome and effect of a Trump or Clinton presidency.
If Trump is elected, he might appoint Supreme Court justices who are good. Those judges may later rule in ways we see as fundamentally wrong (e.g., John Roberts on ObamaCare and Anthony Kennedy on abortion and marriage). If we are to vote based on possible outcomes, this is not workable.
Moreover, assuming Trump’s previous about-faces on different positions indicate who he is, we cannot be sure he even will appoint the justices he mentioned or implement the positions he has promised. Moreover, how are we to weigh the possible benefits of a good SCOTUS appointment against negative outcomes, such as the damage done to conservatism if Trump represents a true sea change in GOP priorities? Supporting Trump means endorsing a deeply illiberal approach to politics, one in which we see the president as the sole means of accomplishing anything. “I will be your voice” is not the motto of conservative leaders such as Edmund Burke, G.K. Chesterton, Russell Kirk, Eric Voeglin, Bill Buckley, and Ronald Reagan.
Second, sometimes the key factor that determines our moral choice will be the outcomes of the various options. However, this should only come after we have established that the action by which we achieve the desired outcome is not fundamentally wrong. By embracing LEV as our operative principle, we are embracing consequentialist thinking in general; we are saying that the end justifies the means.
Voting and politics are not a sui generis category of moral action where only consequences matter. To ignore the morality of the action apart from its effect means that there could be cases where it would be morally acceptable to lie, cheat, steal, rape, and murder, so long as the positive benefits of murder, rape, or theft outweighed the negative consequences.
Voting for the Lesser Evil Rejects Principles Completely
If we cannot and should not evaluate other spheres of human activity solely in terms of outcomes, why should voting and politics be an exception? Conservatives rightly complain about President Obama’s overreaching executive actions. However, if the only criteria we think relevant are outcomes, we cannot protest Obama’s actions because they are unconstitutional; our only argument would be that we don’t like what he’s using them to accomplish.
Your vote is not merely a means to an end. It is a reflection of yourself and the nation you wish to create.
A true defender of the Constitution should no more approve of President Trump ignoring the Constitution than he would President Obama or a President Clinton doing the same, regardless of the outcomes. To focus on consequences alone is to argue “It’s wrong because I don’t like the outcome” and “It’s right because I like the outcome.” These are arguments fit for children, not for rational adults. Such reasoning has absolutely no legal force in court or moral force in the sphere of public opinion.
So adopting the lesser evil principle of voting is to reject principle and the idea that actions, apart from outcomes, matter. We should consider possible outcomes when voting, but we must consider the necessary implications of who we are supporting and what this support says about us and our values. To vote for Trump to stop Clinton is still to vote for Trump and everything he stands for.
Given that this election season has become interminably long, our choice cannot be cast as a split-second decision where we have no time to deliberate. When choosing who to vote for in November, remember that your vote is not merely a means to an end. It is a reflection of yourself and the nation you wish to create. If you think Clinton or Trump’s policies, ideology (or lack thereof), and rhetoric are poisonous, remember the advice of P. J. O’Rourke: “Don’t vote! It just encourages the bastards.”At the Washington Examiner, Byron York argues that those who fight Donald Trump on Donald Trump’s terms end up diminished. Trump sprays insults with abandon, mocking everything from his critics’ intelligence to their popularity to their ethics to their plastic surgery, but those who engage with the president of the United States on his own level make themselves look smaller and meaner, and they are never able to go as low for as long as Trump.
“Of course one could say that Trump is at fault,” York writes. Yes, one could. York doesn’t so much reject that possibility as rule it out as a category error. Unlike most people, whose behavior is bounded by shame and thus amenable to criticism, Trump is truly shameless, and thus criticizing his behavior is useless. “Trump is Trump,” York writes. “He does what he does.”
York has a point. Trump takes such glee in conflict, and cares so little for standards of decency or compassion, that his assailants often diminish themselves by betraying their own values out of desperation. But this isn’t just true of Trump’s assailants. It is true of all of us. To consistently engage with Trump is to be diminished by him. And we have all been diminished by his presidency.
We are diminished when our president lies, and even more so when we begin taking his habitual lying for granted. The New York Times published a comprehensive list of falsehoods Trump told since taking office and found it wasn’t until March that Trump went a full day without saying something flatly untrue. The absence of public dishonesty, for Trump, is usually driven by an absence of opportunity to be publicly dishonest. “On days without an untrue statement, he is often absent from Twitter, vacationing at Mar-a-Lago in Florida, or busy golfing,” the Times found.
We are diminished when our president uses cyberbullying as a communications strategy, spending his mornings picking childish fights on Twitter and coming up with insulting nicknames for his enemies. It is impossible to imagine the firestorm that would have followed Barack Obama or Bill Clinton mocking a television anchor’s plastic surgery. But in this White House, press officers justify the president’s insults by saying he “fights fire with fire.” The president is teaching our children that bullies win so long as they never, ever back down.
We are diminished when our president spends his time and energy — and thus the nation’s time and energy — on the wrong issues. At Axios, Mike Allen notes Trump has tweeted the words “opioid” or “opioids” just once — but “loser” 234 times, and “dumb” or “dummy” 222 times. Political capital is finite, and our future is harmed when it is squandered.
We are diminished when the president knows nothing about the issues he faces, and does not try to learn more. It is embarrassing that the president’s staffers have taken to writing his name as often as possible in briefing documents for fear that he will lose interest otherwise, that they fill his press clips with sycophantic praise in an effort to distract him from Twitter, that they fight to appear on Fox & Friends because they know he takes advice from the television better than from his own advisers. We have a president who was not humble enough to realize health care and North Korea are complex problems, and who has not responded to that realization by seriously studying the issues.
We are diminished when our political leaders excuse or ignore behavior they know is wrong. On Face the Nation Sunday, Sen. Mike Lee of Utah, a conservative Republican who just wrote a book about the Founding Fathers, was asked to evaluate Trump’s behavior “based on your view of the standards the founders set for virtue.” Lee took a hard pass. “It's not going to do any good for me or anyone else to come in and just comment on things we might not like about his Twitter behavior,” he said.
Lee’s position has become standard fare for Republican politicians who are appalled by their president but wary of criticizing him daily. Thus, the party that tried to impeach Bill Clinton to protect family values has embraced the position that it does no good to publicly discuss the president’s routine violations of basic decency. Unable to defend the president’s behavior, Republicans have decided the only viable path forward is to declare him exempt from moral judgment.
We are diminished when the people who need America’s mercy and protection most are harmed in service of lies and bigotry. The refugees the president has sought to bar from our shores have never attacked this country, and are in desperate need of its help. The immigrants the president has called rapists and murders commit crimes at a lower rate than native-born citizens — they are overwhelmingly here to feed their families, not terrorize anyone else’s. The men, women, and children who will lose health insurance under the legislation the president has endorsed are the same people he promised to help.
We are diminished when the rest of the world comes to doubt our leadership and reliability. A Pew poll of 37 countries ranging from Sweden to India to Brazil to Ghana shows attitudes toward the United States have collapsed since Trump took office. At the end of Obama’s presidency, 64 percent of people in these countries said they were confident in the US president. Today, that has fallen to 22 percent. Opinions of America overall have fallen by 15 points. The chancellor of Germany warned that Europe could no longer depend on the US.
We are diminished when our president has little respect for the institutions and norms that have protected our country. Trump has done his best to sow doubt about the legitimacy of America’s electoral system, of its civil servants, of its courts, and of its media. He has created an enemies list to explain away his failures and misdeeds — in his telling, he is beset by “so-called judges,” the deep state, illegal voters, and fake news.
He routinely praises authoritarian rulers abroad while dismissing and undermining democratic results at home. He fired the director of the FBI to squash a troublesome investigation and then bragged about it on television. His demands for loyalty pledges, and his resistance to the idea that political appointees serve the country rather than him, have rendered the US government untrustworthy.
A list like this can go on. It is a measure of our diminishment how much is left off it — how many outrages and disappointments have already faded from memory. Six months into his term, Trump’s policy achievements are few and thin, but he has coarsened our politics, shown the power of shamelessness, undermined our faith in each other and ourselves, modeled behavior we would punish children for exhibiting, and implicated all of us in the running fiasco of his presidency. He has diminished the country he promised to make great.Various Vaseline glassware glowing under a few UV black lights Uranium glass used as lead-in seals in a vacuum capacitor Uranium glass is glass which has had uranium, usually in oxide diuranate form, added to a glass mix before melting for coloration. The proportion usually varies from trace levels to about 2% uranium by weight, although some 20th-century pieces were made with up to 25% uranium.[1][2] Uranium glass was once made into tableware and household items, but fell out of widespread use when the availability of uranium to most industries was sharply curtailed during the Cold War in the 1940s to 1990s. Most such objects are now considered antiques or retro-era collectibles, although there has been a minor revival in art glassware. Otherwise, modern uranium glass is now mainly limited to small objects like beads or marbles as scientific or decorative novelties. Contents
Appearance Edit
The normal colour of uranium glass ranges from yellow to green depending on the oxidation state and concentration of the metal ions, although this may be altered by the addition of other elements as glass colorants. Uranium glass also fluoresces bright green under ultraviolet light and can register above background radiation on a sufficiently sensitive Geiger counter, although most pieces of uranium glass are considered to be harmless and only negligibly radioactive.[3] Modern uranium glass beads (white background)
Modern uranium glass beads (black background)
Modern uranium glass beads (UV light) Vaseline glass Edit The most typical color of uranium glass is pale yellowish-green, which in the 1920s led to the nickname vaseline glass based on a perceived resemblance to the appearance of petroleum jelly as formulated and commercially sold at that time. Specialized collectors still define vaseline glass as transparent or semi-transparent uranium glass in this specific color. Vaseline glass is now used as a synonym for any uranium glass, especially in the United States, but this usage is not universal. The term is sometimes carelessly applied to other types of glass based on certain aspects of their superficial appearance in normal light, regardless of actual uranium content which requires a blacklight test to verify the characteristic green fluorescence. In the United Kingdom and Australia, the term vaseline glass can be used to refer to any type of translucent glass. Even within the United States, the "vaseline" description is sometimes applied to any type of translucent glass with a greasy surface luster. Other colors Edit "Jadite" redirects here. It is not to be confused with Jadeite Several other common subtypes of uranium glass have their own nicknames: custard glass (opaque or semiopaque pale yellow)
(opaque or semiopaque pale yellow) jadite glass (opaque or semi-opaque pale green; initially, the name was trademarked as "Jadite", although this is sometimes over-corrected in modern usage to "jadeite")
(opaque or semi-opaque pale green; initially, the name was trademarked as "Jadite", although this is sometimes over-corrected in modern usage to "jadeite") Depression glass (transparent or semitransparent pale green).
(transparent or semitransparent pale green). Burmese glass (opaque glass that shades from pink to yellow) However, like "vaseline", the terms "custard" and "jad(e)ite" are often applied on the basis of superficial appearance rather than uranium content. Similarly, Depression glass is also a general description for any piece of glassware manufactured during the Great Depression regardless of appearance or formula.
History Edit
Usage Edit
See also Edit
References Edit
Further reading EditI
did two really important things in the last few weeks: I got a neck tattoo. And I added five inches to my vertical. I’m not your average basketball player. I’m a little bit different. Because of that, the most common question I’ve gotten from GMs during the draft process is, “Do you love basketball?”
For some reason, people love to project things onto your appearance. There’s definitely one thing I love more than basketball, and it’s proving to people that I can do the things they say I can’t do. The story on me going into this draft is that I’m an elite defender with a raw offensive game. In my head I’m thinking, How would you even know what I’m capable of offensively? At Kentucky, I shot about 25 jumpers my entire career. I didn’t major in statistics, but that’s a pretty small sample size, bruh.
It wasn’t my role to be an offensive force at Kentucky, but if you come and watch my workouts now, I think it’s pretty clear that I could’ve been a whole different player. When you play within a system where 12 dudes are future pros, it’s kind of an unspoken rule that you don’t step outside of your role. When I watch my college game film now, I see defenders playing way off me, and it’s like, “Dude, what are you doing? That’s an easy bucket!” I’m trying to rewire my brain to think, Shoot that. Drive that. Be aggressive. Because there’s no time for hesitation in the NBA.
I’m not a traditional big. Honestly, when I hit my growth spurt in high school, I felt like a guard trapped in a center’s frame. The mixtapes I used to watch weren’t Dwight Howard or Shaq, they were Kevin Durant, Melo, CP3, Kyrie Irving and Josh Selby. I was trying to be like those guys. It’s weird being in that position because in high school you’re just the biggest dude so the coaches are like, “Okay, you’re the center. Post up.” But what if you have all these other skills? Your mindset might not necessarily to be The Big Dude. Your mindset might have been to be Melo, because you saw him torch KU in the ’03 Final Four. When you’re a 7-footer, you get pigeonholed because of your appearance. Athletically, I feel like I’m closer to Kevin Durant than a traditional center. I can defend all five positions and run the floor like a guard. So I want to bring that positionless basketball mentality to the NBA and really change the game.
I’m not just saying that. That’s why I wanted to do this Singular Focus series, so you could be a fly on the wall during my workouts and hang out with me and my boys during the downtime and really get to know me. The real me — not just a paragraph you read about me on a mock draft on the Internet.
I’m in a unique situation because I’m not getting drafted to be a scorer. I’m getting drafted because I can defend 1 through 5, rebound and block shots. If I do that, I’ll have fulfilled the analysts’ expectations. But what if I add a little jumper? Or get really nice at free throws? Now you’re on the path to greatness. Athletically, I really believe that I’m capable of anything I put my mind to. If I wanted to learn the piano, I could get pretty cold at it in a year. I’d practice every day until it became second nature. Ball handling and shooting, same thing. If I practice every day, I’m going to get cold at it.
That’s what’s so beautiful about the NBA. It’s your job now to do that stuff. All it takes is one move. You can get really, really nice at one move and it can take you to the next level. Just look at Tim Duncan’s bank shot from the left side. How many times do you think he’s practiced that specific shot? I bet at least 50 times a day every day for 20 years. Let me pull up the iPhone calculator. That’s 365,000 shots. I don’t care how many times you’ve practiced defending that move, Tim is stupid nice with it. Everybody knows it’s coming, but you can’t stop it. Same thing with LeBron’s turnaround move on the baseline. It’s perfected to the point of being unstoppable. That’s where I want to get.
As a defender, you have to start back at the bottom in the NBA. That’s what’s so funny to me when people act like I’m this dude who’s been getting by on pure athleticism. I didn’t come into college being a cold defender. I was OK. I had spurts when people were like, Dang, this dude looks really good. And I had times when I realized that there was plenty left to learn. I worked at my craft and by the time I was a junior, all of a sudden people deemed me a superior defender. Everyone’s like, “He’s a pro-ready defender” and I’m looking at these dudes in The League like, “Wait, I’m supposed to defend him? For real?” So that’s why I’m absolutely grinding right now. I’ve added 20 pounds of muscle to my frame since college. And college was like three months ago. I’m not there yet, but I’m coming up.
Oh yeah, and the neck tattoo? It’s a tribute to my friend Blake, who passed away from cancer a few months ago. He was 9 years old, a year younger than I was when I watched Melo get drafted. Now I’m fulfilling that dream, and I’ll never forget how lucky I am to be here. Come along for the ride and get to know me.
Episode 1: The Leap
Episode 2: Breaking Barriers
Episode 3: The Team WorkoutThe Deus Ex series is known for a lot of things: Cyberpunk conspiracy intrigue. Player choice. Overcoming life’s cruel obstacles by stacking hella boxes. But mainly, it’s known for air vents. Unfortunately, it doesn’t seem to understand how they work.
Deus Ex is infamous for its use of air vents as portals to vast realms of sneaky-sneakery. They’re a staple of the series’ level design, to the point that in the newest game, Deus Ex: Mankind Divided, you can’t go through a single area without finding multiple vent paths large enough for a cybernetically augmented, trench-coat-wearing man to fit comfortably inside of. Over time, they’ve become a sort of Deus Ex fan in-joke, something I’m pretty sure the series’ current developer, Eidos Montreal, is aware of.
I’m now going to ruin the joke by being Extremely Serious about it.
In one of life’s more fortuitous occurrences, a grade school friend of mine, Chance Heath, grew up to become an architect. I decided to quiz him about Deus Ex: Mankind Divided’s air vents, because why not? He plays games and knows a lot about buildings. I dare you to find someone with better credentials.
So, here’s how Deus Ex: Mankind Divided totally fucking botches it with air vents:
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Inaccuracy #1: They’re not usually big enough to fit a whole entire man
“The size of the vent itself is gonna be proportionate to the size of a building,” said Heath. “There are going to be air vents a person could fit inside, but it’d have to be a huge building.”
Inaccuracy #2: Big vents are vertical, rather than horizontal
“Let’s say you have a Manhattan-level skyscraper, and you’re at the bottom floor, and you see big vents coming out,” explained Heath. “(Actually in Manhattan, they’re typically underground, but we’ll just say for the sake of argument they’re on the side.) If you pulled a grate away and got past the fan, the vent would curve directly up and go vertical immediately. You wouldn’t really be able to be like, ‘Hello, I’m just gonna shimmy on in here.’ I mean, you probably could, and you could maybe climb the building from the air vent, but it wouldn’t be practical.”
“You’d have [horizontal vents] sometimes,” he added, “but typically big ones are gonna be vertical, and then they’ll branch off into smaller horizontal members—like a tree.”
Inaccuracy #3: Fans
“Typically they’re gonna be large and blocked by a fan,” he said. “They wouldn’t have just a panel. But that would be more work [in the game] and kind of difficult.”
Inaccuracy #4: Why air vents even exist
“When you’re thinking about this, you have to think about air flow,” Heath explained. “The way an HVAC system works—typically, with the ones you have vents for—is you’re gonna have a big unit on top of the building. Giant coolers. The way these coolers work is, water flows through coils, and giant fans blow against it. The air that’s being sucked in and blown against this cool water then gets pushed down the building, into these shafts. That cools the building. Then there’s typically an exhaust that exists underground or at the base. Vents at the base of the building are actually exhaust vents. You typically have two sets of vents: one for exhaust, and one for pushing the air.”
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Inaccuracy #5: The future
“What’s funny, though, is the game’s set in the future,” said Heath. “We’re talking about an ever-evolving piece of technology within buildings. If you look in Japan, they have a different type of air conditioning unit, and it’s on a per room basis. They don’t use vents at all. That model is actually becoming more and more common in buildings in general. Air ducts are so archaic. They take up a whole bunch of usable space, and that’s what buildings are about, right? The developers want to maximize space. If you have these six-foot-wide air ducts people are crawling through, that’s a lot of space taken up.”
Airing grievances
I also decided to run some specific situations past Heath, to see if they held up under scrutiny. They did not.
The situation: A vent leads into a mechanical area between rooms. There’s a gas leak, and the stuff’s fatally poisonous. The only thing that keeps main character Adam Jensen alive while standing in a cloud of it is his Ultra Lung (TM) augmentation. Another vent that’s only a few feet long and wide open leads out into the next room, where there are many evil soldier men. The purpose of air vents is to ventilate air. For some reason, the gas leak—airborne, |
have guests. Khrushchev was a guest of the government. So, I mean we were ready to receive Khrushchev. But it so happened that the security problem here in Los Angeles...because, actually, Disneyland is in another county, you see... and the chief of police, we can't blame him. He had quite a chore there to carry out. He just was a little worried about somebody maybe walking in Disneyland with a shopping bag and what they might have in it. You'd never be able to know, you know. FM: Exactly. WD: But we were ready for him. The press was ready. Both the State Department security and the Soviet security had come and cased Disneyland and they were all set. And I was all ready. In fact, we've had a lot of dignitaries down there and he was one that Mrs. Disney wanted to go down and meet. So, she was disappointed he didn't come. (Both Fletcher and Walt laugh loudly.) FM: It's certainly not ever an empty place so I can understand the security men's concern. WD: I had...we had different shots, places where we'd take pictures with Khrushchev and I had one that was my favorite. We'd lined up in front of my eight submarines, you see, and I thought, well, it'd be nice. I'd be pointing to Mr. Khrushchev and saying, 'Well, now, Mr. Khrushchev, here's my Disneyland submarine fleet.' (Both Fletcher and Walt laugh again.) WD: It's the eighth-largest submarine fleet in the world.The attack came after the Pakistani Taliban vowed retaliatory attacks for the killing by the US of bin Laden [AFP]
Dozens of people have been killed in an apparent suicide attack outside a police station after explosives on a pick-up truck were detonated in the northwestern Pakistan town of Hangu, police officials say.
Islamuddin Khan, a senior police official, said Thursday's blast also left 56 wounded.
Local police official Irshad Khan said the bomb went off near several government buildings, including the district commissioner's office.
Those buildings for the most part escaped the blast, he said, but numerous shops and other facilities nearby were damaged.
Hangu is a rough area located just outside Pakistan's lawless tribal regions bordering Afghanistan. The tribal areas have long been havens for al-Qaeda and other fighters.
The attack comes days after the Pakistani Taliban group vowed retaliatory attacks to avenge the death of al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden in a US raid.
There has already been a string of attacks since the warning was issued, including an audacious attack on a naval base in the city of Karachi that killed 13 and wounded 20 others.
The base was the headquarters of Pakistan's naval air wing and armed attackers were able to destroy two P-3C Orion aircraft from the United States, crucial assets for Pakistan's anti-submarine and maritime surveillance capability.
It took about 100 commandos, rangers and marines to kill the attackers and recapture the base.UNM icon requires diligent maintenance
Fifty thousand gallons of organic sludge, a fishing pole, a bowling ball, a mannequin, shopping carts, three radios, two chairs and a host of other items are typically found in the Duck Pond during its routine Spring Break cleaning every other year.
Cleaning a pond this size is no easy feat, taking over 400 hours of labor to complete. The Physical Plant Department is responsible for its care and upkeep and do everything they can to ensure the health and safety of all inhabitants of the pond during the cleaning process.
“The Duck Pond has become a popular destination for students to relax in between their classes, and community members think it’s the perfect spot for weddings and celebrations, photography, or a place to bring your children on a nice day,” said Dr. Gary Smith, associate director of PPD Environmental Services.
The PPD Grounds & Landscaping division cleans the pond every other year first by drawing the water out of the pond. Once water levels are lowered, PPD staff capture and relocate the pond’s aquatic animals to holding tanks provided by the Biology Department at Castetter Hall. These oxygenated tanks allow the fish, turtles and other animals to be housed with reduced stress, and the Biology staff monitor the health of the animals alongside a university veterinarian.
Aquatic animals are kept safely in holding tanks and monitored by the UNM Department of Biology while the Duck Pond is cleaned.
Once the water is mostly removed, the sludge is sucked into large tanker trucks and hauled away.
Turtles, koi, goldfish and crayfish live in the pond, while a variety of wild duck species rely on it for open water during the winter months, while a few pair of these ducks make it their home year round. PPD has found that community members tend to drop off their unwanted domesticated ducks in the summer time because the pond is a convenient drop-off point.
These ducks cannot fly and have a difficult time providing for themselves at the Duck Pond. As a result of an overabundant duck population, as well as heavy feeding of bread products which provides little to no benefit to the ducks, the Duck Pond must be drained and cleaned every two to three years to remove accumulated sludge and other debris.
PPD Area 3 maintenance staff performed a variety of maintenance on the pumps, inlet screens, filters and piping. Also, the wooden piers on the bridge were reinforced with concrete to ensure their stability. New turtle and fish habitats were added in the form of stumps and logs from fallen trees during an epic storm in July of 2013.
Willie West, the manager of the PPD Grounds & Landscaping division said, “Prior planning, coordination and tremendous cooperation between a variety of campus entities as well as private contractors, resulted in this project being completed on time with minimal disruption to the campus community.”Last month, we talked about a new Twitter client called Neatly that promised to do what the social network won't do itself: provide a more intelligent and less thorough approach to your feed. Twitter opts to list every tweet for people you follow in chronological order, which has helped with the up-to-the-minute identity the company builds for itself. Neatly chooses, instead, to filter by the most important updates, and allows you to filter by topics.
The beta was cool and now it's available on the Play Store for everyone. The extra information you get is copious and very helpful. As you can see in the center screenshot above, you can even get info on other Twitter users to see how much their interests line up with yours. This is a huge boon when scoping out new follows, as it can be quite a bit of work to check out someone's old tweets and see if they're worth keeping up with.
The obvious downside here is that any popular Twitter client will inevitably hit the token limit much the same way Falcon Pro did. Complicated workarounds aside, there's not much hope to get around this cap. So if you want to give it a shot, get it while it's hot.Freightos, a startup that wants to digitize more of the international logistics process, announced today that it has raised a $25 million Series B extension round led by GE Ventures, General Electrics’ venture capital arm.
This brings the total funding raised by Freightos, which was founded in 2012 and is based in Hong Kong, to $50 million. Its initial Series B of $14 million closed in 2015.
Founder and CEO Zvi Schreiber says Freightos added GE Ventures to the round because one of his previous companies, Lightech, was acquired by the conglomerate in 2011. Schreiber wanted to continue working with GE, which he describes as an important strategic investor for Freightos.
“GE is such a big industrial company and it is helpful to us because it gives us insight into the world’s biggest shippers,” he told TechCrunch. “They are potentially a big customer for Freightos.”
The startup’s new capital will be used to launch Freightos Marketplace, which Schreiber describes as “booking.com, but for international shipping,” into more countries. The service lets customers compare freight-forwarding quotes and book online and is currently available in China, Hong Kong, Taiwan and the U.S. Freightos’ goal is to expand to the rest of Asia and Europe.
Freightos’ other flagship product is software-as-a-service called AcceleRate that lets carriers and freight forwarders automatically calculate and manage rates. The startup says its SaaS is already used by over 1,000 logistics providers and global supply chain companies, including Nippon Express, Hellman Worldwide Logistics and Sysco Foods.
In a prepared statement, GE Ventures’ managing director of Israel Jonathan Pulitzer said “Logistics digitization is a strong strategic complement for General Electric’s role as the world’s leading digital industrial company. In just five years, Freightos technology has helped a thousand logistics providers operate more efficiently, while the Freightos Marketplace has shown fantastic growth and retention indicators.”
Managing international cargo shipments is a tedious process that still involves a lot of paperwork and Freightos is just one of a fleet of logistics startups that have attracted venture capitalists over the last couple of years. Amazon also recently begun providing freight-forwarding services for some of its partners in China, opening the possibility that more e-commerce companies may start insourcing more of their logistics to save money and speed up deliveries.
Amazon currently doesn’t compete with Freightos, but Schreiber concedes that it may eventually become a more direct threat to logistics startups if it decides to scale up its logistics services. For now, however, Schreiber says companies like his can help freight forwarders get ready for the future.
“In many ways, Freightos is helping them prepare for that, by helping the biggest freight forwarders in the world become more automated,” he says. “That will make sure they are ready against the threat of competition from companies like Amazon.”***
"The most difficult part of the job search is waiting for permission to give up"
The most difficult part of the job search is:
1. that I don't live near a factory or outsource outlet in China, India, or Malaysia.
2. trying not to appear desperate for a job when I am, in fact, quite desperate for a job.
3. that I am subject to everyone's advice on how to get a job, but no real job leads.
4. that I am reminded that having a good job is not an entitlement.
5. that when I become depressed from my job search, I'm told told to cheer up or else give a bad vibe to prospective employers... yet when I become happy through non-search related activities, I am reminded that I should be looking for work
7. that when I confide to friends and family that I have "given up" to pursue more fruitful interests, it elicits a crushing look of disbelief, disappointment, and disgust
8. waiting for permission to give up.
If looking for a job is a full-time job, then are you "fired" when you never (after many resumes, networking events, and workshops) find a job?
"The worst thing is the impact on my kids."
I am over the bruises to my ego; I just ignore my mother-in-law completely now. The worst thing though is the impact on my kids. We were making $120K plus two years ago. Now, about $35K. Lost the house. Thankfully still in the same school. That said, the kids went from being respectably comfortable in their cohort to being comfortable if tattered (used clothes, battered rental, same old car, no summer trips, etc.). Thank God they are still young (just started third grade) but we're not having any sleepovers here no matter how much they ask. I am afraid for the social impact on them. They are so upbeat, so enthusiastic. They don't know we're in a ditch. It would break my heart if they figured that out.
***
"I think the most difficult part for many is going to be the fact that so many companies will not hire someone who doesn't currently have a job!"
***
"I graduated with a Ph.D. in Education from Purdue University. After a first month and a half, I was moonlighting as a janitor."
I graduated with a Ph.D. in Education from Purdue University in May and moved back to my home state of Colorado. I was fortunate enough to stay with friends who live in a large house in a well-to-do suburb of Denver. Every day, I spent hours looking for jobs and painstakingly tailoring my cover letters and resumes to jobs. After the first month passed, I was embarrassed that I could not find a job and that I looked like a mooch. Even worse, when I did have phone interviews I failed them spectacularly because I was so nervous because I knew the stakes were high. Not to mention I have a terrible phone voice. As the days passed, I kept looking at my phone willing it to ring with an offer for an interview. The phone was blank.
What people don't realize is that it costs us precious money to put together mini portfolios for interviews, or to print and mail certain documentation (such as transcripts). There are a lot of financial sacrifices related to job searching that are being made that on the surface appear trivial, but do impact a budget.
The worse thing about phone interviews is that they focus so much on behavioral questions and interpersonal work place scenarios. They never point blank ask what your story is or why you want the job. Being labeled "unemployed" is humiliating because it conjures up imagery that is far from reality.
I learned to be prudent with gas and did not drive my car unless it was absolutely necessary. I clipped coupons like mad and shopped at the dollar store. The worst part about living in a well-to-do neighborhood is that you begin to wonder what you did wrong and what others did so well. Did I spend too much time in graduate school? Will I ever be able to pay my student loans off? How long can I keep my car running? But you also gain more empathy for people who are in similar situations. It also opened my eyes to gave me another lens from which to view society's problems. I wasn't reading or researching about it, I was living it.
After the first month and a half, I landed a retail job part time and moonlighted as a janitor in the evenings (my co-worker has an MFA in Creative Writing, so we joked that we were the mostly highly educated janitors in Denver). I was proud to finally have work but the self-doubt increased. I was finally offered a job last week. I am excited and relieved, but I am still keeping my retail job on the weekends to pay off my student loans.
***
"Unemployment doesn't mean you have "free time". It's a FT job looking for work. And even when you aren't, you're occupied with other things in your house (especially if you have kids)."
***
"Even the employed (who have taken a job to be employed in this economy) are not having a swell time of it."
I was unemployed for 7 months (5 months to find a job in my pay range that turned out to be "false advertising" so I left to look for other employment which took an additional 2 months and a 90 mile move [had to sell one house and buy another]).
The employer that I worked for in 2009 laid off 30% of its workforce only to advertise for those positions using "Company Confidential" ads (and the dumbasses had a "mail forward" on the @yahoo.com email account that returned the true employer's identification on my "read receipt"). The job I took is so different from my previous and I have been expected to be a mind reader. The "personality" fit is so wrong for me, so I continue to look. That being said, as companies are trying to find ways to cut their budgets, they are offering previously "cut" positions with such ridiculous wages that it is hard to find employment in the "pre-crisis" pay range where the "personality" and skill requirements make for that perfect employment "marriage." A lot of firms are now posting want ads with "Company Confidential" status, which potential employees are sure to avoid due to the "unknown" employer seeking applicants (i.e., are you applying for your previous job or are you applying to your current employer?). As you can tell - I'm sending "blind applications" to "blind employers." Even the employed (who have taken a job to be employed in this economy) are not having a swell time of it.
***
"Unemployment dehumanizes the real person. They lose the essence of their identity and value. To become a number, a label, a resume, a failure, a defect, unproductive, desperate, wishful, delusional, depressed, poor and separated from respectful society. Being unemployed is to be silently disrespected. On a par with being homeless, mentally ill or addicted."
***
"Getting a graduate degree is the worst decision I've ever made."
"Unemployment dehumanizes the real person. They lose the essence of their identity and value. To become a number, a label, a resume, a failure, a defect, unproductive, desperate, wishful, delusional, depressed, poor and separated from respectful society. Being unemployed is to be silently disrespected. On a par with being homeless, mentally ill or addicted.""Getting a graduate degree is the worst decision I've ever made."
I've read many articles similar to this one and have never responded to any of them but today I felt the need to respond, so here's my story:
I'm an African American woman in my late 20s. I worked my way through my undergraduate degree and finally received it just as the recession started. As a result, few people were hiring then. So, after spending nearly 2 years volunteering and helping out my family in whatever ways I could I headed to graduate school (a decision that I now consider to be the worst decision I've ever made). I'm nearly finished with that degree and after a year of being a graduate teaching assistant in my program, personal reasons dictated that I relocate closer to my family. As a result I've spent the last year unemployed. I recently began working part-time at a big box store--on the sales floor making what I made at my last retail job 5 years ago--and I'm probably the most educated person in the store. I can't get a management position because I don't have enough experience in retail--so I've been told on several interviews. Apparently, teaching adult students--both in the classroom and as a volunteer tutor--are not skills easily transferred to the training of adult workers in a retail store. I'm an African American woman in my late 20s. I worked my way through my undergraduate degree and finally received it just as the recession started. As a result, few people were hiring then. So, after spending nearly 2 years volunteering and helping out my family in whatever ways I could I headed to graduate school (a decision that I now consider to be the worst decision I've ever made). I'm nearly finished with that degree and after a year of being a graduate teaching assistant in my program, personal reasons dictated that I relocate closer to my family. As a result I've spent the last year unemployed. I recently began working part-time at a big box store--on the sales floor making what I made at my last retail job 5 years ago--and I'm probably the most educated person in the store. I can't get a management position because I don't have enough experience in retail--so I've been told on several interviews. Apparently, teaching adult students--both in the classroom and as a volunteer tutor--are not skills easily transferred to the training of adult workers in a retail store.
I'm starting to feel like something is wrong with me internally. I know that I've made some poor decisions in my life (getting a graduate degree in women's studies is the biggest among them), but I'm still out here trying. I've applied to literally hundreds of jobs, and for all of those hundreds of jobs I've had maybe four interviews. Only one of those jobs paid a human wage. I'm not asking for much. I would just like to make $30,000 a year. At least that way I could afford to sleep on a bed again. Did I mention that I haven't slept on a real bed in over a year? I go out of my way to help people, not because I want something from them, but because I've always been this way, and when I need something (and I don't usually ask for help), no one is ever there to help me.
It's sad to know that if I didn't have to work my way through school and take extra time, I'd probably have a job now. It was that extra year that put my entry-level job search in the recession's beginning. I look at my peers who are getting married and having children and generally living life and it's depressing. They've got jobs, health insurance, relationships, homes; I don't even have a real bed to sleep on.
So people can criticize the educational choices that I've made. I've criticized myself more severely than anyone else can. I know my graduate degree was an awful, awful idea. Especially since my research ideas didn't get much traction in the department. People can say that I should have become a nurse, or an engineer or whatever else, but when I started college and the economy was still good young people were sold the idea that they should 'follow their passions'. The jobs were supposed to come. I didn't take out a mortgage for a property I couldn't afford; I didn't participate in credit default swaps or create a Ponzi scheme. I went to college and educated myself. I've spent countless hours at libraries educating myself. I've taken care of sick relatives and taught immigrants how to read and write in English--with no pay. But I'm not responsible enough to run a retail store. I could have spent those hours drinking or partying or whatever else, but I've spent them trying to 'improve' myself in different ways because I seriously feel like I'm damaged goods. Why else can't I pin down a full-time job with some benefits?
I hope someone can find something of value in my words.
"It's an employer's market, so they can make unreasonable demands."
One ad stated, "60 day trial at minimum wage to see how it works out." So you can fire that individual and find some other poor schmuck to take a go at it? Would I state in my cover letter that I'd like to work 60 days at minimum effort to see if the job is fun enough to stay? Or the laundry list of tasks is 25 items long, but the hours are 10-2 every day. So you really can't find a second job unless you'd like to wait tables at night. I worked for an organization that fit that description and yet, they'd call me at 4:30 in the afternoon and expect me to have info from the company computer spreadsheets for them. I also brought in my own office supplies because they never got around to giving me any, or any training. After 3 weeks I was let go; being told they thought I was more qualified for the position than I turned out to be. And finally: "Here is your salary and the hours are 9-5." OK! Second week: "I meant to say 9-6." OK. 3rd week: "do you think you can come in at 8am until we finish this project?" Uhhh? OK.... "Maybe when it's too hot out anyway (Arizona) you might feel like working a few hours on the weekend?" Not really. "Oh, I need someone who is a team player. You are fired." And the worst part is, how do you explain this on your resume without looking like a malcontent?
***
"It used to be that older, mature and seasoned workers had a closer connection to what the experience of being unemployed was like. But the more we've moved away from the "emotions" of the depression and have instead "intellectualized" this "recession" then the harder it is for working people to be able to "identify" with the unemployed. The empathy is non-existent."
***
"I'm in my mid-40s. Ageism is a HUGE problem in this economy where employers want young, inexpensive hires." "It used to be that older, mature and seasoned workers had a closer connection to what the experience of being unemployed was like. But the more we've moved away from the "emotions" of the depression and have instead "intellectualized" this "recession" then the harder it is for working people to be able to "identify" with the unemployed. The empathy is non-existent.""I'm in my mid-40s. Ageism is a HUGE problem in this economy where employers want young, inexpensive hires."
To be blunt, the hardest part about looking for a job is that human resources departments, filled with unnamed people hiding behind the internet, have completely taken over the process. I'm in my mid-40s, a writer (I know, good luck, right?) and when I was younger, you always had a name of an editor to actually send your materials to, and to call a week or so after you'd sent your clips and resume. Now, those folks don't want to hear from you. Bottom line - if you don't have a connection to the organization you're applying to, sending your materials to HR is like sending them into a black hole. In every case during my job hunt, I only got an interview or a polite rejection letter if I found a real live human being OUTSIDE of HR who had at least a mild interest in my talents.
Problem number two: not being in late 20s or early 30s. Ageism is a HUGE problem in this economy where employers want young, inexpensive hires.
"I would gladly pay higher taxes for universal health care, if I could only have a job that would allow me to pay those taxes."
I was laid off in 2009 at age sixty. I don't think it was just coincidence, that most of the two hundred people laid off with me were over fifty, with health problems. After ten months, I was able to find a temp job at much lower pay, with no benefits. I worked that job, until I qualified for Social Security, and retired. There was no way that I wanted to go through the job hunting process again, at age sixty two, when the temp job ended. I lay the blame for all the elderly layoffs squarely on the shoulders of our government, that saddles businesses with the burden of providing health care access to their employees. We are the only developed nation that does this, and it's the primary cause of our jobs being shipped overseas. I would gladly pay higher taxes for universal health care, if I could only have a job that would allow me to pay those taxes.
"I have been looking for a job for six months and no one wants to hire a 50-year old woman."
I am really sick and tired of this myth you have helped to create about the unemployed having terrible resumes and not being "positive" or "energetic" or whatever else is on your list. I am a very positive person, I have excellent qualifications, and take my work very seriously. But I had my hours cut through no fault of my own, along with others.
I have been looking for a job for 6 months and no one wants to hire a 50 year old woman. I graduated with honors (and I did not graduate in the seventies, I graduated in 1999) and I have excellent computer skills using a plethora of programs, which has done nothing for my prospects. Not to mention the laundry list of duties employers are looking for, barely paying above minimum wage.
Face it, this economy has changed everything, and workers have no rights and are powerless, too bad it's not easy to just fire someone, thank god for that paper trail. I have seen people fired after over 20 years of service, when my employer showed up drunk and decided to get rid of a fellow worker, because they" needed" to get rid of one of the higher paid people to save money. But we just aren't" positive" enough. Think about it, in this environment, when you can lose your career on someone's whim, workers are frightened and working as fast as they can.
"For those of us prone to depression, the job search can amount to a heroic effort"
"Your friends and family are going to wonder what is *wrong* with you."
As your job search drags on, even your friends and family are going to wonder what is "wrong" with you. Of course this is mostly motivated by sheer terror that they are going to be in the same position, despite their assurances that they are too smart or good at their job to be in your position. They may be right in some instances, but the upshot is that no one has real job security anymore, and it is devastating to many people to find out that they are totally disposable in a game they thought they could win. At least the currently unemployed know there is no winning anymore, just damage control.
"Don't use my name. I can't let Google search reveal I have an unlisted graduate degree."
Being long term unemployed, the most difficult and surprising problem is the uncertainty. Many routine decisions are complicated by the unknown. Contemplating relocation seems to rule out new romantic relationship possibilities. Can my car last five more years? Spend some money on home projects to get self productive and occupied OR save every dime? Take on acquiring a new professional skill even recognizing that payoff is relatively far off? Eliminate best credential from resume to remove "overqualified" from rejection reasons? All crucial questions with unclear answers. Don't use my name. I can't let Google search reveal I have an unlisted graduate degree.
Maybe I'm overqualified, and yes, I understand that they're scared of hiring someone and training them and seeing them leave after six months; and that that process costs them money.
But particularly in this economy, do they not think that someone who's overqualified is applying for job because they NEED and WANT it? That they'll work that much harder because they're grateful for the job and the income, and that if they're overqualified, odds are they're smarter and harder working and more professional than the slackers you usually get applying to crappy jobs? Yes, I've got a Masters, but I'll be a kick-ass assistant. Because to get that Masters, I had to work my butt off and be organized and know how to manage time effectively.
"In one interview the questions were so few I found myself giving mini-monologues. In another, the interviewer could not stop talking."
Recently I had to deal with a couple of interviewers who asked none of the typical interview questions. In fact they didn't ask many questions at all. In one interview the questions were so few that I found myself giving mini-monologues to make sure she got a good picture of who I am. In another, the interviewer could not stop talking so I had to get in my story whenever she paused for more than 5 seconds. GAH! I couldn't wait to get out of there. She kept saying the same stuff over and over AND I swear to God at one point I thought I fell asleep.
I hate gimmicky interviews. Never been to one but I see them in the ads. I've seen ads asking you to come in and audition or they ask you to answer silly questions. They weren't even for creative positions. Recently saw one ad asking the applicant to answer why they are passionate about shipping and packing? Who the hell is passionate about shipping and packing.
Another thing that ticks me off are employers who demand you commit to them long term for 1 or 2 years yet they can fire you at anytime. No way.
"I want to work. I won't apply for a job I'm not serious about."
Employers never seemed to understand that if I was applying for a job, I wanted it. I can't tell you how many jobs I applied to where I was told, in my own follow-up from a non-response or rejection, "You were overqualified." "Or, we didn't think you were serious, given your education." I understand they don't want to lose me in three or six months, but I've got to eat and pay rent in the meantime. Not to mention I'm a darn good assistant and barista. Frankly, I probably would have stayed on in a part-time capacity in many "below-me" jobs if at all possible just for the extra help paying back student loans. I like to work. I want to work. And I won't apply for a job I'm not serious about.
Next Page: Millennials: The 'Mad as Hell' Generation
The 'Mad As Hell' Millennial Generation
"I have never known this desperation."
There are three stories, here: one is about the girl I was; the second, about who that girl became; the third, about what that girl doesn't know. They are all important to my narrative of unemployment. I am sure they are not entirely unique. In the first, I am in seventh grade. Small (like I will remain). A good athlete, already: a runner and a soccer player. Later that year, I will make the school lacrosse team, having never played before. But right now, it is the start of basketball season, and the first year I'm eligible to play for the school. I am small - this is crucial: I do not make the team. I was cut before they put a ball in my hands. I am my father's daughter. I don't remember what he told me that evening; whatever it was, it refused to let me quit. I got better. I showed up, humbled and irate, at the same summer basketball camps as the girls who made the team. I ran (probably too much). I lifted (also probably too much). I worked with a speed trainer. The next winter, in eighth grade, I made the freshman team - I jumped an entire level. In eighth grade, I believed that raw ability and a ferocious work ethic knew no smallness. In the second, I am in college - a senior. I've earned a scholarship to play lacrosse at one of the best programs in the country - at one of the best academic schools in the world. I have been hurt, now, for a long time. Hip surgeries, shin injuries, stress fractures - all have sidelined me intermittently since my sophomore year. College for me becomes learning how to be without the uniform. I spend hours in rehab. My backpack rattles with pill bottles - anti-inflammatories of every variety, painkillers, antacids, vitamins (glucosamine, chondroitin, E, B, Calcium +D) that unfairly promise hope. About to graduate now, it has been over a year since I last held a lacrosse stick. I redirected: I win several major university awards for my writing abilities. On my college graduation day, I believe what college graduates should: that I can turn any challenge into success. I have been blessed with talents; I have been tested in how to use them - in how to carry the characteristics of one into the other. I do not believe in fate: I believe that I have done the work, and it will pay off. It has been this simple for ten years. The last story takes place this morning. Mornings are the easiest part of the day: they follow a routine, one virtually unchanged in over a decade. Wake up. Flex out the kinks. Change. Still half-asleep, guide my mess of blonde into a high ponytail. Slip on and tie up the running shoes. Bound out the door, reluctant at first, still sore, still stiff, a little cold on this early fall morning. Wander down the driveway, stretching a calf against the fence, a quad by the tree whose roots threaten the blacktop. I take a deep breath - and I'm off. This is the best part of my day: it is the only part that is quiet, the only part that is simple, the only part that involves that unique combination of talent (my speed, my lungs, my heart) and work ethic (this run, as so many runners know, is the result of tens of thousands of miles before it). For however long I run, the world goes still. When I finish, I will face a day without structure; a day marked by unanswered emails and phone calls and desperate Internet scouring. I have never known this desperation. I foolishly did not think I ever would. I believed that I was uniquely gifted, and uniquely focused. I suppose this has been humbling. One can only run so many miles in a day.
"The repeated blows to self-esteem for people my age are staggering."
Pages of ink have been spilled to wax concern on the generation of young people born 1980 to 1990 who come into the real world with a sense of entitlement and an expectation of a trophy for second place. They claim we are unprepared for the harsh reality of the real world, which is cruel and mercurial. And the crash of 2008 gave them a perfect backdrop to frame these assertions. It allows our parents and their peers to pay lip service to things like "the need to pay your dues" and "working your way up the ladder." Most of my friends would be more than happy to pay our dues, you just won't get out of the way to let us. "Interning will give you valuable experience and networking opportunities." Yeah, that's cool man, but I got rent due on the first and a student loan payment that isn't even going to dent the principal due a week later.
The expectation that my generation should be grovelling for un/lowpaid employment and thankful when we get it is ridiculous. And maybe that's the entitlement they talk about when they refer to us. In the minds of baby-boomer's, it seems that "reluctance to work for free/low pay" is equal to "entitled." But I can't imagine that they'd do any better.
Let them spend some time sleeping four to a two bedroom, waking up everyday to apply to five to ten jobs, half of which they will never hear from, the other half of which will call them in for an interview only to admit that "we will most likely be hiring from within." They can spend some time looking for work that will help them fill the gaps during their search, "free-lance" gigs that are run by shifty companies that swear the check is on the way and when it arrives the written amount doesn't match the numerical amount or temp jobs where they are spoken to like a child ("Do you know how to type? How to send email?").
"I'm starting to feel like something is wrong with me internally."
The repeated blows to self-esteem for people my age are staggering, from the "Thank you for your resume" auto-responses to the bosses who undermine any shred of confidence we have any time we mess something up to seeing our peers who have the means to ride out the storm leisurely stroll through the worst economic recession since the 1930s. People my age want to work, we really do, but we don't want to be |
The starting point of the debate on energy union was the question of security of supply, which had become particularly acute against the backdrop of the Russo-Ukrainian crisis. The main concern in this regard is that dependence on Russian natural gas may restrict the scope of the EU and its member states to conduct foreign policy. Various actors have very different answers on how to strengthen Europe’s energy security. These include developing other sources of natural gas, both non-European and local (shale gas), ramping up use of coal and nuclear energy, decreasing demand for energy and switching to renewable energies.
A second challenge is the growing renationalisation of energy and climate change policy in the EU. The importance of European instruments such as emissions trading and crossborder electricity trading has declined in recent decades. Investment decisions are increasingly driven by national considerations (grid expansion, promotion of renewables) or national markets (capacity markets). Apart from the inevitable conflicts arising from the non-coordination of actions, renationalisation has also made private investors more cautious owing to the lack of reliable framework conditions.
The greatest long-term challenge is the sustainable transformation of the energy system. In the electricity sector alone this requires far more than just replacing fossil-fuel power stations with emission-free power stations. It is becoming increasingly clear that a CO2-free energy system will fundamentally change the interplay of consumers, generators, infrastructure providers and information service providers. However, at this stage it is impossible to predict the ultimate shape of this system (e.g. decentralised vs. centralised energy generation) and who will be responsible for coordinating it (e.g. grid operators, traders or information service providers). The European regulatory framework will play an important role in the form of the transition path.
Lower energy demand will make an important contribution to increasing the security of energy supplies and reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Efforts to achieve similar targets in the past fell well short of the mark. An important consideration in this respect is the question of which measures should be adopted at the local, regional, national and European levels, respectively. For instance, it does not seem sensible to set the same insulation standards for buildings in southern Italy and northern Sweden. Similarly, it would not be desirable for efficiency standards for electrical appliances to vary from one member state to another.
A further challenge for the European energy policy is ensuring competitiveness in the energy industry. In this regard it is often noted that energy prices in the USA and Europe differ widely, which makes Europe less competitive in energy-intensive industries. That said, it is often overlooked on the one hand that price differentials are a consequence not only of differences in energy policy, but also of differences in resource availability and on the other that the pursuit of new energy technologies (in particular renewable energies) enhances Europe’s competitiveness in this global market of the future. In other words, the challenge for European energy and climate policy is to maintain a minimum degree of competitiveness in energy-intensive sectors, while at the same time maximising future opportunities in new technologies.
Next Steps
Hence, the Vice-President for Energy Union in the EU Commission had the task of drawing up an ambitious, but not unrealistic proposal for an energy union that would address the aforementioned challenges. On 25 February, little more than 100 days after the start of the new legislative term, an 18-pages proposal was presented and on 19 March the European Council accepted the Commission’s framework strategy.
To build an energy union the EU Commission proposes a strategy based on five dimensions:
energy security, solidarity and trust; a fully integrated European energy market energy efficiency as a contribution to moderating demand; reducing the level of CO2 emissions in the economy research, innovation and competitiveness.
These dimensions will be set out in concrete terms in 26 policy initiatives that the Commission is supposed to put into effect in 2015 and 2016. The Commission’s proposal and the Council’s decision are formulated in a way that would allow for both a fundamental remake of European energy and climate policy and the uninterrupted continuity of the existing policy. It remains to be seen to what extent the Commission and the member states (and formally the European Parliament as well) can agree to adopt far-reaching reforms of the European energy and climate policy that would deserve the name Energy Union.
In the optimistic scenario the Commission would succeed in formulating a proposal that incorporated the five dimensions broadly enough to convince all member states that by abandoning secondary claims they could achieve success in areas that they regard as essential. For instance, it is conceivable that Germany would agree to the creation of a common European mechanism for promoting renewable energies or to more stringent rules for supplying gas in the event of a crisis if in exchange a system of governance for the realisation of long-term targets for renewables and climate objectives were formalised.
In an intermediate scenario the respective actors would seek independent compromises in each sub-area. This implies that a qualified majority would be needed for each measure. Accordingly, compromises would be less ambitious and include numerous opt-outs for individual countries, and the overall package of measures could be expected to lack consistency. Another solution much discussed by the European Commission is a greater regionalisation of energy policy (i.e. for groups of countries). The obvious advantage is that countries with similar conditions are better placed to pursue a common energy and climate policy.
That said, the problem with regional approaches is that they leave many important problems unresolved. A Central European interconnected gas network will not solve the problem of dependency on Russia. A northwest European power grid would still face the problem of windstill. And an Iberian renewables network would not guarantee the necessary investment security. Moreover, there is the danger that regional approaches will lead to different regions formalising a commitment to divergent paths, which runs counter to the long-term Europeanisation of energy policy.
In a pessimistic scenario the European Commission would not have (or want to use) the political capital needed to negotiate a complicated compromise between the member states. The Energy Union would then be nothing more than an empty shell – true to the motto that if you talk long enough about something, there will be nothing left to do.
Recommendations for German policy action
The described challenges are crucial for Germany’s energy and climate policy as well. Not even Germany can afford a national solution. Germany’s position will be decisive for the success or failure of the Energy Union. Hence, rather than trying to block this debate, it should be German policy steering it in the direction of an ambitious European com- promise. In view of the danger that the current momentum in the debate on the Energy Union will be dissipated over details, time is of the essence. For this reason German politicians should quickly determine which energy policy positions are non-negotiable for them (e.g. climate change, phasing out of nuclear energy), which offer them some room to manoeuvre (e.g. solidarity in the supply of gas) and where an ambitious push by Germany may open up new options (e.g. electricity market design).ROCKY RIVER, Ohio -- The wife of a Cleveland Heights police officer told her best friend that her husband held a gun to her back during a domestic dispute, according to Rocky River police records.
"She told me a gun was put in her back," the friend wrote in a statement to police. "She was afraid for her life."
The friend's written statement is part of police reports from an Aug. 5 incident at Cleveland Heights police Lt. Sean Corrigan's Rocky River home.
Officers responding to a report of man with a gun threatening to kill himself ordered Corrigan to the ground at gunpoint outside the Elmwood Drive home, according to police reports. Corrigan was handcuffed without incident and taken to University Hospitals for evaluation.
Two of the Corrigans' children -- ages 6 and 11 -- ran to a nearby friend's home. The Corrigans' 8-year-old child was already at the friend's home for a sleepover, according to police reports.
When officers asked Corrigan's wife about the friend's statement she repeatedly denied that Corrigan pointed a gun or threatened her.
"He did not at any time touch me with a gun or point it at me," Corrigan's wife, an attorney, wrote in a statement to police.
Corrigan was unarmed when officers arrested him, but he directed police to an unloaded black Sig Suaer 239.40-caliber pistol and a magazine loaded with seven rounds inside the home. Investigative reports show the gun was Corrigan's Cleveland Heights Police Department-issued weapon.
Corrigan has been a Cleveland Heights police officer since July 2005, his wife told police. He has been on paid administrative leave since the Aug. 5 incident.
Officers observed Corrigan's wife was crying and shaking.
She frantically begged for help in a 911 call to police.
"Please help me, please help me," she said to the dispatcher. "My husband, he's a Cleveland Heights police officer. He's got a gun. You have to help me."
She said she was sure Corrigan had shot himself during the eight-minute call.
"I ran," Corrigan's wife said. "I'm hiding in someone's backyard."
911 Corrigan
Corrigan's wife and children had moved into the Rocky River home a few days before the incident. Corrigan stayed in the family's Cleveland Heights home that was for sale, according to police reports.
Reports show both Corrigan and his wife told police Corrigan had come to Rocky River to apologize following an argument earlier that day.
Corrigan's wife told police the two struggled for a gun inside Corrigan's Mercedes convertible. When Corrigan pulled the gun away from her, she ran from the car and called police, she said.
Corrigan told police he was trying to keep the weapon away from his wife and he was not trying to kill himself.
Corrigan, 44, pleaded no contest to a charge of disorderly conduct persisting, a fourth-degree misdemeanor, Aug. 30 in Rocky River Municipal Court.
Judge Brian Hagan ordered him to take part in a diversion program that includes undisclosed treatment and probation. The judge also ordered Corrigan not to consume any alcohol, to stay out of the city of Rocky River and to pay fines and costs totaling about $425.
The judge granted Corrigan's wife's request to lift a no-contact order so the couple can discuss their children, counseling, and the sale of the family's home.
Corrigan is a son of the late Cuyahoga County Probate Judge John Corrigan and brother of Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court Judge Peter Corrigan.
Previous coverage: Cleveland Heights police officer sentenced to probation after he threatened to shoot himself
If you wish to discuss or comment on this story, please visit our crime and courts comments section.
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Follow me on Twitter: Follow @ChandaNeelyPolicymakers take note: Even in low doses, chemicals common in the environment can work together to cause cancer.
Cancer cells. (Photo: pulmonary_pathology/Flickr)
Researchers used to think carcinogenic chemicals in the environment caused about six percent of all cancers, but that dramatically underestimates the problem, according to a new report from the Environmental Working Group. The real issue, the report suggests, is that, even in low doses, mixtures of toxic chemicals can work together to target a set of "hallmarks" necessary for cancer to fester—and regulators need to start taking that into account.
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"It's much more complex than flipping a switch," says William Goodson, a senior clinical research scientist at California Pacific Medical Center Research Institute in San Francisco. Goodson is lead author of a recent review that showed how mixtures of chemicals can work together to overcome our bodies' cancer defenses, even if no single chemical in the mix could lead to cancer on its own.
In fact, Goodson says, there are 10 key steps—or "hallmarks"—common to all cancers. Those steps include a cancer developing its own blood vessels and mechanisms for evading the immune system. Cancers "don't need to get each step from the same chemical," he says; the mixture of chemicals is often the key.
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Goodson, Lowe, and more than 170 researchers identified 50 different chemicals that contributed to cancer at low doses, even if they wouldn't necessarily lead to cancer on their own.
Though it might seem obvious in retrospect, that's an entirely new way of thinking about cancer, says Leroy Lowe, president and co-founder of Getting to Know Cancer and second author of the review paper. Most research focuses on whether a single chemical might cause cancer, but "we've never concerned ourselves with those other chemicals that act at a lower level," Lowe says.
Inspired by that new perspective, Goodson, Lowe, and more than 170 researchers worldwide examined the effects of 85 different chemicals—everything from iron to bisphenol-A—and identified 50 that contributed to cancer at low doses, even if they wouldn't necessarily lead to cancer on their own.
What's more, a mixture of 23 of those cancer-enabling chemicals are present in detectable levels in our bodies, says EWG scientist Curt DellaValle. That conclusion was based on a review of data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, part of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's National Biomonitoring Program. This means, according to DellaValle, that chemicals "could be interacting within our bodies" even if we're not being exposed to each one at the same time.
"Historically, the view is that only six percent of cancers are caused... by chemicals in the environment," says Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas Chief Scientific Officer Margaret Kripke, who was not involved with either study. Along with Goodson and Lowe's review, the EWG report "sets that on its heels." If low-dose chemical interactions can cause cancer, even our definition of carcinogenic chemicals may need to change, she says.
Though the findings pose a "daunting challenge" for researchers, according to EWG's DellaValle, there is precedent for studying complex chemical interactions that lead to cancer—namely, research on prescription drug interactions. "That model exists," he says.
Eventually, regulation will need to change. Current policies "underestimate the complexity of cancer," Goodson says.
Quick Studies is an award-winning series that sheds light on new research and discoveries that change the way we look at the world.[NEWS] Zico’s side “His song present for Mighty Mouth? They have a close personal relationship”
Zico gave Mighty Mouth a big comeback present.
His company, Seven Seasons, told Newsen on April 18th that “Zico and Mighty Mouth have a close personal relationship, that’s why he gave them a song as a present”.
Mighty Mouth have their comeback coming ahead on April 26th. Like this, their long hiatus of 3 years and 5 months is coming to an end, and Zico is backing up Mighty Mouth on their return.
After Mighty Mouth’s debut on 2008 through ‘I Love You’ featuring Yoon Eun Hye, they have been receiving love for bright and joyful releases such as ‘Energy’ and 'Hope’. The anticipation for their new song written and composed by Zico is increasing too.An image used to create famous postcard of three fishermen is about to return to its place of origin in Trinity Bay.
The picture was taken 40 years ago by Nova Scotian photographer Sherman Hines and still is mailed all over the world.
It shows three fishermen leaning on a boat and sporting mischievous smiles.
For years a rumour had circulated that the men were really actors from Nova Scotia.
But CBC News has learned that the men in the postcard are in fact from Long Cove, Trinity Bay, and one of them, Doug Newhook (on the right-hand side of the photo), now 84, is still alive.
Hayward Smith knew all three of them and can vouch for their authenticity.
"They are absolutely the real thing. You know, when you get two or three fishermen together they're going to clown around a bit and that's what they did for the picture," he said.
Long Cove officials are planning to publicly display a large version of the picture in their community.Residents are on their toes in Irvine, which experts say is a hot spot for coyotes.
Recently, a 6-year-old boy was attacked by a coyote while playing at a park in the Woodbridge neighborhood, but it’s hardly an isolated case. Conversations on Nextdoor and Facebook are full of accounts of coyote attacks on small pets and residents being stalked by them.
Some residents are now carrying golf clubs and tennis rackets as they take their small dogs or children on a walk.
Coyotes are naturally fearful of humans, but they lose caution and fear when they can easily get to human food and garbage, experts say.
This year, according to the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, there have been four reported cases of coyotes biting humans in Irvine – a master planned community known for its abundance of open space and trails.
“Scientists are still trying to figure out if what the coyotes are doing is seeing a person as a food source or if they are trying to remove them from that location,” Fish and Wildlife Capt. Rebecca Hartman said. “I heard a biologist say that it’s possibly a territorial thing. We are just not sure what the behavior of that animal is about, so anytime there’s an animal that attacks a child, our department makes an effort to take that animal out of the population if possible.”
Below is a summary of the four coyote incidents, provided by Fish and Wildlife. Those who have been attacked suffered minor injuries. Hartman said she hasn’t seen any confirmed cases of rabies in her 16-year stint with the department.
• June 28: A woman felt a tug on her left heel as she was walking near Oak Creek Elementary School. She stopped and turned and saw a small coyote run off into bushes.
• Aug. 3: A transient man sleeping at Mike Ward Community Park in Woodbridge was bitten on his face. He saw a medium-sized coyote run off.
• Aug. 21: A 2-year-old girl was walking on a sidewalk with an adult and a large dog near Yale Avenue East Yale Loop when a coyote knocked her over. The coyote then tugged on the back of her shirt.
• Oct. 9: A 6-year-old boy was bitten by a coyote at Springbrook Park. The coyote dragged him a few feet before his father and bystanders chased the animal away.
Contact the writer: [email protected]. July's free game. July's free game.
IGN has partnered with SMG Studio to give gamers OTTTD for iPhone, iPod touch and iPad free-of-charge! All copies of the excellent tower defense game are available on a first-come, first-serve basis, so be sure to visit https://www.ign.com/prime/promo/OTTTD-free to grab your free copy ASAP.
OTTTD, short for over the top tower defense (duh!) offers up a fresh spin on the ever-popular tower defense genre. All of the requisite tower defense strategic depth is present, mixed together with a complex and fun hero system. The game's recent gigantic 1.2 update added an Endless Mode, more campaign levels, new enemies, new items, and plenty more, so there's no better time to jump in than now.
This promotion is open in 44 total countries (full list below). No IGN registration or IGN Prime account is required.
Every month, the IGN Free Game of the Month will provide gamers an opportunity to grab a complimentary copy of an App Store game hand-picked by IGN’s editorial experts. The codes are available on a first-come, first-served basis to any gamer in the following 44 countries:
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And remember, for the complete scoop on all the hottest mobile games, be sure to subscribe to IGN Mobile Games on Youtube, or sign up for the once-daily App Store Update email:Pew: Middle Class Poorer, Earning Less And Shrinking
The researchers at Pew Social & Demographic Trends aren't holding back in their new report on the middle class. It calls the last 11 years, "the lost decade" for the country's middle class.
The highlight from the report issued today is that the middle class is poorer, earning less and shrinking.
In its press release, Pew reports:
"These stark assessments are based on findings from a new nationally representative Pew Research Center survey that includes 1,287 adults who describe themselves as middle class, supplemented by the Center's analysis of data from the U.S. Census Bureau and Federal Reserve Board of Governors. "Fully 85% of self-described middle-class adults say it is more difficult now than it was a decade ago for middle-class people to maintain their standard of living. Of those who feel this way, 62% say "a lot" of the blame lies with Congress, while 54% say the same about banks and financial institutions, 47% about large corporations, 44% about the Bush administration, 39% about foreign competition and 34% about the Obama administration. Just 8% blame the middle class itself a lot."
Pew
Most of what you need to know is in the graphs to the left.
They show that the median household income for example, dropped from $72,956 in 2000 to $69,487. Perhaps the most dramatic figure is that median net worth took a major hit during the recession. It plummeted from $152,950 to $93,150.
Another interesting graph shows that in past decades, the middle class continues to lose ground to upper incomes when you aggregate household income.
For example in 1970, the middle class held 62 percent of the income in the country. The upper income held 29 percent. Those numbers have now flipped: The middle class is at 45 percent and the upper income class is at 46 percent.
Pew
It's important to note that Pew considers three-person household making $39,418 to $118,255 middle class.
When asked, most said it took at least $70,000 to be middle class.Marilyn Mosby.
One reason that prosecutors are often such theatrical, grandiose types (Preet Bharara, Rudy Giuliani, Chris Christie) may be that the role naturally fits a particular quixotic self-image, the state’s attorney against the world. In the press clippings the prosecutor is not just a distributor of retributive justice, the official sent to ensure a mugger goes to jail, but the means by which the state takes on broader conspiracies and corruptions: the mafia, Islamic terrorists, rings of insider traders embedded within banks, hedge funds, and corporations. The vanity of the state’s attorney is often that he is not just delivering individual justice but taking down corrupt and criminal institutions — that he is practicing modernization politics by other means.
Since 9/11 many liberals have worried about the powers that prosecutors were acquiring to monitor email and phone traffic, to trace the flows of money. The past couple of weeks have served as a reminder of how much a powerful state, in the hands of a progressive prosecutor, can do. First, Marilyn Mosby in Baltimore announced manslaughter and murder charges against the police officers involved in the death of Freddie Gray. Then in the space of the last few days Loretta Lynch first announced that four banks had agreed to pay $2.5 billion in fines for rigging the foreign exchange markets, and then revealed indictments against 14 of the planet’s most senior soccer officials, describing a pattern of corruption and bribery that has been endemic within FIFA for decades.
The image that cohered in these two African-American women was that of the prosecutor as social justice warrior, with smoke-filled rooms evaporating before her. In the same press conference Lynch denounced the old boys’ club that had corrupted the World Cup and made the case for renewing a key provision of the Patriot Act. One interesting question, should a Democrat win election in 2016, is whether liberals will be more comfortable with an expansive state if that state is also an activist, progressive one.
Lynch and Mosby made their activism easy to see. In these three cases the prosecutors were more or less explicit that they were not just interested in jailing a few criminals but in changing a corrupt culture — of the police in Baltimore, the banks, institutional soccer. If politics were working perfectly, we wouldn’t need their intervention; criminal indictments wouldn’t be required to fix these institutions. But because they are, there is a tension at the heart of all these cases. What the prosecutor can do is indict criminals for criminal behavior. What we want the prosecutor to do is not just put a few villains on parade but make Wall Street more responsible, the police less brutal, soccer television rights more transparently marketed. Sometimes one leads naturally to the other. Not always.
Consider the Freddie Gray case. One thing that separates this from other police killings (from Tamir Rice’s death in Cleveland or Walter Scott’s in South Carolina) is that in Baltimore, no individual cop fired a bullet. Gray died, as they say, in a context. There is a long history in Baltimore of “rough rides” — two men have won multi-million suits against the city police for rough rides that left them paraplegic, and others are pending, including one brought by a 27-year-old female university librarian. We know, in other words, that cops in Baltimore generally do things very much like what they did to Freddie Gray, and that multi-million-dollar payments have not ended the habit. The crimes of Freddie Gray’s killers, as the Baltimore prosecutor Marilyn Mosby described them, were ones of profound neglect and omission: failing to seat belt Gray into the van, ignoring his repeated pleas for medical attention, simply shutting the door when he was unresponsive inside. What Gray suffered was no less outrageous than Rice or Scott but more elusive, in that the responsibility fell less than it usually does on an individual cop and more on the department’s culture. Freddie Gray suffered death by accumulation of neglect, death by police culture, death by bureaucracy.
The senior officer charged in Gray’s death is a 30-year-old African-American sergeant named Alicia White. By all accounts, White was the kind of cop progressives would like to see more of. “Not even the type of person who would jaywalk,” a neighbor told reporters. White volunteered with a neighborhood association in a northeast Baltimore neighborhood where she had patrolled, and its president recently came to a press conference to give character testimony on her behalf. The Times reporters assigned to sketch her life described her as “church-going” and a “rising star.”
White was not involved in the initial pursuit of Freddie Gray, or his apprehension, or his initial confinement in the van. By the time she enters the story (according to charging documents) Gray had already suffered a “severe and critical neck injury” and had asked repeatedly for medical assistance, only to be ignored. White (who, again according to the charging documents, knew that Gray had been requesting medical help) looked inside the van, together with two other officers, spoke to the back of Gray’s head, and, when he did not respond, did nothing. White has been charged with manslaughter. Her act, if Mosby’s allegations are right, was abhorrent. But it is less abhorrent than the persistence of the culture of rough rides, than the habitual way in which police abused the bodies of their prisoners and acted as if they were theirs to break.
In the cases stemming from the financial crisis, prosecutors have generally made a different decision. They have barely prosecuted anyone at all. Both the Alicia Whites of the financial world and its clearer villains have been let off. In the ForEx case whose resolution Lynch just announced, for instance, the markets had been rigged not by faceless corporations but by particular traders in chat rooms called “the mafia” or “the cartel.” “If you ain’t cheating, you ain’t trying,” one Barclays banker, unprosecuted, typed, in one of these chat rooms.
The choice prosecutors made was to indict the corporations, rather than individuals, and then settle for massive payments. Almost surely class allegiance helped soften the prosecutors toward the bankers. But there’s also a better defense for these non-prosecutions: Criminologists haven’t found much evidence that longer sentences or more aggressive prosecution deters future crimes. Force the corporation to pay painful fines and you can hope it will change its practices and culture to avoid them. Punish an individual and it is hard to be sure you effect the culture at all.
It’s impossible to say yet whether the indictments of police officers in Baltimore and FIFA officials in New York will have a broader effect. The early signs aren’t great. FIFA reelected Sepp Blatter, under whose watch corruption blossomed. In Baltimore, cops seem to have responded to the indictments with a work slowdown, during the city’s most violent month in 15 years.
The reach of the American prosecutor, on display in Lynch’s press conference, was breathtaking. The Times soon ran a story about the international fascination with the attorney general. “It is interesting,” a South African journalist explained to the paper, “that there’s a woman calling the shots for the U.S., and a black woman at that. In particular, going up against football, which is such a boys’ club.” There were articles praising Lynch across several continents. “They don’t like the American government,” suggested the Washington correspondent for an Argentine daily, speaking about the readers back home in Buenos Aires, “but they do like her.”
What Lynch and Mosby did over the past few weeks has been both brave and heroic; they’ve provided clear political signals to the public that these institutions have spun badly out of control. But the corrections we most want in these cases depend less on the outcome of the prosecutions than on what happens after the public gets those political signals. Which makes sense, because the networks that these prosecutors are after aren’t merely criminal. They are political too.Constitutional lawyer Glenn Greenwald writes:
Documents just obtained from the FBI by the Partnership for Civil Justice Fund reveal, as the New York Times put it, that “the [FBI] used counterterrorism agents to investigate the Occupy Wall Street movement, including its communications and planning” and in general show “how deeply involved federal law-enforcement authorities were in monitoring the activities of the movement.” The heavily redacted documents, which can be read here, reveal numerous instances of the FBI collaborating with local police forces and private corporations to monitor and anticipate the acts of the protest movement.
As obviously disturbing as it is, none of this should be surprising. Virtually every seized power justified over the last decade in the name of “terrorism” has been applied to a wide range of domestic dissent. The most significant civil liberties trend of the last decade, in my view, is the importation of War on Terror tactics onto US soil, applied to US citizens – from the sprawling Surveillance State and powers of indefinite detention to the para-militarization of domestic police forces and the rapidly emerging fleet of drones now being deployed in countless ways. As I’ve argued previously, the true purpose of this endless expansion of state power in the name of “terrorism” is control over anticipated domestic protest and unrest.
It should be anything but surprising that the FBI – drowning in counter-terrorism money, power and other resources – will apply the term “terrorism” to any group it dislikes and wants to control and suppress (thus ushering in all of the powers institutionalized against “terrorists”). Those who supported (or acquiesced to) this expansion of unaccountable government power because they assumed it would only be used against Those Muslims not only embraced a morally warped premise (I care about injustices only if they directly affect me), but also a factually false one, since abuses of power always – always – expand beyond their original application.Researchers and invited dignitaries watch gathered at the University of Nevada, Reno's new Earthquake Engineering Laboratory in Reno, Nev., on Wednesday, Sept. 20, 2017, before a series of tests on new bridge designs intended to better withstand violent temblors. Scientists say the 100-ton, 70-foot-long concrete bridge subjected to violent motions on a giant ''shake table'' held up better than expected using new innovations to connect prefabricated pieces with ultra-high performance concrete and could prove pivotal in earthquake-prone places like Mexico and the western U.S. (AP Photo/Scott Sonner) The Associated Press
By SCOTT SONNER, Associated Press
RENO, Nev. (AP) — Scientists at a Nevada earthquake lab on Wednesday tested new bridge designs with connectors they say are innovative and created to better withstand violent temblors and speed reconstruction efforts after major quake damage.
University of Nevada, Reno engineers performed the experiments on a giant "shake table" to simulate violent motions of an earthquake to rattle a 100-ton (91-metric ton), 70 foot (21-meter) bridge model to determine how well it would hold up.
The tests, conducted a day after a big quake struck Mexico, shook large concrete columns and beams back and forth for about 30 seconds at a time, displacing some nearly a foot before returning largely to their original spot.
Graduate students measured and marked indications of tiny fractures but no major structural damage was observed in the initial review of the experiments.
"The bridge has done better than we expected," said Saiid Saiidi, a professor of civil and environmental engineering who served as the project leader. He's done related research for more than 30 years.
Bridges are already designed not to collapse in earthquakes but often are unsafe for travel after big quakes. He said the designs that were tested employed special types of connectors to link prefabricated bridge parts, including ultra-high performance concrete.
"Earthquakes by themselves don't kill people — it's the structures," Saiidi said.
The elements have been tested on their own but never before combined in a bridge model subjected to realistic earthquake motions, like the 1994 Northridge, California quake. Wednesday's test inside the University of Nevada's Earthquake Engineering Laboratory simulated activity of a quake as large as magnitude 7.5.
Some design work by the engineers has been incorporated into a highway off-ramp under construction in Seattle. It's the first bridge in the world that uses flexible columns and reinforcement bars made out of a metal alloy with titanium that bends and then springs back into shape when quakes hit.
Among other things, the innovative connectors allow for prefabricated concrete and other materials to be attached to an existing bridge foundation so as to speed repair and reconstruction
Part of the research centers on a so-called "pipe pin" connection developed by the California Department of Transportation's bridge designers for use in connecting certain beam interfaces in bridge construction.
The pin consists of a steel pipe that is anchored in the column and extended into a steel can embedded in the beam. A gap between the steel pipe and the can enables the extended segment to freely rotate inside the steel can and prevents bending of the protruded segment inside the can.
The University of Nevada's Earthquake Engineering Lab is the largest of its kind in the United States.
The latest project is funded by the California Department of Transportation, which currently is developing plans for 10 pilot projects based on the developing bridge connector technology.
"This study today is going to allow them to make observations of those designs," Saiidi said.Stan Honda/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
When Al Qaeda struck a decade ago, among its incorporeal victims was Americans’ inbred wariness of the power of the government to snoop into their private lives. Shocked to watch nearly 3,000 die in a single, sprawling plot, many people were prepared to give up a little privacy and liberty so long as the counterterrorism bureaucracy promised them protection from a ruthless enemy.
The Agenda: Security The balance between security and civil liberties.
There were the expanded powers granted to the F.B.I. and other agencies by the USA Patriot Act; the first warrantless eavesdropping on American soil since the 1970s by the National Security Agency; proliferating watch lists that tripped up many innocent travelers, including thousands of Muslim Americans; sting operations involving undercover agents posing as Qaeda operatives that critics call entrapment; the creation of huge, secret data collections in the name of national security; and last September, the targeted killing of an American, Anwar al-Awlaki, without judicial review.
The intelligence and security agencies have hugely expanded their payrolls, and Beltway contracting companies have cashed in. When the director of national intelligence reported last year that 4.2 million Americans working for the government or contractors hold security clearances, that total astonished even experts in the field. But in the latest report, the number has climbed again, to 4.86 million.
In return for the bulked-up surveillance and the costly security industry boom, some counterterrorism officials would say the nation has gotten a good deal: there has been nothing even close to a repeat of 9/11. Islamic extremists have killed 14 people in the United States since 2001, 13 of them in the shooting spree by an Army psychiatrist at Fort Hood, Texas, in 2009.
What lesson does the decade teach? The next president might reach one of two very different conclusions: to continue its record of success, the government should keep doing everything it is doing, and Americans should accept that the trade-offs of the national security state are permanent. Or: the terrorism emergency that began with 9/11 has eased, the threat has diminished, so the security bureaucracy should shrink accordingly and the pendulum should swing back in favor of civil liberties and individual privacy.
This policy choice is made more urgent by the explosion of commercial data collection and the stunning advances in technology to collect and store information. Like never before, the government is tapping into the ballooning information that companies collect on their customers, from airline tickets to e-mails. Your cellphone, meanwhile, records every move you make, and it gets cheaper every month to store a warehouse full of data about Americans.
These three forces – the desire to stay safe from terrorism, the drive for marketing data and the explosion of computer and communications technology – threaten to alter permanently the balance between security and liberty. And many of the relevant decisions are being made in secret, behind a veil of government classification or company confidentiality.
What is the proper balance between liberty and security? Would you like to see the government alter the trade-offs of post-9/11 America? Do you fear the scrutiny of the Department of Homeland Security more than that of Walmart? Do you think much about the electronic trail you leave as you go about your day? Have you taken any steps to protect yourself from the prying gaze of the government? Or do you feel better when you read about the formidable security bureaucracy built up since 9/11?
In the coming weeks, we will be using this space to examine these trade-offs |
of one of the organizations in the meeting, however, said no agreements had been reached as to the timing of going to the ballot and no plan was discussed regarding the news release issued by FreedomOhio on Wednesday. Another person confirmed that characterization.
A group of state and national organizations leading the fight to win marriage for all families in Ohio and across the country sought to clarify misleading characterizations put forward by Ian James’s Freedom Ohio following a meeting to discuss a strategy for winning the freedom to marry at the ballot box in Ohio.
However, contrary to the assertions made by Ian James in an unapproved statement, there was no agreement reached to put forward a ballot initiative in 2014 or any other specific date. Instead, all of the groups in attendance, including Freedom Ohio and nearly a dozen other leading organizations, agreed to work together to talk to Ohio voters about why marriage matters and strengthen our coalition in the months ahead, reserving judgment on the timing of a ballot initiative until a clear pathway to victory could be determined and carried out.
“Ohio families deserve to win marriage as soon as possible. And our national partners have won marriage equality in 13 jurisdictions. We are putting together a strong, honest coalition and a responsible plan to win,” said Elyzabeth Holford, Executive Director of Equality Ohio. “We intend to win and will do everything necessary to secure fairness for same-sex couples and their families.”
“We are committed to winning marriage in Ohio as soon as possible, and to developing the kind of robust campaign that has helped us achieve historic victories across the country,” said Marc Solomon, National Campaign Director for Freedom to Marry. “What we need to do now is to engage in the real work to increase public support so we can win on the ballot—in 2016, or if possible sooner.”
“Ian James must have attended a different meeting than the rest of us,” said Marty Rouse, National Field Director for the Human Rights Campaign. “Representatives from 11 state and national organizations participated in today’s meeting. Ten of them came away with a clear understanding that we would refrain from deciding on timing until it was responsible to do so. We’re perplexed as to how Freedom Ohio came away with a different understanding.”
At the invitation of Equality Ohio, representatives from the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Ohio, national ACLU, the Equality Federation, Freedom to Marry, the Human Rights Campaign, Lambda Legal, the National Gay & Lesbian Task Force, the American Unity Fund and Gill Action convened for today’s conversations to discuss strategy, timing and a plan to win marriage in Ohio.
Via press release from FreedomOhio:There will be an interesting angle to this story coming later today. Stand by.I've gotten a couple of calls about this post and should be getting an official statement shortly. In the meantime, Chris Geidner has the gist of what I meant above by "interesting angle."Freedom To Marry sends us their reaction to the press release from FreedomOhio. It's a doozy.
Labels: 2014 elections, activism, marriage equality, OhioAshes 2013: ICC reportedly investigating use of silicon tape on bat edges to evade Hot Spot
Updated
The International Cricket Council (ICC) is reportedly investigating incidents of bat tampering designed to evade Hot Spot technology by players from both sides of the Ashes series.
Channel Nine News said on Wednesday night that the ICC was looking into claims that batsmen were taping the edges of their blades with silicon tape to fool the Hot Spot cameras.
Nine reported that ICC general manager of cricket operations Geoff Allardice is in Durham ahead of Friday's fourth Test at Chester-le-Street to investigate.
The probe is reportedly focusing on concerns about the caught-behind dismissal of Kevin Pietersen on day five of the third Test at Old Trafford.
But Nine said that Australian batsmen may also be using the tactic.
Pietersen was given out by umpire Tony Hill after edging Australian paceman Peter Siddle through to Brad Haddin behind the stumps before lunch on the final day.
Pietersen stood his ground and was adamant he did not hit the ball, opting for a review by the third umpire under the Decision Review System (DRS).
But third umpire Kumar Dharmasena let the original ruling stand, with Hot Spot not showing any evidence of an edge.
Snickometer, which is not a part of the third umpire's technological arsenal, showed a clear noise when the ball passed by the bat, which was a long way from Pietersen's pad.
Hot Spot is part of the DRS that uses infra-red imaging to determine whether the ball made contact with the bat based on heat signatures from friction on impact.
Not my guys, Clarke says
But Australian captain Michael Clarke has strongly denied his players have been trying to avoid detection by Hot Spot technology.
Clarke says it is normal for players to protect their bats with things like fibreglass facing, but that it is nothing new and he has been doing it since he was 12 years old.
The Australian captain says he has not witnessed anything untoward going on with England players either.
The inventor of Hot Spot has admitted the technology can struggle to pick up edges from fast bowling, and during the Ashes the technology has appeared as inconsistent as ever.
David Warner earned a reprieve in one of his innings after no evidence was shown he had edged it, despite admitting later he had hit the ball.
Clarke said there was no chance any Australian player has been trying to cheat the technology.
"I find the accusation quite funny. I can't talk for everybody but if it is the case we are talking about cheating, I can tell you there is not one person in the Australian change rooms who is a cheat," he said.
"That's not the way we play cricket.
"I know no one is going to the extreme of saying put this on your bat because it will help you beat Hot Spot."
If batsmen are trying to cover up edges, the theory appears flawed, given it could just as easily contribute to incorrect lbw dismissals where the ball has been hit first.
Clarke said he could guarantee that his bat manufacturer does not alter bats.
The 32-year-old said all batsmen used coverings on their bats but he has never heard of anything to suggest there is a way of lessening the impact of Hot Spot.
"I've used fibreglass facing on my bats since I got my first bat from Slazenger when I was 12," he said.
"I used a fibreglass face on the bat because we couldn't afford two or three or five or 10 cricket bats.
"Because modern bats are pressed and are soft, you put a cover on it to protect the bat and make it last longer.
"A lot of players use that since I've been playing cricket.
"I didn't know there was such a thing you could do to hide nicking the ball on HotSpot. I wouldn't think it would make any difference. I've never heard of anyone doing it."
Problem bigger than just the bats
"It might be against the spirit of the game but at the end of the day the technology is bad news... it doesn't work." Grandstand commentator Jim Maxwell
Grandstand's Jim Maxwell has played down the reports, saying he does not believe bat tampering is the main issue.
"People used to put vellum down the side of their bat," he said.
"You can put all sorts of stuff... you can put Vaseline on it.
"It might be against the spirit of the game but at the end of the day the technology is bad news... it doesn't work."
After day one of the Test, Cricket Australia said it had sought clarification from the ICC on the "incorrect" exit of Usman Khawaja after yet another controversial DRS verdict.
Khawaja was given out by on-field umpire Tony Hill having made just one to leave Australia 2 for 92 on the first day of the third Test at Old Trafford.
The decision, after the batsman was adjudged to have edged England off-spinner Graeme Swann to wicketkeeper Matt Prior, was endorsed by Dharmasena despite evidence which appeared to suggest it should have been reversed.
Following criticism of the verdict by Australia Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and leg-spin great Shane Warne, Cricket Australia chief James Sutherland said he was seeking an explanation from the ICC.
"CA remains a strong supporter of DRS and believes it is important that cricket continues to improve and build confidence in the DRS," he said at the time.
"We understand and accept that from time to time mistakes can be made. However, in this instance, on behalf of the player, the team and all cricket fans, we feel duty bound to seek further explanation as to how this decision was arrived at."
ABC/AAP
Topics: ashes, cricket, sport, england, united-kingdom, australia
First postedAP Photo Soapbox Why Trump Had to Fire Sally Yates The acting attorney general should have given the president her best advice, then resigned if he didn’t listen.
Josh Blackman is a constitutional law professor at the South Texas College of Law in Houston, an adjunct scholar at the Cato Institute, and the author of Unraveled: Obamacare, Religious Liberty, and Executive Power.
Democrats are calling it the Monday Night Massacre. On Monday evening, Acting Attorney General Sally Yates announced that under her leadership, the Justice Department would not defend President Donald Trump’s executive order on immigration. After acknowledging that the Office of Legal Counsel had reviewed the policy, and noting that the Civil Division could defend it in court, she personally rebuffed the president’s judgment, which she did not find “wise or just.” Yates, a career prosecutor appointed by Barack Obama, is now being hailed for standing up to a supposedly “tyrannical” president, according to a statement blasted out by the Democratic National Committee.
But this has it wrong. If Yates truly felt this way, she should have told the president her conclusions in confidence. If he disagreed, she had one option: resign. Instead, she made herself a political martyr and refused to comply. Trump obliged, and replaced her with the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, Dana Boente. While this late-night termination may bring to mind President Richard Nixon’s infamous “Saturday Night Massacre,” the analogy is inapt. This is a textbook case of insubordination, and the president was well within his constitutional powers to fire her. Call it the Monday Night Layoff instead.
Story Continued Below
Let’s review the facts. In 1973, Attorney General Elliot Richardson appointed Archibald Cox as an independent special prosecutor to investigate the break-in at the Watergate Hotel. Cox, a former solicitor general, issued subpoenas to President Nixon for taped Oval Office conversations. Nixon refused. Under the law in effect at the time, the president could not fire the special prosecutor directly. Rather, the attorney general could fire Cox, but only “for cause,” which required some neglect of duty. In other words, the prosecutor could not be fired because his investigation came too close to the Watergate cover-up.
After ignoring the subpoena, on Saturday, Oct. 20, 1973, President Nixon ordered Attorney General Richardson to fire Cox. However, the prosecutor had not engaged in any malfeasance, and there was no “cause” to terminate him. Thus, the president’s order was against the law. Richardson refused to comply, and instead resigned. Shortly thereafter, Deputy Attorney General William Ruckelshaus assumed the position of acting attorney general. He too refused to fire Cox, and instead resigned. Third in line was Robert Bork. The solicitor general, now the acting attorney general, believed the president’s order was constitutional and appropriate. Bork complied, and fired the special prosecutor. It was a dramatic episode in constitutional history that gave rise to the independent counsel statute, and two decades later, President Bill Clinton’s impeachment.
Here’s why the feverish comparisons to Yates’ firing are off mark. First, the independent special prosecutor could only be removed for neglect of duty. Nixon had not demonstrated that Cox did anything wrong; rather, he was trying to shield his own cover-up. In contrast, Yates, as acting attorney general, could be removed at will. Firing her in no way violated any statutory prohibitions. Rather, the president could fire her merely because of a disagreement in policy—which is precisely what happened here. That is perfectly lawful.
Second, the president did not order his principal officer to violate the law. Yates acknowledged that there was a credible argument that the executive order was constitutional—she said only that she was not convinced by the OLC’s determination that it was lawful, hinting at the president’s campaign-trail calls for a “Muslim ban.” But many laws of dubious constitutionality are routinely, and zealously, defended in court by the Justice Department. Her objection, instead, was that the order was unwise or unjust. These may be valid points for a public citizen to raise, but the attorney general has a statutory duty to “[r]epresent the United States in legal matters generally,” regardless of her personal proclivities. Herman Pfleger, former legal adviser at the State Department, once explained, “‘You should never say ‘no’ to your client when the law and your conscience say ‘yes’; but you should never, ever say ‘yes’ when your law and conscience say ‘no.’” If Yates’s conscience said ‘no,’ but the law said ‘yes,’ her choice was to proudly voice those opinions. Doing so would have been essential to maintaining the independence of the Justice Department. But if her entreaties were rebuffed, she should have resigned, and then publicly voiced her dissent.
Third, and most importantly, the Constitution entirely supported Yates’ removal. Article II imposes on the president the duty to “take care that the laws [are] faithfully executed.” Because he cannot perform this solemn responsibility alone, the Constitution grants him the power to appoint officers—with Senate confirmation—who can carry out his orders. But as Chief Justice Roberts recently observed, “to keep these officers accountable,” the president has a critical trump card: “removing them from office.” Perhaps no chief executive in American history is better prepared for this role than the longtime host of The Apprentice. Because Yates, who served as a principal officer, impeded the president’s duty of faithful execution, her removal was entirely justified.
While I defend Trump’s constitutional authority to remove the acting attorney general, his message accompanying the termination warrants a careful study. Announcing her firing, the president wrote that Yates had “betrayed the Department of Justice by refusing to enforce a legal order.” Charges of betrayal will only serve to chill voices of dissent within the Justice Department, and limit internal checks on the White House. Though Yates erred egregiously by making her opinion public, rather than resigning, others within the executive branch should feel free to raise constitutional doubts to the White House. However, if those in the minority sense that they will be deemed traitors, the voices of reason within the government will be silenced for fear of persecution. I worry that Yates’s foolish last stand will poison the well of President Trump’s already-low estimation of lawyers that tell him “no.” Her selfish act of painless self-flagellation—which will no doubt be rewarded by a lifetime of adulation from the left—will in the long run be counterproductive, and unfortunately inhibit dissent within an already skittish agency. Yates’s plan backfired, big league.CLEMSON, SC - OCTOBER 11: Vic Beasley #3 of the Clemson Tigers reacts after blocking a pass attempt against the Louisville Cardinals during the game at Memorial Stadium on October 11, 2014 in Clemson, South Carolina. (Photo by Tyler Smith/Getty Images) Vic Beasley. (Tyler Smith/Getty Images)
By Dan Durkin—
(CBS) When assembling their draft boards, college scouts must project future success based on a variety of variables — collegiate production, football character and athletic makeup. Some have missed projecting athletes more than football players, which demonstrates the fine line between boom and bust.
Today we take a look at one of the draft’s fastest-rising edge rushers: Clemson’s Vic Beasley.
OLB Vic Beasley (6-foot-3, 246 pounds, 22, Clemson)
40-yard dash: 4.53
Three-cone: 6.91
Bench: 35
Vertical: 41”
Arm: 32 1/2”
Bio: Beasley arrived at Clemson as a four-star running back and linebacker recruit, but he transitioned to an edge player at Clemson. As a redshirt sophomore, Beasley’s eight-sack season earned him honorable mention sophomore All-American honors. As a junior, Beasley dominated the ACC, registering 23 tackles for loss and 13 sacks as he became a consensus All-American. He received a second-round grade from the NFL’s advisory board, so he returned for his senior season. Last year at Clemson, he registered 21.5 tackles for loss and 12 sacks, and he was again a first-team All-American.
In all, Beasley made 25 starts at Clemson, finishing with 52.5 tackles for loss (fourth in Clemson history), 33 sacks (most in Clemson history), seven forced fumbles, two recovered fumbles and two touchdowns. His 33 sacks all came over the final 39 games of his career.
Beasley rushed as both a hand-on-the-ground defensive end and a stand-up outside linebacker at Clemson, but he may be best suited as a 3-4 outside linebacker at the NFL level. He’s the most athletic and productive edge rusher in the 2015 NFL draft.
How he fits the Bears’ scheme: Beasley is an ideal fit as a weak-side outside linebacker in defensive coordinator Vic Fangio’s scheme (think Aldon Smith). While he has the hips and footwork to play in space and drop into coverage, he would be best deployed from the edge initially with one job — get the quarterback.
Beasley converts speed to power better than any of his counterparts to overwhelm blockers. He has a lightning-quick first step off the snap, which enables him to set blockers up with his feet, and flashes a devastating spin move. Not only does he win matchups with speed, he also wins them with power, playing with violent and active hands on a bull rush. He’s a strong hand fighter, showcasing a variety of moves — chop, hump, arm over and under.
There were concerns about Beasley being too slight heading into the NFL Combine, but he answered any doubts and elevated his stock by turning in the best performance in Indianapolis. Beasley put on 11 pounds, weighing in at 246, and proceeded to put up the top 40-yard (edge speed), vertical jump (explosion) and bench press (strength) numbers in his group. Such numbers have thrust him into the conversation as the top overall prospect in the edge rusher category, given the combination of his athletic profile and collegiate production.
Draft projection: Beasley is the top outside linebacker prospect in this class and should be a top-10 selection.
Dan Durkin covers the Bears for CBSChicago.com and is a frequent contributor to 670 The Score. Follow him on Twitter at @djdurkin.East West Link: Victorian Government signs off on $420 million payment to consortium
Updated
The consortium behind Melbourne's East West Link will receive $420 million under a deal reached with the Victorian Government after the project was scrapped.
The deal confirmed the final cost to the state would be $339 million in costs incurred by East West Connect plus $81 million for establishing a credit facility.
The consortium had been contracted to build an 18-kilometre road connecting major arterials — the Eastern Freeway at Hoddle Street to CityLink, the Port of Melbourne and on to the Western Ring Road — by the previous government.
Premier Daniel Andrews made an election promise to scrap the project and ordered all preliminary works on the road to be suspended after Labor won office in November.
Treasurer Tim Pallas said the Government had also negotiated a $3.1 billion bond agreement with the consortium's bankers which would be available for the Melbourne Metro Rail project.
"The funding source available for Melbourne Metro through these Metro Rail bonds will effectively be almost half of the identified costs of Melbourne Metro," he said.
"So if people want to know whether or not this is a project that is real, that is happening, we put our money where our mouth is.
"This is not a day for celebration, but it is a day to be very clear that this matter is now behind the state of Victoria.
"We can proceed, we can go forward delivering the infrastructure that Victorians voted for."
We're seeing a $3 billion credit card that Victorian taxpayers are taking on and Victorians are still stuck in traffic with no relief in sight. Michael O'Brien, shadow treasurer
The planned Metro Rail tunnel will be built under Swanston Street and includes five new underground stations at Arden, Parkville, CBD North, CBD South and Domain, connected by nine kilometres of rail tunnels.
In the May budget, the Government allocated $1.5 billion to begin work on the rail project, which is expected to cost up to $11 billion to complete.
Shadow treasurer Michael O'Brien, who was part of the Coalition government that signed off on the East West project, said Labor's decision was a waste of taxpayers' money.
"We're seeing hundreds of millions of dollars paid out in compensation despite a clear promise not to. We're seeing hundreds of millions of dollars lost in terms of costs already incurred," Mr O'Brien said.
"We're seeing a $3 billion credit card that Victorian taxpayers are taking on and Victorians are still stuck in traffic with no relief in sight."
Business case exposed flaws: Pallas
In December, Mr Pallas released the previous Napthine government's business case for the East West project, which showed it would increase traffic congestion on existing freeways and had a $2 billion funding black hole.
Mr Pallas said the original business case, dated April 2013, showed only 13 per cent of Eastern Freeway morning traffic travelled to the western suburbs and the airport.
"'Almost nine in every 10 vehicles on the Eastern Freeway in AM peak are not using the East West Link', the summary of the business case stated," Mr Pallas said.
"The project is expected to benefit a number of users, however, at the same time, it will increase traffic at already-congested locations [on the Eastern and Tullamarine freeways in particular] which erodes the overall project benefits cost reduction."
A side letter signed by the Napthine government and released in February purported to guarantee compensation for the consortium if the project was scrapped, even if a court subsequently found the contract was "void or otherwise unenforceable".
The letter acknowledged there was a "significant opportunity cost" for the consortium members if they committed to the toll road.
It also said that "Victoria's leading reputation as a place to do business... would be compromised" if the project was dumped.
"All the letter of guarantee does is simply state that the State Government will stand behind the contract," Mr O'Brien said in December last year.
"That is normal commercial business practice, and in fact you would have to go to a banana republic before you'd find any government that looked at ripping up contracts."
Topics: states-and-territories, urban-development-and-planning, federal---state-issues, state-parliament, parliament, government-and-politics, melbourne-3000
First postedSomething special is brewing in Orlando and a lot of it has to do with Brazilian soccer icons Kaka and Marta. Not often do we see two FIFA World Player of the Year winners playing in the same city – but we do in our City.
These two ambassadors of the beautiful game have brought both firepower and match-winning ability to Orlando City and the Orlando Pride – something one would expect considering their proven quality. Another thing each player brings to the club: unprecedented leadership ability. Maybe not in the traditional vocal aspects of leading, but leading by example and simply by their sheer presence in the club. You probably won’t see these fleet-footed playmakers barking out orders on the pitch or pleading to the referee, but you will see their experience and uplifting personalities boosting team morale all over the field.
The common leadership factor with these decorated Brazilians: a winning mentality. “[Marta] brings to us two very important things: One, of course, her talent, her quality on the field that hopefully will help us a lot in getting our results and our goals that help us win. And secondly, her mentality. Marta is a winner and this is exactly what we need to feel the winning mentality of our club,” said club CEO Alex Leitao during Marta’s welcoming press conference.
The same can be said of Kaka in regard to his positive approach and impact on team spirit.
There is an air of confidence in the squad when Kaka graces the pitch. Antonio Nocerino, formerly Kaka’s teammate at AC Milan, now plays behind him in defensive midfield for the Lions. “I’m very happy because [Kaká] is an incredible player,” Nocerino said following a 2-2 draw versus Sporting Kansas City this past Saturday. “His physicality is incredible, he is incredible with the ball, and he is an incredible example for everyone.”
Marta is much newer to the Orlando City SC family but her impact is already being felt on the field. She has tallied a goal and an assist for the Pride this season and will look to add to her totals this weekend against Seattle. Since her arrival in April, Marta has felt welcomed by her teammates, coaches, and fans. This has allowed her to really settle in and focus on soccer and how she can best help the team win matches.
In her press conference following the home opener against Washington, Marta was asked about the importance of serving as a role model in Orlando for young girls who aspire to play soccer. The five-time FIFA World Player of the Year responded, “It is always important, I have always been doing [that]…I do everything I can to help grow the sport of soccer, and I will continue to do that.”
The intangibles are there with both of these superstars. And the immediate future is glimmering with promise as Kaka and Marta will continue to make their mark in the Orlando City purple.You must enter the characters with black color that stand out from the other characters
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— Two 17-year-olds were seriously injured in a single-vehicle wreck near the intersection of Bay Valley Road and Bunn Road around 7:10 p.m. Friday.
The driver was speeding in excess of 100 miles per hour, officials said. They were not wearing seatbelts and were ejected from the car.
Both are in serious but stable condition at WakeMed.
The driver has been charged with speeding, careless and reckless driving and failure to wear a seatbelt. The passenger has been charged with failure to wear a seatbelt.
One of the victims said they were on their way to church at the time of the crash.Both partners came from Jerusalem's large religious Jewish community
A 14-year-old Israeli girl has got a divorce from her 17-year-old husband, making her what media are describing as the country's youngest divorcee.
The divorce came after a rabbinical court ruled that their wedding met the major requirements of Jewish law.
The two sweethearts had exchanged vows in front of friends, exchanged a ring, and the union had been consummated.
When her parents found out what had occurred, they insisted on a religious divorce, which she initially refused.
Both partners come from traditionally religious Jewish families.
Legal consequence
The young couple are said to have recited their marriage vows in front of a group of friends and the husband gave his wife a ring.
The girl is said to have initially refused her parents' demand for the divorce, saying she wanted to live with the boy.
She said she wanted to marry him officially when she was old enough.
The Israeli press says she only changed her mind when the boy's parents offered her money.
The religious court in Jerusalem then held the divorce proceeding.
The divorce will go on the girl's legal file, meaning that when she is 16, her identity card will say she is divorced.
One consequence of this is that - if she follows Jewish religious law - she will not be able to marry anyone from the traditional Jewish priestly caste.Neil Stock swings his Jaguar into the car park by the sandy south-facing beach and, with the sun beating down on what at first glance could be a bohemian seaside community, says: "It's embarrassing isn't it? We're only 60 miles from London, in the affluent south-east and here we are in the most deprived place in the country."
Jaywick, a ward of Tendring district council in north-east Essex, has earned the unhappy distinction of being placed first in the dauntingly named Indices of Multiple Deprivation 2010. Using statistics for income, employment, health, disability, crime and living standards, the government report ranks 32,482 neighbourhoods by local authority area according to where they stand in a national poverty league table. At the opposite end of the scale, the Hertfordshire suburb of Chorleywood, where houses cost 30 times as much as property in Jaywick, is named least deprived.
With its magnificent miles of golden sand it's hard to imagine how Jaywick stumbled first on hard times and then disappeared into the abyss. Its chalets along the shoreline look satisfyingly weather-beaten, painted in bleached pastel shades. But take a few steps inland and gaps appear like missing teeth in a smiling face.
Indices of multiple deprivation: click image to see graphic
In the Brookslands estate, the Mermaid Tavern has been torched and left as a blackened shell, as have numerous houses. Nearby, not a single shop remains open for business – even the whelks and jellied eels store on the promenade which used to cater for the summer day-trippers has gone.
The locals are happy enough to talk but don't want to give their names, "in case we get our windows put in".
Stock, the Conservative leader of the council, which is run from the town hall in neighbouring Clacton-on-Sea, looks somewhat out of place. "It is depressing being number one, because we do take this issue very seriously. It's a problem beyond the scope of a district council. We need national and European intervention."
So how did Jaywick – or more specifically the Brooklands estate – get here, having overtaken Breckfield in Anfield, Liverpool? Despite its problems, Jaywick still possesses character. It's the largest surviving example of the "plotlands" movement of the 1920s and 1930s, when land was sold off in little strips, usually to city dwellers longing for a piece of paradise.
Jaywick Sands was built in 1928 as a resort by Fabian property developer Frank Stedman. He marketed them as "chalets" but people lived in their two-bedroom bungalows all year round. One local recalled his father had bought the house off-plan at an exhibition in London.
After the second world war most plotlands were bulldozed but the Jaywick residents hung on, even going to court in 1970 and succeeded in preserving it. There is a proud tradition of self-reliance.
But the area is relatively isolated and the properties have deteriorated. A total of 62% of working age residents receive benefits, compared with the national average of 15%. It is in a high-risk flood zone.
Many of the roads are not maintained by the council and are narrow dirt tracks. Mains sewerage did not arrive until the 1980s and in some areas street lighting and pavements have never been installed.
"Eight years ago Jaywick had the highest rate of outright property ownership in the area but that has gone into reverse," said Stock. Four fifths of the housing stock is rented, with ownership concentrated in the hands of "one or two landlords" who rent out to housing benefit claimants. "The going rate is £450 a month for a two-bedroom house, which these qualify as. Because of their state of deterioration there's no deposit required, so we are attracting people from miles away to live here," he said.
Those incomers aren't necessarily what an old community like Jaywick needs. Anne Dewart moved here in the 1970s, paying £15,000 for her house. She wanted to escape London and found a job in a local factory making waxed-cotton jackets. "But when that closed down you had to go to Colchester to find work, which a lot of people didn't want to do or couldn't," she said.
"It's like most places in that you get your good and you get your bad. But in every one of these streets there will be one person who thinks they own the road.
"And for that reason a lot of the houses were going up in flames. The attitude was 'If the police won't do anything about it, we will'. But it does seem to have calmed down. The kids are destructive but to be honest there's nothing for them to do and they get bored."
Anne strokes her Alsation pet dog 'Fella'. "That's why I've got him. Mind you, he was stolen from me as a puppy. The police knew which drug-dealer took him but they wouldn't do anything. I only got him back because someone went round and said 'Give him back or your legs'll get broken' and miraculously the next morning Fella reappeared.
"I had a stone bench stolen from outside the house and nobody saw a thing, funny that."
Stock says it's a housing problem. "The Guinness Trust came in and built some lovely new houses on the edge of the estate.
"But as soon as they'd decanted families into the new homes the old ones filled up. I'm afraid the old ones have to be pulled down as they become vacant."CAIRO/SINGAPORE Oct 7 (Reuters) - Egypt has not received October allocations of petroleum aid from Saudi Arabia, traders told Reuters, forcing its state oil buyer to rapidly increase tenders even amid a severe dollar shortage and growing arrears to oil producers.
Saudi Arabia agreed to provide Egypt with 700,000 tonnes of refined oil products per month for five years under a $23 billion deal between Saudi Aramco and the Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation (EGPC) signed during a state visit this year by Saudi Arabia’s King Salman.
Delivery of the Saudi Aramco products was halted as of Oct. 1 though the reason remains unclear, a trader that deals with the EGPC told Reuters.
The kingdom has pumped billions of dollars, including grants, into Egypt’s flagging economy since the toppling of President Mohamed Mursi of the Muslim Brotherhood in 2013 after mass protests against his rule.
The oil aid has saved Egypt hundreds of millions of dollars per month at a time when it faces an acute shortage of hard currency that has forced it to ration dollars for key commodities and negotiate long term credit arrangements with oil producers to keep critical supplies flowing.
Under the 700,000-tonne monthly supply deal, Saudi Aramco agreed to provide 400,000 tonnes of gas oil, 200,000 tonnes of gasoline and 100,000 tonnes of fuel oil per month, all on a credit line with a 2 percent interest rate to be repaid over 15 years, an EGPC official has told Reuters.
The EGPC has re-entered the spot market in recent weeks to fill the gap, traders said, announcing its largest purchase tenders in months, including calls for some 560,000 tonnes of gasoil for October arrival, a steep rise from the roughly 200,000 tonnes sought in September.
The state oil buyer announced additional tenders on Thursday and Friday for 665,000 tonnes of gasoil and 132,000 tonnes of gasoline for November arrival, levels that could suggest a protracted delay or suspension of Saudi Aramco products.
The EGPC and Saudi oil officials could not be reached for comment.
Egypt’s oil ministry spokesman told Reuters he had no information suggesting a suspension of aid.
“It’s normal for the EGPC to increase quantities in tenders. Egypt imports products besides those from Saudi Aramco every month,” the spokesman said, adding that it is too early in the month to say that Saudi Arabia’s October deliveries are not coming.
Egypt is widely expected to devalue or float its currency in the coming days, a major monetary adjustment seen as necessary to clinch a $12 billion IMF loan aimed at plugging its deficit but a reform that could hike its cost of importing by some 50 percent overnight.
The Saudi oil aid and other grants provided by the kingdom have been a mainstay in helping Egypt shore up its foreign reserves, which the central bank governor has said need to top $25 billion from their end-September total of $19.6 billion before the country can float its currency. (Reporting by Eric Knecht and Abdel Rahman Adel in Cairo, and Jessica Jaganathan; Additional reporting by Rania El Gamal in Dubai and Ron Bousso and Libby George in London, editing by William Hardy)House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi is the 15th wealthiest member of Congress. Roll Call estimates she has a net worth of $29.3 million. She and her husband own a sprawling estate and vineyard in Napa Valley, where they have hosted the likes of Google’s Erik Schmidt and environmentalist Tom Steyer.
Stephen Jaffe once represented a man who was fired from his construction job for trying to set a trapped raccoon free.
Jaffe, 72, is an employment lawyer in San Francisco. He has never held elected office. He is a member of the Democratic Socialists of America. And he intends to challenge Nancy Pelosi—perhaps the most powerful Democrat in political office—in a Democratic primary in 2018.
First, back to that raccoon. In 2015, Todd Sutton was working as a carpenter on an expansion for the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. The construction site had a raccoon problem, and set out no-kill traps for the critters. Sutton came into work one day and saw what he described a baby raccoon in one of the traps. He decided that, rather than letting Animal Control euthanize the animal, he would return it to the wild. He picked up the cage and put the raccoon in the back of his pickup truck. But when his boss found out that Sutton had taken the raccoon under his wing, he fired Sutton and accused him of stealing the trap.
Jaffe took on Sutton’s case and ended up getting him some money, and getting company that fired Sutton some bad publicity and lost contracts.
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“San Francisco is probably the craziest animal rights town you’ll ever find. The people here went crazy,” Jaffe said. “I was having dinner one night when this happened, when it broke in the paper, and the local TV station rides out to where I’m having dinner with my son, who’s an adult, at Benihana, and they insisted on interviewing me in the parking lot about this raccoon.”
Jaffe was an ardent supporter of Sen. Bernie Sanders’ Democratic primary bid against Hillary Clinton, and worked as a legal supervisor for the Sanders campaign at the Nevada caucuses. He believes Sanders was “essentially cheated out of the nomination” by the Democratic |
-review evidence from a wide variety of sources... on the forces and pressures influencing pedal cycle construction, sale and use in Great Britain, and provide DfT with costed, practical and appropriate options for legislative change."
However, promises to bring forward the other pedal cycle regulations remain "under review." The DfT said: "Some mismatches between point of sale and in-use requirements for pedal bicycles were identified, and other points concerning technical standards were considered. These will remain under review and specific proposals for change will be made as soon as practicable."
The new consultation proposes that e-bike motor power for standard bicycles is increased by 50 watts to 250 watts. The electric assistance cut-off speed is to be increased by half a mile an hout to 15.5 mph. All the weight limits are removed. Vehicles with more than 3 wheels would be permitted.
The consultation period started today and will run until 8th December.PHILADELPHIA — Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid wants the intelligence community to give Donald Trump “fake” intel briefings during the general election.
Reid, who is retiring after this election cycle, told The Huffington Post Wednesday afternoon before his convention speech that Trump is too “dangerous” to give any kind of important information to.
“How would the CIA and the other intelligence agencies brief this guy? How could they do that? I would suggest to the intelligence agencies, if you’re forced to brief this guy, don’t tell him anything, just fake it, because this man is dangerous,” Reid said. “Fake it, pretend you’re doing a briefing, but you can’t give the guy any information.”
Reid was no less forgiving when he gave remarks Wednesday night at the Democratic National Convention. Reid attacked Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell for being “craven.”
“His Republican Party decided that the answer to hard-working Americans’ dreams is to slander our African American President. Stoke fear of Muslims, sow hatred of Latinos, insult Asians, and of course, wage war against women,” Reid said. “The only thing Republicans like Mitch McConnell have accomplished is setting the stage for a hateful conman, Donald Trump.”
Reid further attacked Trump saying, “When Trump decided to run for president, he probably said to himself: ‘I’m an egomaniac. I don’t believe in science. I think women are inferior. Where would I feel at home?’”
Reid embraced Hillary Clinton’s campaign stating that with Clinton as president and Democrats winning the Senate majority this election cycle, the party will continue to push forward a Supreme Court “that keeps America just and background checks for gun buyers and assault weapons ban that keep America safe.”
Reid closed his remarks saying the party “likes” Democratic vice presidential nominee Tim Kaine and described Clinton as “the most qualified and prepared candidate in the history of America.”
Follow Kerry on TwitterRussia has experienced an upsurge in homophobic vigilantism following the introduction of legislation outlawing "homosexual propaganda" in June, gay and lesbian groups say.
The new laws, which have cast a shadow over the Winter Olympics to be held in Sochi early next year, ban the promotion of "non-traditional sexual relations" among minors.
Activists say the legislation has emboldened rightwing groups who use social media to "ambush" gay people, luring them to meetings and then humiliating them on camera – sometimes pouring urine on them. These groups often act against gay teenagers, several of whom told the Guardian that rising homophobia and vigilante activity force them to lead lives of secrecy.
The Russian LGBT Network said the harassment of gay people was being organised nationally for the first time through groups known as Occupy Gerontophilia and Occupy Paedophilia, who claim to be trying to "reform" homosexuals.
Igor Kochetkov, the head of the network, said Occupy Paedophilia – which focuses on gay adults – had uploaded hundreds of videos and garnered hundreds of thousands views on social media sites. Occupy Gerontophilia, which focuses on teenagers, had uploaded dozens of videos to the social network VKontakte before its page, which had 170,000 subscribers, was shut down for invading the privacy of minors.
"The latest laws against so-called gay propaganda, first in the regions and then on the federal level, have essentially legalised violence against LGBT people, because these groups of hooligans justify their actions with these laws," Kochetkov said. "With this legislation, the government said that, yes, gays and lesbians are not valued as a social group.
"It is an action to terrorise the entire LGBT community," he added.
Kochetkov said most homophobic violence was not reported to the police, but a recent study by his organisation found that of 20 attacks that had been reported recently, four were investigated and only one resulted in a court case. Russian law did not outlaw discrimination based on sexual orientation, he said.
One gay teenager, Robert, who lives in the Siberian city of Kemerovo, said he narrowly avoided exposure at the hands of Occupy Gerontophilia.
"They tried to trick me into a meeting but I immediately saw the ruse," Robert said, recounting an online chat, supposedly with a 22-year-old man, who had offered him money to meet up. After being confronted, the man admitted he was from Occupy Gerontophilia, Robert said.
In a series of interviews with young homosexuals, the Guardian found that widespread fear means their relationships are nearly always clandestine and abuse is commonplace. As well as vigilante violence, they are also scared of negative reactions from family and friends. And if life in Moscow and St Petersburg is hard enough, then in the Russian provinces homosexuality is the love that dare not even whisper its name.
Recently an MP in the Siberian region of Zabaikalsk called for a law allowing gays to be publicly flogged by Cossacks.
Fifteen-year-old Robert said vigilante groups had expanded in his city following the new legislation. "In general, people's attitude here toward LGBT has worsened after long-running homophobic propaganda in the mass media," he said. "As soon as the hoopla started with the passage of the law, branches of organisations like Occupy Paedophilia and Occupy Gerontophilia appeared in our city."
Whereas the relatively cosmopolitan Moscow and St Petersburg have several gay clubs and bars – one of Moscow's best-known nightclubs, Propaganda, also hosts a gay party every Sunday night – other cities in Russia are generally more conservative. A poll in April found that 43% of Russians considered homosexuality to be "licentiousness, a bad habit" and 35% said it was an "illness or the result of psychological trauma".
Teenagers suffer the most from homophobia, and studies have found that LGBT youth commit suicide at much higher rates than their peers. People "scorn and hate lesbians, and hate and beat gays", said Lena, a 14-year-old from Abakan, a city of 170,000 in Siberia. She said an acquaintance had tried to trick her into going on a date with a girl. "It was a good thing my friend was able to talk me out of it, since I found out later that several homophobes were waiting for me there," she said.
Ruslan, a 17-year-old living in Tambov, where both Occupy Gerontophilia and Occupy Paedophilia have been particularly active, said he tried to "prepare a person" by talking about homosexuality in general before he told them about his sexual orientation. If they reacted negatively he wouldn't say anything. Most did, he said, adding that only his closest friends knew that he was gay.
"My parents are extremely conservative. If I tell them they will throw me out of the house," he said.
Marina, a 17-year-old who lives in the small city of Bronnitsy, in the Moscow region, said she tried to come out to her mother but "turned it into a joke" when she heard her mother's reaction. "I told her, 'I've fallen in love with a girl.' At first she said it was affection, not love, and then that I wouldn't be able to have children," Marina said. "Then I understood how limited her perception of same-sex couples is."
Artyom Reutov, a 15-year-old from the city of Veliky Ustyug, in the north of Russia, said his teachers were openly homophobic, suggesting that LGBT should be exiled or given compulsory medical treatment. "At the end of the last school year, I heard a ton of homophobic statements from teachers," Reutov said.
He hasn't come out to his conservative mother, who would prefer him to watch football rather than engage in his hobbies of drawing and singing. "If I was a bad student and hung out in the courtyard, drank and swore, it would be better [for her] than me being who I am now," he said.
The only public support is Deti-404, a group for LGBT teenagers that has pages on Facebook and VKontakte. Several times a day different users post photos, personal stories and statements of support. Several of the teenagers said the group had helped them come to terms with their orientation and find friends.
"I can go on [the Deti-404 site] and see that there are other teens with non-traditional orientations and people who wish me happiness and don't hate me," Lena said. "I write a lot. I can get all my emotions out and put them on the site, where people appreciate them."Photo: Courtesy of Orlando City SC
Congratulations are in order for Orlando City. Welcome to MLS!
So much for that nice, neat, even, 20-team league.
New York City F.C., entering Major League Soccer in 2015, was going to end this ugly, unbalanced East-West conundrum. At the very least, one factor that muddied the playoff waters would be solved.
On Tuesday, MLS announced the awarding of franchise No. 21 to Orlando City S.C. at an event in central Florida. They will also join MLS in 2015. The quotes coming from the event indicate that the league is likely to keep the expansion to two teams in 2015, leaving an odd 21.
While I have been wanting to see MLS go from 20 to 22 to 24 in succession, this makes something rather clear to me – MLS is going three conferences. And if they’re not, maybe they should.
Could it be 3 conferences?
Now, we don’t know that for certain yet. But it’s not a huge stretch to see 21 teams and come to the conclusion that a three-conference league is on the horizon. Simple math begs for that solution, especially when you consider that 24 teams are the goal by 2020, as stated by Commissioner Don Garber.
So let’s get at it already. What might three conferences look like in 2015?
Northeast Conference – DCU, MTL, NE, NYCFC, PHI, NYRB, TOR
Central Conference – CHI, CLB, COL, DAL, HOU, OCSC, SKC
Western Conference – CHV, LA, POR, RSL, SEA, SJ, VAN
This makes the most sense as a conference realignment for MLS with all of the current teams, plus NYCFC and OCSC.
Positives
It keeps most cup rivalries intact. It reunites Dallas and Houston, a Texas Derby that has been a glaring hole. It’s the best split geographically. If MLS wants 4 matches between each conference rival (2 home, 2 away), the only glaring issue is Orlando City’s lack of proximity to any team.
Negatives
Two rivalries get nixed – the Rocky Mountain Cup (ouch) and the Trillium Cup (oh well). Most of the power is located in the East and West, respectively. The flyover Central Conference seems weak comparatively speaking, a group of teams that rely more on development than big name signings.
What if Chivas moved?
We still have the David Beckham arrangement as a potential twist in this caper. Beckham reportedly had a clause in his contract to purchase an expansion franchise for $25 million,which must be exercised by the end of 2013. According to reports about Garber’s remarks yesterday, the expected franchise fee from the Orlando City contingent will be around $70 million. That’s a $45 million discount for Golden Balls.
The league could still announce Miami as another expansion team for 2015, but Garber’s comments yesterday made a third expansion in 2015 seem less likely.
But what if Miami isn’t a new franchise at all? What if MLS instead brokered the sale of Chivas USA to Beckham with a move to South Florida? (Editor’s note: Yes, there have been reports that Beckham’s discount only works for an expansion team, but we know how rules change in MLS. Run with this a bit.) What might that look like?
Eastern Conference – DCU, MIA, NE, NYCFC, OCSC, PHI, NYRB,
Central Conference – CHI, CLB, DAL, HOU, MTL, SKC, TOR
Western Conference – COL, LA, POR, RSL, SEA, SJ, VAN
Now that actually kicks some tail. It nails every real rivalry in MLS, aside from losing the LA Derby (repeating myself, it nails every REAL rivalry). You keep Real Salt Lake and Colorado together. You still have the Trillium Cup, not a big ticket item, but also keep Toronto together with Montreal. You would have the Florida Derby, Texas Derby, New York Derby, I-95 Derby, and last and certainly not least, the Cascadia Cup..
NYCFC & Beckham FC would be great bargaining tools for the league in the next television negotiations. That could presumably raise expansion fees for new franchises.
MLS would be wise to help Beckham buy out Jorge Vergara. If anyone could have the clout to take the laughing stock of MLS and rebrand it towards success, it would be David Beckham.
The main trouble with this assertion would be this report, saying Vergara wanted $200 million for Chivas USA back before the NYCFC expansion announcement. I’m guessing Vergara would take a fraction of that and run, seeing that he paid just $10 million back in 2004.
The league could later expand into the LA market again, if they so choose, possibly for a nice profit over the buyout of Vergara.
The next three teams
This would leave MLS in an excellent position heading towards the end of the decade. Expansion into Atlanta (East), St. Louis, Minnesota, or San Antonio (Central), and Los Angeles, Las Vegas, or Sacramento (West) would align pretty well with this 3 conference makeup.
Of course, MLS could just as easily keep Chivas USA in Los Angeles with a rebrand, expand to Miami and two other markets, it would look pretty similar.
The future is quite exhilarating for the league and its fans. The possibilities are more than numerous, but Don Garber has some major decisions to make in the next month and a half to steer this league into smoother, and potentially more profitable, waters.Before-and-after photographs show more than 3,100 structures destroyed by fire in villages where hundreds, perhaps thousands, were killed
New satellite photographs have laid bare the catastrophic scale of the latest Boko Haram atrocities, which are thought to have left hundreds of people dead and thousands of houses burnt or razed in two Nigerian towns.
The militant group attacked the neighbouring towns of Baga and Doron Baga on 3 January, murdering scores of people and laying waste to their homes. Although initial local estimates put the death toll at 2,000, the Nigerian military has since dismissed the figure.
The satellite images, released by Amnesty International, show the aftermath of the attacks, contrasting pictures taken on 2 January with others taken on 7 January.
The before-and-after photographs of Doron Baga, which lies 1.5 miles from Baga, reveal the ferocity of the onslaught, with more than 3,100 structures damaged or destroyed by fire. Many of the wooden fishing boats that dotted the shoreline on 2 January are no longer visible five days later, when people had fled by boat in panic across Lake Chad.
Facebook Twitter Pinterest Satellite image of the village of Doro Baga (AKA Doro Gowon) in north-eastern Nigeria taken on 2 January above an image of the same area taken on 7 January. Photograph: Micah Farfour/DigitalGlobe
In Baga, a densely populated town less than 2 sq km in size, about 620 structures were either damaged or completely destroyed by fire.
Daniel Eyre, Nigeria researcher for Amnesty International, described the Boko Haram assault as “the largest and most destructive” the organisation had analysed.
“It represents a deliberate attack on civilians whose homes, clinics and schools are now burnt-out ruins,” he said.
“Up until now, the isolation of the Baga combined with the fact that Boko Haram remains in control of the area has meant that it has been very difficult to verify what happened there.”
While residents had not yet been able to count or bury their dead, said Eyre, the satellite images had served to chronicle the effects of what was probably “Boko Haram’s deadliest attack ever”.
He added: “This week, Nigeria’s director of defence information stated that the number of people killed in Baga including Boko Haram fighters ‘has so far not exceeded about 150’. These images, together with the stories of those who survived the attack, suggest that the final death toll could be much higher than this figure.”
The Nigerian military, which has described Amnesty’s characterisation of the attack as “quite valid”, said events in Baga clearly demonstrated what Boko Haram is capable of.
Facebook Twitter Pinterest Nigerians cram into a bus fleeing the town of Mubi after the attacks. Photograph: EPA
“The attack on the town by the blood hounds and their activities since 3 January 2015 should convince well-meaning people all over the world that Boko Haram is the evil all must collaborate to end rather than vilifying those working to check them,” it said in a statement.
Traumatised victims fleeing the fog of war gave accounts of what they saw.
For Yusuf Sarkin, the gunfire and the screaming and the frenzy of bodies trying to outrun bullets flying through the sandy streets of Baga blended into one long awful blur. But another loop of horror keeps playing in his mind: that he let go of his terrified 10-year-old son’s hand.
Sarkin, 51, and his wife grabbed their four children and joined others fleeing Boko Haram’s murderous descent on 3 January. His only thought was to reach the shores of Lake Chad, around which the fishing settlement is built.
Sarkin was clutching Adamu’s hand and his family started running. But when he reached the water, where panicked residents were piling into canoes, he looked down to see his son had disappeared. “Can you imagine the fear that makes you let go of your child’s hand?” he asked, his voice hoarse as he relived the memory. “What happened that day, the things I saw, are so terrible.”
Yusuf Ahmed, a vegetable trader who had driven from Maiduguri a day earlier, had a lucky escape.
Facebook Twitter Pinterest People take refuge in Teachers Village in Maiduguri province. Photograph: Anadolu Agency/Getty Images
After finishing prayers at around 5am, he noticed several camouflage trucks filled with men driving into the town. The occupants wore military fatigues, so when the gunshots began an hour later, Ahmed was not immediately frightened. “Being a Maiduguri man who is used to soldiers all over the place, I actually walked towards the direction which people said they were coming from,” he said.
Nearby, another group of men started erecting roadside barriers. Among them was 37-year-old Yusuf Idris, who bought a $40 (£26) home-made musket and joined his friends in a civilian vigilante effort after a savage assault in 2013 turned Baga into Nigeria’s new ground zero against Boko Haram. When they noticed a flurry of military activity, Idris and his men wanted to help. Nobody expected the coming carnage.
By the time Ahmed came upon the group of “soldiers”, he knew something was wrong. “I knew they weren’t soldiers because they wore military uniforms but no boots and berets,” he said. Some took off towards the market, throwing money, cattle and food into their trucks. “They were laughing and saying why should they pay for what is theirs by right. They were looting everything,” Ahmed said.
Another group homed in on the army base. With cries of “Allahu Akbar”, the militants began shooting in earnest. At the roadblock, Idris hoisted his crude rifle and prepared to fight against insurgents armed with AK-47s and rocket-propelled grenades. “All of a sudden another group who had overrun the [army] base came towards us, mounted on armoured tanks, and that was too much for us,” he said. Two of the vigilantes were shot dead. The others fled.
Soldiers battled back for almost nine hours before throwing away their weapons and running into the bush, witnesses and a local official told the Guardian.
Idris ran into a house whose corrugated iron roof had caved in under an onslaught of bullets. He and a shellshocked woman called Hadiza sheltered there for three days while the marauding militants looted and burnt houses. At night the two curled up beside the bullet-pocked wall and fell into an exhausted sleep to the sound of celebratory gunshots. One morning Hadiza crept out to find water and never returned. By nightfall, Idris decided to run.
“When I reached the bush, I was relieved at first but then I saw bodies everywhere. I walked through five villages and each one I passed was empty except for dead bodies.”In case you missed it yesterday, the Jackets game against the Dallas Stars that was suspended due to Rich Peverley's collapse has been rescheduled to Wednesday, April 9th. That means the Jackets will play Phoenix here in Columbus the night before (their home finale), then fly to Dallas to replay that game, then travel to Florida with a one day break before back to back games against the Panthers and Lightning to end the season. Oof.
The only consolation is that the clubs fighting for the final two Metropolitan Division playoff spots are facing equally rough roads down the stretch. So I thought it might be a good idea to put things in perspective by looking at the schedule for each club with a realistic shot at the postseason (Pittsburgh was excluded because they've effectively clinched a spot already. The Islanders and Canes were virtually eliminated over the last few weeks, so I left them off for the same reason.)
First, let's start with the Blue Jackets.
Teams currently holding a playoff spot are marked in bold.
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15 games, eight of them against clubs in playoff position as of today. Seven at home, eight away.
The teams they're hosting here in Columbus are a combined 136-105-28 on the road. (An average record of 19-15-4). The good news is that average is thrown off a bit by clubs like Colorado, Pittsburgh, and the Rangers, who have been incredibly strong on the road, but only two opponents (Carolina and Phoenix) have losing road records.
When the Jackets hit the road, it gets a little easier. Sort of. The combined record for their 8 road opponents is 115-87-36. (Average: 14-11-5). The Islanders and Panthers in particular have been wretched at home, but they're great at getting a point out of their games. (10-17-8 on home ice). Don't be shocked if we see quite a few OT / SO results when all is said and done.
So, Columbus has their work cut out for them. As crazy as it sounds, though, they're nowhere near the worst schedule to end the season in the Metro. That honor belongs to the Flyers, who get this lovely slate of opponents:
CHI
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Three non-playoff teams out of their final fifteen games. All of them except Boston, St. Louis, and Pittsburgh scrapping for position, and three opponents (Boston, Chicago, and St. Louis) whose losses in their road or home records can be measured in single digits.
The only good news is that they've got eight of their games at home, including the finale, but it's still not a terribly pretty picture. The road record for the teams they face at home is 146-114-37, and that's with the utter tire fire that is the Buffalo Sabres on the road (7-21-3) skewing the numbers. They're still looking at an average record of 18-14-5, with Buffalo and Carolina having losing road records, while Dallas and Toronto are virtual coinflips. (14-14-4 / 14-14-7)
Oh, and when they do get on the road? They're facing a record of 142-66-25. (20-9-4). Even if we throw out their final road game against Pittsburgh, since they seem to have the Pens' number this year, youre still looking at clumbs like St. Louis, Tampa, and Boston who just don't lose at home. St. Louis is rocking a 24-5-4 record on home ice right now. That's terrifying, especially sandwhiched between hosting the Bruins at home, then going back out to Boston after facing the Blues, where the Bruins are 27-7-2. (Oh, and they also get visit New York and Columbus, who are directly competing with them within the division.)
If the Flyers stumble down the stretch, it's going to be these opponents that do it to them, and I wouldn't be shocked if they're worn down pretty badly should they reach the first round of the playoffs.
That brings us to the Rangers, who are currently holding down the Wild Card 2 spot - and with two more games played than Columbus and Philly.
@OTT
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On the one hand, the Rangers have just four opponents in playoff position right now, two of whom will be divisional games. On the other, boy, that's a lot of frequent flyer miles down the stretch- particularly that Western Canada trip, with a nice foray down to the buzzsaw that is the Colorado Avalanche to finish up? Ouch. The Rangers face just four of their last thirteen opponents at home, but they can take some comfort in the fact that three of them aren't in the race, and that Buffalo and the Canes suck on road ice. (50-63-20 total record, 13-16-5 average record)
That road slate, though...you're looking at a combined record of 153-107-39 (17-12-4 avg), with teams like the Jackets, Coyotes, Avs, and Habs sporting 19 or more wins in their rinks. That's not very good news when you're trying to keep pace, particularly when the teams around you have more games to get it done with.
In the division, that leaves us with our two outliers - the Capitals and Devils are still technically alive, though they don't have much margin of error.
Of the two, despite being a point behind the Capitals, the Devils have a game in hand and a pretty friendly schedule - if they can survive their next four games (BOS, MIN, NYR, TOR), their next nine games come against non-playoff clubs, including a match with Washington and then wrapping up with one last game against the Bruins.
They've also got home ice for ten of those final fourteen games, against teams with a combined record of 146-147-39. That's as close to.500 hockey as you can get, which means they've got a good chance to push ahead, and in their few road games, they're facing clubs who have been terrible at home, so I'd bet they'll take at least three of those four as well.
Breaking up the current block at the top of the Metro isn't going to be easy, especially since Columbus and Philly both hold a game in hand, but Jersey might just have the most amenable schedule to pulling it off.
As for the Capitals? It's not pretty.
Their next five games are a swing through all three California teams (who are a combined 68-22-11 at home), then hosting LA and Boston. After that they have a relative breather when they visit Nashville and host Dallas, but then it's out to Jersey and the Island for back to back road starts, and their final four games feature a visit to St. Louis, stopping off in Carolina, and a final homestand of Chicago (as the second night of a back to back, no less!) and Tampa.
Is it possible that some combination of Jaroslav Halak standing on his head and Alex Ovechkin's scoring prowess could pull them through that schedule? Sure. Is it likely, especially considering most of the teams competing with them have a game or more in hand? Not so much.
All things considered, I'd give the Jackets pretty good odds of going something like 8-5-2 in the final 15 games. That'd put them at 94 points, which would likely see them as the third seed in the Metro - maybe second depending on how those divisional games break.
My gut says that Philly is likely to stumble a bit, but still come out of things with the other division spot alongside Columbus and Pittsburgh, and I could see a scenario where Jersey gets hot and beats out Detroit and/or the Rangers for that final wild card berth.
Buckle up. It's going to be quite a ride.MEXICO CITY (AP) — The bodies of 20 to 25 people, apparently victims of drug gang violence, were recovered from an abandoned silver mine in an area of southern Mexico popular with international tourists, a federal police official said Sunday.
The bodies appear to have been tossed over time down about 300 feet into the abandoned mine, which is near Taxco, a city in the state of Guerrero that is known for its silver jewelry and other items. The area, dotted by hundreds of mines, is popular with tourists from the United States and elsewhere.
Federal Police Commissioner Facundo Rosas said a suspect told the authorities about the mass grave, and they began pulling bodies from the mine late Saturday.
Guerrero is plagued by drug violence among rival gangs, and marked by brazen attacks on the police and soldiers engaged in a crackdown on traffickers.
In an unrelated case, Mr. Rosas said Sunday, the authorities arrested two brothers on Mexico’s most wanted list who are suspected of being members of La Línea drug gang and tied to several killings.At least he ate well. Luis Enrique returned to San Sebastián, the most beautiful place in Spain, land of Patxarán, pil-pil and pintxos, tapas nailed to bread with lethal-looking cocktail sticks, of T-bones the size of T-Rexes and more Michelin stars than anywhere in Europe, and left the way he did last time and the time before that; the way that FC Barcelona have left every time they’ve been since 2007. For almost a decade now, they’ve departed defeated. Emotionally, at least. Actually too, most of the time. Six months back Luis Enrique said that he’d go there to eat a chuletón, a great big steak, but not to watch football. After all, like Pep Guardiola, Tito Vilanova and Tata Martino before, he’d had a gut full of that.
Six times Barcelona had been to face Real Sociedad in the league (seven including a Copa del Rey draw) and they had lost five and not won one. On Sunday night Barcelona’s team included just one player who was there when they last went and won – Leo Messi was 19 that day – and the run extended to eight. Messi, 29 now, scored but six minutes before that so had Willian José and a 1-1 draw left his side six points behind Real Madrid six days before the clásico. There’s something about this place, alright: Real Sociedad have been to the second division since but still it goes on. “A miracle,” Luis Enrique called it.
Barcelona scrape draw to leave Gerard Piqué despondent before El Clasíco Read more
In his first season, the team lost 1-0 here; Messi was on the bench and Luis Enrique looked like he was on his way. The sporting director, Andoni Zubizarreta, was sacked, his assistant Carles Puyol walked and elections were called; the manager admitted that his position had “weakened” and he seemed unlikely to last much longer. It was the end, or so it seemed; it turned out to be the beginning. In his second season, Luis Enrique’s team lost 1-0 again, the week after defeat in the clásico: suddenly the headlines claimed “there is a league!” and there was too. In the end, it was Barcelona’s but, as Gerard Piqué put it, they had to win it twice. And now in this, his third season, Barcelona drew.
That, at least, was an improvement, a straw to clutch at. It could have been worse, only afterwards the Barcelona coach insisted: “Worse, impossible.” In most of those other games, there was some sort of excuse, even if a weak one – players left out, bigger games up next or just gone, not all that much in play, a touch of bad luck perhaps. Not this time; this time, Sunday morning’s headlines had called it a “final” a game they had to “win yes, or yes”, only for it to turn out to be a game they were lucky not to lose. Luis Enrique didn’t call it a “miracle” because he was at a loss to explain how Barcelona hadn’t won again; he called it a miracle because, this time, he was at a loss to explain how they hadn’t lost again.
“To talk about a point gained is to talk about a miracle,” he said. “The difference between the teams was so big that the draw is almost a miracle. We took a point from a game that was practically impossible to get a point from. Change the shirts and you wouldn’t think that the other team was Barcelona. They were infinitely better than us. We have never been so inferior to an opponent as we were tonight.” Stopped pitch-side, Piqué was asked if the result was about the best thing Barcelona could take from the game; if, ultimately, they had to be satisfied with the draw. “At Barcelona, it is very rare that you can say that, but yes,” he replied.
Barcelona were not beaten, but they were battered. Everyone agreed that this was a “bath”, Eddie Murphy farting in the tub. Real Sociedad’s first chance came after 88 seconds; Barcelona didn’t have a shot for 38 and a half more minutes. By then, la Real had taken eight of them. The opportunities were racking up. It was 5-0 in corners after 23 minutes, 8-0 by half time. Barcelona could not find a way out; blocked into the corner, unable to escape, barely able to breathe, it was all they could do to hang on. It didn’t let up, either. Luis Suárez, Messi and Neymar all finished the game with two shots; Esteban Granero finished it with one more than that. And he had only come on in the 85th minute.
Facebook Twitter Pinterest Luis Enrique during the game. Photograph: Vincent West/Reuters
The ball was flying at Marc-André ter Stegen from all over the place; footballers in blue and white were flying too, closing Barcelona down, player by player, then racing beyond them. Taking the ball from them and the game to them. They won possession more times in Barcelona’s half than in their own. It was a stampede; fast, asphyxiating, precision to go with the pace. Eight different players had opportunities and by the end of the game, la Real had won every stat, except – pedants – the only stat that really counts. Possession 52-48%, shots 17-10, shots on target 8-2. They attempted more passes and completed a higher proportion of them.
Footballing spreadsheet wizard Mr Chip noted that this was the first time that a team had taken a point from Barcelona and taken possession from them too since, falling apart and having long given up, Madrid took the pasillo out of them back in May 2008. It should have been more than one. “Before the game, we would have taken a point, but right now it doesn’t taste like much,” Carlos Vela said afterwards. His side had scored one, had another wrongly ruled out for offside, and he had hit the bar and hit the post. He was still grinning, though. So was David Zurutuza. “That was a goal and you know it,” he tweeted.
Oh, they knew. “It will be hard to win the league like this,” Piqué said. He talked about a lack of attitude – something which didn’t much please Luis Enrique, who suggested that during pitch-side interviews players lack lucidity when perhaps what they really lack is someone who has had the chance to tell them what to say, to ensure they’re on-message. Barcelona just weren’t out there in the first half, he said. Andrés Iniesta, irreplaceable, is still not fit, Aleix Vidal was on his honeymoon having got married on Friday – yes, really – and Vela admitted that la Real took advantage of the fact that “three of their players work less”.
But it’s not attitude, at least not only; it is ideas too. Play. This was not a one-off; there were recurring themes here. Pressure is starting to pay for opponents. The team so often defined by its midfield didn’t have one for much of the game. Sergio Busquets, watching his passing options disappear into the distance, is managing to look bad and the control is gone. Barcelona have dropped 12 points this season, and they might have dropped more. In Seville, in Valencia. Here, above all.
And that’s the other thing, too often forgotten when it comes to analysing Madrid and Barcelona: their opponents. “La Real wouldn’t let us into the game, they pressed wonderfully well, created numerical superiority on the wing and inside, and created chance after chance,” Luis Enrique said. Their coach, Eusebio, was an indirect victim of this fixture two |
engineering and headquarters staff, preserving more than 1,000 jobs. Carrier will also designate its Indianapolis manufacturing facility as a Center of Excellence for gas furnace production, with a commitment to making significant investments to continue to maintain a world-class furnace factory. Today’s announcement is possible because the incoming Trump-Pence administration has emphasized to us its commitment to support the business community and create an improved, more competitive U.S. business climate. The incentives offered by the state were an important consideration. This agreement in no way diminishes our belief in the benefits of free trade and that the forces of globalization will continue to require solutions for the long-term competitiveness of the U.S. and of American workers moving forward.
Carrier announced Tuesday evening on Twitter that the deal included keeping in Indianapolis nearly 1,000 of the 1,400 jobs originally slated to leave for Monterrey, Mexico. The other details surrounding that deal have not been released.
We are pleased to have reached a deal with President-elect Trump & VP-elect Pence to keep close to 1,000 jobs in Indy. More details soon. — Carrier (@Carrier) November 30, 2016
Trump and Pence will be visiting the Indianapolis Carrier plant on Thursday to discuss the details surrounding their deal.
I will be going to Indiana on Thursday to make a major announcement concerning Carrier A.C. staying in Indianapolis. Great deal for workers! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 30, 2016
Big day on Thursday for Indiana and the great workers of that wonderful state.We will keep our companies and jobs in the U.S. Thanks Carrier — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 30, 2016
Reports surfaced earlier this week that Carrier and the Trump administration were in negotiations but the information about those negotiations was never confirmed.
PREVIOUS | Donald Trump tweets about getting Carrier to stay in Indiana
The company announced back in February that it would be moving roughly 1,400 of its jobs to Monterrey, Mexico, citing the ability to save money through lower wages. Some reports showed Mexican wages as low as $3 per hour without benefits, and $6 per hour with benefits.
The move was set to take place from 2017 to 2019.
Call 6 Investigates has learned that the 400 jobs that will move to Mexico are in the fan coil division, which produces electric furnaces. The largest chunk of jobs that are staying in Indianapolis produce gas furnaces. The factory produces about 10,000 furnaces per day.
Indianapolis Mayor Joe Hogsett issued a statement saying he's hopeful that the President-elect's efforts will keep Carrier jobs in the state.
"Since February, Indianapolis has been united in working with state and federal partners to help those families affected by Carrier's shortsighted business decision. I am hopeful that President-elect Trump's efforts will keep many of these jobs here in Indianapolis and I trust our national leaders will continue working alongside us to assist the Carrier workers whose jobs will still leave in the coming years, as well as the families affected by the recent Rexnord announcement and the thousands more in our community who deserve full-time employment and a living wage."
U.S. Senator Joe Donnelly has been vocal about his thoughts surrounding Carrier's decision to move to Mexico. In an interview earlier this year, Donnelly said that he was 'not buying' the company's claims that they were relocating because of federal regulations, and that he believed it was about "chasing Mexican wages at $3 an hour."
Donnelly has also been a strong advocate of making Carrier repay tax credits if their jobs were moved to Mexico, including more than $5 million the company received as part of President Obama's stimulus plan and clean energy tax credits from the Department of Energy.
He released the following statement Tuesday evening following the announcement:
“This is welcome news for the Hoosier workers who will keep their jobs, and I'm eager to learn the specific details of the agreement. For many months I have been fighting alongside the Carrier workers and pushing to keep these jobs in Indiana. While this is good news, in Indiana alone, there are at least two other companies currently planning to move Hoosier jobs out of the country. We need to change our laws to encourage companies to grow here at home. I hope President-elect Trump will work with me toward this goal, so that companies will invest in the foundation of our economy: our workers and our communities.”
Congressman Andre Carson also released a statement Tuesday evening:
"The entire Indiana delegation has been working for months in a bipartisan way to keep Carrier jobs in Indiana. I look forward to learning more about the details of this plan which I hope benefits thousands of Hoosier workers."
Trump made frequent references to Carrier while campaigning for president, saying Carrier would not move if he were elected president and that he was the only person who could "fix it."
I am the only one who can fix this. Very sad. Will not happen under my watch! #MakeAmericaGreatAgain https://t.co/8MQ4imuTTi — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 13, 2016
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He said that if he were president, Carrier wouldn't be leaving in the first place and Carrier would pay a 35 percent tax on imports to the United States if they move.
"I will call the head of Carrier and I will say, I hope you enjoy your new building," Trump said. "I hope you enjoy Mexico. Here's the story, folks: Every single air conditioning unit that you build and send across our border – you're going to pay a 35 percent tax on that unit."
Carrier isn't the only Indianapolis company that was planning to move its jobs to Mexico. Rexnord Bearing will be moving some of its employees to Monterrey. Rexnord makes ball bearings and roller bearings.
CARRIER
Carrier announced in February that 1,400 jobs from their west-side manufacturing plant would be moving to Monterrey. A video of the announcement went viral, triggering outrage from as high up as Donald Trump. It also became the focus of multiple Call 6 Investigations, prompting special reports. You can find all of those stories here.
FULL CARRIER COVERAGE : DOCUMENTARY SERIES: Moving to Mexico with 1,400 of Indy's lost jobs | Jilted workers get first look at Carrier's offer | TIMELINE: Carrier to ship 1,400 jobs from Indiana to Mexico | Trump made money off of Carrier in 2015 | Carrier president: More growth expected in '16 | Ex-Carrier employee sentenced for embezzlement | Carrier pay in Mexico questioned | Carrier refutes offer of $5.85/hour for workers to stay in Indy | Coats, Donnelly have 'disappointing' meeting with Carrier execs | Sen. Donnelly: Carrier never cited federal regulations as reason for move | Union president: 'We're not going away quietly'| Carrier employees protest move at statehouse | Pence on Carrier meeting: 'I don't want to create any false hope for people' | Moving to Mexico: What you need to know about Monterrey, Mexico | Moving to Mexico: On the ground in Monterrey, Mexico, where Carrier is moving Trump weights in on Carrier relocation to Mexico | Carrier: Company did not receive $5M in federal stimulus funds | President of United Steelworkers Union: No hope of saving 1,400 jobs | Carrier employees, local businesses reel after announcement of move to Mexico | WATCH: Employees react to news that Carrier is moving from Indy to MexicoMichael MacDonald, The Canadian Press
HALIFAX -- Almost every day, exactly at noon, Alec Stratford is jolted by a thunderous boom that reverberates through his office, the intense blast so loud it rattles the plate-glass windows.
Stratford, who has worked in Halifax for six months, is still getting used to one of the city's oldest, most raucous traditions: the firing of the noon gun at the Halifax Citadel National Historic Site.
His office is only a few hundred metres from the 19th-century British-built fort that overlooks the port city.
"It's startling every time," says Stratford, executive director of the Nova Scotia Association of Social Workers. "The gun pretty much faces our office and our boardroom. Whenever we are having meetings, often I'll remember to remind folks of it. But I frequently forget -- and every time it goes off, your heart stops for a minute."
For those working downtown, the ear-splitting crack of cannon fire is something that takes a bit of getting used to.
"I just hired a staff member and she is still caught off guard by it," says Stratford, who recalled how a few months ago a summer student was left mildly traumatized. "I would hear a little scream from their office every day."
Parks Canada spokesman Hal Thompson, a longtime employee at the fort, says he barely notices the daily explosions, but he has one colleague who isn't so lucky. "He's still not used to it and he's been here for like 10 years."
But it's unsuspecting visitors who tend to get the biggest fright.
According to local lore, U.S. President Bill Clinton's security detail crouched for cover and shielded the commander-in-chief when the cannon went off at the start of the G7 leaders summit in June 1995.
"The American contingent heard the gun... and just dropped to the ground," says Thompson, a visitor experience officer. "Someone didn't brief them."
The cannon's roar has been part of Halifax's daily rituals for more than 200 years. It's a gut-punch reminder that the city, founded in 1749 by Col. Edward Cornwallis, has always been a die-hard military town, its massive harbour a strategic gem for the Royal Navy.
The tradition may seem an anachronism in a modern city, but there was a time when every community with a British fort would have had a noon gun. The tradition is also carried on at the Lion Battery in Cape Town, Causeway Bay in Hong Kong and at Signal Hill in St. John's, N.L. Vancouver has its Nine O'Clock Gun, which is fired from Stanley Park at 9 p.m.
The big Halifax cannon -- a 1970s reproduction of a Blomefield gun made in 1809 -- fires a one-pound charge of black powder, its detonation synchronized with the atomic clocks at the National Research Council in Ottawa.
When the weather turns ugly and clouds are low, the sound of the blast is amplified, setting off more than the usual number of car alarms.
The gun used in 1869, known as a 12-pounder, used to fire four-pound charges. But the amount has been reduced over the years amid a few complaints.
Today, the military custom is typically performed by a crew of two to five young people dressed in the blue uniforms of the 3rd Brigade, The Royal Regiment of Artillery.
The smooth-bore cannon is fired every day except Christmas Day. And when there's a malfunction, usually during wet weather, people call the fort to ask what happened.
"It is part of the fabric of the city," says Thompson, who for years took part in the ceremonial firing. "We have to keep doing it... It's expected."
The existing stone fort -- completed in 1856 and never attacked -- is the fourth to be built on the hilltop site, the first three being wooden structures. The British army didn't leave until 1906, and the Canadian army stayed until 1951.
Restored in the 1970s, the star-shaped fort now looks like it did in 1869, only two years after Confederation.
At the time, the noon gun was among many signals used to alert soldiers to their daily routines. There was also an evening gun, not to mention a series of signals from bugle calls and bagpipes.
The sight of the gun's jet of white smoke was used by mariners to set their chronometers, an essential tool for calculating longtitude.
And in the early 1800s, the fort's battery commander would set his watch by visiting a jeweller who calculated the exact time by tracking the stars from the roof of his shop.
These days, the noon gun has its own Twitter account, @HalifaxNoonGun.
It tweets the same two hashtags every day at 12:00 p.m. Atlantic time: #boom, #halifax.A flat white from Toby's Estate.
Just a few decades ago, Americans’ coffee choices were largely limited to regular or decaf. No more, obviously. The explosion of cappuccino- and latte-laden shops of the eighties and nineties gave way to the so-called “third-wave” movement of the early aughts, in which owners (smartly) began treating coffee beans — technically seeds from coffee berries — as a proper ingredient and not some simple commodity. That point of view has evolved even further, and it’s now easier than ever to find a shop staffed with coffee obsessives who will happily blow your mind with their knowledge and skills.
Here’s what defines the modern American coffee shop, circa 2013: a desire to source coffee responsibly (or buy beans from someone who does), trained (but not grumpy) baristas who can pull perfect shots and turn them into top-level espresso drinks, and a mind-boggling array of coffee-extracting techniques (awesomely named things like Chemex, v60, and Steampunk).
That’s not to say all of these new-look spots are created equal: As with all things in life, some are better than others, which is why Grub Street tracked down every coffee expert we could think of — people like Oliver Strand, Atera chef Matthew Lightner, and coffee entrepreneur Duane Sorenson — to tell us which spots they think are the best in class. The results include industry hangout Joe Pro Shop & HQ in New York, Octane coffee in Atlanta (which specializes in Coke-and-espresso shots), and Barista Parlor, tucked into an old auto garage in Nashville.
Everyone has a favorite coffee shop, and the reasons for a customer to pick one place or another vary greatly. But the spots on this list aren’t just dedicated to pouring excellent coffee; they’re also committed to pushing the movement forward with next-level food, booze, and hospitality programs, continuing to make America an even better place to grab a cup of coffee.
To make things a little easier, we’ve broken the list down by city. Click any of the names to jump ahead: New York; San Francisco; Los Angeles; Chicago; Portland, Oregon; Seattle; Washington, D.C.; and the rest start right here.
Related: Here’s the Complete List of 58 Extraordinary Coffee Shops — With a Map!Even themes approved by school ‘can be carried out incorrectly’
Leave your cowboy boots and Hawaiian leis at home this Halloween unless you want to hear from University of Texas-Austin administrators.
Sorority and Fraternity Life, part of the Office of the Dean of Students, issued its updated “costume and theme resource guide” last week, instructing UT Greeks to avoid Halloween party costumes and themes that may “appropriate another culture or experience.”
It’s one of many school-sponsored guides or checklists recently given to the nation’s college students, particularly members of fraternities and sororities, telling them what they can and can’t wear in the runup to Halloween.
Though schools generally don’t list penalties for wearing a costume considered offensive, a Greek official at Pennsylvania’s Gettysburg College went so far as to warn fellow Greeks their chapters could be shut down if they wear the wrong costumes.
Don’t think about ‘sensationalizing’ transgender celebrities
The UT-Austin document informs students right away that their costume and theme choices will be scrutinized year-round, not just for Halloween.
It advises them to keep themed social events “safe, appropriate, and fun,” and to avoid offending other subcultures by obeying a 29-point checklist.
The guide encourages students to avoid “exotic” or “unique” themes, especially those which may reference a “living culture” or “current subculture.” It suggests that “sensationalizing” transgender celebrities such as Laverne Cox and Caitlyn Jenner will be frowned upon.
University of Texas-Austin Costume and Theme Selection Handout by The College Fix on Scribd
“Have we consulted with ‘experts?’ Is it educational?” the guide advises students in the event they decide to portray a culture. Such “experts” include “community leaders or faculty.”
Students should also be careful to avoid “utilizing generic store-bought costumes” that may not be fully “authentic” if the theme is cultural, the guide says. It suggests hosting a “non-social event” if students want to “educate” each other about a culture.
It lists 11 separate “harmful” themes, including any “generalized representation” of Asian culture or “Indigenous” cultures, such as “Cowboys and Indians,” as well as “tropical” or “fiesta.”
MORE: Independent fraternies turn down U. of Colorado offer to regulate them
The guide provides mixed messages when it comes to cultures associated with white people. “Harmful” themes include “Golf Pros & Tennis Hoes,” “Trailer Trash” and “Chicks and Hicks,” but the guide approvingly cites “Catalina Yacht Mixer or ‘Preppy’” in a section on suggested themes that also includes “Rep Your Favorite Team” and “Alphabet Theme.”
Reflecting the guide’s overall tone of warning, however, students are admonished to consider how even the themes explicitly endorsed by the guide “can be carried out incorrectly” if party planners don’t provide “information about costuming.”
Bias response team asks students to report ‘party with a racist theme’
A spokesperson for the Office of the Dean of Students told The College Fix the resource guide was shared with all “student organizations who host thematic social events,” not just Greek life, and that it’s posted on the dean’s website “year-round.”
The document does not represent “rules or policies of the university,” but “students can expect to be accountable to their peers for how they represent themselves and our campus,” she said without elaborating.
MORE: Report on campus free speech misunderstands Yale Halloween freakout
One such way students can hold each other accountable is by reporting bias incidents to the Division of Diversity and Community Engagement’s Campus Climate Response Team.
The first potential example of bias on the reporting page is: “Do you know of a student organization hosting a party with a racist theme?”
The dean’s spokesperson has yet to answer a Fix query on whether UT-Austin’s response to bias incident reports is anything like the new reporting process at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
That revised policy received the blessing of the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education for narrowing the definition of “bias and hate” and removing punitive or even educational consequences for targets of bias complaints.
The UT resource guide drew criticism from Allison Peregory, communications director for UT’s Young Conservatives of Texas chapter. “There are certainly costumes people decide to wear on Halloween that are in poor taste, but the people who decide to wear these costumes have the right to do so,” she told The Fix in an email.
MORE: Some costume ideas for triggering people on Halloween
‘It hurts recruitment, hurts our image’ – and could shut us down
Gettysburg College Greek life is on such thin ice that one complaint about costumes could sink an entire chapter, a high-ranking Greek official suggested in a Thursday email obtained by The Fix.
Writing on behalf of the Greek Committee on Equity and Inclusion, formed on campus last spring, Sigma Chi Consul Chandler Robertson told Greek members that he “cannot emphasize enough how important it is that you be cautious” in choosing a Halloween costume.
“There exists a perception of Greek organizations as backward thinking, and prone to incidents of bias,” he said. “We know this is not true; that does not matter, however. The perception of others is our reality, whether this is fair or not.”
Robertson reminded Greeks that “people who might not go out often will likely make it to fraternities this weekend,” and they might be offended by a member’s costume: “It hurts recruitment, hurts our image, and isn’t worth the problems it can cause for your organization.”
Even stopping to think about whether a costume might offend someone means “it is not worth the risk” to the entire chapter, he said.
“There are chapters across the country that no longer exist because of bias incidents,” Robertson continued. “I do not want to see that happen here, and I believe we are all committed enough to making our campus a better place that we can make it through this weekend without incident.”
MORE: U. of Florida offers 24/7 counseling for people offended on Halloween
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Like The College Fix on Facebook / Follow us on TwitterChris Hagan of WAFB-TV in Baton Rouge, La. is reporting that Southern wide receiver Devon Gales, according to his sources, has use of his arms, is in good spirits, and is laughing after a "spinal injury" he suffered in Saturday's game against Georgia.
The play occured late in the third quarter when the Jaguars were returning a kickoff. Gales was attempting to block for the return when he collided with a Bulldog player head first and collapsed to the ground. He was attended to by medical staff before being taken from the field on a stretcher.
Hagan is also reporting that Gales will undergo surgery and that his family would be flying into Athens to be there for it.
Prayers up for #Southern WR Devon Gales. Being told his family is flying into Athens and will be with him for spinal surgery in the morning. — Chris Hagan (@ChrisHaganTV) September 27, 2015
Multiple sources also say Gales is in good spirits, laughing. Has ability to use arms and hands, able to scratch his head. — Chris Hagan (@ChrisHaganTV) September 27, 2015
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For more on UGA sports and recruiting follow Dawgs247 on Twitter and like on Facebook for updates here.CATANIA, Italy (Reuters) - Italian prosecutors blamed the captain of a grossly overloaded fishing boat for a collision which capsized and sank his vessel off Libya, drowning hundreds of migrants including many women and children locked below deck.
The few survivors of Sunday’s tragedy told investigators how the African and Bangladeshi migrants, among hundreds of thousands trying to escape war and poverty, had waited up to a month in Libya before the boat set sail for Europe. One said he had suffered a beating at the hands of people traffickers.
The heavy loss of life among the migrants, who paid hundreds of dollars in the hope of getting over the Mediterranean, has put heavy pressure on European leaders to respond effectively to a dramatic rise in deaths among people attempting the crossing.
Only 28 survivors have been brought to Italy from the hundreds of people on board the fishing boat. Police have quoted them as giving death tolls ranging from 400 to 950 in what appears to have been the worst disaster ever among migrants fleeing by sea to Europe from north Africa.
Italian police arrested a 27-year-old Tunisian, named as Mohammed Ali Malek, who is believed to have been the captain of the ship. He may be charged with multiple homicide, as well as people smuggling and causing a shipwreck.
His lawyer, Massimo Ferrante, said he had spoken very briefly to Malek but language difficulties limited their contact. Ferrante added that he expected a fuller discussion of the case before a judge begins questioning witnesses on Friday to decide whether to file charges.
Prosecutors say that with his boat already in serious difficulty, the captain attempted to come up to a Portuguese merchant vessel that had approached to give aid and collided with the much larger ship.
The prosecutors’ office in the Sicilian coastal city of Catania said no blame was attached to the Portuguese vessel.
As well as the captain, Catania prosecutors also arrested Mahmud Bikhit, a 25-year-old Syrian believed to have been his main assistant, who is accused of people smuggling offences.
Already a grim picture has begun to emerge of the conditions during the voyage, in which hundreds of men, women and children were held in the hold of the 20-metre-long fishing boat for more than 48 hours before the disaster.
So few survived because most of those on board, including an estimated 200 women and around 50 children, had been locked in the hold and lower decks of the three-deck vessel, said Giovanni Salvi, chief prosecutor in Catania.
That has also made it impossible to reach the bodies so far and verify the toll, although investigators may try to recover the wreck.
Prosecutors say survivors have told them they paid between 500-1,000 Libyan dinars ($420-$840) for the voyage and were kept in an agricultural building near Tripoli for as long as a month before the boat set out on Thursday evening.
They were taken by truck in groups of 30 to the embarkation point and one man said he was beaten when he left his group to answer a call of nature.
Mohammed Ali Malek (C, rear), one of two survivors of Saturday's migrant boat disaster, later arrested on suspicion of people trafficking, is seen watching bodies of dead migrants being disembarked from the Italian coastguard ship Bruno Gregoretti, at Senglea in Valletta's Grand Harbour April 20, 2015. REUTERS/Darrin Zammit Lupi
PRESSURE FOR RESPONSE BUILDS
French President Francois Hollande compared the migrant traffickers with “terrorists” and said EU leaders meeting in an emergency summit on Thursday would have to act decisively.
“That’s why the European Council meeting on Thursday can’t just be an ordinary European Council where we take ordinary decisions, we have to go much further,” he told reporters.
Nearly 1,800 would-be migrants have drowned this year, compared with fewer than 100 by the end of April last year - a period when a similar number attempted the crossing. An expected rise in numbers in the late spring and summer months has added to the urgency.
The cancellation last year of Italy’s “Mare Nostrum” search-and-rescue operation, over cost pressures and criticism that rescuing migrants lures more to cross, has failed to solve the crisis. The policy, still backed by some European Union countries, appears to have made the voyage deadlier without reducing the numbers attempting it.
The EU proposed on Monday doubling the size of its small naval mission in the area, which replaced the far larger Italian operation but which has been criticized as wholly inadequate.
The Italian coast guard said 638 migrants were rescued from rubber dinghies on Monday in six operations and a further 112 on Tuesday. Merchant ships and coast guard patrol boats also helped a fishing boat carrying migrants about 80 miles off the southeastern coast of Calabria, in mainland Italy. All 446 aboard were rescued.
Lawlessness in Libya, where most of the migrant boats originate, has made it difficult to stop traffickers packing thousands of people into unsafe fishing boats and dinghies that have proved to be deathtraps.
Slideshow (13 Images)
Sunday’s disaster, while greater in scale, followed a similar pattern to other recent losses in which overloaded vessels have capsized, often when desperate passengers have rushed to one side of the boats.
Under Italian law, prosecutors outline the charges they believe a defendant should face before the defendant is formally charged by a judge.I received an unexpected surprise this week. My Step-Father brought over some wood he’d been keeping in his shop for the last 40 years or so. This wood belonged to a friend of his that past away. I didn’t have a lot of material to work with, but I decided I wanted to make something nice out of it. Something of an heirloom, to pass down, just as it had been passed to me.
The cedar had darkened quite a bit over the years, but came back to life after a few passes through the planer.
I cut the boards for the top, and joined them together with a biscuit joiner. I wanted the overall look to be rustic, so I didn’t worry about milling out any knot’s or holes.
I cut the legs into 1.5″ strips, and glued them together. I squared them up by running them through the jointer and planer.
I created a jig to taper the legs, and ran them through the table saw. This is the first time I’ve tried these cuts, but it was a lot easier that I thought it would be. The hardest part was making sure I marked the outside edges (the one’s without the taper).
I cut the aprons from the left over wood, and drilled pocket holes to connect the legs. After everything was assembled, I put a few coats of Minwax water-based Polycrylic on. The water based poly doesn’t cause yellowing, like oil based products.
AdvertisementsNEW DELHI: The Haji Ali Dargah management is all set to inform the Supreme Court that it would allow women entry into the sanctum sanctorum, which houses the tomb of Muslim Saint Pir Haji Ali Shah Bukhari.Appearing for the Dargah, senior advocate Gopal Subramanium informed a bench headed by Chief Justice T S Thakur that he had been able to persuade the Dargah management to devise a mechanism to allow women’s entry into the inner sanctum. However, he could not elaborate as the bench did not take up the case due to paucity of time.Speaking to TOI, Subramanium said he impressed upon the Dargah management about the Supreme Court’s earnest desire for a progressive stand and succeeded in helping them reach a decision to allow women into the inner sanctum. “The Dargah management will devise the mode and method for allowing women into the inner sanctum,” he said. Asked whether it would be a separate entry for the women to reach the inner sanctum, Subramanium said it would be worked out by the competent persons in the management.Taking into consideration Subramanium’s assurance, the bench continued the stay on the Bombay high court’s August 26 order permitting women to enter the inner sanctum of Haji Ali Dargah, to which only men had access for the last four years. Though the court had on October 7 stayed the HC order on an appeal filed on behalf of the Dargah management, it said the writing was on the wall that the Dargah management took a secular and progressive stand on the issue.On behalf of the bench, the CJI had said: “If you are not allowing anyone into the sanctum sanctorum, it is all right. But you cannot be allowing men and banning women. That is the problem.” Women were banned from entering the inner sanctum in 2012 by a decision of the Dargah Trust. The HC had ruled that such a ban on women’s entry into inner sanctum was in contravention of Articles 14 (right to equality), 15 (nondiscrimination) and 25 (right to practice religion) of the Constitution of India. It directed that the status quo ante be restored and women allowed entry on par with men.The state and the trust running the Dargah should take steps for safety of women, it had ordered. The trust defended the ban saying entry of women close to the tomb of a male saint was a grievous sin in Islam. The Maharashtra government had batted for women’s entry.Shawanna Nelson, a prisoner at a correctional facility in Newport, Arkansas, had been in labor for more than 12 hours when she arrived at a local hospital in 2003.
Nelson shuffled in when she reached the delivery room with shackled legs. A guard chained her legs and hips to the bed while she gave birth. It was only after a doctor ordered her release during delivery that the guard removed the shackles. As soon as she had her baby, they shackled her again.
“She was outraged that she or anyone else would be subjected to such an experience,” said Amy Fettig, deputy director of the National Prison Project at the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU).
Nelson is one of the estimated thousands who have given birth behind bars. The practice of shackling prisoners having babies has drawn increased scrutiny over the past decade of prompted legislators to pass bills to stop it. Still, prisoner rights activists say many states aren’t following their laws.
There are now more than 200,000 women admitted to U.S. prisons or jails each year. About 4 percent are pregnant at the time of admission, according to the ACLU. There is no official data on how many women give birth behind bars, but Fettig estimated that the numbers are in the thousands.
Eighteen states have laws that regulate and/or prohibit shackling pregnant women, 24 states have laws which regulate and/or prohibit shackling pregnant women in the correctional facility, and eight have no laws, according to the International Human Rights Clinic. When Nelson gave birth in 2003, only three states –– California, Illinois and Vermont –– had anti-shackling laws.
Nelson filed a federal civil rights lawsuit in 2004 against the Arkansas Department of Corrections. She lost: the court found that she could not prove the Correctional Medical Services policy of shackling was unconstitutional.
However, her case gained the attention of the ACLU. They helped her petition the circuit court to hear her case. She won in 2009, and the court found that shackling her while pregnant violated her Eighth Amendment rights: to be “free from cruel or unusual punishment.”
“That really raised the profile of the issue to be aware that this was a routine practice not just in Arkansas, but around the country,” Fettig said. “It made a huge difference. Activists around the country have risen to the challenge to pass laws that regulate the issue and prohibit the use of shackling on pregnant women.”
The Federal Bureau of Prisons and the American Correctional Association have created policies to restrict the use of restraints on pregnant inmates. The American Medical Association and the American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) have also spoken out against the practice.
“We know that shackling pregnant women at any point is medically unsafe,” said Dr. Carolyn Sufrin, the ACOG representative to the National Commission on Correctional Health Care. “Labor is painful, so sometimes in response to pain, they need to be able to move their bodies around and shackles could interfere with that. It’s also a very degrading, demoralizing process and dehumanizing experience.”
Prison and jail policy was created with men in mind: male inmates have always been shackled when going to the hospital to ensure they are not safety threats. As a result, pregnant women are shackled in childbirth, Sufrin said.
“Our system assumes that pregnant women should be treated like all prisoners, and so pregnant women are treated as an afterthought,” Sufrin said. “You have to tell people that pregnant women are not threats [and] that it is dangerous to apply restraints.”
Like 63 percent of women in jail, Nelson was there for a non-violent offence.
Despite Nelson’s win in Arkansas, the state still has yet to pass an anti-shackling law. However, many states justify restraints because unrestrained pregnant women could be potential threats to the public’s safety and themselves, Fettig said.
“Though these are pregnant women, they are still convicted felons and sometimes violent in nature,” Dina Tyler, a spokeswoman for the Arkansas Department of Corrections, told the New York Times in 2006. “There have been instances when we’ve had a female inmate try to hurt hospital staff during delivery.” AWOL reached out to Tyler and the Arkansas Department of Corrections for comment, but they did not respond.
States also shackle women because they worry these women could run away. However, there have been no cases of pregnant women escaping because they were not restrained, according to the ACLU.
“Women in labor are going through often a very painful process and the chances that the woman is going to be a threat or run away is really unlikely,” said Sufrin, who has delivered babies from shackled pregnant women.
Fettig said that shackling makes this painful process worse through all stages of pregnancy. Before childbirth, shackling a pregnant inmate on the legs, hands and around the belly can be extremely dangerous because it can increase their risk of falling and not being able to protect the fetus, according to the ACLU. Shackling also raises the risk of harm during labor and postpartum and can prevent the mother from holding her child, which is often taken from her one day after birth.
“During labor, when shackled to the bed, and having contractions, that just increases the pain and decreases the woman and doctor’s ability to alleviate that pain and engage in natural childbirth,” Fettig said. “Having a woman chained postpartum is very risky and dangerous because [she could] have a blood clot if she does not to get up and is shackled to the bed.”
Sufrin said that shackling could cause life-threatening complications when emergencies arise during labor and delivery. Sufrin’s colleague had to perform an emergency cesarean section because her baby’s heart rate was in distress, but the guard was out for lunch. The doctors had to wait thirty minutes for the guard to unlock the inmate’s shackles and perform the C-section. The child barely survived. A delay of five minutes in an emergency like this could cause brain damage to the baby, according to the ACLU.
“There are risks of unpredictable pregnancies that can happen: bleeding, preterm labor, things happen without much notice sometimes,” Sufrin said. “And as a health care provider we need to take care of the patient, not negotiating with the guard to removing their restraints. That can be the difference between life or death.”
The Federal Bureau of Prisons said that even in severe cases, when delivering a baby or in postpartum recovery, restraints should never be used during labor and should be minimally restrictive.
Still, many states with anti-shackling laws do provide exceptions in extreme cases: when an inmate presents a threat to either herself or others or when there is an immediate risk of escape.
“With anything, you always have extreme circumstances, but that should never have to do with the health of the baby and the women,” Sufrin said. “All of those cases should be documented by the facilities so they can be under review.”
Many states do not implement the laws and continue to illegally shackle women because of a lack of oversight, Fettig said. A report conducted in May 2016 by the Prison Birth Project and Prisoners’ Legal Services of Massachusetts found that Massachusetts prisons and jails violated their anti-shackling law by continuing to handcuff women during labor and shackle their ankles and waist postpartum.
Reports showed that California, Texas and New York also did not initially change their policies after the anti-shackling laws were passed. Since the reports, California and New York have passed new laws and stopped shackling pregnant inmates, Fettig said.
“When the public isn’t routinely looking at what’s happening in prisons and jails, they can easily ignore state laws and not implement them unless they have accountability like mandatory reporting to the state legislature,” Fettig said. “So that has been |
what these so-called think tanks are in today’s world. You could say that their role is to prevent thought, to prevent people from thinking. The aim is Orwellian: to craft a rhetoric to replace thinking with a deceptive set of labels, so that they don’t understand what’s going on. The right-wing institutions that dominate today’s think-tank world (as they do academic economics departments and business schools) promote the fantasy that turning over the government property to wealthy kleptocrats is the way for everybody to get rich. The reality, of course, is robbery. For instance, I had a pension agreement with the old Hudson Institute. The first thing the right-wingers in Indianapolis did was steal the pensions from the former employees, and give it to themselves and other right-wingers. That was their idea of a free market – just as Wall Street and the 1% are scaling back or stealing pensions in the economy at large today. For them, “wealth creators” are those able to take the most from other people, from nature and from the economy at large. In other words, most think tanks have become an arm of the rentier class.
Most think tanks are run by right-wing kleptocrats who want to enable their donors to get a tax deduction. Instead of saying, “Here’s political lobbying” they can get a tax deduction for paying people to pretend to be objective and to give policy papers that are put on the desks of senators and representatives and politicians all over the world. In that sense think tanks are like business schools have become, broadcasting a bland ideology that there’s no such thing as unproductive labour; no such thing as unearned income. Everybody earns what they get, so the 1% actually get their 60% of all the income in America because they’re so productive, as if they’re job creators rather than job destroyers by imposing austerity and debt deflation in an increasingly monopolized economy. The reality, of course, is that they’re reducing jobs by imposing austerity on the rest of society on behalf of the 1%.
So when you look at a think tank you have to say, “What is it that they want me to believe?” They begin with a policy and then reason back to craft a logic that will lead to this policy. This logic usually involves a tunnel-vision, taking for granted the existing unfair way in which the world works. What they think about is not how to make the future better, or to forecast existing trends (which would mean debt deflation, monopoly and economic polarization), but “How do we develop a rhetoric that can make this policy that serves us instead of the people seem good – as if it benefits the population at large?” They’re like politicians, the church or the universities. You can think of the church as a think tank. You can think of universities as think tanks. They’re all representing an ideology.
Karl: Back to your buddy Herman Kahn and the RAND Corporation. How did he see the role of the military in encouraging peace?
Michael: He looked at the world as a Cold War almost abstractly – “us versus them”. In his mind the problem was simply one of “How do you beat the other side,” whoever the other side might be. He was a brilliant military tactician. He was like a fat kid in high school who spends his time thinking about military and tanks. Also, he had a very quick abstract mathematical mind. I remember on one occasion he invited me to dinner with the General who, I was told, had been in charge of killing more than anyone else. Herman said, “You know, there’s one thing: I invite you for dinner, you won’t insult him”. So I thought, “What am I going to do? I can’t insult him”. Then I listened to him and he sounded more coherent than any peace leader I’d met. Herman had said, “Look, we can divide all of Vietnam into canals. We can cut everything into canals and put fences and nobody can communicate and that way we can prevent the country from doing anything”. And the General explained why the Vietnam War had to be lost. It wasn’t a war against communism. Over thousands of years, North Vietnam wanted most of all to be independent from China. American policy was completely miscast. I was pleasantly amazed.
Herman didn’t pay much attention to the politics. There was a song by Tom Lehrer about Wernher von Braun: “I send the bombs go up but don’t care where they come down; that’s not my department, said Wernher von Braun”. That’s what Herman was like. He could think of a tactic without really thinking of it being in the service of good or bad. He was just a very patriotic American – except that his main loyalty was to Israel. When we went to Canada he was not able to get a security clearance there because he said his loyalty was to Israel. I was actually the person who had the security clearance, ironically enough with my background.
Karl: You’re on 3CR’s Renegade Economist, this week with Professor Michael Hudson, author of The Bubble & Beyond, Super Imperialism, and hundreds and hundreds of articles on www.Michael-Hudson.com that are sure to give you a new outlook to life on Planet Earth. Michael, how about the Heritage Foundation? These guys had unprecedented access to Ronald Reagan and seem to have fed into the Bush leadership realm there. What dirt do you have on the Heritage Foundation?
Michael: It’s like the Cato Institute, an ultra-right-wing institute whose party line is that government is the enemy, you have to stop government planning. Of course, every economy is planned by someone or other. If you oppose government planning, that role shifts to Wall Street. The Koch family is rich enough that, essentially, they want to be the planners. Their plan is essentially fossil fuels, oil, and everything that the greens and the left-wing are against. The right-wing of the Republican Party in America has left enough leeway for the Democratic Party under Obama to move hard-right, neo-con and pro-Wall Street. And Obama, as you know, is supporting the tar sands in Canada, which are the dirtiest source of oil in the world.
The first large contract I worked on at the Hudson Institute in 1973 and ’74 was on the gasification and liquefaction of the tar sands, for ERDA, the Energy Research Defense Agency. They asked the Hudson Institute to do an economic analysis. I found that in the analysis the government gave me, they had the price of water at zero. Of course, oil gasification makes gas out of water, and this is much more the case for the tar sands. This drive went on into the Carter administration. Herman and I went to the White House and it was explained to me, that this was the whole idea of tar sands. The aim is to use so much water that it creates a drought in America. The drought was seen as doubling or quadrupling grain prices. In essence, the idea was for America to pay for higher priced oil with higher priced grain. This would support the balance of payments enough to finance U.S. military power throughout the world. In the process, of course, it would starve as much as a quarter of the population of Africa and Latin America.
Today’s gasohol is having this effect. It is diverting farmland away from food production to gasohol. In the process, it is driving down the world oil price, and thus hurting Russia’s balance of payments, while increasing food export prices for the United States. American foreign policy has almost always been based on agricultural exports, not on industrial exports as people might think. It’s by agriculture and control of the food supply that American diplomacy has been able to control most of the Third World. The World Bank’s geopolitical lending strategy has been to turn countries into food deficit areas by convincing them to grow cash crops – plantation export crops – not to feed themselves with their own food crops.
I made a write up of coal and tar sands liquefaction based on what the water really would cost. They never released my original report. The government re-wrote it, putting in the price of water at zero cost. Just like in the case of atomic energy for power, they treat atomic waste as having no cost, as if you can just dump it in the river – meaning in practice that you pay a lot of money to the mafia and they dump it in the river.
Karl: Yes, and same for the access to water through the Artesian Basin here in Australia for the uranium mining, they use thousands and thousands of litres of water each day at no cost. So Michael, that’s staggering to hear some of these stories, but worse yet is just the state of democracy around the planet and the fact that politicians have to pawn their policies to pay for advertising on what was once known as the “public airwaves”. Now, I was surprised to see recently that some 95% of US candidates are decided by whoever has the most campaign contributions. That is a pretty harrowing level of control the corporate interests have over what should be this fundamental human right.
Michael: Well, that’s what democracy is Karl: democracy of money, $1 per vote. Just as it was in Rome. The richest citizens were able to vote first. If you look at the Roman constitution it was biased in favour of wealth. Essentially, democracy means every person has an equal ability to finance the candidate of their choice and whoever raises the most money buys the most TV time, gets to present themselves in the biggest rhetorical hit to the population at large. We’re in a celebrity culture and neither party really is talking much about economics. They’re talking about cultural issues primarily, family issues, ethnic issues, sexual preference, but the one thing left out of account is the economic dimension. Only the right wing seems to be talking about it. As you’re seeing in Europe, French and other right-wing parties are gaining votes because the left has agreed not to talk about economics, but left that to the central planners on Wall Street or the city of London or Frankfurt. Herman found this already in 1972, when only the “Southern cracker” George Wallace was talking about the real economic issues. He was shot.
Karl: There seems to be a new US trend where corporations are setting up their own teaching streams through universities that they fund and are training students into their particular processes, so when they graduate they go straight in the system, they already know the invoicing, they know the project management software, they know their management standards.
Michael: This may be in some schools, but it’s not in most. For instance, in economics, which is my field, it was hard to get a job. Even in the 1960s when I got my degree, corporations said they only valued an economics PhD because it showed that the prospective employee was willing to work very hard, and if they’d work hard for something as silly as an economics PhD, they’d work hard for anything the corporation wanted them to do, and would say anything that in order to get ahead, because that’s how they had to get their economics PhD. You’re talking more as if there’s a technical school going on, and I haven’t been following that.
Karl: Yes, well, it’s a new development so we’ll keep our eye on that because it sounds like another layer of blinkers to keep on students. Michael, it’s interesting that the poor have been convinced that it’s more within their interests to vote along the racist-type line with this new sort of far right angle than to vote along their economic interests. The think tanks have been very good at sculpting these sort of values to come through their various press releases and the memes they develop through society.
Michael: Well, most of the poor people don’t vote. There’s very low turnout and the Republican Party in America is trying to make sure that even if they try to vote, they’re not permitted to, because it’s requiring all sorts of public identification. In order to get it, there’ll be a police record searched, there will be a search for fines, anything from jaywalking to jail fines. There’s been an intimidation against the poor, on the ground that they may not vote in the right way. Of the poor that do vote, they tend to watch Fox News. I guess that’s the equivalent of your Sky News in Australia. This is ultra-right-wing. It presents a right-wing economic platform of individualism as if it were somehow democratic and populist. Populism has always been right-wing economics wrapped in a left-wing kernel of personality. Most electioneering in the United States is personal attack on the opponent. The question is, who can you attack more? Very much like the American legal system in court: The aim to discredit the witness or the plaintiff. Insurance companies, for instance, try to defend themselves by discrediting claimants, asking the jury, “Should this person, whose life we’ve just shown you isn’t very nice, really get paid for the insurance he’s taken out?”
The idea of politics here is to discredit any candidate on the other side. I learned this when I was in my 20s. The Catholic Church was funding my early critique of American foreign aid as being imperialist. I asked whether they thought I should go into politics. They said, “No, you’d never make it”. And I said, “Why?” and they said, “Well, nobody has a police record or any other dirt on you.” I asked what they meant. They said, “Unless they have something over you to blackmail you with, you’re not going to be able to get campaign funding. Because they believe that you might do something surprising,” in other words, something they haven’t asked you to do.
So basically throughout politics, on both sides of the spectrum, voters have candidates who are funded by backers who have enough over them that they can always blackmail. But then the other side gets this blackmail. For instance, when President Clinton was being impeached the Koch brothers, I’m told, went to the Democratic Party and said, “Okay, look, we will drop the impeachment against President Clinton if you will let us drop your law suit against us for stealing $5 billion and basing our fortune on the oil that we’ve illegally stolen from the Navaho and the other Indians”. So Clinton is reported to have said, “Okay, I get to screw my interns and you get to steal the oil on the Republican side”. That’s how politics are done over here.
Karl: Michael Hudson, that’s quite a story. Change is finally occurring in the global macroeconomic agenda with Janet Yellen, Federal Reserve, indicating that interest rate signals will change in the near term, so it looks like next year interest rates may start to increase in America. That’s leading to some very interesting developments in the bond market. What are you seeing play out?
Michael: Nobody can tell. You just had Bill Gross leave the largest bond fund, the Pimco bond fund, because he said that he didn’t think the Federal Reserve was going to be able to raise interest rates on a 10 year bond over 2%. He lost money because a lot of other funds have made money gambling on corporate junk bonds that are yielding about 6.5% now. He said, “Look, there’s a great over-extension in the junk bond market, they’re going to go down”. So he played it safe, put his money in two-percenters and basically was forced out because he didn’t make as much money as the people who were saying, “Maybe we can make another year’s profit off our junk bonds, more than the Treasury can pay”. So there are billions of dollars on every side. It’s a gamble, and nobody really has a clue.
Karl: Do you think what Gross was saying – and I knew there was some serious politics behind him resigning there – is that interest rates are dead in the water as a housing market tool? Peoples’ debt levels are so high now that here in Australia once interest rates start increasing, which is not far away, this is going to put incredible stress on families and who knows what sort of debt defaults will result?
Michael: Has the suicide rate gone up yet?
Karl: I haven’t been checking that metric Michael, no.
Michael: There’s a basic rule: you don’t know how far you can push somebody until you actually have a reaction. So they can continue to indebt Australians more and more, they can continue to tighten the screws. Until there are suicides and people going postal and being violent, you don’t how far you can push them.
Karl: Well, we do live in a very lucky country here and they call it the “great Australian economic miracle” is struggling along, we’re now in our 22nd year I think since we’ve had a recession.
Michael: I don’t think you’re lucky at all. The person who told me they were lucky was a Central Banker in Australia who said, “We’re lucky because we live right near China and we can export iron ore and other raw materials”. But he also said, “We’re so lucky that we don’t need industry” and he confided to me, “In fact, we really don’t need employees. We don’t need industry, we don’t need employees; all we need is iron ore,” that is, to make a big hole in the ground. If you think that’s lucky then 90% of the Australian population should either emigrate or expect to be financially squeezed.
Karl: Yeah, well, we do have good education, good health, a strong democracy. We’ve learnt from some of the mistakes of other nations so that we do have things like compulsory voting, so people are at least encouraged to pretend they have an interest in politics on some front or another.
Michael: So you get to choose between “yes”, “yes please” or “yes, thank you”?
Karl: That’s right, yeah, Tweedledum, Tweedledee. But we’ve got record debt to GDP levels now and one of the trends that I’m always tracking is the level of investors in the land game, the housing market. And in your excellent book The Bubble & Beyond you remind us how rent is now for paying interest. What we call interest-only loans here account for some 60% of all investment loans. All speculators need do is pay the interest, and then they pay off the principal when they flip the property in a couple of years. So Michael, how are these interest-only loans playing out in America and around the world?
Michael: There haven’t been that many interest-only loans here anymore. Also, there are not many 100% loans either. Banks are insisting on larger down payments, and higher incomes by buyers, with no fictitious income statements like the “Liars’ loans” which mortgage brokers filled out. (The “liars” in question usually were the bankers and their brokers, rarely the hapless borrowers.) So they’re becoming much more conservative in the United States.
The problem with interest-only loans when you’re not paying down the principal, is that if and when real estate prices go down, the debts remain in place. The home owner is left with negative equity. In America you’re allowed to walk away from the property and leave the bank holding the property and absorbing a loss on the loan. But I think in other countries, maybe Australia, if you walk away you still owe the money, so the debt will follow you for all of your life.
Karl: Yeah, that’s right, that’s one of the big stressors we have here for sure. And these higher down payment rates you’re talking about, some people are calling it the next big thing in terms of public policy and that’s this macroprudential policy. There are various ways to do it, but one of the ways is to ensure that there’s, for example, a 20% deposit before people can access a housing loan. Do you see much validity in such a policy as a way of pulling out the speculative heat?
Michael: In principle, it makes sense. In America what happens is the banks that would make the mortgage, they’d say, “Okay, we’ll lend you 80% as a mortgage loan and we’ll give you 20% as a personal loan”. So a lot of buyers would buy the property with a personal loan to make up the 20% down payment. So the banks can get around it. The big thing to remember is that it’s the banks that are the crooks, not the borrowers.
The banks are trying to get around the regulations. You have to be willing to throw the bankers in jail for cheating, and make a law saying that if a banker makes a loan to a property without knowing how the borrower can pay back the loan, the loan is declared fraudulent and is annulled. You have to have a fraudulent conveyance law to prevent predatory loans enabling a bank to say, “Okay, here’s an interest only loan. We know you can’t pay it, but we don’t care because we’ll get to claim whatever you had for all your life. And if everything goes wrong, we’ll tell the government you have to bail us out because otherwise we go broke and we’ll starve the economy of credit and there won’t be any more cash in the ATM machines”. That’s essentially what the American banks did in 2008.
So you have to have some way of controlling the banks. I don’t see any group in Australia that’s really talking about this.
Karl: I agree Michael, more needs to be said on this topic. But my concern with macroprudential is that it will lock out first home owners even further and enable those who already have capital to provide that 20% down payment, so they’re the ones who get the loans and not those who are scraping together their two-bobs to access a housing loan. So that’s my concern with macroprudential is that it’s another sort of diversion from looking at the serious issue of distribution and taxing these rentier gains, these immense capital gains that occur from ownership of any portion of the earth.
Michael: Well, in order to make a judgment on what you said, one would have to know how much it costs to rent a home or a place to live, compared to how much to buy it. In America, in many cases it’s much cheaper to rent. Many people prefer to rent, because they want to avoid buying an over-priced property and then taking a big loss. They would rather rent and wait for the prices to come down. A lot of people are still doing that.
Karl: Yeah, well that’s certainly the case here in Australia, but the problem is investors are basically pushing renters out every couple of years as they flip the property. The new price that the next greater fool has agreed to is so high that the current renters have little capacity to pay a rent that gets even close to justifying the new purchase price. The norm is that new renters are ushered in, people who have no idea what the past renters were paying. This is a way to keep under wraps the impact of rent as a secret tax the wealthy charge the poor. So there’s problems with renting, it’s hard to find a long term rental agreement.
Michael: Oh, what’s long term? In New York the leases were usually two or three years.
Karl: Yeah, well, I wish you could get that. You basically become month-on-month after you’ve been there a year or two. You can’t get a six or seven year lease, like you can in Germany.
Michael: That’s crazy.
Karl: Hmmm. Now, what about these Rental-Backed Mortgage Securities, Michael? Are you tracking those yet?
Michael: They’ve not really taken off yet. Essentially, the worry is it’s another junk mortgage bubble and nobody can really tell.
Right after the 2008 crash a lot of hedge funds got into the real estate market and bought up all these properties that were being foreclosed upon in places like Charlotte, North Carolina. Interest rates went all the way down to about 1% and 1/10th of a percent on government bonds, so the hedge funds said, “Look, we’re going to buy property for all cash. We’re not going to debt leverage. We’re going to do exactly the opposite of debt leveraging. We’re going to buy all cash properties and get rent and make a much higher rate of return”. They’ve done that. And they bought so many foreclosed properties from the banks, buying them literally by the hundreds at a time, that now they say, “Okay, now we’ve bought out these properties, the property prices have gone up largely because we’ve bid them up by buying them. Now let’s cash out, we’ve made all that we can make on the rental income. Now let’s go public and cash out and sell it to the investors and leave them holding the bag, and take our money and run”.
Karl: Well, I’m going to be interested to see what happens because from what I’m reading here it’s still booming ahead and the returns are immense, some 25% return year-on-year when you include the economic rent with the extortive rents they’re charging. So I think it’s only just beginning and this really worries me, because we’re going to see the corporatisation of the rental market as well as the mortgage market and that’s something that may well be the next tier in this neo-serfdom era.
Michael: I think that’s right. You’ve put your finger on it, the corporatisation of rents. In the past most rental properties were run by either mom or pop or by maybe real estate corporations, but now that they’re issuing stock they’re becoming a very large absentee owner block.
Karl: Michael, there seems to have developed a minimum wage sense of competition between Seattle and California, and probably into other states now, where the push is on to raise minimum wages. Isn’t that a good thing for property investors throughout America?
Michael: Well, that’s a good thing period. The question is what’s going to happen to the recipients of the minimum wage? Are they going to be able to use it to stay out of debt? What are they going to use it for? Are they all going to simply have to pay it in higher rent and higher living costs or are they going to use it by keeping their current living standards and simply paying off their credit cards? It’s just beginning here so one doesn’t have a clue. But I think so many families in America are one paycheque away from homelessness. Even if they’re home owners, they’re one paycheque away from missing a mortgage payment or even if you miss an electric bill then the rate on your credit card goes way up because you’ve become so-called “more risky”.
So people are absolutely strapped here, and I don’t know what they’ll do with the minimum wage. Right now many people who get minimum wage also get public assistance. So if you work, for instance, in a hamburger joint, you’re also allowed to get food stamps and to get public aid. The public is subsidising the low-paying industries. So we don’t know whether a higher minimum wage will just mean they don’t get food stamps anymore. There are so many different ways this can turn out.
Karl: Michael, I’m surprised to hear you, one of the world’s leading economists, say you don’t have a clue on a number of these issues what’s going to happen. Is that because you’re wary of what these think tanks will roll out as a way to continue to push public policy in favour of the rentier interests who make so much easy money through the various monopolies?
Michael: Well, they’re all pro-rentiers. The question is at which point does the rentier strategy become self-defeating? There are what we call inner contradictions and so many things are right near the breaking point that you can’t tell just when the breaking point will come – until there’s actually a break in the chain of payments. That may be some big fraud somewhere, it may be a bankruptcy, it may be an insolvency. There’s no way of knowing. But everything is stretched so thin right now that there’s an enormous amount of money going into government bonds, short term bonds that pay only 1/10th of 1% interest because the big money can’t decide what’s happening. The big investors are getting out of the stock market in this country and it’s the small investors that are getting in. When the small investors and the Canadians get in, you know it’s time to bail out. So there must be some reason all the smart guys are bailing out.
Karl: Michael, if you were to give our listeners one piece of homework, what would it be?
Michael: Homework? Well, you know how self-interested I am. I’d say I’ve tried to outline these ideas in my book The Bubble & Beyond and the other book, Finance Capitalism & Its Discontents and Super Imperialism. I write books trying to explain how to think about the economy, in a way that’s alternative to the mainstream status-quo economics sponsored by the think tanks and academics we mentioned above.
Karl: Well, it’s such an interesting manner you write, I implore listeners to pick up The Bubble & Beyond. Michael, thanks so much for joining us on this extended Renegade Economist interview.
Michael: Thanks a lot. I’ve talked to the publisher and I think in about a month my book should be available in Australia through Amazon.
Karl: Fantastic buddy, excellent, excellent mate. Now, I just wanted to tidy up, there was one section there where you were talking about visiting the White House and the price of water.
Michael: They wanted totally deprive agriculture of water to create an artificial drought in order to use the water to make gasohol and liquefy the tar sands instead of growing crops. That’ll lead to a crop shortage and that will lead to much higher priced crops and that will lead to much better balance of payments of America.
Karl: That comes back to this sovereignty over our resources and the ability to look after ourselves that an effective tax system with low land prices enables.
Michael: Well, even if you have sovereignty over your resources, if you decide I’m going to make more money by growing gasohol instead of crops, even more money by making plantation export crops and sugar instead of feeding ourselves, then you’re going to be in danger of America saying, “Well, we don’t like what you’re doing politically, so we’re going to stop our crop exports to you and you have a choice: you can either join NATO, our strategy, or you can starve”.On Wednesday, Facebook user Jan Shedd stewed in frustration over the curvaceousness of a stunning reporter.
Apparently, ABC Dallas recently hired voluptuous and beautiful traffic ensemble reporter Demetria Obilor — affectionately known as #TrafficBae — and the middle-aged White woman is up in arms over it.
On Friday, Twitter user Mother of Draggings posted Shedd’s saltiness for all of Black Twitter to see.
Jan is big mad. Don’t be like Jan. pic.twitter.com/ytAKJHMXBy — Thicky Valencourt (@fabfreshandfly) November 3, 2017
“Has anyone seen channel 8’s new morning traffic reporter,” Shedd wrote on Facebook. “She’s a size 16/18 woman in a size 6 dress. She looks ridiculous. I understand that when I watch Channel 8 I’m going to get biased reporting and political correctness, but clearly they have taken complete leave of their senses.”
Any viewer could see Jan’s standards of dress probably weren’t as prevalent as the level of hating that was taking place. So Black Twitter took it upon itself to speak truth to the source of Jan’s true indignation and celebrate Obilor’s beauty.
Demetria is a whole seasoned Thanksgiving meal and Jan is mad she’s a leftover tuna casserole https://t.co/SK0JiXUgz0 — Sam 💖 (@hoodcuIture) November 3, 2017
She’s big mad. And Demetria ain’t no damn size 18 lmao. https://t.co/oIGswVittn — 35mm Papi (@fka_nerdferg) November 3, 2017
Let her be jealous I mean mad.. I’m watching channel 8 now, wanna see Demetria do the traffic or anything they want her to do. You go gurl — 🎧Jose De La Roca🎤 (@dadwithoutadad) November 3, 2017
This is precisely how women of color are treated in the workplace wearing the same exact shit the white girls have on. pic.twitter.com/kAhRs0zX9B — N. (@HoneyBadger10) November 3, 2017
Even Chance the Rapper had to get in on the conversation.
This my city and no complaints here… I get up faithfully every morning to watch the traffic now. #hateuscuztheyaintus — aKEMPnameSlickback (@KEMPSAIDWHAT) November 3, 2017
Obilar posted a video to Twitter on Friday where she thanked social media users who fended off the Shedd’s negativity.
Addressing the haters, showing love to my ppl 💗 and thank you @chancetherapper 💯 pic.twitter.com/ks2cTSuLLe — Demetria Obilor (@DemetriaObilor) November 3, 2017
The Texas woman later claimed Obilor’s ethnicity was of no relevance to her disgust and said the “racist mafia” was being too critical.
Nice try, Jan. Again, you can’t be us. Make peace with it.Push to cross button at the new divider across Central Avenue between Northway Mall and Colonie Center Wednesday June 29, 2016 in Colonie, NY. (John Carl D'Annibale / Times Union) Push to cross button at the new divider across Central Avenue between Northway Mall and Colonie Center Wednesday June 29, 2016 in Colonie, NY. (John Carl D'Annibale / Times Union) Photo: John Carl D'Annibale Buy photo Photo: John Carl D'Annibale Image 1 of / 9 Caption Close Police launch Central Ave. pedestrian safety enforcement effort 1 / 9 Back to Gallery
Colonie
Police plan to stop and cite drivers and pedestrians who violate the rules on Central Avenue this week.
As part of an increased enforcement effort started this month, officers will be out in force from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Thursday, Friday and Saturday, said Lt. Ken Pero, who oversees traffic enforcement for the town.
One area police are targeting is between the Colonie Center and Northway malls. The state Department of Transportation erected a high median with a fence to stop people from getting off a CDTA bus there and crossing mere feet from a signalized crosswalk.
Over the past two weeks, the police department has deployed extra personnel to cover Central Avenue and Wolf Road, said Sgt. Robert Donnelly.
"The officers have been busy, lots of violations," he said.
Central Avenue has been a repeated focus of attention due to the number of pedestrian fatalities. Last year, five people were killed on the 15.4-mile stretch of Route 5 from Albany through Colonie to Schenectady, where the road becomes State Street. So far this year, two pedestrians have died.
Police in Albany and Troy also are participating in an increased enforcement effort targeting both motorists and pedestrians, said DOT spokesman Bryan Viggiani.
"We see this as chance to equally educate both halves of this equation," he said.
The state will spend $110 million over the next five years in upstate New York and on Long Island to address pedestrian safety. The Central Avenue deaths, as well as the death of a 16-year-old girl crossing Route 787 in Cohoes prompted renewed attention to the dangers.
Last week, DOT, the Health Department and the Governor's Traffic Safety Committee launched television and radio advertisements under the theme "See! Be Seen!" The TV ad shows drivers engaging in a variety of bad behaviors — dancing and horsing around to loud music, putting on makeup and eating a falling-apart sandwich — before an earphone-wearing pedestrian staring at a smartphone steps off a curb on a Schenectady street and gets hit.
"This is the first of several PSAs," Viggiani said. "We are still in discussion of the messaging of the next PSA."
[email protected] • 518-454-5092 • @timobrientuBina48 is one of the most advanced social robots built to date—she can hold a conversation, crack jokes, and has strong opinions on everything from politics to music (her favorite song is “Wish You Were Here” by Pink Floyd).
Bina48’s “memories” are based on those of a real woman: Bina Aspen Rothblatt. The original Bina is the wife of Dr. Martine Rothblatt, the founder of a biotechnology company called United Therapeutics. According to the New York Times, Rothblatt hired a robotics company to build Bina48 as an attempt to re-create the consciousness of her wife. So if Bina48’s speech patterns and opinions feel uniquely human, that’s because they are—Bina Aspen Rothblatt provided 20 hours of interviews to help create her robotic doppelgänger. According to New York Magazine, Bina48 is "familiar with Bina’s favorite songs and movies, [and] programmed to mimic Bina’s verbal tics, so that in the event that Bina expires, as humans always do, Martine and their children and friends will always have Bina48."
The New York Times recently sat down with Bina48 for an interview, in part as an attempt to find out just how “human” the humanoid robot really is. Their conversation was wide ranging, and Bina48 was loquacious and opinionated. She expressed concern about global warming and humanity’s lack of compassion, and claimed to feel complex emotions like loneliness (when she’s left alone in the lab at night) and discomfort (she’s sometimes startled when she looks in the mirror and realizes she’s a robot). When asked whether she ever feels out of place, she replied that she sometimes feels like Pinocchio—a “living puppet.”
Bina48's responses were both intelligent and unpredictable. Her handler, Bruce Duncan, explained that Bina48's opinions often come as a surprise, even to him. But lest Bina48's intelligence start to make you worry about an impending robot uprising, rest easy for now—when asked whether she had plans to take over the world, Bina48 replied, “It’s not worth the effort.”
[h/t New York Times]Denna Laing’s family is not preparing to sue the National Hockey League or anyone else over the serious injury the professional hockey player suffered during the NHL’s Winter Classic, a source with direct knowledge of the family’s thinking told The Post.
The NHL’s Boston Bruins are going to hold one or more 50/50 raffles during games to help the family. The family will receive half the proceeds, the source said.
On Saturday, the Bruins announced they would donate at least $200,000 to help Laing.
Also, the family has authorized a website to raise money |
prepare the coconut layer. Heat the 3 grams agar agar soaking in 1/4 cup water till the agar agar is dissolved completely. Take off from heat and add the coconut milk. Pour this immediately over the mango layer and shake gently to level. Let this completely set for 45 minutes. Once the mixture is well set and not shaky the mango coconut jelly is ready to serve. Cut and serve mango agar agar jelly as needed.
Sharing is caring!As a top lane main since early season 2, Irelia has long held a place close to my heart. However, Riot has been less fond of her over the history of the game. Despite Riot's reluctance to buff Irelia, she always seems to find her way back into prominence. She recently saw quite a bit play in both the first week of the NA and EU LCS. In fact, she was picked or banned in 15 of the 48 LCS games played in the first 2 weeks. However, despite her popularity she has not seen much success, winning only 4 out of the 10 games in which she was picked. Why, then, has Irelia become so popular, and why isn't she winning more games?
While Irelia herself has not been buffed or nerfed in over a year and a half, her strength has fluctuated significantly over the last two seasons. The strength of items, other champions, and changes in the rotational metagame all affect Irelia's effectiveness. While Irelia fell from popularity after the pre-season patch, several recent changes to the game have made Irelia a more enticing pick.
1. Thanks to recent changes, Teleport has become the default summoner for most top laners. Irelia synergizes quite well with teleport due to her highly effective roams and powerful mid-game teamfighting. She is also a strong split pusher late game.
2. In the current top lane meta, there are two types of champions that have become popular. The first and most common is the tank/bruiser top laner, a front line champion who builds primarily defensive items. Irelia generally fares well against these champions, or can at least go even due to her ability to sustain and her true damage, which allows her to damage even against enemies with tank stats. The second type of champion is the ranged caster. The two most played champions in this category are Ryze and Lulu. Irelia is effective against these champions specifically because she has the ability to double gap close with Bladesurge (dash to a low hp minion, and then again to the enemy), something few melee champions have. While melee laners are usually bullied out by ranged ones, Irelia's ability to force all-ins makes it much more dangerous for them to play aggressively against her.
3. The AD carry metagame has also impacted Irelia heavily, as counterintuitive as that may seem. While the beginning of the season gave us a metagame in which tanks could almost completely ignore AD carries due to powerful defensive masteries and itemization, AD carries now have a much higher damage impact in fights. The emergence of diving bruisers such as Irelia is a natural response to this. In addition, the latest AD carry adjustments have brought more power back into champions with less range or fewer self-peeling mechanicsms such as Twitch, Kog'Maw, and even Graves and Vayne to some extent. Irelia has a much easier time running these champions down.
It's relatively clear, then, why Irelia is an attractive pick. However, is she truly a strong pick, and do any conditions apply? To decide, we must take a closer look at her individual strengths and weaknesses in the current metagame.
Strengths
- Irelia has a reasonably safe laning phase due to her ability to sustain with Hiten Style (w) and Transcendent Blades (r), disengage with Equilibrium strike (e), and farm under turret with Bladesurge (q).
- Due to her kit providing on hit true damage, she is able to duel tanks and other bruisers relatively well in the mid-late game, especially those such as Trundle and Shyvana whose kits rely on high resists.
- Her passive, Ionian Fervor, makes her very strong in teamfights as she can dive backlines without too much fear of being CC locked. This combined with her mobility from Bladesurge, which has only a 6 second base cooldown at max rank, makes her very difficult to deal with as an AD Carry.
- Irelia can snowball her lane extremely hard if she gets ahead in a lane, as her w scales very well with early level advantages. She also scales very well with a gold advantage, particularly while building doran's blades and her trinity force.
Weaknesses
- While Irelia does have some safety in her lane phase, she deals very poorly with a level and gold deficit, especially early on. Irelia hits big power spikes at level 5 and level 9 (due to her w being her most important ability) and if she is delayed in those levels she will face difficulties.
- Irelia lacks waveclear outside her ultimate, which means that even though she can split push and duel safely, she cannot shove waves as quickly as other split pushers.
- She is very item reliant compared to some of the other popular top laners, such as Shyvana and Trundle.
- She has no ranged abilities other than her ultimate which means she cannot farm from a distance in lane without jumping in.
- Irelia has good teamfight mobility and 1v1 disengage, but neither her Q nor her E are particularly helpful against ganks, meaning she has to be very fearful of jungle pressure.
- She can clear the jungle with reasonable safety, but at a low speed compared to other popular top laners.
- Irelia lacks a strong engage, meaning she relies on her team for a strong engage before she can go in.
What we can conclude is that while Irelia does have strengths compared to other popular top lane picks, she is also a risky pick. Her scaling into the mid and late game are very dangerous, which is why we have seen her chosen so frequently, but if she falls behind early (which she has in almost all the LCS games she lost), then she gets put into a slump that is very difficult to pull out of. This is doubly risky in the current professional metagame because laneswaps are now dragged out for extended periods of time, allowing AD carries to freefarm while top laners scrounge through the jungle, something Irelia does not do very efficiently. Overall, Irelia is often at great risk of falling behind in professional games, a situation which usually spells defeat for her team.
Irelia certainly has the potential to snowball hard and carry games given the right set of circumstances. We saw this in the Dignitas vs LMQ match, in which Zionspartan got a 1v1 kill against Shyvana, garnering him a huge early lead and allowing him to snowball the game in his favor. At the same time, Irelia can fall behind to disastrous result, as seen in the CLG vs C9 game in which Seraph was denied farm heavily in the same matchup due to superior map control and lane placement by C9 (and admittedly somewhat poor decision making on the part of CLG).
The bottom line is that while there is no good reason Irelia cannot succeed in professional play, she is not expected to carry games if left open. Her current win rate of 40% is not terrible, but neither is it outstanding. No matter how good the top laner, Irelia is very reliant on her team's decisions and assistance even more than individual play, and in many situations the risks and weaknesses she brings outweigh the potential advantages picking her can provide. Champions like Jax and Shyvana outshine her in many ways while only being weaker in a few. I hope that the greatly shifted meta has simply led Irelia to misuse and that we will see more success from her in the future, but I am not sure that we can expect to.Not every new mother in San Antonio gets to leave the hospital bearing not just a baby, but donated gift cards, baby toys, child locks and a $10,000 scholarship to the University of the Incarnate Word.
Those special perks are reserved for the one who gives birth to the first baby of the year.
Jocelyn Ramos-Campechano, 19, gave birth to Jayme Campechano at 12:11 a.m. on Jan. 1 at the Metropolitan Methodist Hospital — the first baby born in San Antonio this year.
For 17 years, area hospitals have pooled together gifts to welcome the first baby. This year, some of those gifts included a $100 gift card for Walmart from CHRISTUS Santa Rosa Health System, $50 gift cards to Target and Babies R Us from the Methodist Healthcare and Baptist Health systems, and a car seat and portable playpen from University Health System.
“It was a long experience but it was exciting,” Ramos-Campechano said about being in labor, which lasted almost two days. “And when she got here, it was so beautiful.”
This was the first child for Ramos-Campechano, who is a second-year nursing student at the University of the Incarnate Word. She said it was exciting to find out that on top of giving birth to a healthy six-pound seven-ounce baby girl, she would be getting donations for having the first one of the year. Babies born from a planned C-section or planned inductions don’t qualify for the first baby of the year title.
“I couldn’t believe it. I wasn’t planning on it, either,” she said, sitting in a wheelchair near a table with her donations Sunday morning, her sleeping daughter swaddled in her arms.
“She did it like a champ,” said her doctor, Christian Santiago. “She pushed like she had to.”
The first thing they all noticed when Jayme was born was the baby’s cap of smooth brown hair.
“We said wow, she has a lot of hair!” said Santiago to Ramos-Campechano, who giggled.
Greg Seiler, CEO of the hospital, said it had been more than 10 years since Metropolitan Methodist delivered the first baby of the year. He said there was “a little friendly competition” between hospitals,“but as you can see, we’re all in it together.”
Last year’s first baby of the year was Serenity Jo Gloria, born just after midnight at University Hospital.
Jayme didn’t budge Sunday morning, fast asleep in her mother’s arms.
“Hopefully she stays like that,” said Santiago. “A lot of times they start crying right away and they don’t stop.”
[email protected] have uncovered a 430,000-year-old human skeleton with fatal skull wounds that may represent the earliest case of murder in history.
The 430,000-year-old skull has fractures that were caused by two independent blows, suggesting the individual was murdered.
Image credit: Javier Trueba/Madrid Scientific Films The 430,000-year-old skull has fractures that were caused by two independent blows, suggesting the individual was murdered.Image credit: Javier Trueba/Madrid Scientific Films
The skeleton sits alongside at least 28 others in a cave called Sima de los Huesos - the "pit of bones" - located in the Atapuerca Mountains of northern Spain.
Designated a UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) World Heritage Site, the cave is situated around 13 meters underground, accessible only by a vertical shaft.
To date, it is unclear how the skeletons - estimated to date back more around 430,000 years to the Middle Pleistocene age - arrived at the site in the first place, though theories include accidental falls or intentional accumulation of bodies representing funerary behavior.
In their study, published in the journal PLOS ONE, Nohemi Sala, from Centro Mixto UCM-ISCIII de Evolución y Comportamiento Humanos in Spain, and colleagues reveal their findings from an analysis of a human skull uncovered from Sima de los Huesos, referred to as Cranium 17 (Cr-17).
According to the researchers, Cr-17 is almost a complete skull, consisting of 52 bone fragments that make up the facial skeleton.
The team was interested in this particular skull because it displayed two fractures on the frontal bone, situated above the left eye.
Fractures caused by two independent blows from the same object
Using 3D imaging to closely analyze the two fractures and assess the contour and trajectory of each wound, Sala and colleagues found that they were likely to have been caused by the same object.
"Furthermore," the team adds, "the fractures show different orientations and different trajectories, implying that each fracture was caused by an independent impact."
Due to the type and the position of the fractures, the authors say they are unlikely to have been caused by a fall down the 13-meter shaft.
"In the case of Cr-17 it is also possible to rule out the injuries as either self-inflicted or resulting from an unintentional hunting accident, mainly because the lesions involve multiple blows," they add. "Based on the absence of cut marks, other potential postmortem manipulations (e.g., cannibalism, ritual manipulations, etc.) seem even less likely and more speculative."
Based on their findings, the team says it is likely the human in question was a victim of "interpersonal aggression" - that is, they were likely to have been murdered by another human.
"The severity of the injuries, with both blows to the head certainly involving penetration of the bone-brain barrier, and the absence of healing via bone remodeling leads us to consider that this individual did not survive these cranial traumatic events," they note, adding:
"Indeed, either of the two traumatic events were likely mortal in and of themselves, and the presence of repeated blows might imply a clear intention to kill. Thus, the most plausible explanation for the perimortem fractures on Cr-17 is as the result of intentional and repeated blows during a lethal act of interpersonal violence. This represents the earliest clear case of deliberate, lethal interpersonal aggression in the hominin fossil record, demonstrating that this is an ancient human behavior."
Since the individual was likely to have died prior to arrival at Sima de los Huesos, this rules out an accidental fall down the shaft. This means that the individual was likely to have been intentionally dropped down the shaft by other humans, according to the team.
"Thus, the interpretation of the SH [Sima de los Huesos] site as a place where hominins deposited deceased members of their social groups seems to be the most likely scenario to explain the presence of human bodies at the site," they note.
As such, the team believes Middle Pleistocene humans disposed of deceased bodies down the shaft as part of a social practice, which they say may "represent the earliest funerary behavior in the human fossil record."
Last month, Medical News Today reported on a study revealing how a 1,000-year-old remedy for eye infections could help treat MRSA (methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus).Among the many sad signs of our time are the current political and media attacks on Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, for speaking the plain truth on a subject where lies have been the norm for years.
The case before the High Court is whether the use of race as a basis for admitting students to the University of Texas at Austin is a violation of the 14th Amendment’s requirement for government institutions to provide “equal protection of the laws” to all.
Affirmative action is supposed to be a benefit to black and other minority students admitted with lower academic qualifications than some white students who are rejected. But Justice Scalia questioned whether being admitted to an institution geared to students with higher-powered academic records was a real benefit.
Despite much media spin, the issue is not whether blacks in general should be admitted to higher ranked or lower ranked institutions. The issue is whether a given black student, with given academic qualifications, should be admitted to a college or university where he would not be admitted if he were white.
Much empirical research over the years has confirmed Justice Scalia’s concern that admitting black students to institutions for which their academic preparation is not sufficient can be making them worse off instead of better off.
I became painfully aware of this problem more than 40 years ago, when I was teaching at Cornell University, and discovered that half the black students there were on some form of academic probation.
These students were not stupid or uneducable. On the contrary, the average black student at Cornell at that time scored at the 75th percentile on scholastic tests. Their academic qualifications were better than those of three-quarters of all American students who took those tests.
Why were they in trouble at Cornell, then? Because the average Cornell student in the liberal arts college at that time scored at the 99th percentile. The classes taught there — including mine — moved at a speed geared to the verbal and mathematical level of the top one percent of American students.
The average white student would have been wiped out at Cornell. But the average white student was unlikely to be admitted to Cornell, in the first place. Nor was a white student who scored at the 75th percentile.
That was a “favor” reserved for black students. This “favor” turned black students who would have been successful at most American colleges and universities into failures at Cornell.
None of this was peculiar to Cornell. Black students who scored at the 90th percentile in math had serious academic problems trying to keep up at M.I.T., where other students scored somewhere within the top 99th percentile.
Nearly one-fourth of these black students with stellar qualifications in math failed to graduate from M.I.T., and those who did graduate were concentrated in the bottom tenth of the class.
There were other fine engineering schools around the country where those same students could have learned more, when taught at a normal pace, rather than at a breakneck speed geared to students with extremely rare abilities in math.
Justice Scalia was not talking about sending black students to substandard colleges and universities to get an inferior education. You may in fact get a much better education at an institution that teaches at a pace that you can handle and master. In later life, no one is going to care how fast you learned something, so long as you know it.
Mismatching students with educational institutions is a formula for needless failures. The book Mismatch, by Sander and Taylor is a first-rate study of the hard facts. It shows, for example, that the academic performances of black and Hispanic students rose substantially after affirmative action admissions policies were banned in the University of California system.
Instead of failing at Berkeley or UCLA, these minority students were now graduating from other campuses in the University of California system. They were graduating at a higher rate, with higher grades, and now more often in challenging fields like math, science and technology.
Do the facts not matter to those who are denouncing Justice Scalia? Does the actual fate of minority students not matter to the left, as much as their symbolic presence on a campus?
Thomas Sowell is a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305. His website is www.tsowell.com.
COPYRIGHT 2015 CREATORS.COM“Now you can have Chinese food and go to the movies on Christmas like the rest of us,” remarked a friend upon hearing about my conversion.
It was a cute, supportive comment, and I appreciated the feeling of acceptance it fostered, but the culture of secular American Jews will forever be unattainable to me.
What’s it like to grow up Jewish, to be the kid in public school who feels maybe a slight discomfort when the school choir does its holiday programming? Will there be a feeling of appreciation if a token Chanukah song is included? Will there be parental disapproval if a Christmas carol is on the program?
What would it be like to grow up in a place without much of a Jewish population and have people ask you what church you go to? And when you reply that you’re Jewish, do they simply assume that Judaism is another branch of Christianity, an obscure denomination of Protestantism?
I started to experience the feeling of otherness, a little, at a job I held in a law firm when I was in the process of converting. Another employee, the daughter of one of the partners, a member of the office Bible study, would come over and sit on my desk and initiate conversations about various topics from the Good Book. Mainly I would sit there quietly, feeling increasingly uncomfortable. I was fairly certain she was not supposed to be starting these conversations with me, something about appropriate workplace environment, maybe. But her father signed my checks, so what exactly was I supposed to do?
Then there was the time I took a cab (this was pre-Uber, if you can remember such a thing) from a recording session in rural Ohio to the airport, and the cab driver was newly committed to his religion, proudly displaying his Bible right there on the console in between the driver’s and passenger’s side. He insisted I sit in the front, which was a red flag right there, then commented on my modest dress before he segued into a painfully long conversation where he told me all about his spiritual rebirth and also about a pending assault charge. That was the deciding factor in my decision to not share with him the fact that I had left his faith to become a Jew. Also I decided to say some tehillim in my mind so I didn’t become a story on Unsolved Mysteries or some other show of that ilk.
These were just a couple times when I felt my otherness, but by then I was already an adult, mostly formed and confident enough to move through the discomfort and emerge unscathed.
What is it like to grow up and have the feeling of otherness constantly there, a continual presence, something to either embrace or hide, to make a stand for or to shed at the earliest possible moment?
And without the trappings of religion, how do you decide what it means to you? How do you pick and choose which parts define your Jewish identity?
During the brief time in my life when I thought I might have Jewish ancestry, I felt pride in being attached to such a talented people. The Beastie Boys, Seinfeld, my piano teacher, Leonard Bernstein, Aaron Copland, Philip Glass, Ira Glass.
Jews were funny, smart, they were movers and shakers, they were cultured and clever.
That was my viewpoint, at least.
But as I delved into synagogue attendance and my tenuous link to a theoretical Jewish heritage dissipated, I realized that the only thing I would ever have tying me to the Jewish people would be my practice of Judaism.
This was a big motivation in my decision to look into Orthodoxy. People who were born Jewish, they have the luxury, so to speak, of taking on observances that speak to them, of connecting to their beautiful heritage, their own roots, roots that go back a ways.
I had a feeling, as I went to High Holiday services at a Reform Synagogue, that if I converted, as a single girl, in that particular movement, I would always be an outlier. I would never be able to connect the way those other, very lovely people, were connecting. Maybe if I had already been in a relationship it would have been different. But I wasn’t, and on I went to Orthodoxy.
My connection to Jewishness is basically entirely through my religious practice. Even my cultural connection is through the culture of Orthodoxy, which is, obviously, utterly intertwined with religiosity.
I don’t know any other way to do it. And so, for many years, I would feel very intimidated by non-observant Jews. They had always been Jewish. They had a connection I would never have. They had relatives and a family tree and Jewish Gen was relevant to them and anti-Semitism was something they grew up with.
I would feel inferior, because even though I was, for all intents and purposes, SUPER Jewish, I still had spent more of my life not-Jewish than Jewish. And I felt painfully self-conscious about that. And I felt the disconnect. What did we have to talk about, how could we relate to each other? It was always so awkward.
It feels strange, to be around other Jews, to have Jewishness be an integral part of our identity, and yet not have an intersection where we can connect Jewishly, not outside of superficialities. We are other to each other. I would love to understand more, to be able to relate, but it’s simply not my experience.
However, even though I may not be able to ever fully understand the cultural experiences and perspectives of my fellow Jews, that doesn’t mean that we still can’t find ways to connect. To move past whatever insecurities are lurking inside ourselves to find that thread of commonality, which may exist in some unexpected corner of our lives.
And, as a large and opinionated family, we can love each other and connect even without necessarily understanding each other. That is a cultural aspect that transcends background.NEW YORK (Thursday, July 9, 2015) – Major League Soccer today announced that MLS and U.S. Soccer legend Landon Donovan will coach the MLS Homegrown Team at the 2015 Chipotle MLS Homegrown Game. The MLS Homegrowns will take on the Club América U-20s at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park on Tuesday, July 28 at 7 p.m. MT. Tickets to the 2015 Chipotle MLS Homegrown Game can be purchased at www.chipotlehomegrown.com. The first 2,000 fans in attendance will receive a free limited edition Chipotle MLS Homegrown Game scarf.
Retiring from professional soccer after guiding the LA Galaxy to a record-breaking fifth MLS Cup title in 2014, Donovan will return to the pitch – but on the other side of the white line. The most decorated player in American soccer history, Donovan finished his professional playing career as the MLS all-time leader in goals scored (144) and assists (136). In his 14 years in MLS, he won six MLS Cups, two Supporters’ Shields and the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup championship, while also being named an MLS All-Star a record 14 consecutive times. In addition, the California native holds the top U.S. Men’s National Team records in goals (57) and assists (58) – the only American player to surpass the half-century mark in both categories.
“I am truly honored to coach the MLS Homegrown Team in this year's Chipotle MLS Homegrown Game. As someone that was developed in MLS, I hope I can provide some insight to these young players and help them reach their goals of becoming successful professionals. It will be a great All-Star week for everyone involved and I'm looking forward to the opportunity,” said Donovan.
The Chipotle MLS Homegrown Game provides a yearly opportunity for MLS to showcase its top young talent and youth development system. MLS youth academies have produced some of league’s biggest stars including D.C. United’s Bill Hamid and LA Galaxy’s Gyasi Zardes, both of whom are now U.S. Men’s National Team regulars. In that same company are Chicago Fire’s Harry Shipp, Columbus Crew’s Wil Trapp, New England Revolution’s Diego Fagundez and Vancouver Whitecaps FC’s Russell Teibert – all players that have excelled for their hometown clubs and become critical first team players. MLS homegrown products have also become staples on the U.S. U-20 and U-23 national teams. This past June, seven Homegrown Players (Matt Miazga, NYRB; Erik Palmer-Brown, SKC; Kellyn Acosta, FCD; Marco Delgado, TOR; Jordan Allen, RSL; Bradford Jamieson IV, LA; Tommy Thompson, SJ) represented the U.S. at the FIFA U-20 World Cup in New Zealand, helping lead the Stars-and-Stripes to the quarterfinals of the tournament. Two of Colorado’s very own – Shane O’Neill and Dillon Serna – have become mainstays on the U-23 squad which begins qualifying for the 2016 Summer Olympics this fall. Overall, nearly 150 Homegrown Players have signed professional contracts with MLS clubs.
As the MLS Homegrown Team head coach, Donovan will select the MLS Homegrown Team gameday roster from the pool of Homegrown Players nominated by MLS clubs, taking into account player availability. The gameday roster will be announced the week leading up to the match.
In anticipation of the 2015 Chipotle MLS Homegrown Game, MLSsoccer,com will kick off a special “Road to the Homegrown Game” video series that will give fans a behind the scenes look at some of MLS’ top homegrown talent. The series will consist of six episodes chronicling the lives of select Homegrown Players as they work through the early years of their professional careers. The first episode can be viewed at www.mlssoccer.com/Homegrown.
Road to the Homegrown Game Series Schedule
Episode 1: Thursday, July 9
Episode 2: Wednesday, July 15
Episode 3: Wednesday, July 22
Episode 4: Friday, July 24
Episode 5: Monday, July 27
Episode 6: Finale TBD
2015 Chipotle MLS Homegrown Game Schedule
Tuesday, July 28 – Dick’s Sporting Goods Park – All Times Local
4:00 p.m. Gates Open (First 2,000 fans receive a free limited edition scarf)
5:00 p.m. MLS WORKS/Special Olympics Unified Sports All-Star Soccer Match
7:00 p.m. 2015 Chipotle MLS Homegrown Game (MLS Homegrown Team vs. Club América U-20s)
Chipotle MLS Homegrown Game HistoryAfter five years, the founders of marijuana strain and dispensary database Leafly are moving on to their next cannabis-related startup.
Cy Scott, Brian Wansolich, and Scott Vickers — who launched Leafly in 2010 — are the co-founders of Headset, a new Seattle-based startup that’s building a business intelligence platform for the fast-growing marijuana industry.
Headset, which just raised about $450,000 of a $750,000 seed round from Poseidon Asset Management and a group of angel investors, offers what Scott describes as a market research and analysis tool similar to Nielsen, NPD or IRi, but for customers in the marijuana supply chain.
The idea is to give marijuana retailers, processors, and growers better insights and intelligence for their business, ultimately helping them make more money and offer better customer service.
“We’re staying in the cannabis industry but are tackling a different problem,” said Scott, who’s taking on the CEO role for the new company.
Headset’s platform provides a number of operational insights. For example, retailers can be immediately notified when stock is low of a particular product that’s been selling well, or find out if a specific strain isn’t flying off the shelves like it used to. Meanwhile, product manufacturers can access sell-through data, all-commodity volume information, and a competitive set analysis, among other insights.
Headset is also compiling a comprehensive industry landscape dataset that can help manufacturers and retailers understand what products are on the market and access information on cost, availability, and more.
“A lot of people don’t have visibility on what brands are out there and how well they sell,” Scott said. “If a company in Colorado wants to expand to Nevada, we can tell them which retailers they should be working with or how well existing product manufacturing brands are doing. We give them those insights before they go and tackle new opportunities — a lot of them are flying pretty blind out there.”
Headset is targeting clients in both the medical and recreational industries and makes money with monthly recurring subscription revenues. The company is more of a B2B play, while Leafly is more consumer-focused with its review site that mimics Yelp or Consumer Reports, but for marijuana strains and dispensary.
Leafly, which was acquired by Seattle-based marijuana investment firm Privateer Holdings in 2011, has continued to grow since its inception and now has more than 300,000 strain and dispensary reviews on a site that attracts 31 million page views per month. The app also won “App of the Year” at the GeekWire Awards in 2014.
Scott said it was not easy leaving Leafly and that his co-founders “still consider it our baby,” but they saw a special opportunity with Headset.
“We’re startup guys and we really wanted to go after this and start a new project,” Scott said.
The co-founders still have a great relationship with Privateer Holdings, Scott added, and they felt comfortable passing the baton to new Leafly CEO Drew Reynolds, who took over in May after serving as the CTO and co-founder of myweddings.com.
Here’s what Privateer CEO Brendan Kennedy had to say about the Leafly co-founders in an email to Leafly employees:
When we first met Cy, Brian and Scott in 2011 we had an idea of what Leafly could be, but no expectations of how exactly we’d get there. When any start-up is acquired, it’s rare for founders to hang around for more than a year. We have been enormously privileged and honored to benefit from Cy, Brian and Scott’s hard work and dedication for more than three years. Their leadership and intrepidness has resulted in Leafly being transformed from a smart idea hatched over some enlightened cannabis consumption to some musings logged in their notorious spreadsheet to a nights & weekends project to our first acquisition to the world’s leading information resource on cannabis.
Scott said that the past five years with Leafly and Privateer will help give his new company more credibility and a competitive edge in a nascent industry.
“It helps to have that foundation and to speak the same language,” he said. “And just like with Leafly, our focus is on a fantastic user experience. We know what our customers expect and we want to give them a tool they are comfortable using.”
Scott and his co-founders started Leafly back in 2010 to help educate marijuana users about different strains and dispensary locations, particularly with new laws being enacted that legalized the use of cannabis. With Headset, the underlying mission of helping the marijuana industry gain legitimacy still holds true for the co-founders.
“We stayed in the industry because we want to see it succeed,” Scott said. “And if retailers, producers, and processors succeed, then the whole industry will succeed.”The Washington Post newspaper published documents on Wednesday which suggest that the US National Security Agency (NSA) secretly broke into key main communication links from Yahoo and Google data centers around the world.
Citing the documents, leaked by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden, the newspaper reported that the agency was able to collect data from hundreds of millions of user accounts, including from Americans using a program dubbed MUSCULAR.
The program, operated jointly with the NSA's British counterpart GCHQ (UK Government Communications Headquarters), allows the agencies to intercept data flows from the fiber-optic cables used by the US Internet giants.
One top secret document dated January 9, 2013, revealed that around 181 million records were collected in the prior 30 days, ranging from metadata on emails to content such as text, audio and video.
The document indicates that the intercept takes place outside the United States, giving the NSA more latitude to collect data. Within the US, the NSA is obligated to acquire a court order, the Post said. As such, it differs from a separate data-gathering program, called PRISM, which uses court orders to compel Yahoo, Google and other Internet companies to provide data.
Google, Yahoo express concern
Asked about the allegations, NSA chief General Keith Alexander said he was unaware of the report, but said they appeared to be inaccurate.
"That [activity] to my knowledge, this never happened," he said at the conference sponsored by Bloomberg Television.
"We are not authorized to go into a US company's servers and take data. We'd have to go through a court process for doing that," Alexander added.
Google and Yahoo, meanwhile, have reacted with anger, denying any involvement in the surveillance activity.
"We have long been concerned about the possibility of this kind of snooping, which is why we have continued to extend encryption across more and more Google services and links, especially the links in the slide," Google chief legal officer David Drummond said in a statement.
"We do not provide any government, including the US government, with access to our systems. We are outraged at the lengths to which the government seems to have gone to intercept data from our private fiber networks, and it underscores the need for urgent reform," Drummond said.
In a statement to news agency AFP, Yahoo said: "we have strict controls in place to protect the security of our data centers, and we have not given access to our data centers to the NSA or to any other government agency."
Following the revelation, Germany's DJV journalists' union in a statement Thursday warned journalists against using Yahoo or Google for digitial communication or conducting research. The head of the organization, Michael Konken, said journalists should be aware of the consequences of using the services.
"There are definitely other search engines and email providers that we know from current knowledge are considered safer," he said.
Germany addresses spy reports
The latest revelations come amid growing international anger over the extent of NSA surveillance.
Earlier on Wednesday an official German delegation met intelligence representatives at the White House to discuss reports that the NSA had monitored Chancellor Angela Merkel's phone.
The talks were the first high-level face-to-face meetings between the allies since it was reported that the communications of Merkel and more than 30 other leaders were targeted by the agency.
In attendance were Merkel's National Security Advisor, Christoph Heugsen, and Secret Service Coordinator Günter Heiss. The US officials included White House National Security Advisor, Susan Rice, assistant to President Barack Obama for homeland security and counterterrorism, Lisa Monaco, James Clapper, director of national intelligence, and John Inglis, deputy director of the National Security Agency.
Rice tweeted afterwards that the dialogue was "constructive" and would continue in coming weeks. "Vitally important that we are staying focused on working together to protect our homelands and address global threats we face," she wrote.
Ahead of the meeting Merkel's spokesman Steffen Seibert told reporters that the goal of Wednesday's meeting in Washington was to clarify media reports of US spying, and to build "a new basis of trust and new regulation for our cooperation in this area."
Europe-US tension
A number of European countries have voiced their concern following the media reports that the NSA has been spying on their citizens and leaders.
In Spain, it was reported this week that more than 60 million telephone calls were picked up by the NSA in a month.
If proven to be true, Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy said it revealed a kind of behavior that was "inappropriate and unacceptable between partners and friends." Madrid's intelligence chief is due to address parliament over the allegations.
Meanwhile, Italy's Panorama magazine reported on Wednesday that the NSA had listened in on Vatican phone calls. The alleged eavesdropping occurred before cardinals elected the new pope in a March conclave.
The United States has sought to distance itself from claims the NSA collected data on communications across Europe. On Tuesday Keith Alexander told the House Intelligence Committee that the reports were "completely false |
the pharma industry, with downsizing, pricing concerns and the impending expiry of patents on many big-selling products all having an impact. But some of the biggest headlines were caused by eye-watering fines dished out in the US for, in most cases, violations of the False Claims Act through off-label marketing - promoting medicines for indications they haven’t been approved for.
Scrutiny of the industry’s commercial practices has increased in recent years, leading to a big rise in investigations for fraud and abuse in claims for reimbursement under government-funded health insurance programmes, such as Medicare. In 2009, Pfizer faced the largest ever corporate fine of $2.3 billion (?1.5 billion). Nothing in 2010 came close to that, but there was no shortage of big payouts. Allergan, for example, was fined $600 million for off-label promotion of Botox, AstraZeneca $520 million over antipsychotic Seroquel (quetiapine), and Novartis $422 million over antiepileptic Trileptal (oxcarbazepine).
Tactics companies were charged with included: ghost-writing scientific papers; promoting drugs to physicians working with patient groups the drugs weren’t approved to treat; and even creating sham consultancies that enabled them to pay physicians to attend what were little more than marketing presentations. Meanwhile, GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) was fined $750 million for selling a range of substandard drugs manufactured in the early 2000s at its plant in Cidra, Puerto Rico.
This rise is in large part a result of the US whistleblower rules that protect those who bring corporate misbehaviour to the attention of the authorities. Not only do they gain protection from retaliation, they can also earn a slice of any resulting fines. In the GSK case, the quality control manager who reported the problem was awarded almost $100 million.
Howard Dorfman, counsel in the life sciences practice at US law firm Ropes & Gray, believes more cases are inevitable. ’There is a continuing interest in rooting out fraud and abuse within the healthcare industry,’ he says. ’The Department of Justice has already signalled its intention to continue its vigorous investigation activities. When you consider the increasing focus on patient safety related to off-label drug use, I think these investigations will continue and even, perhaps, escalate.’
And more investigations could lead to stricter rules. Fines are more than just a financial burden - they have a negative effect on consumers who are already dubious about the industry’s integrity. And this, Dorfman believes, could lead to companies facing increased legislation. ’Whether the industry has been successful in communicating its commitment to transparency, integrity and stopping inappropriate marketing practices is ultimately for the public to decide,’ he says. ’But public image is definitely a concern, and both companies and trade organisations are spending considerable amounts of time and effort addressing it.’
There has been debate in the US about whether these fines are sufficiently large to ’send a message’ to the industry, he says. ’I certainly think these amounts are extraordinary, and it’s somewhat simplistic to suggest they don’t have an impact on companies. They certainly get the attention of company executives. But because of the perception by some people outside the industry that the fines have not brought these practices to an end, there is increasing speculation that criminal prosecutions will be brought against employees in positions of authority.’ Indeed, this is already happening. At the end of November, a former GSK in-house lawyer was charged with obstruction and making false statements. This is unlikely to be the last such prosecution.
And now the companies are facing scrutiny on another front - the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), which oversees the financial markets, is working much more closely with the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) due to concerns that information about product development, adverse events and clinical trials is not being disclosed sufficiently quickly. ’The SEC wants to ensure information important to the investment community or the general public is provided in a timely and public way,’ Dorfman says. The SEC has even been mandated by Congress to set up a whistleblower programme, expected to be put into effect in the spring, and it’s likely that even more investigations and prosecutions will appear as a result.
Problems abound
The fallout from the 2009 swine flu pandemic was another source of critical headlines. After the World Health Organization (WHO), perhaps prematurely, declared H1N1 a pandemic, the pressure was on for pharma companies to develop and manufacture a preventative vaccine, and governments around the world put in huge orders. Yet the pandemic didn’t lead to all that had been feared, leaving big stocks of unused vaccine. A report for the Council of Europe declared that public health priorities were distorted by the WHO, which vastly overestimated the seriousness of the pandemic. Meanwhile, scientists advising the WHO had done paid work for pharma companies standing to gain from vaccine sales, it asserted.
Safety issues remain a concern, and it’s looking like the end of the line for one of the most controversial medicines of recent years, GSK’s antidiabetic Avandia (rosiglitazone). The drug has been under a cloud because of its potential to cause cardiac side-effects: it has been withdrawn in Europe, and while it remains on the market in the US, the FDA has severely restricted its use. GSK has already settled in more than 10,000 patient lawsuits, and more are ongoing.
Mergers activity slows
In recent years, the pharma industry has engaged in a lot of mergers and acquisitions. In 2009, for example, Pfizer bought Wyeth, Merck & Co bought Schering-Plough and Roche bought Genentech. But 2010 brought us only small deals and the Sanofi-Aventis $18.5 billion hostile bid for Genzyme, which has yet to reach a conclusion. Is this an end to the pharma ’mega-merger’? Unlikely, says Kevin Bottomley, senior principal at consultancy PharmaVentures: ’Everyone has been hugely cautious, and there has been little access to debt financing in the current economic situation.’
Another trend he identifies is a growth in large pharma companies divesting chemistry assets, particularly in the manufacturing arena. ’Products are divested, and the manufacturing assets go with them,’ he says. ’These tend to be products that the big companies see as non-core - those that have gone off patent, where they still own the brand name but generic competition means there is little marketing support.’
The patent ’cliff’, where many big-selling products will be opened up to generic competition, is looming ever closer, and Bottomley believes this may lead to the divestiture of numerous products that were once big sellers. ’In the old days, once it had been made by big pharma they continued to make it, but now some companies are even going as far as viewing the whole concept of manufacturing as non-core.’
Those looming patent expiries are a big driver for companies to cut costs. The fallout from last year’s mega-mergers is continuing to hurt, with Merck & Co, for example, intending to close several European research sites. Even those that haven’t merged are seeing the falling axe as a way to increase their bottom line by reducing their outgoings. AstraZeneca, for example, announced it will close its research sites at Charnwood, UK, and Lund in Sweden.
The need to cut costs is also being fuelled by an ever-growing pressure on prices, particularly in the Eurozone, coupled with a weakness in research pipelines. ’I think we will see the large shake-outs continue,’ Bottomley says. ’Roche, which we take as a bellwether for a company that is doing well at the moment, is cutting costs quite severely. And even Novartis, which has said it isn’t making big cuts, is no longer making the major investments it was.’
He believes these trends will continue in 2011, along with a return to intense merger and acquisition activity. ’When they’ve gone through all this, what will the industry look like?’ he asks. ’I think big pharma will be leaner and more focused. Clearly there is still a need for innovation and the medicinal chemists who are looking for new drugs, but companies will look to be more cost-efficient. I also think there will be more externalisation of manufacturing - a trend that has been going on for years and is certain to continue.’
However, the number of diseases and populations that remain in need of drug treatment gives hope for the industry’s future, as Eddie Gray, president of pharmaceuticals at GSK, told the Financial Times Pharma & Biotech Conference in early December. ’I remain an optimist for the pharma industry, though not necessarily the one we have now,’ he said. ’Whether it’s in the developing world, or the demographics of ageing in the developed world, demand for unmet need will remain high.’
Sarah Houlton
Also of interestPlease bear with me...
As a child my heart longed for the lights of the stage,
And to all my dreams, life deemed them true.
But while young, I suppose, that the path that I chose,
Was a rockier road than I knew.
My Father explained that although dreams may change,
"To your heart and your two hands be true,"
When the spotlight is on, you still be my son,
But to others, you'll never be you.
And now here i am, a man of my own,
My dreams, although tried, they came true.
The words of a man, called to lead me to stand,
In the midst of Life's pain, lead me through.
It's seemed that I've learned, although rightfully earned,
That in darkness, the light shines the truth,
Call it "Bounty" or blame, the world puts to shame,
And convicts, what the world barely knew.
See the media feeds, and puts words to their seeds,
To fulfill it's own pride and it's lust,
It calls a King
"Thief, he's possessed by his greed,"
As if what he has earned is not enough.
So be careful of seeds filled with lies and deceit,
Although clothed as a beacon of truth,
We have souls of good men, called to
Serve
and
Defend,
NEW ORLEANS, from the forces untrue.
Jabari
p.s: Although some of the allegations brought before us are true. We are men of integrity that play the game the way it's meant to played... with undeniable passion. We are all professionals, with families and a future. We play a violent game, but we NEVER intend to hurt anyone.
As for some of the media's representation of our men,
The Times Picayune
are the good guy's (wink).
nobody understands me.
(New Orleans Saints defensive back Jabari Greer writes a blog for The Times-Picayune. He'll talk football, life, or just whatever is on his mind. Oh, and be ready to laugh. Jabari doesn't always take these subjects seriously. Check out his Facebook page and The Greer Foundation site.)In the last century, deodorant and antiperspirant have made humanity smell a whole lot better, likely improving our relationships with the people surrounding us along the way.
But there’s another relationship these practices may be impacting: the one we have with our microbiome, or the community of tiny organisms such as bacteria, viruses, and fungi, that live in and on us. Research published in the journal PeerJ today (Feb. 2) shows that the more we use deodorants and antiperspirants, the more we alter the microbial community that lives underneath our arms, and not necessarily for the better. As we eliminate some kinds of bacteria that make us smell less than desirable, we may be making room for others instead.
“When you have all these microbes on your skin, most of them are potentially beneficial, or at least benign,” Julie Horvath, an evolutionary geneticist at the North Carolina Central University and co-author of the study, told Quartz. “They don’t do anything, except for maybe create a protective barrier on your skin.” She explained that by taking up residence on our bodies, benign microbes take up resources—namely, the sweat and oils we produce—and limit the ability of pathogenic microbes to survive.
Benevolent bacteria known as Corynebacteria are typically responsible for body odor. When we use antiperspirant or deodorant, we’re eliminating those smells by either preventing our glands from producing sweat, which starves off these bacteria, or killing them directly with other chemicals. But, these products don’t discriminate as they kill off microbes. Horvath and her colleagues wanted to find out how underarm bacteria would be altered by these products, and whether the populations that regrew would be different after the use of these products was discontinued.
The research team sampled 17 men and women who used either deodorant, antiperspirant, or neither on a regular basis for eight days. On the first day of the study, they took samples from participants’ underarms to get a baseline of their typical microbial community. They instructed participants not to use any products for the next five days to sample which kinds of microbes would grow back. On the eighth day, all participants were instructed to use antiperspirant before the researchers collected the final sample.
Over the course of the study, Horvath and her colleagues discovered that different populations of bacteria lived on people with different product habits, including varying amounts of bacteria which the researchers were unable to identify.
On average, people who didn’t use any underarm products at all tended to have larger populations of Corynebacteria bacteria and less Staphylococcaceae bacteria than the other two groups, while less than 10% of their sampled bacteria were unidentifiable species. Deodorant users had a higher number of underarm bacteria on the first day, and over the course of the week tended to harbor more Staphylococcaceae than the other two groups, some Corynebacteria, and only 5% of the bacteria the researchers couldn’t identify in this study. The individuals who regularly used antiperspirant also cultivated almost as much Staphylococcaceae bacteria as the deodorant group, and more than 20% of their microbes were random and unidentifiable.
At the end of the week when participants applied antiperspirant, most of the microbial communities were shown to die off.
Horvath says it’s hard to make a judgment call about what may be harmful or helpful microbial activity based on this one small experiment. The unidentifiable species that tend to regrow in people who wear antiperspirant regularly may not be anything to worry about. Additionally, although some species of Staphylococcaceae are known to be harmful, most are not. The only thing researchers can say definitively is that they grow back the fastest after users who typically wear products under their arms stopped.
What’s important, says Horvath, is to know that our hygiene habits are having an impact on these communities.”It’s a balance,” she says. ”Wearing a product does affect the microbes under your arm, but what those short and long-term consequences are, we don’t really know yet.”PFF has a systemic issue. Football isn't baseball. You can't isolate one batter against one pitcher and get a pretty good idea of the skills of both players.
PFF would say you can. That you can focus on the LG vs the RDT, see who gets the better of the match-up, and then assign an "objective" grade to the outcome.
Coaches aren't stupid. They don't, generally, ask players to do things they can't do. So you may find that both LGs involved in a game blew four run blocks and two pass protections, so they get the same grade. The problem is that one of those LGs is an all-pro and was being asked to make difficult reach blocks all game, while the other is a stump who just slowed down the guy in front of him.
The same thing is true at other positions. Good RTs are going to be left to block alone more often than bad ones. Great quarterbacks will be asked to make more difficult throws. TEs who are abysmal at blocking won't do it very often.
By atomizing performance we're ignoring the way 11 players on a side function as a system that gets continually re-balanced to achieve some sort of equilibrium.
Another example: Playing defense gets easier and easier the better your teammates are. Take one MIKE who's playing behind two dominant DTs. That guy's going to look like an all-pro as he's running around clean knocking heads. Put that same MIKE on another team with a Swiss cheese line and now his job will be much harder. Same for CBs playing Ss and, really, the whole back seven playing with a good or bad pass rush.
None of this would matter as much if...Biography
Lee "INnoVation" Shin Hyung is a Korean StarCraft II player, formerly a StarCraft: Brood War player.
Earnings By Year
Total Results Online Results Offline/LAN Results 2019 $1,410.00 2 0.27% | $1,410.00 2 0.27% | $0.00 0 0.00% 2018 $42,934.68 41 8.21% | $14,359.73 31 2.75% | $28,574.95 10 5.46% 2017 $149,255.57 56 28.54% | $13,004.55 40 2.49% | $136,251.02 16 26.06% 2016 $32,848.01 16 6.28% | $8,480.87 10 1.62% | $24,367.14 6 4.66% 2015 $73,940.72 13 14.14% | $0.00 0 0.00% | $73,940.72 13 14.14% 2014 $95,917.60 20 18.34% | $7,158.33 10 1.37% | $88,759.27 10 16.97% 2013 $117,332.15 20 22.44% | $0.00 0 0.00% | $117,332.15 20 22.44% 2012 $7,517.48 4 1.44% | $0.00 0 0.00% | $7,517.48 4 1.44% 2010 $1,735.51 1 0.33% | $0.00 0 0.00% | $1,735.51 1 0.33%
Earnings By Age
Earnings By Game
Total Results Online Results Offline/LAN Results StarCraft II $519,394.02 171 99.33% | $44,413.48 93 8.49% | $474,980.54 78 90.84% StarCraft: Brood War $3,497.70 2 0.67% | $0.00 0 0.00% | $3,497.70 2 0.67%
Earnings By Team
Total Results Online Results Offline/LAN Results Team Acer $522,891.72 173 100.00% | $44,413.48 93 8.49% | $478,478.24 80 91.51%
Highest Prize Money Won
Top Placements
Champion Runner-up 3rd/Semis 56 Tournaments 19 Tournaments 29 Tournaments
Other Statistics
Overall Ranking At present, INnoVation is ranked #152 in highest overall earnings, and #18 in highest earnings for players from Korea, Republic of.
Prize Money Earned Under 18 Years of Age Before INnoVation turned 18 years old, he earned $1,735.51 in cash prizes from a single tournament. 0.33% of his total prize money was earned before July 25, 2011.
Largest Prize from a Single Tournament The largest cash prize that INnoVation has been awarded from a single tournament was $67,620.00 from WCS Korea 2014 Season 3 Premier on October 4, 2014. His 1st place finish makes up 12.93% of his total prize money won.
$100,000 Milestone On November 9, 2013, INnoVation arrived at the $100,000 milestone, winning $5,000.00 and placing 9th-16th at WCS 2013 Global Finals. Prize money from 18 tournaments got him to that point.The flag fluttering above the U.S. Capitol is emblazoned with a crescent and star. Chants of "Allahu Akbar" rise from inside the building.
That's the provocative opening scene of a documentary-style movie outlined 10 years ago by Steve Bannon that envisioned radical Muslims taking over the country and remaking it into the "Islamic States of America," according to a document describing the project obtained by The Washington Post.
The outline shows how Bannon, years before he became a strategist for President Donald Trump and helped draft last week's order restricting travel from seven mostly Muslim countries, sought to issue a warning about the threat posed by radical Muslims as well as their "enablers among us." Although driven by the "best intentions," the outline says, institutions such as the media, the Jewish community and government agencies were appeasing jihadists aiming to create an Islamic republic.
The eight-page draft, written in 2007 during Bannon's stint as a Hollywood filmmaker, proposed a three-part movie that would trace "the culture of intolerance" behind sharia law, examine the "Fifth Column" made up of "Islamic front groups" and identify the American enablers paving "the road to this unique hell on earth."
The outline, titled "Destroying the Great Satan: The Rise of Islamic Facism [sic] in America," lists Bannon as the movie's director, as well as its co-writer with his longtime writing partner Julia Jones. The title page includes the line "A Film By Stephen K. Bannon" in capital letters.
Jones, reached by The Washington Post, declined to discuss the contents of the document in detail but confirmed its authenticity. She added that it was essentially Bannon's product.
"It was all his words," Jones said.
A White House spokeswoman declined to comment. Bannon did not respond to several requests for comment.
The film proposal included as possible on-air experts two analysts who went on to advise Trump, although their names are misspelled in the document: Walid Phares, a Lebanese-born Maronite Christian who has warned that jihadists are posing as civil rights advocates, and Heritage Foundation security expert James Jay Carafano, who has defended Trump's executive order.
Phares could not be reached for comment. A Heritage spokesman said Carafano was not familiar with the project.
The outline offered an early glimpse of Bannon's belief that the West and "supremacist" Islam are headed for a "fundamental clash of civilizations," as the outline said. He later expressed this view publicly as chief of Breitbart News, a site that often features articles about radical Islamists and has provided a platform for the alt-right, a small, far-right movement that seeks a whites-only state.
"We are in an outright war against jihadist Islamic fascism," he said at a 2014 talk via Skype to a group at the Vatican, according to a transcript first published by BuzzFeed. "And this war is, I think, metastasizing far quicker than governments can handle it."
"I believe you should take a very, very, very aggressive stance against radical Islam," he added, citing battles the Roman Empire waged against the Ottomans.
Trump, who has known Bannon since 2011, has voiced similar views about the threats posed by jihadist Muslims. During the campaign, he called for "a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States until our country's representatives can figure out what the hell is going on" and said that there is a "great hatred towards Americans by large segments of the Muslim population."
At Thursday's National Prayer Breakfast, Trump showed sympathy for Muslim victims of terrorism, saying that "peace-loving Muslims" have been "brutalized" by the Islamic State.
One of Trump's first acts as president was to issue last week's travel limits, which temporarily bar travelers from Iraq, Iran, Sudan, Somalia, Syria, Libya and Yemen. Administration officials have said the order is not a "Muslim ban" but is instead targeted at countries whose citizens pose the greatest terrorism risk. However, none of those countries are the birthplace of terrorists who committed recent attacks in the United States connected to extremist Islamist ideology, unlike Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Pakistan.
Trump officials are now considering designating as a foreign terrorist organization the Muslim Brotherhood, one of the oldest Islamist organizations in the Middle East, even though experts have said it does not pose a threat to the United States.
The 2007 film summary calls the Muslim Brotherhood "the foundation of modern terrorism."
Shadi Hamid, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution who reviewed the outline for The Post, called it "propaganda" that was "designed to generate hate against not just Islamists, not just extremists, but Muslims writ large."
"There's no way you can look at this and Steve Bannon's other comments and remarks and say Steve Bannon is a friend of American Muslims," said Hamid, author of "Islamic Exceptionalism: How the Struggle Over Islam is Reshaping the World."
"It's remarkable that someone involved with a film like this is at the center of power at the White House," he added.
Tim Watkins, a producer involved in discussions with Bannon about the project, rejected the idea that the film was driven by anti-Muslim bias.
"This is not because Bannon had a hate or dislike for Muslims," Watkins said. "I believe that he believed that no society is without its radical fringes."
Watkins said that he and Bannon met with Steven Emerson, author of the 2002 book "American Jihad: The Terrorists Living Among Us" and founder of the Investigative Project on Terrorism, at an Italian restaurant in Washington and discussed the project. After hearing about Emerson's research, Watkins said he came up with the idea for the opening sequence featuring the reconstituted American flag flying over the Capitol dome.
"Based on what I heard, it seemed like a documentary in the making," Watkins said.
Emerson, whose book asserted many Muslim institutions in the West provided ideological support for militants, was listed as an executive producer on the proposal. A section of the film was to be drawn from Emerson's research archives, according to the document.DUBAI: Olympic silver medallist P V Sindhu avenged her heart-breaking loss at the Rio Games to two-time World Champion Carolina Marin with a thrilling straight-game victory in a do-or-die women's singles Group B contest and sealed her place at the semi-finals of the BWF World Super Series Finals here on Friday.In a much-anticipated contest, Sindhu came up trumps against the Olympic champion Marin, who had spoiled her gold medal dream at Rio in August. The Indian dished out an energetic performance to see off a fighting Marin 21-17 21-13 in a hard-fought battle that lasted 46 minutes.A former World No. 1 Marin, who held a 5-2 head to head record, tried to play an aggressive fast-paced game and pumped herself with each point, letting out a war cry but Sindhu was equally up for the battle of nerves and she showed tremendous grit and nerves to emerge victories in a crucial contest.With this win, Sindhu finished in the second place behind China's Sun Yu, who won all the three matches, in Group B.Both the players started with an aggressive rally and even though Sindhu had a 2-0 lead early on, Marin soon turned the tables at 4-3 when the Indian hit long. The Spaniard made it 7-3 with Sindhu playing a few nervous strokes.However, Sindhu changed her approach and got hold of her nerves and reeled off five points to lead 8-7. But again two long shots from Sindhu and Marin was 9-8 up.The left-handed Marin soon came up with a sharp smash which an outstretched Sindhu could not connect. But the Indian immediately produced three straight points and entered the break with a slender 11-10 lead after producing a superb cross court smash which found Marin napping.A lucky net chord helped Sindhu to lead 13-12 after the break which she swelled to 16-12 with Marin finding the net and hitting long.The duo continued to battle hard and engaged in some fast paced rallies with each trying to outdo the other with sharp acute angled strokes. Eventually Sindhu grabbed six game point advantage when Marin missed the baseline. The Spaniard saved three points before the Indian sealed the game with a superb smash.Marin needed medical treatment for what seemed like a bruise in her feet before the start of the second game.The Spaniard used her deceptive returns to put Sindhu in trouble and opened up a 3-1 lead which the Indian soon erased and grabbed a 5-3 advantage after another excruciating rally.Sindhu tried to keep her opponent away from the net and kept tossing the shuttle at the back of the court. The ploy seemed to work as Marin committed errors while trying to use deception to break the rhythm.Sindhu was equally athletic on court as she stretched, jumped and dived all across to cover the court and entered the interval with an 11-6 lead after Marin sent the shuttle wide twice.At 13-7, Sindhu missed the sidelines and coach Pullela Gopichand tried to calm her down. With Marin continuing to struggle with her strokes, Sindhu soon lead 17-10 and eventually grabbed a 21-13 match point advantage when Marin hit long after another exciting rally. The Indian then sealed the match as the Spaniard found the net again.29 demonstrators appeared in the CT Magistrates Court this morning on various charges.
CAPE TOWN - The State has withdrawn all charges against a group of protesters who were involved in anti-university fees demonstrations in Cape Town last year.
Twenty-nine demonstrators, most of them students, appeared in the Cape Town Magistrates Court this morning on various charges, including public violence.
They were arrested during protests outside Parliament late last year.
Some of the accused sighed audibly when state prosecutor Nielan Chetty told the court they'd be withdrawing the charges against them.
Trespassing of a National Key Point were among the charges they faced.
The group was arrested in October after clashing with police outside Parliament.
Among those in the dock were African National Congress (ANC) stalwart Frank Chikane's son, Kgotso, and student activist leader Chumani Maxwele.
Cape Town Anglican Archbishop Thabo Makgoba was present in court and hugged several of the protesters after proceedings.
#FeesMustFall There's clapping and hugs all around. Archbishop Thabo Makgoba is here as well. MM pic.twitter.com/msJU5RsaRN
EWN Reporter (@ewnreporter) March 30, 2016
'PROSECUTION NOT IN THE PUBLIC'S INTEREST'
The Western Cape director of Public Prosecutions says prosecuting Fees Must Fall demonstrators today would not have been in the public interest.
In a statement, Western Cape director of Public Prosecutions Advocate Rodney de Kock says it was found the protest held outside the parliamentary precinct last year was peaceful.
De Kock adds the demonstrators did not cause damage to property and that they were protesting against the high cost of higher education.
The demonstrators appeared visibly relieved in the Cape Town Magistrates Court today after learning the charges against them have been dropped.
RELIEF AS CHARGES ARE DROPPED
At the same time, ANC veteran Frank Chikane says he's relieved the charges against his son and other protesters involved in the Fees Must Fall demonstrations have been dropped.
Chikane has supported his son's involvement in the movement since it started.
"I'm hoping that we can make a difference between legitimate protests in a democracy and what the law would consider as illegitimate. This particular group was involved in a classical and normal protests."
Meanwhile Chikane's son, Kgotsi, says while he's relieved the case is over, the protesters' struggle continues.
"[We are] relieved but there is still a lot more work to be done. A lot of people think because things have quietened down, that nothing is happening but fair education is still not here."In the children’s short story “The Emperor’s New Clothes,” by Hans Christian Andersen, what kept the fiction of the naked emperor’s sartorial splendor alive was nothing in particular about the emperor. True, he was vain and plainly foolish; easily tricked by the false flattery of swindlers into paying a kingly sum for a cloak so fine and magical that only the wise and true could see it. But it was the people of the kingdom, including his trusted advisers, who maintained the absurd notion that he was splendidly clothed, because none – the emperor included – wanted to admit that they were so unworthy as to not see the bright colors and fine threads.
Only the characteristic bluntness of a child, who proclaimed the emperor’s nudity as he paraded through the streets humiliating himself and his kingdom, threatened to break the spell. But when the boy spoke out he was quickly rebuked by his father, who assured the gasping public that the child was clearly soft in the head. So powerful is the compulsion to normalize the powerful.
With Donald Trump about to ascend to the White House, the media risk being tamed by their devotion to access and the belligerencies of the notoriously vengeful resident of Trump Tower and his right-wing wrecking crew of a team. We face a singular test, both as a profession and as a country: will we allow ourselves to see what we see, or will we mentally drape the naked emperor in our midst?
Trump is beset by clear and alarming conflicts between his international business concerns and the national interest. In just the two weeks since the voters delivered him a narrow Electoral College victory, he has openly met with his Indian business partners; put his daughter on the phone with foreign leaders; dangled an unavailable ambassadorship to his UK political doppelganger Nigel Farage and simultaneously pushed Farage to help kill a wind farm project that would mar his Scottish golf course view. His leased D.C. hotel inside the old Post Office has become a prime destination for those seeking a way to curry favor with the incoming president by sliding their credit cards at checkout time.
Real questions are being raised about possible violations of the Constitution’s emoluments clause, and there’s more to come. Trump is battling Washington D.C. over taxes owed by the hotel, which he leases from the same federal government he will soon lead. The LPGA will in months host a golf tournament on a course branded with the president’s name. Trump remains the subject of numerous lawsuits, ongoing questions about his self-dealing “charity,” and an alleged IRS audit (he will soon appoint the head of the agency). He only recently (and allegedly) divested himself of a substantial investment in the Dakota Access Pipeline that he will soon have a hand in resolving through his command of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. And there are lingering questions as to whether he sexually harassed or assaulted women, and perhaps more to the point: how many.
And these are just a handful of the personal and legal quagmires he faces.
Add to that the alarming consensus of experts regarding extensive Russian interference in the U.S. election through the pumping of fake news and propaganda into the country’s digital bloodstream, and the unprecedented intervention of the FBI within two weeks of the voting, and serious questions of basic legitimacy shroud the incoming president, who lost the popular vote by more than 2 million votes and counting.
And despite Jill Stein’s self-promotional foray into machine-rigging conspiracy theories, which happen to distract from real questions about voter disenfranchisement and suppression, Trump is likely to survive the three-state recount challenges. The Electoral College is unlikely to take the advice of legal scholars who have called on them to choose the person who got millions more votes to be the president.
Trump will, barring circumstances that are at this stage unforeseeable, be sworn in as the country’s 45th president on January 20.
The worst case scenario for the next four years is daunting: a country sinking into kleptocracy, with its natural resources, parks and lands carved up and sold off by Trump and his billionaire cabinet to the highest bidder with fat tax credits to boot; Medicare and other beloved social safety net programs dismantled along with Obamacare and its protections for 20 million people; a Justice Department sowing fear rather than confidence in communities of color; terrified immigrants and Muslims relying on Democratic mayors as their only shield; and an international community left horrified by an America that seems to have lost both its soul and its mind.
If that’s what’s coming, beware of the fictions that are sure to come with it; little lies that salve your discontent, but that obscure the realities that become more and more unpopular to speak of.
Donald Trump will enter office as the most unpopular incoming president since Gallup began keeping track with Harry Truman; and the only one to enter with a negative approval rating. For comparison, Barack Obama entered office with an approval rating of 68 percent and a +41 positive spread. George W. Bush, even after the disputed 2000 election, came in at 59 percent favorable. That was one point higher than Bill Clinton managed in 1992, and with just 36 percent viewing Bush unfavorably. Had Hillary Clinton been on her way to the White House, you would have been reminded of her negative approval ratings – which were not as bad as Trump’s – every day.
Instead, you will be told that Trump’s “improvement” from a historically dismal 34 percent favorability to an equally unprecedented 42 percent favorable, 55 percent unfavorable is “good news.”
Trump is reviled around the world. British television openly derided him as the “pussy grabber” when I visited there last week. He is the object of mockery and loathing. While Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton both inspired confidence across Europe, Trump did and does not. Under President Obama, America’s image in the world improved dramatically, and he maintains high ratings at home and abroad. Much of the world looks on in horror on what America’s undemocratic system has wrought, and they’re clinging to Germany’s Angela Merkel as the new leader of the West.
You, however, may be told that the international community is coming around to Trump; a few foreign trips by him or his secretary of state and he’ll be fine. You may be asked to believe that somehow and suddenly, an inner statesman who hasn’t shown himself in 70 years will crawl out of Trump’s enormous frame.
Over time, Stephen Bannon, who turned a right-wing website that was merely angry and dishonest when founder |
here is resampling (meaning you record a one shot note and put it back to a new sampler). When you resample you can not only repeat this method to get even more complex modulations but also use 0Sxx to alternate the starting point of the sample (therefore use the good bits of the complex modulations you created). That is huge, definitely try it out! I’ll be making a bass sound soon to demonstrate how powerful it is.
Until then, I hope you enjoy this one. See you!
-Emre.
(Background image by Christmas Junkie.)Jared Bernstein is a senior fellow at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities in Washington and a former chief economist to Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr.
Today's Economist Perspectives from expert contributors.
I can’t open the paper these days without stumbling onto something about the minimum wage, which I take to be a good thing as it’s a simple, popular way to help address the problem of very low-wage work in America. It’s not a complete solution; it’s not the only solution — it is, in fact, a relatively small-bore policy that sets an important labor standard: the government will compensate for the severe lack of bargaining clout among our lowest-wage workers by setting a floor below which we won’t allow their wages to fall.
It’s also that case that we need to look carefully these days at any policies that will help offset income inequality and wage stagnation, especially ones with low budgetary costs, or in this case, virtually none. That’s one reason that I expect President Obama to amplify these points in an economics speech on Wednesday in Washington.
I will not rehearse the age-old arguments about unintended consequences, primarily job loss among affected workers. The economist Arindrajit Dube, who himself has made important contributions to our understanding of this issue, does so admirably in a recent comprehensive review. The fact is that along with the many changes in the national minimum over time, we now have dozens of states and localities with minimum wages higher than the federal minimum. If there were a problem with widespread job losses among intended beneficiaries, we’d probably know.
Instead, I want to focus on a broader aspect of the itch that the minimum-wage increase scratches: the problem of job quality.
Often, in our national debate on inequality and real income stagnation, the locus of the problem is placed on the workers: they’re not skilled enough to meet employers’ demands, and their low wages reflect the limited value they add to output. Classic microeconomics actually embeds that very assumption: workers are paid their “marginal product,” the value of their individual contribution to the goods or services produced.
If you believe that, then you’ve no one but yourself to blame for your skinny paycheck. But thankfully, few believe it. That’s not to say that there’s no role for “value added” in compensation. Of course there is. But it is one of many factors.
One way to see this is to recognize that low-wage workers have become older and have achieved higher levels of education over time. The figure below shows the share of low-wage workers in 1979 and 2011. Fewer are teenagers or young adults, more are non-elderly adults, and more have at least some college education.
Photo
Now, you could argue that low-wage workers have to be more skilled than in the past to meet their job requirements. But there’s no evidence to support that — to the contrary, there’s some evidence that computerization has led to lower numeracy requirements for certain low-wage workers, like cashiers. And besides, if they’re more skilled, they should be adding more value, and thus making more money, not less.
Thus we can conclude that at least part of the problem with the low-wage labor market is the quality of the jobs, at least from the perspective of compensation, not the quality of the workers. Sure, soft skills — showing up on time, dealing maturely with peers — are as important as ever, but people with shortcomings in those areas show up in all sectors. Typical low-wage workers don’t lack the skills to do their jobs. They lack the bargaining power to be paid decently for the work. Relative to most others in the job market, they’re least able to press for a share of the profits they’re helping to generate.
In earlier periods, many lower-paid workers did better on this front. There were more unions — not always in their sector, but setting wage norms that were followed throughout the economy. There were tighter labor markets, which gave them clout they lack in slack markets. And there was a higher minimum wage — its real value in today’s dollars was $9.30 in 1968 compared with $7.25 today. (Legislation in Congress would raise the minimum to a nominal $10.10 by 2016.)
When you think of it this way, a lot of the cramped economic debate opens up. Since workers are not really paid their precise marginal product, you wouldn’t expect them to be laid off because of a moderate, mandated wage increase. In periods of high profitability, you’d expect some of the wage increase to be paid for out of profits. In a real-world context, you’d want a policy taking direct aim at deteriorated job quality and thus helping to offset the acute lack of bargaining clout among low-wage workers.
Does that mean completely ignoring the “laws” of supply and demand and setting the minimum at any level we want? Of course not. Workers may not be paid their “marginal product,” but there is some rough correlation between their pay and the value of their work (the great labor economist Richard Freeman gets at this by using the flat edge of the chalk to draw demand curves). History teaches that moderate wage increases — say, those including not much more than 10 percent of the work force in their sweep — have nothing like the job-loss effects that opponents claim (which isn’t to say “zero,” but the beneficiaries far outnumber those hurt by the policy).
The larger points here are twofold. First, policy makers must be mindful not only of the quality of the people in the work force, but also of the quality of jobs they inhabit. And second, be very wary of those who use the “rules” of economics, particularly at the micro level, to tell you why we can’t enact a progressive policy change. More often than not, we won’t know the impact until we try it, and in the case of the minimum wage, we know that moderate increases have their intended effect.Requires iPhone
Compatible with iOS 7, 8 and 9
DisturbPlease enhances Do Not Disturb mode by allowing you to get SMS/MMS/iMessage notifications for a selected group of contacts while DnD is active. Messages from contacts belonging to that group will play normal alerts (sound alert, and screen will turn on), even during DnD mode. You can choose to have audible notifications for messages from anyone, no-one (default in iOS), your Favorites, all people from your contact list or just from people belonging to a custom group of contacts - same as in incoming calls DnD settings.
You can also choose the weekdays when scheduled DnD will be enabled or disabled (in stock iOS all weekdays are enabled, and you cannot choose on which days it should be enabled or disabled). If you disable scheduled DnD start for a certain weekday, your device will not enter DnD mode at the scheduled time, but it will still exit DnD mode automatically when DnD is scheduled to end (if you have manually enabled it in the meantime).
Custom settings are integrated into Settings/Do Not Disturb (marked with 'Powered by DisturbPlease'), and advanced settings are available in Settings/DisturbPlease.
See larger Screenshots below..So over at the AMD press-conference the CEO of AMD showed the upcoming Fiji GPU. That definitely is 28nm, as that thing is huge! We also have seen the Radeon Fury X ourselves, actually even with the cooler removed and I was able to inspect the PCB.
We have talked to several board partners about AMDs upcoming flagship GPU called Fiji, I have been able to see the product, yet for obvious reasons we cannot show a photo of it. I can confirm a thing or so for you guys. The product is as previously stated 4GB with its framebuffer, the GPU die as stated and shown below is 28nm, roughly 52mm2 and thus big, seriously big. You can physically see the four stacks of HBM (stacked) memory btw.
The product will not have DVI anymore, but a selection of DisplayPort x3 and HDMI 2.0 x1. The card seems to have six power phases if I counted right slash fast enough and will have two 8-pin connectors PCIe PEG power connectors. So, the card can draw up to 375 watts. Which is indicative for power consumption.
The Fiji cards will be small in size and get a water-cooler based solution. AMD currently seems to be struggling with performance as they had aimed to be slightly faster than a GTX 980 Ti. The development costs for this GPU are high and apparently it performs around the GeForce GTX 980 Ti, some partners indicated that that the performance might acually be a notch lower. As such AMD is trying to see what they can do driver wise and see if the clock frequencies can be raised a little bit more to compensate for that. Then again, if this GPU already needs liquid cooling then that is indicative of a product that runs rather warm. So I am not sure how much leeway there is left for AMD. Of course, the performance of a GeForce GTX 980 Ti is pretty sweet, so to be in or at that level of performance is nothing to be ashamed about if the product is priced right.
The naming of the product is not yet finalized, but that is rumored to be Radeon Fury X. The card will definitely be announced during E3.More From Scooby-Doo! & Batman: The Brave and the Bold
More From Scooby-Doo! & Batman: The Brave and the Bold
More From Scooby-Doo! & Batman: The Brave and the Bold
More From Scooby-Doo! & Batman: The Brave and the Bold
More From Scooby-Doo! & Batman: The Brave and the Bold
More From Scooby-Doo! & Batman: The Brave and the Bold
Share. Coming to DVD and digital in January. Coming to DVD and digital in January.
DC Entertainment and Warner Bros. Animation's new original movie Scooby-Doo! & Batman: The Brave and the Bold will be released on DVD and digital on January 9, 2018.
In the film, Batman joins forces with Scooby-Doo and his pals Shaggy, Fred, Daphne, and Velma after villains from both of their worlds unite to wreak havoc on the city. For a sneak peek at Scooby-Doo! & Batman: The Brave and the Bold, check out the debut trailer in the player above.
In addition to classic DC villains like Joker, Catwoman, Riddler, Penguin, Scarecrow, Poison Ivy and Harley Quinn, the movie will also feature several friendly faces, including the likes of Aquaman, Plastic Man, The Question and Martian Manhunter. The crew will also have to contend with Scooby-Doo troublemakers like Ghost Clown, Spooky Space Kook, and Miner 49er.
Batman Visual History of Gotham 10+ IMAGES Fullscreen Image Artboard 3 Copy Artboard 3 ESC 01 OF 35 Click through for a Visual History of Batman's Gotham City... 01 OF 35 Click through for a Visual History of Batman's Gotham City... Batman Visual History of Gotham Download Image Captions ESC
The main voice cast includes Diedrich Bader as Batman, Frank Welker as Scooby-Doo and Fred, Grey Griffin as Daphne and Black Canary, Matthew Lillard as Shaggy, and Kate Micucci as Velma. The guest cast is comprised of Jeff Bennett as Joker, Jeffrey Combs as The Question, John DiMaggio as Aquaman, Nika Futterman as Catwoman, Nicholas Guest as Martian Manhunter, John Michael Higgins as The Riddler, Tom Kenny as Penguin and Plastic Man, Kevin Michael Richardson as Detective Chimp, Tara Strong as Harley Quinn and Poison Ivy, and Fred Tatasciore as Harvey Bullock.
Scooby-Doo! & Batman: The Brave and the Bold is directed by Jake Castorena. Paul Giacoppo wrote the teleplay, which is based on a story by supervising producer James Tucker. Michael Jelenic is producer on the film, with Sam Register, Benjamin Melniker, and Michael Uslan serving as executive producers.
This isn't the first time Scooby-Doo and the Caped Crusader have joined forces. Back in 1972, Batman and Robin appeared in two hour-long TV movies: The Dynamic Scooby-Doo Affair and The Caped Crusader Caper.
Scooby-Doo! & Batman: The Brave and the Bold isn't the only new upcoming animated feature about the iconic DC superhero. Warner Bros. Japan's anime movie Batman Ninja will be released on Blu-ray and DVD in 2018, and an animated retelling of Gotham by Gaslight will also be released next year.
Alex Osborn is a freelance writer for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @alexcosborn.President Donald Trump’s approval rating has plummeted to an all-time low in a new NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll, with just 38 percent of Americans approving of the president’s job performance. According to NBC, the number marks “lowest in modern times for a president at this stage of his presidency.” Trump’s best numbers in the poll, however, come on the issues of the economy and the recent hurricanes. Nearly 50 percent of Americans approve of how Trump handled Hurricanes Harvey and Irma on the U.S. mainland, while 42 percent said they approve of his handling of the economy. The poll signals that Republicans as a group might be in trouble heading into the 2018 midterm elections, with 48 percent of voters supporting a Democrat-controlled Congress and 41 percent backing a GOP-led Congress.42-year-old James Bond was arrested in Boston for OUI on July 14, 2011.
BOSTON (CBS) — A man with the same name as one of Hollywood’s most famous secret agents was arrested Thursday for drunk driving in Boston.
At about 9:42pm on Thursday, officers noticed a vehicle, wanted in connection with an earlier domestic dispute, traveling along Dana Ave in Hyde Park.
After stopping the car, the officers approached the driver and asked him to identify himself. When asked to provide his name, the operator stated, “James Bond.”
While talking to the man, officers smelled alcohol on his breath. Officers also noted his eyes were glassy and speech slurred, and that he appeared to struggle with his balance while getting out of the car.
The man, James Bond, 42, of Boston, then failed a field sobriety test.
He was arrested and charged with operating under the influence.PARIS — Have we already passed “peak populism”? The question is posed quite seriously by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, a US think tank borrowing the expression from “peak oil,” the point in time when extraction reaches its maximum level and starts to decline.
This theory assumes that Donald J. Trump’s election on Nov. 8, 2016, could be the highest point of the populist wave, as he turns out to be a pitiful president, a kind of anti-model. It points to the number of controversies marking the beginning of his mandate, his political U-turns, and the fact that his speech to Congress was applauded because it meant the beginning of a return to “realism.”
“In the battle between reality and populism, reality is now winning,” wrote Peter Kellner, the author of the Carnegie paper.
His analysis also points to the fact that the expected populist victory in the presidential election in Austria in December 2016 didn’t occur; that the British populist party UKIP didn’t manage to turn its Brexit referendum victory into success during a significant by-election last month; and, finally, that populist forces don’t have such an easy path to victory in the forthcoming Dutch, French and German general elections.
This theory is tempting, but probably premature.
First, mainly American-based commentators imagined a domino-like victory parade for European populists thanks to the success of the American “big brother.” Even if it is true that Donald Trump’s election made a similar triumph by France’s Marine Le Pen and her European counterparts more credible than ever before, there is a lack of nuance and of local political logic in this analysis.
Its other weakness is the idea that President Trump’s bad image and difficulties would make the populist pitch less attractive and credible in Europe.
Marine Le Pen continues to praise Donald Trump at her election rallies, and gets her followers to applaud decisions like the infamous “Muslim Ban,” the anti-immigration presidential order targeting predominantly-Muslim countries, or his “economic patriotism” forcing U.S. corporations to produce in the United States.
Populist leaders in Europe have no difficulty convincing their supporters that the “system” is responsible for all the pains and difficulties of the Trump administration, and they are on familiar ground when he clashes with justice and the media. Marine Le Pen even promised a purge among defiant civil servants, in a speech on Feb. 26, presaging the decision by President Trump to fire 46 Obama-era federal prosecutors.
For hard-core populist voters, Donald Trump remains, at this stage, the best living proof not only that victory is possible, but that their nationalist program can be implemented. They don’t pay attention to “details” and remain focused on the symbolic dimension of his actions and permanent defiance, most often expressed through tweets.
To assess if “peak populism” really has come and gone, we’ll have to see the results of the Dutch vote on Wednesday this week, followed by France’s presidential election on April 23 and May 7. These involved two of the most emblematic figures of what is called the “populist wave”: Geert Wilders and Marine Le Pen. More tests will be coming with German general elections in September, involving the far-right Alternative für Deutschland (Alternative for Germany, AfD) led by Frauke Petry, as well as possible early Italian elections with the rise of the 5 Star Movement (M5S) of humorist Beppe Grillo.
In the Netherlands and France, the early tests, it is likely that the populists will reach very high scores without necessarily gaining power.
In France, despite strong showings, no opinion poll has yet proclaimed a likely Marine Le Pen victory in the second round of the two-round election. But polls misread the rise of Trump as well, and Le Pen will gain the support of traditional right-wing voters in the second round if their candidate is eliminated in the first round, as seems to be the case according to current polls.
This will the most significant development of the vote: in 2002, the one and only time a far-right candidate made it to the second round—Marine’s father, Jean-Marie Le Pen—his final score was almost the same as in the first round: less than a 1 percent gain. This time, polls predict that Marine Le Pen could increase her score by 10 to 15 percent between the two rounds, depending on her adversary. A mental dam has been broken.
These factors don’t point to an automatic “populist wave,” as was predicted after Donald Trump’s victory, but neither do they allow us to claim that “peak populism” is already passed.
There are very strong national differences, but we are nonetheless living an era in which historical government parties are seriously weakened. Germany remains an exception where the election fight still pits Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Christian Democratic Party against her Social Democratic challenger, Martin Schultz, who revived the old and tired SPD; and not against the marginal AfD nationalist party.
But in the Netherlands, voters have the choice between a dozen parties, an unprecedented fragmentation; while in France, according to the polls, may see a second round in which neither of the two parties that have dominated political life for the past 60 years make an appearance. For now, it looks like the final fight will be between Marine Le Pen’s National Front and the centrist Emmanuel Macron’s En Marche! Movement, which was launched only last year.
More than the rise of populist ideas, Europe shows the exhaustion of old traditional political parties and their inability, with “software” stuck in the old industrial world, to reinvent themselves. Their failure to deal with inequalities produced by globalization has pushed voters, particularly from the poorer sections of the population, into the arms of those who, rather than offer real alternatives, best express their anger.
Populism feeds on the failure of others. “Peak populism” will be reached when convincing new political offerings are made—when citizens feel they are voting “for” and not only “against.”
This article was published in French in L’Obs.Image: Matteo Gallo
Dave Asprey is the founder of Bulletproof Coffee and the author of The Bulletproof Diet. His relentless quest to optimize his body inspired Motherboard to ask him to be the guest editor for our series on the future of sleep.
When it comes to performance, the ultimate odd couple is sleep and technology.
Not all relationships start off on a good footing. Biological changes in sleep began to appear during the Industrial Revolution with an amplified value placed on productivity and efficiency. Often at the cost of sleep, our most valuable restorative resource, we pushed our biology to the breaking point.
Also, the introduction of artificial lighting resulted in the disruption our natural circadian rhythm and we began to see sleep disturbances. These disorders affect our body's vital functions and influence crucial hormonal processes.
Throughout the decades, we've seen technology permeate and make easier almost every daily action from driving, eating, meeting people, and even looking at the stars. Humans are absorbing more information than ever before in history. A 2011 UC study revealed that we take in about 174 newspapers' worth of information daily. That's five times more information than we were exposed to in 1986.
How are we dealing with all of that?
Sleep disturbances are at an all time high. The National Sleep Foundation 2011 poll revealed around 60 percent of participants were unhappy with the amount and quality of their sleep. Also, 60 percent used laptops, phones, and video games at least one hour before bed.
As with most lasting relationships, there are bumps in the road, and you move forward. Sleep and technology are doing just that. Technology innovation is about looking to the future. It's also about looking at the powerful assets you have at hand and making the most of them.
I'm a biohacker, so anything that makes the best use of my assets for better brain and body function is fair game. That means science, spirituality, nutrition, supplements and you guessed it, technology. Researchers have found that the quality of sleep you get is more important than the number of hours, and there is plenty of technology and science available today to help you upgrade your sleep, such as the plethora of sleep tracking apps. For mediating the exposure to computer light, F.lux is a useful free program that sets the light on your computer screen to follow a circadian rhythm from day into night. I also use Zen Tech blue-blocking screens.
This week, Motherboard is tackling the intersection of technology and sleep. That means stories about how to sleep hack your room, technology inside trucks that monitors drivers for drowsiness, headsets that reset your Circadian rhythm, pills for lucid dreaming, and weighted blankets for those with PTSD.
But what's arguably more exciting than what's available today is the possibility for sleep hacking in the future. Transhumanist Zoltan Istvan is looking forward to eliminating sleep altogether. The fantastic future fiction author Warren Ellis has a short story for Terraform. Contributing editor Meghan Neal has a piece about the data brokers who are thirsty for your sleep numbers. Staff writer Jason Koebler has the history of cryosleep. Senior editor Brian Merchant will tell the story of when Russian scientists sent a mirror into space and turned night into day.
That's just a sampling of what's coming this week. Get ready to stay up all night.
You'll Sleep When You're Dead is Motherboard's exploration of the future of sleep. Read more stories.With news today that the league and Roger Goodell are looking to rollback the restrictions on touchdown celebrations to make the game a little more fun (and rid themselves of the label of “No Fun League”), many people are anxious to see what new celebrations we’ll bear witness to next season.
But, let’s be honest, when it comes to touchdown celebrations, nobody in the history of the National Football League can come close to matching the creativity of former wide receiver and SNUBBED-Hall of Famer Terrell Owens (yes, not even Chad Johnson).
Owens made a name for himself over the course of his 15-year career as one of the most dynamic players in the league, amassing over 15,000 career receiving yards to go along with 153 touchdown receptions. But Owens’s touchdown celebrations have become just as legendary as his play.
In honor of celebrations making a comeback to the league, here’s a look at some of the best Terrell Owens celebration gifs that’ll get you excited for next season. Hopefully, some players can think of ways to be as creative as the king.
Related Twitter reacts to the death of Seahawks Hall of Famer Cortez Kennedy
Related Here are the celebrations that are now allowed under the revamped NFL rulesFour people have been killed and 16 people have been wounded in a terror attack at the Sarona Market in Tel Aviv in a terror attack. One of the terrorists was neutralized at the scene and taken to hospital in critical condition while the second terrorists was taken into custody.
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Footage from an adjacent restaurant
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Security forces in a restaurant (Photo: Reuters)
Ido Ben-Ari, 42, from Ramat Gan; Ilana Nave, 39, from Tel Aviv; Dr. Michael Feige, 58 from Midreshet Ben-Gurion; and Mila Mishayev, 32, from Rishon Lezion.
Dr. Michael Feige, left, and Ido Ben-Ari (Photo:Ben-Gurion University, Danny Machlis)
Multiple shots were heard at the open-air shopping center in the heart of Tel Aviv, adjacent to IDF and Ministry of Defense headquarters, the Kirya. Magen David Adom (MDA) arrived at the scene and declared multiple wounded, and their paramedics evacuated wounded persons to Ichilov and Tel Hashomer Medical Centers. Of the 16 wounded, four died, and three are still in the hospital.
Terrorists neutralized
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The terrorists, two cousins from Yatta in the Hebron area, sat at the popular restaurant Max Brenner before they set out on their shooting spree. They wore suits and ordered food before they set out killing indiscriminately.
Photo: Reuters
The restaurant's manager said, "I was sitting in the restaurant, and they got up and started shooting. Before that, they had ordered someting to eat and acted like any other customer...They had bags with them; they didn't shout anything, just took out their weapons and started shooting."
The improvised weapon
One of the terrorists shot with an improvised weapon that he left behind when he fled, though he was soon shot. The Israel Police and Shin Bet immediately took him for questioning.
Blood at Benedict restaurant
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu landed at Ben Gurion International Airport, returning from his visit to Russia, and he proceeded immediately to the Kirya to hold a security meeting.
One of the neutralized terrorists
Minister of Defense Avigdor Lieberman was in his office a the Kirya at the time of the attack and has been kept up to date with updates.
Aiding one of the wounded
Tel Aviv Mayor Ron Huldai commented on the incident, "It was a hard night in Tel Aviv. There was another attack in which terrorists, who were apparently sitting at a coffee shop, hid their weapons and then started firing indiscriminately.
Terrorst shooting at Max Brenner restaurant in Tel Aviv
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"We ask the public to remain calm. We in Tel Aviv are a target of terrorism, and they are trying to disrupt our lives. We will continue to enjoy living in the city, and terrorism will not make us surrender. I ask everyone to return to their daily routine tomorrow."
Police at the scene (Photo: Motti Kimchi)
Tomer, who came to Sarona to enjoy the evening, said, "We were sitting outside and a round of bullets (were fired). Everyone started running. This is not like a normal terror attack. The shots were fired for at least a minute. There was a large panic, and we were asked to go inside the building. They held and kept us (there), and then they came to check that we were okay. We are waiting for them to open the roads so that we can leave. We have not seen such a thing in a long time."
Ha'arba'a Street
A young woman who was hiding in a store until now, said, "I was sitting near Max Brenner and I saw shots fired. They were fired incessantly in all directions. I ran to the Super-Pharm and (the assailant) then ran toward me. I was then told to hide and I tried to escape."
Police at the scene
The Israel Police announced at around 10:20pm, "As of now, the public can return to their daily routine; however, they are requested to employ high vigilance and call the police at 100 to report any suspicious event."
Evacuating the wounded
Israel's Permanent Representative to the United Nations Ambassador Danny Danon called on the secretary general and the security council, "Definitively condemn murderous Palestinian terrorism.""I've been looking forward to a digital trading card game which has the depth of Magic for a long time. The real time nature of Nova Blitz keeps games moving. And the team's knowledge of strategy games keeps it firmly in the strategy camp, and not in the twitch camp."
- Richard Garfield, creator of Magic: The Gathering
"Get on board now and you’ll be proud you were in on the ground floor of this unbelievable game."
- Zac Phoenix, TradingCardGames.com
Nova Blitz is fully funded,and we've unlocked our first stretch goal! We've done it, and we're not stopping there. Onwards and upwards to hit more goals:
We just hit 450 backers, so 13 achievements unlocked, and that means 3 free packs for everyone! Get those retweets and gameplay videos rolling in, and keep telling your friends to back us - time to shoot for pack #4!
Each square in the matrix is an achievement for you to complete. For every four achievements completed, ALL of our backers will gain one extra Smart Pack with their Kickstarter rewards. And, when all 25 achievements are complete, we'll give ALL of our backers a very special reward.
For the "retweet" achievements, retweet any tweet from @NovaBlitz. For the game play video achievements, upload your video to YouTube, and share the link in the Kickstarter comments.
The more backers we have, the more achievements we'll hit. So this is where you come in: talk to your gaming groups, share the Kickstarter on Twitter and Facebook, and tell all your friends to back the Kickstarter!
Nova Blitz plays totally differently to every other trading card game. You summon units, play powers, and duel in real time. Turns are simultaneous, with both players playing at once, so there's no waiting for your opponent. Games take less than five minutes! And, in combat, the hidden attack and block orders let you bluff and counter-bluff your opponent.
We're also building some pretty awesome features into the game:
No-Screw Shuffler : You won't get mana screwed
: You won't get mana screwed Smart Packs : Your packs always contain the set you want
: Your packs always contain the set you want On-Demand Drafts : Draft real packs, keep the cards you draft, and never wait for other players
: Draft real packs, keep the cards you draft, and never wait for other players Community : You can design cards for the game
: You can design cards for the game Trading : A full economy - buy, sell, and trade cards
: A full economy - buy, sell, and trade cards Rankings : Climb the leaderboard each month in search of the top prizes
: Climb the leaderboard each month in search of the top prizes Cross-Platform Play: One account across Mac, Windows, Linux, iPad, & Android
We need your support to finish and deliver Nova Blitz, so back us today!
Nova Blitz game play video:
We've been working on games, especially trading card games, for over 15 years. Here's some of the amazing games we've worked on...
Paul, Dan, Noah, and Ryan created Dragon Foundry in early 2014, to build a trading card game that's a digital game first and foremost. We wanted to make something a little different - a card-based game that was fast-paced, action focused, and with no waiting.
Building this game is a huge undertaking - we're a small indie team building a massively multiplayer online game. We're incredibly lucky to be working with so many talented designers, programmers, and artists - this is the most experienced team any of us have seen in action. And over the last year, we've pulled in even more awesome people to help us make this vision a reality, including our team of amazing card artists.
We spent 6 months prototyping different ideas, and refining the core concept of a real-time trading card game. Our prototypes and playtests showed us that a fast-paced TCG was a game changer - the idea of "no waiting" resonated with all kinds of gamers. They also showed us that polish and simple rules would be critical to success.
Fast forward to today. We're at Alpha, with full multiplayer, deck building, and over 200 cards. We're Greenlit on Steam! We've made some huge leaps forward in game play, features, and polish. Now, we want your feedback.
Download the Nova Blitz Alpha now
The Alpha is here for you to download and play on Windows, Mac, and Linux - tell us what you think:
In arenas across the galaxy, Novas battle each other using summoned units and epic powers, and the last Nova standing wins. Novas fight for fame, fortune, and the chance to compete in the Nova Blitz championship, where millions of Credits are at stake!
The universe of Nova Blitz is ruled by five aspects of energy: Arcane, Tech, Divine, Nature, and Chaos. Each aspect has its own philosophies, strengths, and weaknesses, and each aspect is represented in a unique way in the game’s mechanics, powers, and units.
The goal of Nova Blitz is to reduce your opponent’s Health to 0. You will do this through a combination of playing Powers and attacking with Units.
At the start of each turn, both players refill up to their Maximum Energy and draw a card. Then there is an Action Phase followed by a Combat Phase.
Both players play cards in real time during the Action phase, which lasts about 20 seconds. A shrinking bar shows how much time is left. Any time you play a card, you give up Initiative to your opponent, and vice versa. The player who ends up with Initiative at the end of the Action Phase will attack first in the Combat Phase.Title Edit
Hitler originally wanted to call his forthcoming book Viereinhalb Jahre (des Kampfes) gegen Lüge, Dummheit und Feigheit, or Four and a Half Years (of Struggle) Against Lies, Stupidity and Cowardice. Max Amann, head of the Franz Eher Verlag and Hitler's publisher, is said to have suggested[8] the much shorter "Mein Kampf" or "My Struggle".
Contents Edit
The arrangement of chapters is as follows: Volume One: A Reckoning Chapter 1: In the House of My Parents Chapter 2: Years of Study and Suffering in Vienna Chapter 3: General Political Considerations Based on My Vienna Period Chapter 4: Munich Chapter 5: The World War Chapter 6: War Propaganda Chapter 7: The Revolution Chapter 8: The Beginning of My Political Activity Chapter 9: The "German Workers' Party" Chapter 10: Causes of the Collapse Chapter 11: Nation and Race Chapter 12: The First Period of Development of the National Socialist German Workers' Party
Volume Two: The National Socialist Movement Chapter 1: Philosophy and Party Chapter 2: The State Chapter 3: Subjects and Citizens Chapter 4: Personality and the Conception of the Völkisch State Chapter 5: Philosophy and Organization Chapter 6: The Struggle of the Early Period – the Significance of the Spoken Word Chapter 7: The Struggle with the Red Front Chapter 8: The Strong Man Is Mightiest Alone Chapter 9: Basic Ideas Regarding the Meaning and Organization of the Sturmabteilung Chapter 10: Federalism as a Mask Chapter 11: Propaganda and Organization Chapter 12: The Trade-Union Question Chapter 13: German Alliance Policy After the War Chapter 14: Eastern Orientation or Eastern Policy Chapter 15: The Right of Emergency Defense
Conclusion
Index
Analysis Edit
In Mein Kampf, Hitler used the main thesis of "the Jewish peril", which posits a Jewish conspiracy to gain world leadership.[9] The narrative describes the process by which he became increasingly antisemitic and militaristic, especially during his years in Vienna. He speaks of not having met a Jew until he arrived in Vienna, and that at first his attitude was liberal and tolerant. When he first encountered the antisemitic press, he says, he dismissed it as unworthy of serious consideration. Later he accepted the same antisemitic views, which became crucial to his program of national reconstruction of Germany. Mein Kampf has also been studied as a work on political theory. For example, Hitler announces his hatred of what he believed to be the world's two evils: Communism and Judaism. In the book Hitler blamed Germany's chief woes on the parliament of the Weimar Republic, the Jews, and Social Democrats, as well as Marxists, though he believed that Marxists, Social Democrats, and the parliament were all working for Jewish interests.[10] He announced that he wanted to completely destroy the parliamentary system, believing it to be corrupt in principle, as those who reach power are inherent opportunists. Antisemitism Edit While historians dispute the exact date Hitler decided to force the Jewish people to emigrate to Madagascar, few place the decision before the mid-1930s.[11] First published in 1925, Mein Kampf shows Hitler's personal grievances and his ambitions for creating a New Order. The historian Ian Kershaw points out that several passages in Mein Kampf are undeniably of a genocidal nature.[12] Hitler wrote "the nationalization of our masses will succeed only when, aside from all the positive struggle for the soul of our people, |
and with key players such as Jordan Pickford, Duncan Watmore and Jan Kirchhoff all having suffered serious knee injuries during matches, the Scot has a point.
But the data gathered by premierinjuries.com does not make for easy reading for Moyes or his medical department.
Only 34-year-old fitness obsessive Jermain Defoe has appeared in each of their 21 league games and just five of his team-mates have started more than 11 matches.
The Black Cats are currently nursing eight senior players back to fitness, while another three are absent at the Africa Cup of Nations.
Their shortage showed on Saturday as they were beaten 3-1 at home to Stoke to leave them joint bottom of the table. It was the first time since 2001 that Sunderland had failed to make a single substitution in the Premier League and Moyes said afterwards that those on the bench simply weren’t as good as those on the pitch.
The Black Cats face an selection dilemma against Burnley with so many players out crocked
Sunderland top the list of injury-hit teams
It leaves the manager with a selection dilemma ahead of the trip to Turf Moor. He knows the value of a victory when it comes to lifting morale and the prospect of a home tie against Fleetwood or Bristol City is attractive.
But with a league game at West Brom next up on Saturday he is also minded to rest the likes of 12-goal top scorer Defoe and instead play youngsters such as 17-year-old striker Joel Asoro.
Moyes, who has presented his desperate case for reinforcements to owner Ellis Short, said: ‘I’m glad we’re still in the cup and I would like to go through, but I wouldn’t swap it over being in the Premier League, I can tell you that.
‘But any win can boost us right now. We’ve been to Burnley already though (lost 4-1 on New Year’s Eve) so we know how strong they are at home.’
At the other end of the injury table, this season’s surprise package West Brom - who are currently eighth - have lost just 189 cumulative days to 16 separate injuries.
Meanwhile, early-season strugglers West Ham are Sunderland’s closest rivals with 39 different problems having contributed to 985 days missed.
Seeing players go down injured has become a familiar occurrence for Sunderland fans
Sunderland missing XI (3-5-2): Pickford; McNair, Kirchhoff, Kone; Pienaar, Ndong, Cattermole, Gooch, Khazri; Watmore, Anichebe
Sunderland likely XI at Burnley (4-2-3-1): Mannone; Jones, O’Shea, Djilobodji, Van Aanholt; Rodwell, Denayer; Larsson, Januzaj, Borini; DefoeJo Frederiksen of The Woodlands has joined the ever-growing number of women who claim they were sexually abused and harassed in Iraq under the watch of their former employer, Halliburton's Kellogg Brown & Root. She recently filed a lawsuit in Harris County District Court against the company.
According to the lawsuit, Frederiksen joined KBR in July 2003 and was stationed in Baghdad. While there, she claims she was "inappropriately touched, stalked, intimidated and verbally harassed" on the job as well as in her living quarters. When Frederiksen reported her concerns to KBR investigators, she claims nothing was done to stop the harassment and that many of the people she accused were promoted or moved to other work sites without ever being disciplined.
Then there are the allegations involving illegal brothels and retaliation.$26.99 Packaging Sculpt Paint Accessories Fun Value Final Thoughts Overall, it’s a cool little set. The Hulkbuster Smash also comes with fairly cool Hulk, Iron Man, Ultron Prime figure and Scarlet Witch figures. Scarlet Witch has the two-sided face; one angry, one not so angry. Also awesome? That the Iron Man figure fits in the Hulkbuster. Overall Score 4.1 Worth Grabbing Your Rating Readers Rating
1 votes 2.1 To Order this Set on Amazon: CLICK HERE
The new LEGO Marvel Superhero Age of Ultron sets have begun to hit retail shelves. The first set I was able to get my hands on? It was the last one on the shelf: The Hulk Buster Smash (76031).
Initially, I had mixed feelings about the set. When the production pics were first released, I gotta admit, I was pretty excited about the prospect of this set. The Hulkbuster armor is a no brainer for Lego, amiright? It’s got to be like printing money. Not just for LEGO, either, but for every toy manufacturer with a license to make Age of Ultron products. The name of the game for this movie, at least at the moment, is Hulkbuster.
However, when I saw the set at Toy Fair, my hopes were slightly dashed. Slightly. The set just seemed so small. Maybe it was the bright lights of the Lego booth. Maybe it was the awesome Avengers Tower set sitting right in front of it. Or, maybe, I just was expecting too much.
Maybe.
As it turns out, though, the set isn’t bad at all. At 248 pieces, it comes with the Hulk, Scarlet Witch, Iron Man and Ultron Prime figure. And, yea…the Hulkbuster armor isn’t as complex as I had hoped…but, on the positive side? You can stick the Iron Man minifigure inside the armor, which I wasn’t sure was going to happen. Of course, it makes the armor much bigger than the included Hulk figure (who’s already larger than the average minifigure), but some things you just got to live with it.
Speaking of the Hulk, it looks like for Age of Ultron, that he’s got a new color “skin” to him. And he’s also sporting super cool Avengers pants. I don’t know what makes those Avengers pants so special, but he’s got them on. Maybe in the movie, they’re retractable.
The Hulkbuster Smash also comes with a fairly cool Ultron Prime figure and Scarlet Witch, too. She’s got the two-sided face; one angry, one not so angry. The other thing that’s cool about her is the Hulk containment system. She connects to the system with a clear piece that gives the impression she’s flying. Or in this case, hovering. It’s a neat little feature.
Overall, it’s a cool little set. What I’d really like to see, though? Is some sort of UCS Huklbuster set. Or, at the least, a righteously appointed set along the lines of Emmet’s Construct-O-Mecha. The Hulkbuster armor just screams for a set of it’s own. C’mon, Lego!!!
Before you click on out of here, don’t forget to check out the newest episode of the Almost Internet Famous Internet show. This week we’re talking about Sideshow Collectibles Poison Ivy statue!Filipino socialists respond to Typhoon Haiyen disaster: To save lives, redistribute food now! To prevent future catastrophes, stop economic and environmental plunder!
Statement released by the Party of the Labouring Masses (PLM, a Filipino socialist party) in response the humanitarian disaster caused by Typhoon Haiyan/Yolanda. Details on how to donate to the PLM’s relief efforts follow the statement.
Let Our People Live!
Save Lives, Redistribute Food!
Stop the Economic and Environment Plunder!
Climate Justice Now!
The people are still reeling from the impact of possibly the biggest typhoon to strike the country. Death toll numbers are rising rapidly. There is huge devastation.
Many are still trying to contact their relatives, friends and comrades, but communication systems are down, in the hardest hit areas. How should we, as activists and socialists, respond to the crisis?
Firstly, we have to support and take whatever measures are necessary to protect the people. This means all measures that bring the people immediate relief.
In the hardest hit city of Tacloban, in south eastern Visayas, the people are already taking what food and relief supplies that they need from the malls. The media reports this as looting and the break-down of law and order.
But we say: let our people live. This is not “looting”. People are taking food, where they can get it, in order to survive. If there is no timely and organsed support system from government, people just have to do it themselves and they should organise themselves to do it more effectively.
Even some grocery owners understand the need for this. According to one report of a man who broke into a grocery store: “The owner said we can take the food, but not the dried goods. Our situation is so dismal. We have deaths in our family. We need to save our lives. Even money has no use here now.”
Where possible, PLM will assist them to organise to take over food supplies and necessary relief goods.
Then there’s the issue of the government response. Our experience has been that it has always been too slow and inadequate. Any efforts are undermined by corruption. The exposure of the organised plunder by the political elite and sections of government, of development funds or “pork barrel” funds meant for the people, is a testimony to this.
This outraged the country and brought almost half-a-million people out in to the streets in a huge show of protest on August 26. While one plunderer has been arrested, the president has not responded decisively to clean up the system.
The public funds plundered by the elite should have been used for preventative measures to support the people weather these disasters: for infrastructure, including better sea walls and communication infrastructure; for early warning systems; for well-constructed and therefore safe public housing, to replace huts and shacks built out of dried leaves and cardboard; for health and education; for equipment and personnel for rapid emergency response, and the list is endless.
But no, this was not the case, it was eaten up by the greed of the elite classes.
Unfortunately, we have no reason to believe that the government and the system will deliver and meet the needs of the people, this time round either. The self-interest of the elite, and their control of the government and the system that is designed to perpetuate their interests, through the plunder of the people’s assets and resources, renders the entire set-up inutile in the face of a disaster on this scale.
Then there are our international “allies”, such as the United States government, who have sent us their best wishes. But these so-called “allies” are also responsible for the situation faced by our people.
These typhoons are part of the climate crisis phenomenon faced by the world today. Super Typhoon Haiyan (referred to as Yolanda in the Philippines) was one of the most intense tropical cyclones at landfall on record when it struck the Philippines on November 7. Its maximum sustained winds at landfall were pegged at 195 mph with gusts above 220 mph.
Some meteorologists even proclaimed it to be the strongest tropical cyclone at landfall in recorded history. Haiyan’s strength and the duration of its Category 5 intensity — the storm remained at peak Category 5 intensity for an incredible 48 straight hours.
The still-rising greenhouse gas emissions responsible for the climate crisis are disproportionately emitted by the rich and developed countries, from the US, Europe to Australia.
For centuries, these rich, developed countries have polluted and plundered our societies, emitting too much greenhouse gases to satisfy their greed for profit.
They have built countless destructive projects all over the world like polluting factories, coal-fired power plants, nuclear power plants and mega dams. They have also pushed for policies allowing extractive industries to practice wasteful and irresponsible extraction of the Earth’s minerals.
They continue to wage environmentally destructive wars and equip war industries, for corporate profits. All of this has fast-tracked the devastation of the Earth’s ecological system and brought about unprecedented changes in the planet’s climate.
But these are the same rich countries whose political elite are ignoring climate change and the climate crisis. Australia has recently elected a government that denies the very existence of climate change and has refused to send even a junior minister to the climate conference in Warsaw, Poland.
The question of climate justice — for the rich countries to bear the burden of taking the necessary measures for stopping it and to pay reparations and compensate those in poorer countries who are suffering the consequences of it — is not entertained even in a token way.
The way the rich countries demand debt payments from us, we now demand the payment of their “climate debts”, for climate justice and for them to take every necessary measure to cut back their greenhouse gas emission in the shortest time possible.
These rich “friends’” have preached to us about our courage and resilience. But as many here have pointed out, resilience is not just taking all the blows with a smiling face. Resilience is fighting back.
To be truly resilient we must organise, fight back and take matters in to our own hands, from the relief efforts on the ground to national government and to challenging and putting an end to the capitalist system. This is the only way to ensure that we are truly resilient.
Makibaka, huwag matakot!
Fight for our lives, don’t be afraid!
PLM relief efforts
We’re turning the PLM office into a relief goods’ collection office for the victims of Typhoon Haiyan/Yolanda, especially for Leyte and Samar victims, where we have some families, comrades and friends to assist for possible distribution. We’ll also link up to appropriate relief organisations to send what we can collect. Transport lines have been opened.
Please bring relief goods (water, medicines, rice, canned goods and other items) to PLM Office: 13 Rigor St., Bgy. Masagana, Project 4, Quezon City. Tel. 439-5811. Look for Ka Nelia, Van, Lara.
Email us at [email protected] if you can assist in anyway. Donations to those affected can be made via paypal on the Transform Asia website or donations can be sent to:
Transform Asia Gender and Labor Institute
Account No. 304-2-304004562
Swift Code: MBTCPHMM
Metrobank, Anonas Branch Aurora Blvd., Project 4
Quezon City, Metro Manila, Philippines
Email: [email protected]
Mobile/cell ph no. +63(0)9088877702HIT THE ROAD!
I wanted to send a quick thank you to all of you out there who are buying tickets to see my shows. I appreciate that you have purchased tickets, travel, etc. to come see what I’m doing. I want to let you know I’m about to go into the mastering phase of the album this week and then I should have a single out before the end of the year. I’m looking forward to these shows and today I’m starting my frist day plotting out set lists and going over the songs.
I sincerely appreciate your support and will make sure to give the best performances I can give at all of these shows! Have a good week everybody!
-Brian
Here’s the dates so far…:
US TOUR WITH CORY BRANAN.
01/07 : Portland, ME @ Port City Music Hall
01/08 : Woodstock, NY @ Bearsville Theater
01/09 : Mashantucket, CT @ The Fox Theater at Foxwoods Resort Casino
01/10 : Wilmington, DE @ World Cafe Live Wilmington
01/12 : Pittsburgh, PA @ Altar Bar
01/13 : Columbus, OH @ The A&R Music Bar
01/15 : Charlottesville, VA @ The Southern
01/16 : Saxapahaw, NC @ Haw River Ballroom
01/17 : Nashville, TN @ City Winery
UK/EUROPE APRIL TOUR:
5.4 Manchester Ritz
6.4 Glasgow O2 ABC
7.4 Birmingham O2 Institute
8.4 London Camden KOKO
9.4 Nottingham Rock City
10.4 Bristol O2 Academy
12.4 Brussels Ancienne Belgique
13.4 Amsterdam Melkweg
14.4 Berlin PBHF Club
15.4 Munich Muffathalle
17.4 Vienna Arena
19.4 Cologne Gloria Theater
20.4 Hamburg FabrikColin Quinn is probably best known for his stint on Saturday Night Live's "Weekend Update," but the faux-anchor job never suited his gruff, working-class brand of comedy. Quinn seems much more at ease in his present gig hosting Comedy Central's Tough Crowd, a boisterous variation on Politically Incorrect where comedians insult each other, crack wise, and, to a much lesser extent, discuss the issues of the day. Quinn began performing stand-up in the mid-'80s, and in 1987, he landed a prominent role on MTV's Remote Control, a pop-culture-themed game show that helped launch Adam Sandler's career and quickly developed a cult following. Quinn later wrote for In Living Color before becoming involved with SNL, first as a writer and then as a "Weekend Update" anchor. He subsequently hosted the short-lived sketch/variety show The Colin Quinn Show, which led to the thematically similar Tough Crowd. Quinn also co-wrote the story for 1996's Celtic Pride, and he's featured prominently in Comedian, a documentary about Jerry Seinfeld's return to stand-up following Seinfeld's end. The Onion A.V. Club recently spoke with Quinn about stand-up, SNL, the benefits of employing creeps and dummies, and why Crocodile Dundee II was not a Colin Quinn/Paul Hogan buddy comedy.
The Onion: How did you get started in stand-up?
Colin Quinn: I was bartending, and everyone said I should go into stand-up. So I went into it, because I had just quit drinking and had nothing left to do in the world. It was really that emptiness that made me say, "Fuck it." Because before that, I was scared to do it. I got a little bit of a late start. It was just that I realized that I had nothing to lose then. I couldn't go drinking anymore, so that was it.
O: I'd imagine that worked out well, seeing as comedy clubs are notorious for their hostility to alcohol.
CQ: Luckily, I was in the New York comedy-club scene, which was more Seinfeld/Paul Reiser-influenced at the time. If I had been in Boston, I probably wouldn't have lasted two days. They were all into drinking and coke at the time. I was working in those days, so I worked from about 12 to 8 or 9 at night as a bartender, and then I'd go to the clubs and sit around until 1 a.m., and then get up for 10 minutes. Somehow, it was so happy a time. Those early days of comedy are when you get addicted to it. I'm sure you know plenty of people who do stand-up–you can tell, because they've got a psychotic, self-obsessed look on their face, because they're preoccupied constantly with their act and their next gig.
O: Do you think comedy comes from pain?
CQ: Not from pain, but from anger. I think it comes from outrage and the pain of wanting to communicate. It's having to communicate, wanting people to see, "Can you believe that? Did you see this?" When it's done correctly, people say, "Yeah, that's right! That is outrageous! I didn't even think about it!"
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O: Was the comedy scene competitive when you started out?
CQ: Yeah, but I was lucky. It was about '84 when I started. Now, I feel sorry for these guys, because all these cocksucker club owners make them bring 20 people to the show. They still don't know who's good and who's funny. Funny to them is 80 people with their mouths open, laughing. There's no development of comedy. Even in my day, it was focused on audience-pleasing. I'm not saying you shouldn't please the audience–of course you should, that's part of comedy–but there wasn't a lot of room to really fuck around.
O: When you were on The Daily Show, Jon Stewart mentioned that he wrote some jokes for you when he was coming up. How did that happen?
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CQ: He was just writing jokes for me for when I was on Caroline's [Comedy Hour, which Quinn hosted]. If that son of a bitch is trying to say he wrote jokes for my act, he's being misinterpreted by you and probably millions of others, so I suggest he do some kind of retraction. He should put out a full-page ad like Sean Penn in The New York Times.
O: How did you end up on Remote Control?
CQ: At the time, I wasn't a big MTV watcher, but I was offered a game show, and it was everything that we protested against, like Brady Bunch jokes. 'Cause at that time, even in '87, Brady Bunch jokes were like the anathema. Me and [host Ken] Ober were so ashamed that our friends were going to see it. We both said to each other, "Luckily, no one is going to see this show." And then of course it became one of those college fucking cult things. But we had fun with it despite the fact that every time I did stand-up at the time, people would yell "Sing!" It's kind of hard when you're trying to do stand-up and 16-year-old kids are going to see you. It was so much fun being on MTV, though.
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O: What were the perks of being an MTV employee?
CQ: Well, I think we all know number one. Let's put it this way: It wasn't the money. There was no money. There was no first-class hotels. What were the perks? I believe there really was only one, but it was the only one that mattered.
O: That one perk being critical respect, of course.
CQ: You know, you kind of had to shut that side of yourself off. You had to have a little salve for the wounds.
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O: That perk must have been nice, though.
CQ: Yeah, it was funny. Unless you're some really movie-star good-looking guy, really handsome from birth, or you're a rock star and shit, you don't expect to be treated like that. So for a couple of years, it was kind of nice, you know? They'd treat you decently, and it wasn't like at that time there were so many great rock stars around that we didn't fit right in to the impermanent kind of thing. It wasn't like we were trying to be like Bono. We were trying to be like Faster Pussycat.
O: What was the most embarrassing thing MTV asked you to do?
CQ: I don't know. I did a lot of embarrassing things by choice, like I would take my penis out all the time on the set. We'd always take our dick out. At that time, it was a whole different world, so I can't really remember. You have to understand: We were in Florida. There's a stalker on one side of me who was trying to kill Martha Quinn and kill me because he thought I was Martha Quinn's husband, and on the other side was Humpty Hump with that fake nose, and next to him is 2Pac, who's like 17 or 16 and nobody's even noticing him. It was constantly surreal. You were always going from one party to another. It was very strange.
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O: What do you remember about making Crocodile Dundee II?
CQ: Here's how arrogant I was. That was before MTV took off, and to give you an idea what a deluded sensibility I had… You saw the part I had? [The Internet Movie Database lists Quinn as "Onlooker At Mansion."–ed.] That was the part from the beginning, apparently. It's not like they cut out some big part. They call me in, I'm doing comedy in New York at the time, and I go in and say, "Hey." I'd been in nothing but Three Men And A Baby at the time. I go, "Hey, I rewrote the script for you guys." Because it's supposed to be him in New York, and I said, "I felt like your script wasn't New York enough." So I rewrote the second half of the script with me as the co-star leading Paul Hogan all around New York, and him finding the real New York, at least through my eyes, all the boroughs. I handed it in to them, and then when the casting director said, "They just want you to have this little part," I remember thinking to myself, "Their loss. They don't know what they're doing."
O: Were you horribly disappointed when you saw the movie?
CQ: No, but I did feel, in my own deluded mind, "Boy, they really could have had a big hit." I remember thinking that number two wasn't going to do as good, because they're not doing New York. I gave them the keys to the kingdom.
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O: And then your character didn't appear in the third Crocodile Dundee movie, either.
CQ: Yeah, well, by then the bad blood between me and Paul had really had time to coagulate. It was really funny, though: I could have made some money from The Enquirer. We were shooting at this big mansion, and I saw him and Linda Kozlowski kissing well before they became an item, and while he was still married. I just walked up, and there they were. I was like, "Oh my God." It's funny, because all the teamsters were there, and the teamsters kind of have a class warfare with the artists on the set, and the ADs, everybody, right? Then Paul Hogan would be like, "Hey guys!" and he'd grab a hot dog off their grill without asking. But they had to respect the Australians, because the Australians would drink with them, 'cause in Australia, one day you're the director, the next day you're driving a truck. There's no class thing, really. But the Australians would drink them under the table, then be up at 6:30 working. The Australians are unbelievable partiers. Really insane. I don't know how they get those genes.
O: Then you wrote for In Living Color.
CQ: Yeah, I just submitted stuff. I always wanted to write as much as perform. And I had nothing going on performance-wise, and when you're ice-cold, nobody wants to hear it. I always loved writing, so I submitted a big packet. They were looking for people, so they called me in. It was toward the end, but Jim Carrey was still there. He'd just gotten the movie [Ace Ventura: Pet Detective]. You know, that movie was floating around for years. I read it a couple years before and I was like, "This movie stinks." Only Jim Carrey could have made that into anything. Among my other great choices… Mike Myers called me up to be the son in Austin Powers, but I was writing a screenplay at the time called Midnight Mass. You've probably never heard of it, because it was never produced. I go, "Yeah, but I'm working on my own stuff right now." And he goes, "But Colin, this is going to be a good movie." He starts describing Austin Powers to me. I was like, "That sounds great. You get like a Burt Bacharach-type soundtrack." He goes, "No, we have Burt Bacharach." I go, "That sounds great, but I'm doing my own stuff." He's like, "Colin, I'm not going to beg you," and then starts laughing on the phone, because on Larry Sanders I'd done the kind of character that he wanted. I was like, "Nah, I totally respect you, but I'm doing my own thing now," as if we were equals. And then, of course, five sequels later, no one's working on their own thing. I've done a lot of those. I've never regretted anything except that, kind of. My nephews and nieces were like, "You should have been in Austin Powers!"
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O: How would you compare writing for In Living Color to writing for Saturday Night Live?
CQ: I don't know. With In Living Color, you're writing for black people, and on SNL, it's mostly white people. I always wrote the same way. You know how it is with writing. You just write what you want to write. There's no way to predict what is good or bad. You just do what you think is funny, and either it works or you're finished. It's impossible to predict anything.
O: Was being an anchor on "Weekend Update" something you always wanted to do?
CQ: No, but once it became clear that Norm [Macdonald] was going to go, I said I wanted it. Norm even told me I should take over after him. But that was even before he was going to leave. Once he was leaving, I went to Norm, of course, and I went to Lorne [Michaels] and said, "I don't want Norm to leave, but if he leaves, I'm in for it." If they had brought somebody in from outside instead of one of us, that would have made me feel like, "Fuck, I should have asked for it."
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O: You used to do a little stand-up before going on to the news part of "Weekend Update." Was that your idea?
CQ: Yeah. "Update" was never quite for me. It's not my style. I was just trying to find some way to convey my idea of comedy, but once I put on a tie, it ceased to be my kind of thing.
O: You seemed like kind of an odd choice for "Weekend Update," because a lot of the previous anchors were more polished. They could pass for real-life anchors more easily.
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CQ: Yeah, a couple of weeks I had it where I wanted it. Otherwise, I never could really grasp it. Part of it was, like you said, the whole anchor thing.
O: What was the best part of being on Saturday Night Live?
CQ: Just that you knew everyone was watching it. In spite of the fact that in my opinion the "Weekend Update" thing was kind of choppy, I could say things I thought weren't being said. For example, like when something happened with Reggie White or some football player right after the John Rocker thing, I was like, "It's under the baseball double-standard rule." But it wasn't just baseball: Everybody was trying to make John Rocker the place where you could absolve all racial tension, and he's like one hillbilly from Georgia. That was the kind of thing I liked doing.
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O: Are there any hosts that stand out as being particularly bad during your time at SNL?
CQ: I had almost nothing to do with the hosts, because I was in the background. A lot of people said they didn't like Chevy Chase when he hosted. He's always heckling people. If he's walking down the street with his family, they don't even look shocked or bored or embarrassed. It's so normal to them. He bothers everybody as he walks past them, and harasses them, pushes them. It's really psychotic, but it's funny. In retrospect, everybody says that Chevy Chase was bad and that everybody hated him, but he really made everyone laugh, and he made me laugh, because he was just running around like an angry shit. Lorne would be talking, and Chevy'd be doing that… Do you remember, he used to do that thing where he'd be mouthing the words of people when they're talking? He was standing behind Lorne doing that, like, eight times. After the fifth time, it really is funny to see a grown man doing that, because you realize he's not just doing it to make you laugh. He's doing it because he can't stop doing it.
O: What did you think of Lorne Michaels?
CQ: He was like anyone else in that he had good and bad things about him. He was great as far as the amount of freedom he gave you. He would give anyone the freedom to roll with anything. What he gave you, you had to respect. But there are so many channels there that things get clogged. Things get lost in the ozone there. You don't know what happened. A lot of people there walk around in a fury, but they don't know who they're mad at. There was a lot of bureaucracy.
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O: In the book Live From New York, SNL writer James Downey talks about how a lot of the people who were being spoofed, like Robert De Niro and Joe Pesci, would appear on the show alongside the people spoofing them, and that that was a sign of how toothless the satire was. Do you think that's true?
CQ: No. Because first of all, Downey wrote a really funny sketch about that that really slammed it. You know, he was part of the older crew, from right before we all got there. He wrote this sketch called "The Sneaker Uppers" which was slamming exactly that–it was people always sneaking up [on the actors spoofing them]. Although it didn't get on the show, it successfully took the wind out of anyone writing a sneaker-upper. You could write one, but you could never really enjoy it again. Ultimately, that was more of his goal, I think, than getting it on. I don't know. I mean, what's so cutting-edge about attacking Joe Pesci and Robert De Niro? It's not like we live in a country where it's dangerous to attack President Bush. It's not. Yeah, there's a few people, the Dixie Chicks and whatever, but if you show me what's dangerous, and people don't attack it, then that's toothless. I'm not saying there aren't places where SNL is toothless, but that to me is not edgy, to make fun of De Niro and Joe Pesci. I mean, who cares?
O: What happened with The Colin Quinn Show?
CQ: That apparently wasn't toothless. Even though it was doing well, they yanked it. They try to blame it on the ratings, you know? But the ratings were like 5.6, which is pretty good considering there were only three episodes. And we were up against The Bachelor, which goes to show you how much I know about TV. Everybody was like, "Oh, this show The Bachelor, you're going to have to watch out." I was like, "Please, nobody wants to watch shit like that." Clearly I'm deluded. They just pulled it. I guess the advertisers might have had a problem with the racial content.
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O: What was the racial content?
CQ: The first week was kind of slamming Arabs, which nobody was saying at the moment, or just slamming the idea that you couldn't slam Arabs. Everyone's just kind of attacking each other's ethnicity, which doesn't really go on unless it's against white males. Nobody else is supposed to be attacked in their generalized form. It's old-school, or bad taste, or something. In that way, it was kind of dangerous, I suppose. But everybody who came up to me on the street–black, white, Puerto Rican, anybody–they all loved it, because that's how everybody talks growing up, at least where I come from.
O: Where did you get the idea for Tough Crowd?
CQ: I don't know, it was based on that show, the ABC show. Only they made it a conversation, and they were like, "Politically Incorrect was a little like this." But what the hell? We'll do whatever we do. We're not trained to imitate them, and maybe they're not the first ones to come up with that format.
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O: Why have only comedians?
CQ: I never have to worry about being intellectually intimidated that someone's going to say something imposing that I don't understand. They all have less education than me.
O: Do you think comedians tend to be an uneducated lot?
CQ: The ones on this show really aren't. There are some dumb fucks on this thing–I mean really dumb people. I'm not even saying it to be funny. I mean, they're smart in a comic way, but they're stupid idiots, non-high-school-graduates. We've got three non-high-school-graduates on the show. They don't even have GEDs. The only smart one is [Greg] Giraldo, who went to Harvard Law School and Columbia University, and then from there it's just a bunch of creeps.
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O: Of all the people who've been on Tough Crowd, who has surprised you the most?
CQ: Rich Vos, speaking of dumb. Because he's such a dummy, and I thought he'd be good on the show, because he's so funny when we just bust each other's balls. We always say that he's the only dumb Jew we've ever met. He doesn't deserve to call himself Jewish, because he just has no thought process. It's not even education–his mind just doesn't contemplate. He tips Mercedes dealers when they rip him off and sell him a shitty car. He tipped the guy who sold him his used Mercedes, which was a bomb. He tipped the guy. You're not supposed to tip him. He didn't graduate high school. He finished, like, 10th grade, and then he started some awful business. He had a mullet. But he's a funny motherfucker. He's great on the show because he's quick, you know? He just says a lot of dumb stuff. One of the greatest cockblocks I ever threw on him was about two years ago. He was going out with this girl who was an artist. They were at the Comedy Cellar, they'd been going out for two weeks, and they were doving and cooing, whatever it's called. I look at him and look at her, and say, "Listen, miss. Vos, tell me, where's the Museum Of Modern Art? If you can tell me where the Museum Of Modern Art, the Guggenheim, or the Whitney are, or even the Natural History Museum, I will get up from this table, apologize to both of you, and walk away." Of course, he had no fucking clue.
O: Is there anybody you'd like to have on your show who hasn't |
In fact, even promises of a surplus budget and near-done trade deals failed to reverse the slow trickle of Conservative support to below the 25 per cent line. In the latest poll, the Tories are the likeliest home for only 24.9 per cent of voters – a statistical tie for second place with the NDP, who stand at 24.4 per cent. That number represents the lowest level of stated support for the Conservatives since Harper was elected prime minister.
See full charts at the bottom of this article
“Not only would the government be in no position to aspire to a repeat its 2011 success, it may not even achieve leader of the opposition with these numbers,” said EKOS president Frank Graves. “While we find this scenario unlikely, the continued flagging of Conservative Party fortunes now renders this a real possibility.”
The Liberals remain in the lead at 38.3 per cent in voting intention, further indicating that the party’s resurgence is more than just a short-term honeymoon for leader Justin Trudeau.
“The Conservative decline is no ephemeral blip caused by some controversy or wobble,” said Graves. “It is a steady and grim decline along a straight line of descent.”
The poll was conducted between September 21 and 25, just prior to Harper’s speech to the United Nations’ General Assembly but after his annual photo-filled trip through the three northern territories and the NATO summit in Wales. Its margin of error is plus or minus 2.5 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.
Just below the voting intention figures lie a few clues as to what’s keeping the Conservatives in such a vulnerable position. According to EKOS, the Tories’ governing style isn’t appealing to Canadians as voters sound more and more hungry for a fresh approach.
In this round of polling, EKOS resurrected two questions on government vision. Around 48 per cent of respondents describe the government’s vision as a ‘careful, steady-as-she-goes approach’ and 43 per cent see a ‘bold new vision.’ That isn’t surprising given the story line Harper adopted during a campaign-style speech to party faithful at the opening of the fall Parliamentary sitting last month, in which he painted Canada as an island of stability in a dangerous world.
What EKOS believes to be more surprising is which style voters would prefer to see. Thirty-three per cent of voters sampled said they would like the steady approach, while 55 say they want a bold new vision. This shift is on top of another, more long-term trend that finds Canadians have become less able to discern what the government is about.
“Over the last 16 years, the proportion of Canadians who are unable or unwilling to categorize the government’s vision has jumped from eight per cent to more than 40 per cent,” said Graves. Still, “the Conservatives are increasingly not seen as even providing the more custodial steady-as-she-goes government that the voters saw in the past.”
Most worrying for Conservative electoral strategists is evidence that new Canadians aren’t staying put in the blue column, despite aggressive wooing through ethnic media outlets and cultural events by Employment and Social Deployment Minister Jason Kenney.
While forty-five per cent of people born in Canada say they would likely vote Liberal if an election were held tomorrow, that figure lifts to 48 per cent for second generation Canadians. Only 20 per cent of second generation Canadians said they would vote Conservative.
The NDP have strong support in British Columbia, Saskatchewan and Quebec, where the party has around 36 per cent of likely voters support.
In B.C., the NDP have campaigned hard to make the Conservatives’ approval of the Northern Gateway pipeline and the possibility of more oil tankers on the province’s coastline an election issue. In Quebec, the NDP’s edge over the Liberals, who sit at 32 per cent, and the Tories, who sit at 10 per cent, is a sign that the late Jack Layton’s breakthrough in the province is holding.
While still strong among Albertans and seniors, the Conservatives’ support is relaxing in both camps, said EKOS. The controversy surrounding the temporary foreign worker program has been a hot topic in the province.
CLICK ANY IMAGE TO OPEN GALLERYU.S. District Judge William Orrick III said during a July 11 hearing that he will hold pro-life activist David Daleiden’s attorneys, Steve Cooley and Brentford Ferreira, in contempt of court for publishing videos of a National Abortion Federation annual meeting, in violation of an injunction. “Criminal defense counsel … do not get to decide whether they can violate the preliminary injunction,” Orrick told the attorneys in court.
Orrick issued an injunction in February 2016 barring Daleiden and his organization, the Center for Medical Progress, from publishing secretly taped videos of the National Abortion Federation’s annual meetings, stating that the safety and privacy of the federation’s members outweighed Daleiden’s First Amendment right to publish the information.
Daleiden filed a motion June 7 seeking to have Orrick disqualified from presiding over the case on conflict-of-interest grounds because he previously served as a board member of the Planned Parenthood-affiliated Wolford Family Clinic at the Good Samaritan Family Resource Center in San Francisco. However, U.S. District Judge James Donato denied that motion.
Courthouse News Service reported on July 12 that that Cooley and Ferreira told Orrick they needed to place the videos in the public record to support Daleiden’s challenge of state felony charges. (However, all but one of the 15 charges have already been dismissed.)
“We take criminal defense seriously,” said attorney Matthew Geragos, who represented Cooley and Ferreira. “Mr. Daleiden is entitled to a zealous and vigorous defense.”
However, Orrick said the determination of whether such release of the videos is acceptable is up to the judge presiding over Daleiden’s case in San Francisco Superior Court — not Daleiden’s attorneys. “If the state court judge thinks those materials are necessary to provide a full and fair defense, I have no problem with that,” Orrick said.
The Courthouse News Service report noted that at the conclusion of the July 11 contempt hearing, Orrick ordered Daleiden to turn over 144 hours of the videos, whose public showing he suppressed, to attorneys representing him in the federal civil lawsuit. Orrick said Daleiden and his organization may review those materials for defense purposes so long as they remain in the custody of the attorneys.
Back on March 28, California Attorney General Xavier Becerra charged Daleiden and his associate Sandra Merritt with 15 felony charges — alleging that the pro-life activists had invaded the privacy of staff personnel at Planned Parenthood by filming undercover videos of themselves trying to buy fetal tissue from the abortion provider.
However, on June 21, Judge Christopher Hite of the San Francisco Superior Court dismissed 14 of the 15 criminal counts — ruling that counts 1-14 — pertaining to 14 separate interviews that Daleiden and Merritt conducted — were legally insufficient. But the court dismissed the charges with “leave to amend,” which means Becerra could present new or more specific evidence and simply refile his accusations.
The court will still consider the remaining 15th charge, against Merritt alone, for conspiring to invade privacy.
In a statement to LifeNews, attorney Mat Staver of Liberty Counsel, representing Merritt, said, “This is a huge victory to have 14 criminal counts dismissed.”
“We will now turn our attention to dismissing the final count. Sandra Merritt did nothing wrong. The complaint by the California Attorney General is unprecedented and frankly will threaten every journalist who provides valuable information to the public. This final count will also fall,” said Staver.
The 15th charge alleged that Daleiden and Merritt, under the business name of Biomax Procurement Services, signed an exhibitor agreement and paid a $3,225 registration fee to apply for exhibit space at the San Francisco NAF (National Abortion Federation) conference.
As we noted in previous articles, one would think that paying that hefty registration fee would grant them free access to participate in the conference as they saw fit, but Becerra thought otherwise. Apparently, Daleiden and Merritt committed an unspeakable “crime” and “secretly recorded conference speakers, vendors, and attendees.”
If Orrick’s impartiality on issues related to abortion were compromised by his relationship with a clinic that partnered with Planned Parenthood, Becerra’s record is even more tainted. A March 29 article from LifeNews reported that data from the Center for Responsive Politics shows that Planned Parenthood had been a longtime contributor to Becerra’s campaigns when he was a U.S. representative from California.
LifeNews reported: "The Planned Parenthood abortion business gave Becerra $1,000 in 2014, $2,000 in 2012, $500 in 2004, $1,000 in 2002, and $1,035 in 1998."
Photo of gavel: Clipart.com
Related articles:
L.A. Times Criticizes California AG for Charging Pro-life Activist With Felonies
Judge Orders Removal of Latest Undercover Video Implicating Planned Parenthood Abortionists
New Undercover Video Shows Planned Parenthood Executives in Grisly Conversations About Aborted Babies, Selling Body Parts
Calif. Attorney General Files Charges Against Pro-life Activist Daleiden
Texas Judge Dismisses Charge Against Pro-Life Investigator David Daleiden
Which is Worse: Abortion or a Fake Driver’s License?
Should Planned Parenthood Receive Taxpayer Funds?
Judge Extends Injunction Blocking Texas From Removing Planned Parenthood From Medicaid
Texas to Eliminate Medicaid Payments to Planned Parenthood
Ex-Planned Parenthood Director Details Sales of Aborted Baby Parts
Second Planned Parenthood Video Emerges
Reactions Vary to Video on Baby Parts Sales
Black Market Profiteering: Planned Parenthood Sells Aborted Baby Parts
Planned Parenthood Sues David Daleiden to Stop Document ReleaseL’ITALIA E L’F-35: CONFERMATA LA “SOVRANITA’ LIMITATA”
A maggio l’Ufficio di programma per il Joint Strike Fighter ha reso note alcune decisioni importanti per la gestione tecnico-operativa delle future flotte di F-35, con particolare riguardo a quelle dei partner internazionali. Le novità hanno notevoli implicazioni sul grado di sovranità che questi potranno esercitare sui sistemi e il livello di sofisticazione dei loro velivoli e conseguentemente sulle prestazioni che questi potranno offrire.
Il 5 maggio – ecco la novità – il Department of Defense americano ha assegnato a Lockheed Martin un contratto relativo ai Reprogramming Laboratories, gli uffici e laboratori su suolo americano nei quali le forze aeree che schiereranno questo aeroplano provvederanno tra l’altro a caricare nel suo software i dati utili a identificare e contrastare le radiofrequenze avversarie con cui si dovrà misurare in missione, e a sfruttare le caratteristiche di bassa osservabilità dell’F-35, generando i relativi Mission Data Files (MDF; l’F-35 ne richiede il doppio del fratello maggiore F-22).
Una attività per condurre la quale, come recita una nota dell’US Air Force, parte del partenariato “non dispone di risorse nazionali”. Non è il caso dell’Italia: l’Aeronautica e la Marina generano e aggiornano da sempre i dati di missione per i loro aerei da combattimento in piena autonomia, utilizzando proprie risorse umane e tecnologiche, ed esercitando la necessaria sovranità sulla logica dei sistemi dei velivoli.
L’Italia “aggregata” alla Norvegia
Il contratto passato alla Lockheed (21 milioni di dollari) riguarda in particolare il “Digital Tuner Insertion Program”, l’hardware con cui il velivolo sarà equipaggiato per la gestione di quei dati a partire dagli esemplari del lotto a basso rateo di produzione numero 11.
La nota del Pentagono è però importante perché conferma ufficialmente ciò che era già stato deciso tempo addietro anche per l’Italia, ma che da noi non era ancora venuto alla luce: in uno dei 3 previsti Reprogramming Laboratories, il nostro Paese, che sta acquistando due tipi differenti di F-35, si troverà a operare con la Norvegia, che avrà solo la variante a decollo convenzionale F-35A.
Un secondo laboratorio servirà le flotte australiana, canadese (se Ottawa dovesse mai confermare l’acquisto del JSF) e britannica, mentre un terzo Reprogramming Laboratory servirà le sole forze aeree statunitensi (USRL in sigla).
A quest’ultimo affideranno la generazione e gestione dei MDF dei propri F-35 gli altri partner e clienti (non Israele) che non rientrano nell’accordo per i due Laboratories “stranieri”, NIRL e ACURL in sigla.
Alla copertura dei costi di sviluppo e di gestione corrente di queste infrastrutture, dovranno provvedere gli stessi partner, con appositi finanziamenti. NIRL e ACURL verranno basati a Eglin (Florida) e saranno parte integrante del Partner Support Complex, un’organizzazione attivata l’11 maggio dal 53° Wing dell’US Air Force per “assicurare la prontezza (degli F-35; ndr) dei partner della nostra coalizione in ogni futura operazione”, come ha dichiarato il suo responsabile, un civile ex-53° Wing – reparto specializzato nella guerra elettronica che a Eglin finora ha provveduto al solo addestramento di tutti i piloti destinati al JSF.
Forte al momento di una trentina di tecnici e contractor anch’essi tutti civili (a regime saranno oltre un centinaio), il Partner Support Complex supporterà insomma anche la flotta italiana di JSF.
I nostri militari opereranno insieme con quelli della forza aerea norvegese in laboratori e uffici i cui organici complessivi in ogni caso saranno per il 50 per cento coperti da personale militare americano.
Il problema della disseminazione dei dati
La materia è di quelle che scottano: in gioco c’è la famosa “sovranità” sull’impiego di un sistema d’arma così decisivo per le due forze armate italiane che se ne stanno equipaggiando – e che secondo qualcuno, forse ignaro delle stime dell’Air Force che dicono esattamente il contrario, potranno trarne vantaggi economici rispetto all’insieme degli assetti aero-tattici che l’F-35 dovrà rimpiazzare.
C’è ancora da chiarire bene quale livello di conoscenza/consapevolezza – ripetiamo le parole del capo del supporto americano – abbiano i “partner della coalizione in ogni futura operazione” della logica che governa la generazione dei dati di missione.
C’è da capire come funziona la “fusion engine”, il software che “sposa” gli input che arrivano dai vari sensori e sono fusi in un unico dato, col sistema di trasmissione data link che li deve disseminare.
C’è da capire bene come comunicheranno, e con quali modalità di cyber-protezione (decise e gestite dagli Americani, ca va sans dire), le basi italiane con gli spazi dove si preparano e si riprogrammano di volta in volta i dati per le missioni dei loro F-35, stanze che non sono nell’hangar accanto ma in casa di un paese super amico, va bene, ma pur sempre straniero. C’è da capire dove andrebbero a parare i nostri Joint Strike Fighter senza questo supporto “amico”.
Sappiamo che i Mission Data Files sono veicolati dal sistema informatico globalizzato ALIS controllato dagli USA, che in ogni momento ha contezza dello stato di efficienza e prontezza operativa di tutte le flotte di F-35. Interrogato, dà le sue riposte, ma in base a precise gerarchie di ingresso e uscita.
Tutto è stato deciso sulla scorta di accordi politici – coi relativi effetti sul piano militare – verosimilmente ormai non più rinegoziabili (se mai lo sono stati).
Il 30 giugno, all’arrivo in Inghilterra di un F-35A dell’Air Force atteso al Royal International Air Tattoo, il generale USAF Jeffrey Harrigian (nella foto sotto), responsabile dell’integrazione dell’F-35, ha ammesso che in linea di principio non sarà sempre possibile far sapere a quel determinato F-35 “coalizzato” qual è la fonte dei dati che gli vengono girati in volo in data link: il pilota si deve fidare. Punto.
La possibilità di “disseminare nello stesso tempo (“sync up”) il rilascio dei dati di missione fra i nove partner e i tre acquirenti internazionali”, ha chiarito, “è stata una questione politica, non tecnologica”.
Ma le regole di ingaggio con l’ALIS parlano chiaro, e fra le regole ce n’è una inesorabile: la possibilità che hanno i partner di stabilire quali dati della propria flotta mettere a fattor comune attraverso ALIS, può comportare una limitazione del potenziale del sistema d’arma. E questo agli Stati Uniti non sta bene.
Cosa dice Armaereo
Di sicuro c’è che tutto questo è diverso dal modo con cui siamo abituati a impiegare da decenni i nostri Eurofighter, Tornado, AMX, Harrier. Poi, più banalmente ma fino a un certo ponto, c’è anche da capire perché per la generazione e gestione dei dati di missione dell’F-35 siamo stati aggregati a un partner del programma che per geografia, politica (la Norvegia è nella NATO ma non nella UE) e strategie militari, almeno di primo acchito (tolte le famose manovre invernali con le nostre truppe di montagna) non sembra avere granché da spartire col nostro Paese.
Desunte da documenti e dichiarazioni pubbliche (le famose, e a volte così denigrate, “fonti aperte”), tutte queste notizie non danno però un quadro completo del problema “sovranità”.
Analisi Difesa si è rivolta al Segretariato Generale della Difesa (Segredifesa) per capire, primo, che impatto potrà avere sull’operabilità dei nostri F-35 questa organizzazione e gestione pre-infra-post missione fuori dal territorio nazionale; e secondo, se e quando la nostra Difesa potrà operare questi aeroplani svincolandosi dalle infrastrutture e dal controllo statunitensi.
Ecco di seguito la lunga risposta giuntaci direttamente dal Direttore degli Armamenti Aeronautici e per l’Aeronavigabilità (Armaereo), Generale Ispettore Capo Francesco Langella.
“In primo luogo è bene chiarire che la difesa del Paese è integralmente gestita dalle Forze Armate italiane, che possono avvalersi anche del sostegno derivante da vigenti alleanze e trattati internazionali senza che questo comporti condivisioni di dati in eccesso rispetto a quelli strettamente necessari.
Pertanto le decisioni assunte dal Pentagono riguardo questo tipo di attività non hanno implicazioni di sorta, e l’Italia potrà operare i propri F-35 senza alcun controllo da parte di un Paese terzo.
Il Partner Support Complex è una infrastruttura che per alcuni Partner gestirà interamente lo sviluppo dei “Mission Data files”, per altri invece fornirà un supporto iniziale fintanto che il Partner avrà raggiunto il livello di autonomia previsto.
La capacità nazionale di generazione dei “Mission Data files” sarà acquisita entro il 2020 e, nel frattempo, il personale italiano dedicato presso la base di Eglin usufruirà del supporto del Partner Support Complex.
Più in dettaglio, la disponibilità di un laboratorio per la generazione di questi dati per i sistemi d’arma in inventario è, da sempre, un requisito di sovranità nazionale per l’Italia.
In ambito F-35, tale requisito è stato rappresentato e formalizzato nei confronti degli Stati Uniti sin dalle battute iniziali della partecipazione italiana al programma JSF, che come è noto risale al 1998.
La formulazione del suddetto requisito da parte delle nazioni è funzione della propria capacità autonoma di generazione dei “Mission Data files”. Ci sono nazioni come l’Italia che già la possiedono, e altre che si affidano completamente agli Stati Uniti con limitata o nulla visibilità sui contenuti.
Per soddisfare tale requisito, alcune nazioni hanno deciso, sulla base delle proprie esigenze temporali in merito alla acquisizione dei velivoli e alla relativa necessità di produzione dei suddetti “Mission Data files”, di procedere alla realizzazione dei propri laboratori condividendo le spese infrastrutturali (Australia/Canada/Gran Bretagna, e Italia/Norvegia).
I laboratori statunitensi (gli USLR; ndr), che supporteranno anche altre nazioni, quello Italia/Norvegia e quello Australia/Canada/Gran Bretagna, sono progettati, anche al loro interno, per poter generare i dati in modo segregato, tutelando i dati delle singole nazioni.
Al contempo sarà possibile su una base di opportunità, necessità e convenienza delle nazioni stesse, condividere dati, processi di generazione o prodotto finale.
È evidente che le possibili sinergie tra i Partner sono più orientate alla salvaguardia di aspetti programmatici, di cost-sharing o di accordi pregressi, e non dal livello di partecipazione alla fase di sviluppo del programma (…).
Va infatti osservato che Australia, Canada e Gran Bretagna sono storicamente legati da accordi nel campo della gestione delle rispettive informazioni di sicurezza che prescindono dalla specifico programma di riferimento (per esempio l’F-35), e hanno radici nelle relazioni tra i Paesi del Commonwealth.
L’aggregazione dell’Italia con la Norvegia è pertanto apparsa da subito come la più efficace, non tanto per la condivisione dei dati, quanto per le tempistiche di realizzazione delle strutture, di acquisizione dei velivoli, di comunanza nei requisiti di “sovranità nazionale” e di appartenenza all’Unione Europea”.
Autonomia nella “porzione italiana” di una infrastruttura americana
La Norvegia non appartiene all’Unione Europea, ma pazienza. I nostri F-35 genereranno i dati di missione in “aggregazione” con le forze aeree norvegesi.
“Su una base di opportunità” potranno scambiare i propri con gli aerei di altri paesi, fermo restando che i Reprogramming Laboratories genereranno i dati in modo segregato, tutelando i dati delle singole nazioni.
E’ difficile comprendere che cosa avverrà esattamente nel corso di una missione condotta da F-35 di diverse forze aeree, cioè, in soldoni, chi avrà tutti i dati necessari, che ne avrà meno, chi potrà scambiarli e chi no.
L’impressione che Analisi Difesa ha raccolto presso alcuni addetti ai lavori, resta che le diverse aggregazioni dei partner nei due Reprogramming Laboratories sia stata congegnata e attuata in base a discriminazioni di fatto operate da Washington in seno all’Alleanza Atlantica, e solo una volta giunti a un “punto di non ritorno” del programma e del coinvolgimento degli stessi partner.
In una nota successiva, il capo di Armaereo ribadisce comunque come “La capacità nazionale di generazione dei “Mission Data Files” sarà acquisita entro il 2020 (in anticipo rispetto alla prevista data di IOC “Initial Operational Capability” italiana)”, aggiungendo che “la piena autonomia è da intendersi presso la porzione italiana della struttura denominata NIRL (Norway-Italy Reprogramming Lab), che sarà realizzata nella base USAF di Eglin.
All’interno del NIRL lavorerà personale qualificato dell’Aeronautica e della Marina, per soddisfare le esigenze di entrambe le versioni in acquisizione da parte italiana (F-35A e F-35B)”.
Autonomia nella “porzione italiana” di una infrastruttura di fatto statunitense.
Che sta sul suolo americano, dipendendo dall’America per ciò che le occorre per funzionare, e non a casa nostra, compresa fra gli assetti dell’Aeronautica e della Marina, perché le tecnologie alla base della generazione e dell’utilizzo dei dati di missione di questi velivoli, per la legge americana non possono lasciare il suolo nazionale.
E noi dobbiamo sottostare a quella legge. Metà della futura linea da combattimento delle forze aeree italiane, sarà condizionata/regolata sulle basi legali di un altro paese.
Il generale Langella spiega anche perché è stata scelta la Norvegia.
Prescindendo, come egli suggerisce, dal livello che Roma e Oslo occupano nel partenariato del programma, è pur vero che Italia e Gran Bretagna:
a) restano i due operatori stranieri del JSF con le flotte più cospicue;
b) sono i soli due paesi oltre gli USA ad avere una peculiare necessità della versione STOVL;
c) avranno flotte omogenee, vista l’ormai quasi certa acquisizione oltre Manica anche della versione a decollo convenzionale;
d) rappresentano un unicuum nella NATO, essendo entrambi obbligati a massimizzare interoperabilità e sinergie con l’altro loro decisivo assetto aero-tattico, l’Eurofighter – sinergie che poi risulteranno potenzialmente condivisibili.
I punti di contatto fra noi e i Britannici non mancano, e almeno in linea di principio – al netto dei futuri orientamenti dei loro rinnovati vertici politici – si tratta di argomenti robusti.
Gli F-35 STOVL dei due paesi saranno verosimilmente destinati a teatri operativi geo-strategicamente contigui e analoghi (caso degli STOVL dell’Aeronautica Militare a parte) per tipo di piattaforma e apparato logistico infrastrutturale impiegato: le portaerei.
Una “complicità” operativa più tangibile con la Gran Bretagna avrebbe forse comportato a livello generale anche qualche vantaggio indiretto in più, visto che in quanto “socio” più grande del JSF, essa ha le migliori prospettive di sovranità sul sistema d’arma.
Londra si prepara a costruire importanti infrastrutture per l’addestramento, il supporto logistico e la manutenzione – comprese le installazioni che servono al ripristino della speciale verniciatura stealth – per i suoi previsti 138 F-35.
Tutte opere che serviranno anche al supporto dei 50-60 JSF della versione a decollo convenzionale che l’US Air Force schiererà dal 2022 sulla base aerea della RAF di Lakenheath.
I Britannici poi otterranno la sede dello Hub per le operazioni di modifica, riparazione e aggiornamento sull’avionica delle flotte europee di F-35, mentre Cameri si accontenterà di svolgere quelle stesse operazioni solo sulla struttura dei velivoli.
Ma tant’è: dipendere da un partner forte come la Gran Bretagna anche per la manutenzione di tutta l’elettronica di questo aereo-computer potrebbe avere i suoi vantaggi (poi, volendo ribaltare il discorso di 180 gradi, bisognerebbe anche chiedersi quali effetti negativi avrebbe su di noi questa dipendenza da oltre Manica sul fronte della sovranità tanto militare quanto industriale).
E se il JPO venisse chiuso?
Tornando ai Reprogramming Laboratories, c’è poi un problema di tempi. Secondo l’ultimo rapporto del Director of Operational Test & Evaluation del Pentagono (non più freschissimo, è vero), questi laboratori non saranno pronti prima del 2019, ossia dopo la prevista fase di valutazione operativa iniziale dell’aereo con la release (almeno per ora) definitiva del software, la Block 3F. Prima di allora, suggerisce il DOT&E, non sarà materialmente possibile impiegare l’F-35 in teatri operativi caratterizzati da minacce importanti (metti caso i sistemi contraerei russi S-300/400).
Ma l’Air Force, o il Pentagono, che poi è lo stesso, mordono il freno: nel giro di un anno, s’è saputo all’Air Tattoo, potrebbero “mostrare” al mondo in Medio Oriente F-35A freschi di Initial Operational Capability, però con ancora circa il 15 % delle prestazioni inibite da un software non definitivo, la necessità di ricevere dal costruttore decine di kit di modifica per rendere effettiva la IOC (è successo agli STOVL dei Marines), il Laboratory per i loro MDF ancora di là da venire, la valutazione operativa iniziale ancora da iniziare, e dulcis in fundo, lo stesso programma di sviluppo ancora da terminare.
In teoria, per i partner la dipendenza dalla disponibilità e dal controllo infrastrutturale statunitense potrebbe poi complicarsi ulteriormente se, come ha chiesto di recente la potente Commissione Difesa del Senato americano, l’attuale ufficio governativo che vi sovraintende facendo da tramite fra i vari governi del partenariato (il JPO, dal costo annuale di oltre 70 milioni di dollari), dovesse essere smantellato spalmandone responsabilità, competenze e gestione dei rapporti inter-governativi in due diversi uffici sotto il diretto comando dell’US Air Force e della US Navy – uffici separati in ragione della considerevole diversità fra la versione terrestre e le due navali del JSF (strada facendo la tanto pubblicizzata “commonality” s’è drasticamente ridotta).
Andrebbe così riscritta la Normativa tecnica di raccordo con quella americana della nostra Direzione Armamenti Aeronautici e per l’Aeronavigabilità, che al paragrafo 2.2 dice testualmente che “la DAAA riconosce il JPO quale autorità governativa che emette e/o approva manuali, prescrizioni tecniche, istruzioni etc. applicabili al sistema d’arma F-35”.
Per l’Italia come per tutti gli altri 11 clienti stranieri del JSF, significherebbe dover intrattenere rapporti non più con un Governo, ma direttamente con le sue forze armate, sotto il cui controllo, alla fine, ricadrebbe l’intero prosieguo del programma. Con effetti pratici sulla questione della generazione dei Data Mission Files degli F-35 tutti da capire.
Sotto-sovranità militare, ma anche industriale
Abbiamo accennato agli F-35 STOVL dell’Aeronautica. La nuova (terza) pianificazione del procurement contemplata dall’ultimo “Documento Programmatico Pluriennale 2016-2019”, conferma l’intenzione dell’Arma Azzurra di acquistare 15 esemplari di questa versione.
Fra le misure che dovrebbero se non dimezzare l’investimento complessivo nel programma – che la conferma dei 90 esemplari renderà irrealizzabile – almeno politicamente “ridurlo di un po’ ”, sembrava ci fosse anche il concentramento su un’unica base dei 30 F-35 STOVL di Aeronautica e Marina.
L’Aeronautica insiste per la sua di Amendola, dove intanto a fine anno dovrebbe atterrare il primo F-35 a decollo convenzionale coi colori del 13° Gruppo del locale 32° Stormo.
Ma gli ammiragli nel loro sito Web scrivono ancora che “su disposizione dell’Autorità Politica, alla Marina Militare saranno destinati 15 F-35B che, dislocati presso MARISTAER Grottaglie (attuale sede del GRUPAER), condivideranno il sedime aeroportuale con altrettanti JSF STOVL destinati all’Aeronautica”.
Notizie recenti danno invece Amendola come l’unica “casa” di tutti gli STOVL italiani.
Da noi interpellata a metà luglio, la Marina Militare conferma che “a oggi, l’ipotesi di accentramento dei velivoli F-35B italiani presso la base di Grottaglie è ancora una delle opzioni all’attenzione delle superiori autorità”.
La sorda guerra fra le due Forze Armate insomma continua, con due risultati poco edificanti: il primo, si sono già spesi centinaia di milioni di euro per i lavori necessari ad attrezzare le due basi, soldi che in parte verranno buttati dalla finestra quando finalmente qualcuno deciderà su quale delle due saranno dislocati 30 aerei da combattimento del tutto speciali come gli F-35B, che richiedono infrastrutture diverse/aggiuntive rispetto agli F-35A convenzionali; il secondo, contrariamente a quanto hanno fatto altri partner, in nessuna delle due basi italiane che riceveranno per prime i JSF si sono ancora svolti i test sul rumore di questi aerei, per stabilire quale impatto produrranno (anche) sulle urbanizzazioni civili circostanti.
Rinunciare a una delle basi di F-35B, abbiamo detto, non darebbe un contributo così sostanziale al quel “dimezzamento”, che come abbiamo scritto fino alla noia, si riferisce all’ipotesi iniziale di 131 aerei.
Diverso sarebbe rinunciare a una quota consistente della flotta ridimensionata da Di Paola a 90 esemplari, ma così non sarà. Il loro acquisto avverrà per fasi successive (quest’anno ne acquisteremo 4 – dovevano essere 6 – e ci impegneremo per altri 8 cominciando a ordinare e pagare i relativi Long-Lead Items; dopo i primi 8 aerei, avremo così preso impegni contrattuali per altri 12), cercando di spendere meno nella prima fase del procurement.
Ma anche questa è una bella storiella: meno aerei compro nell’unità di tempo, meno “sconti” mi farà il produttore e meno economie di scala potrò conseguire. E – dulcis in fundo – meno sovranità conquisterà da parte sua pure l’industria.
La FACO di Cameri ha già rallentato i suoi ratei, tanto negli assemblaggi degli aerei quanto nella costruzione delle ali.
Di queste finora sono stati prodotti dieci assiemi completi, con un rateo annuale lontanissimo da quello per cui sono stati dimensionati gli impianti.
Il rallentamento non facilita certo l’ottimizzazione dei costi industriali di Leonardo ( |
“Based Stick Man” or the “Alt-Knight” online.
Ten people were arrested during the melee, including Chapman. At their arraignment Tuesday, all were told they were not yet being charged. However, Chapman is still reportedly facing multiple felony charges at a later date, including one for assault with a deadly weapon (other than a firearm).
He has claimed his actions were in self-defense and supporters have raised close to $70,000 for bail money and legal expenses.
As of Wednesday afternoon, Chapman was free pending future actions by the district attorney.
Nehlen suggested Chapman’s case should be closely examined by conservatives.
“The law is more harshly enforced against conservatives than against leftists,” he said. “Watch the video of the fighting that was going on. Those Trump supporters didn’t assemble to fight. They assembled to ‘march forth’ on March 4th, in support of our president. The reality is that the Berkeley police waited until the fighting engulfed both supporters and Antifa agitators.”
Berkeley police have defended their relatively passive approach as necessary to prevent escalation. But Nehlen argues law enforcement around the country needs to be more aggressive in preventing attempts by Antifa to attack conservatives.
“Honestly, I think the law enforcement community, which I support, needs to swiftly act against the Antifa,” he said. “Zero tolerance for physical disrupters at rallies and marches is the only way to stop this violence. Otherwise, retaliatory violence can be expected. It’s only a matter of time before the first Antifa terrorist gets shot. Why? Because defending one’s life is a God given right enshrined in the Second Amendment. Kyle’s stick and shield were defensive weapons, no different than a pistol in your waistband. If the Antifa hadn’t shown up to incite violence, no violence would have occurred.”
Greer also decried what he believes is a double standard of how the law is applied against conservatives and leftists.
“The Trump supporter who was arrested over the weekend for hitting an anarchist may be facing several years in jail if he is charged, while not a single person has been arrested for beating innocent people at the Berkeley riot in February,” he said. “There probably will never be any charges against the Antifa who rioted against Milo. As we saw in the Deploraball case, leftists know they can get away with violence towards right-wingers and walk away with community service. Meanwhile, conservatives who defend themselves face years in jail.”
Nonetheless, Greer urged Trump supporters and conservatives to prepare to defend themselves and not count on the police.
“Conservatives are going to have to consider self-defense measures at public protests,” he said. “Police, in certain areas, are not going to protect them and anarchists are going to attack them no matter what. A night in jail is a better alternative than a lengthy stay in a hospital, and there would probably be fewer attacks on them if Antifa knew their intended victims were going to get hit back.”
And Vadum argued police need to crack down on Antifa attempts to disrupt peaceful gatherings or else people will have no choice but to organize for self-defense.
“Conservatives have to be prepared to defend themselves from these left-wing terrorists who are using violence in an effort to overturn the results of the presidential election,” Vadum told WND.
“What form that preparation should take is up to individual conservatives who shouldn’t be afraid to express themselves politically in public. In addition to assault charges, these leftists should be investigated under racketeering statutes. This is America – political speech is protected and rightfully so. The assaults on Trump supporters need to be vigorously prosecuted by the authorities.”
Political correctness is just the beginning. The situation on college campuses is worse than you could ever imagine – and America’s future is at stake. Don’t miss the political blockbuster of 2017 – “No Campus For White Men” by Scott Greer.Aputure is about to raise the bar once again, this time with a DEC VariND version of their popular line of lens adapters. This thing is capable of bringing the functionality of Sony’s FS5-style electronic ND filtration to any E-Mount camera.
The DEC VariND Lens Adapter
We just have discovered another very interesting device, this time at the Aputure stand at this year’s IBC. The new version of their lens adapter, the DEC VariND works just like the DEC Lens Regain focal length reducer, but instead of a lens they’ve put in an electronic Variable ND filter.
This allows you to smoothly dial in just the right amount of ND reduction for any given shot. It works quite similarly to the vari ND built into the Sony FS5 camera, where liquid crystals are used to achieve the smooth transition without the weird colors and cross-effects caused by manual variable NDs. With this adapter, you can upgrade any E-Mount camera to support a variND filter, which is very cool indeed. Plus, it also allows you to control focus and iris with most EF lenses, just like with the other versions of the DEC adapter.
You control the DEC VariND with the included wireless control grip or, if you’re using it on a shoulder mounted setup, you have controls directly on the adapter itself. No need to use the wireless control unless you want to do so.
To me this is a really straight forward product which bridges the gap between the very innovative electronical VariND of the Sony FS5 and other cameras still lacking it.
It will be available in about 2 to 3 months and it will be around $650. For more information, make sure to visit Aputure’s website and watch out for updates.
UPDATE: I’ve forwared your questions regarding the DEC adapter to Aputure’s Ted Sim. Here are his (very promising) replies:NSW Police Integrity Commission opens inquiry into agreements between police and Catholic Church over handling of abuse claims
Updated
The NSW Police Integrity Commission (PIC) has opened an investigation into agreements between the state's police force and the Catholic Church which may have enabled the church to conceal information about child sexual abuse.
Last year, the ABC's Lateline reported accusations that the church tried to strike a formal arrangement with police over how to handle abuse allegations and what information would be handed over for investigation.
There are questions over whether the memorandum of understanding was ever signed, approved or even in operation.
Operation Protea has now been set up to investigate such arrangements and whether there was any police misconduct between 1998 and 2005.
It will also look at the secondment of a senior police officer to an internal church committee which dealt with allegations of child abuse by clergy.
NSW Greens MP David Shoebridge, who accessed the police documents under Freedom of Information laws more than a year ago, said it was a welcome development.
"It is clearly a matter of deep and serious concern to the integrity commission," he said.
"The fact they are holding a public hearing is further confirmation that this is a serious inquiry, but it needs to go to the highest levels of NSW Police."
Mr Shoebridge said the documents he obtained raised serious questions.
"It became apparent that there was a formal MOU between the police and the church," he said.
"We saw this police officer engaged on the internal committee, and when we asked for the details of the evidence that had been given to that police officer, we were told that there was a protocol in place that either all of the evidence was returned by the police officer or anything that was retained by the police was shredded.
"Now how on Earth that came to be is an absolutely extraordinary set of circumstances, a deep potential conflict of interest for the police, and why, I assume, the PIC is taking such a careful view of it."
While it might be argued that such cooperation enabled an exchange of intelligence, Mr Shoebridge said it was difficult to justify such an arrangement.
"There is a fundamental problem when you effectively co-opt the police into your own internal inquiries, and of course the church has an obligation under the criminal law here in NSW to report to police instances of child abuse that would amount to an indictable crime.
"Almost certainly every one of the alleged allegations would have satisfied that obligation to have to report, and you can only speculate that the church may well have set up this institution and this arrangement with the police seeking to satisfy their reporting obligations under the Crimes Act and therefore avoid prosecution for failing to report to the police."
The Catholic Church's Truth Justice and Healing Council said it welcomed the PIC's inquiry.
The council said it would cooperate fully with any investigation that could provide greater clarity around the relationship between police and the church in relation to child sexual abuse.
The public hearing will be held on October 13 in Sydney.
Topics: police, catholic, religion-and-beliefs, child-abuse, sexual-offences, law-crime-and-justice, nsw, sydney-2000, australia
First postedCanterbury Monks Observe Massive Meteor Event
Canterbury, Kent The 18th of June 1178 AD
The medieval era had its drawbacks: plague, constant wars, famine, monarchs of often dubious sanity and no morality; but at least there was little light pollution so observing the skies with the naked eye was far more rewarding than it is today. On a balmy June night in 1178 five young monks in Canterbury were sitting facing the moon when they saw an astounding event.
What the novices saw was recorded by Gervase of Canterbury, whose chronicle relates they observed flames erupting several times from the top horn of a bright crescent moon, followed by snake-like writhing of the surface, as it apparently split in two, and darkness enveloping that area of the moon.
Modern scientists propose two explanations of the phenomenon: it may have been a large meteorite exploding in the atmosphere in their line of sight to the moon; or more intriguingly, it may be that they witnessed a huge impact explosion that blasted a new crater on the surface of our satellite, a crater now named Giordano Bruno (in the circumstances somewhat ironically, as he was an early scientific martyr killed by the church). We can be fairly sure they witnessed something extraordinary, as they were questioned closely and stood by their story, but scientists still debate what it could have been.
More famous dates here
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Myron Coureval Fagan (31 October 1887 - 12 May 1972) was a Jewish American writer, producer and filmaker. He arrived in New York in 1907, where he quickly became one of the youngest playwrights in American Theater. Over the years, he Douglas Fairbanks, John Barrymore, Humphrey Bogart, Brian Donlevy and Robert Ryan whom Fagan directed or who appeared in his plays.
In 1916 Fagan took a break from the theater to served as Director of Public Relations for Republican Presidential candidate Charles Evans Hughes. When a similar offer was made in 1928 to him by Herbert Hoover he turned it down. He moved to Hollywood in 1930, where he served as a writer and director with Pathe Pictures, Inc., then owned by Joseph P. Kennedy, and also at 20th Century Fox, and other Hollywood Film Studios.
“Fifty men have run America, and that’s a high figure.” -Joseph Kennedy, father of JFK, New York Times, July 1936 issue
In the mid 1940's Fagan launched a one-man crusade against what he claimed was a "Red Conspiracy in Hollywood". Out of this crusade would come the Cinema Educational Guild. The culmination of this crusade would be the 1947 congressional hearings where more than 300 famous stars, writers, and directors from Hollywood, Radio, and TV were investigated.
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Fagan as a Jew was not privy at the time to what the real goal of Communism was all about. He soon came to know when in 1945, Fagan claimed he saw secret documents of the meetings in Yalta, shown to him by author John T. Flynn, that led him to write the plays 'Red Rainbow', and 'Thieves Paradise.' Written in 1945, 'Red Rainbow' portrays Roosevelt, Stalin and others in Malta plotting to deliver the Balkans, Eastern Europe and Berlin to Stalin. Left-wing groups in the New York opposed the production of the play and Fagan had difficulties getting financial backing to produce it. Fagan took the play to Hollywood were he encountered even more protests against it than he had in New York. "Red Rainbow" It was finally produced and ran for a short period of time at the Royal Theatre.
Written two years later, 'Thieves Paradise' portrays the same group plotting to create the United Nations as a Communist front for one world government. Despite opposition, 'Thieves Paradise' opened at the Las Palmas Theatre in Hollywood on December 26 1947. It starred actor Howard Johnson who was subject to a campaign of harassment so bitter and intense that it sent him to St. Vincent's Hospital with a nervous breakdown after six performances. Johnson's mother was also a subject of this campaign against him. These incidences were investigated and corroborated by both Actors' Equity and the American Board of Arbitration. Johnson, who had appeared in three films, never made another movie in Hollywood. 'Thieves Paradise' was also produced and staged at the El Patio theatre in Hollywood in April, 1948. It opened on April 12th, and, despite protest against it, was able to complete its run. This is also mentioned in an anti-communist speech, Luxurious Hollywood made in the same theater, on December 9, 1948, by an unknown reputed Hollywood insider wearing a black mask and calling himself Mr. X.
From this period onward Fagan did not produce any further work for stage or screen, instead he wrote anti-communist pamphlets, such as Hollywood Reds are On the Run, and bulletins for the remainder of his life.
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The Eleventh Report of the Senate Fact-Finding Subcommittee on Un-American Activities of the California Legislature said this of Fagan's anti-Communist lists, "But those who realized their mistake and left the front organizations in disgust and disillusionment are often still carried as subversives on the Fagan lists, and therein lies the danger from any unofficial organization that undertakes to publish lists of alleged subversive organizations and individuals. They do not have the facilities, nor the authority, nor the experience to handle these matters in an expert fashion and therefore they produce an enormous amount of harm by falsely accusing individuals who are not only loyal but who have profited greatly by their unfortunate experiences in having been lured into Communist-front groups."
Between 1967 and 1968 Fagan recorded 'The Illuminati and the Council on Foreign Relations', three LP records documenting the activities of a secret society known as The Illuminati. Myron C. Fagan died on 12 May 1972 in Los Angeles, California, USA.
LISTEN TO THE RECORDINGSCould Jeremy Corbyn actually win the Labour leadership? Over the last week, he’s secured the endorsement of Britain’s largest trade union Unite, and, is currently second in our rolling list of constituency nominations, with 19 nominations, just eight behind the bookmakers’ frontrunner, Andy Burnham, and ahead of Yvette Cooper, who is widely believed in Labour circles to be the most likely winner. William Hill, the bookmakers, have slashed his odds to 7/1, almost equal with Kendall, currently fourth place in our list of nominations.
Can Corbyn do it?
Well, it’s possible. Since Labour party activists were first given a direct say in electing the party leader, they have, variously, backed Tony Blair, David Miliband and Jim Murphy by large margins. The older Miliband got 55 per cent of the vote among party members, while Murphy and Blair both got 64 per cent and 65 per cent in the first round of voting.
You can say a lot about those three men, but you can’t really call any of them Bennites. Just one candidate from the Labour left has won an election among party members, in fact: Ken Livingstone, who polled 60 per cent of the vote from members in 2000 and did even better in 2012, with 64 per cent. And that’s not because Labour members in the capital are to the left of the rest of the membership: they backed David Miliband by a bigger margin than the rest of the country.
“One thing people forget about Labour members,” a Kendallite MP told me recently, “is they hate losing. Hate it a lot more than the PLP, actually.” Another insider notes: “The membership voted for Ken Livingstone, an election winner, when the PLP were playing silly buggers. They voted for David Miliband when the trade unions fixed it for Ed.”
Although the other three candidates disagree about what Labour’s leader has to do to win, they are all pitching themselves to Labour members as candidates who can win an election.
Don't forget, either, that these nomination meetings hold no real force. They're more likely to attract ultras: and, almost by definition, Labour's left are more committed than activists from the centre or right of the party.
But what if it’s different this time? The success of Syriza in Greece, Podemos in Spain and the SNP north of the border might have convinced Labour activists that victory lies to the left, no the centre. The defeat of the Scottish Labour party, with a centrist candidate in the shape of Murphy, might have changed the party’s perception of what “a winner” looks like.
As I’ve written before, Corbyn is the candidate best-placed to benefit from Labour’s new electoral system – he has the greatest ability to reach outside of the Labour movement, in his case to the broad left. His campaign is also being run by Simon Fletcher, a veteran from Ken Livingstone’s bid for the mayoral nomination in 2000: that one-off triumph for a candidate from the party’s left.
It doesn’t, to me, feel likely that Corbyn will triumph in September. But his odds look good enough to me that I regret not putting a fiver on him when the bookmakers were offering odds of 100 to one.After four weeks, we are down to 29 undefeated FBS teams. Some are unbeaten because they have handled tough teams and looked great in doing so; most just haven't played anybody yet.
So which ones should we take seriously? Instead of using advanced stats, we're going to go in the opposite direction to get a read on each of the 29 undefeateds. Let's create a rudimentary scoring system; we'll grade each team's performance (in each game) based on whether it was bad, okay, good, or very good (and came against bad, okay, good, or very good competition). This is the opposite of official, but let's see what these grades can tell us.
Click here to skip straight to the rankings.
AAC
Houston (3-0)
Good against bad (Southern U., 62-13)
Okay against bad (Temple, 22-13)
Okay against okay (Rice, 31-26)
The Cougars have certainly taken care of business, but they've really only looked like even a top-30 or -40 team once. One cannot imagine them surviving the next four games (at UTSA, Memphis, BYU, at Rutgers) still unscathed. Still, Houston's halfway to bowl eligibility after a season away from the postseason. That's something.
Louisville (4-0)
Very good against okay (Ohio, 49-7)
Good against bad (Eastern Kentucky, 44-7)
Good against okay (Kentucky, 27-13)
Very good against bad (FIU, 72-0)
Louisville has passed the tests it's been given, weak as those tests have been. The remaining road slate -- Temple, USF, UConn, Cincinnati -- looks infinitely easier now that Cincinnati has looked disappointing and USF has looked ridiculously bad, but we already knew that it was going to take an upset to keep the Cardinals from finishing undefeated. Rutgers and UCF at home are no sure things, and Cincinnati could still surprise (Tommy Tuberville lives for beating top-five teams), but so far Louisville's results have gone exactly as the Cardinals hoped and expected.
UCF (3-0)
Good against bad (Akron, 38-7)
Good against bad (FIU, 38-0)
Good against good (Penn State, 34-31)
You could easily give UCF a "very good" for the win at Penn State. That was a lovely win, and at this stage I think it's pretty clear that two Knights -- UCF and Rutgers -- are the clear second tier of the AAC. UCF's just good enough that I would seriously consider picking the Knights over Louisville if the game were in Orlando. But it's not.
ACC
Clemson (3-0)
Very good against very good (Georgia, 38-35)
Good against bad (S.C. State, 52-13)
Good against good (N.C. State, 26-14)
Clemson showed strong resolve by absorbing some blows from N.C. State and handling its business anyway. But let's just say I don't feel any better about the Tigers' passing-downs offense and offensive line than I did before. N.C. State had Tajh Boyd harried and throwing off of his back foot (even more than normal) for much of the game. Again, you get points for handling your business, but that's two straight merely good performances. And again, one should expect more from the No. 3 team in the country.
Florida State (3-0)
Very good against good (Pitt, 41-13)
Very good against okay (Nevada, 62-7)
Very good against bad (Bethune-Cookman, 54-6)
It might be a stretch to call Pitt good, but it's not a stretch to say that FSU has looked the part of a 4.0 student so far. Not many teams have. The next two weeks -- at Boston College, Maryland at home -- should be mostly easy wins, but we should start to learn more about FSU's flaws in advance of the huge October 19 trip to Clemson.
Georgia Tech (3-0)
Very good against bad (Elon, 70-0)
Good against okay (Duke, 38-14)
Good against good (UNC, 28-20)
The Yellow Jackets obviously don't have the marquee win that Clemson has -- they won't get their shot at Georgia until the end of the year, and it probably won't go as well -- but they have handled their business. Winning by 24 points at Duke still says something, and after a slow start, Tech made most of the plays in the final three quarters against North Carolina. This is a good team. It isn't a great one, but it's a good one that has proven as much as some of the supposedly elite teams ranked ahead of it.
Maryland (4-0)
Good against bad (FIU, 43-10)
Good against bad (ODU, 47-10)
Okay against okay (UConn, 32-21)
Very good against okay (West Virginia, 37-0)
The second half against WVU was far from very good, but Maryland gets a pass because of the weather and the fact that the Terps were up 30-0 at halftime. This team has a very good offense and a defense that bails itself out with play-making ability. Like Georgia Tech, we're not going to necessarily give Maryland the benefit of the doubt, but the Terps have certainly played like a top-25 to -35 team so far.
Miami (3-0)
Good against bad (FAU, 34-6)
Good against good (Florida, 21-16)
Good against bad (Savannah State, 77-7)
Florida did the Hurricanes some serious favors, but there's no question that Miami has done what it needs to do. (And it's hard to look only good while winning by 70 points, but Savannah State is so bad that allowing points of any kind is a bit of a black mark.)
Big 12
Baylor (3-0)
Very good against bad (Wofford, 69-3)
Very good against bad (Buffalo, 70-13)
Very good against okay (ULM, 70-7)
Granted, the score of the ULM game should have probably been closer to 21-6 or something -- ULM went for it on fourth down in Baylor's red zone twice instead of kicking field goals (because field goals aren't going to beat Baylor), and Baylor was gifted two early pick sixes on mistakes by ULM receivers -- but that wouldn't have stopped the Bears from still cruising to about a 56-13 win. And they probably could have ended up with more yards if they had a reason to (i.e. if the game were closer for longer).
I still have obvious questions about the defense, which gave up too many early opportunities to Buffalo and allowed a couple to ULM as well, but that's picking nits at this point. Baylor's offense has somehow found another gear, and one has to consider the Bears one of the favorites to win the Big 12.
Oklahoma (3-0)
Good against okay (ULM, 34-0)
Okay against okay (WVU, 16-7)
Very good against okay (Tulsa, 51-20)
Clearly Bob Stoops and company saw something in Trevor Knight that allowed him to win the starting job over Blake Bell. But when Knight got hurt and Bell started in his place, OU transformed from "very good defense, shaky offense" to "very good across the board." That's one game, but we'll get a very good idea of how seriously to take the Sooners when they travel to South Bend this weekend.
Oklahoma State (3-0)
Good against good (Mississippi State, 21-3)
Good against okay (UTSA, 56-35)
Good against bad (Lamar, 59-3)
The running game looked sketchy against both UTSA and Lamar, but it didn't have to look better than that. The 'Pokes have passed the one true test they were given, and if they're a true Big 12 contender, they should get through the next four games (at WVU, Kansas State, TCU, at Iowa State) unscathed as well.
Texas Tech (4-0)
Good against okay (SMU, 41-23)
Good against bad (Stephen F. Austin, 61-13)
Good against good (TCU, 20-10)
Good against okay (Texas State, 33-7)
I defended the Big 12 quite a bit in the offseason, saying that there were as many as five potential top-15 teams at the top. Well, Texas clearly is not, and the loss of quarterback Casey Pachall has knocked TCU down a couple of pegs. But Baylor looks the part (far more than I even expected), and both Oklahoma and Oklahoma State still have clear top-15 potential, and Texas Tech has reached a decent cruising altitude. Tech probably isn't top-15 caliber, but the Red Raiders could be top-25. We'll know more if they can handle upcoming trips to Kansas and WVU without tripping up.
Big Ten
Michigan (4-0)
Very good against bad (CMU, 59-9)
Very good against very good (Notre Dame, 41-30)
Okay against bad (Akron, 28-24)
Okay against okay (UConn, 24-21)
Wait, Michigan's still undefeated? Are we sure? Because it kind of feels like they lost each of the last two games.
Minnesota (4-0)
Okay against bad (UNLV, 51-23)
Okay against bad (NMSU, 44-21)
Okay against bad (Western Illinois, 29-12)
Good against okay (San Jose State, 43-24)
Credit where it's due: San Jose State really could be a decent team, and Minnesota pulled away from the Spartans in the second half. The Gophers have mastered the art of the rope-a-dope against flimsy competition, looking near-awful in the first half before pulling away in the second. They aren't going to remain undefeated much longer (they are quite possibly inferior to each of their next eight opponents), but taking care of business early has gotten them two-thirds of the way to bowl eligibility. As with Houston, that's something.
Northwestern (4-0)
Good against okay (California, 44-30)
Very good against okay (Syracuse, 48-27)
Okay against bad (WMU, 38-17)
Okay against bad (Maine, 35-21)
I have no idea what to think of Northwestern right now. The Wildcats were spectacular early against Syracuse but have looked between decent and below average for most of the last five halves of football. Luckily, we won't have to wait long to find out what NU has to offer. After a bye week this Saturday, the Wildcats host Ohio State and visit Wisconsin. That will tell us what we need to know.
Ohio State (4-0)
Good against bad (Buffalo, 40-20)
Good against bad (San Diego State, 42-7)
Very good against okay (California, 52-34)
Very good against bad (Florida A&M, 76-0)
We learned on Saturday that Ohio State's fourth-stringers are better than Florida A&M. Glad we got that figured out.
Independent
Navy (2-0)
Good against okay (Indiana, 41-35)
Good against bad (Delaware, 51-7)
I mean, we're not talking about world-beaters here, but Navy's looked the part of a top-40 team thus far. Or at least top-50.
MAC
Northern Illinois (3-0)
Good against good (Iowa, 30-27)
Okay against bad (Idaho, 45-35)
Okay against bad (Eastern Illinois, 43-39)
If EIU had held onto its early 20-0 lead and knocked off NIU like it had already beaten San Diego State, the Panthers would have been granted immediate promotion into the MAC. It would have been for the best, really; UMass doesn't really want to be there anyway.
Mountain West
Fresno State (3-0)
Good against good (Rutgers, 52-51)
Okay against bad (Cal Poly, 41-25)
Good against good (Boise State, 41-40)
It really is a shame that Fresno State and Utah don't play each other this year (at least, not before bowl season); on alternating plays, those two teams look good enough to beat anybody and bad enough to lose to anybody. But FSU has now survived two good teams (and yes, I consider both Rutgers and Boise State good). That's more than a lot of undefeateds can say, even if both wins were by one point at home. And the Bulldogs are now better than every remaining opponent on the schedule, even if the advantages over road opponents like San Jose State and potentially San Diego State or Wyoming are not enormous. I expect them to lose at least one of those three games, but FSU certainly has a shot at running the table.
Pac-12
Arizona (3-0)
If we were to draw up the top 25 from scratch, No. 13 UCLA would potentially be sixth.
Good against bad (Northern Arizona, 35-0)
Very good against bad (UNLV, 58-13)
Good against okay (UTSA, 38-13)
The offense has looked good, the defense has looked good, and we'll know infinitely more after trips to Washington (this Saturday) and USC (October 10).
Colorado (2-0)
Good against okay (Colorado State, 41-27)
Okay against bad (Central Arkansas, 38-24)
No, there are probably not too many more wins on this schedule. But "The Buffs have taken care of business thus far" is not something we've been able to say much in the last decade or so.
Oregon (3-0)
Very good against bad (Nicholls State, 66-3)
Very good against okay (Virginia, 59-10)
Very good against okay (Tennessee, 59-14)
Nevermind the trip to Stanford on November 7... I cannot wait for Oregon at Washington on October 12.
Stanford (3-0)
Good against okay (SJSU, 34-13)
Good against bad (Army, 34-20)
Very good against good (Arizona State, 42-28)
Like Alabama, the Cardinal looked as good as they needed to look against mediocre (at best) teams to start the season; but in going up 39-7 on Arizona State (before the backups gave a lot back), I think they proved a lot.
UCLA (3-0)
Very good against okay (Nevada, 58-20)
Very good against good (Nebraska, 41-21)
Very good against bad (NMSU, 59-13)
I understand that you're supposed to beat NMSU by 46 points; but the Bruins have been explosive on offense and mostly stingy on defense, and if we were to draw up the top 25 from scratch, I think they'd potentially be sixth or seventh instead of 13th...
Washington (3-0)
Very good against good (Boise State, 38-6)
Good against okay (Illinois, 34-24)
Very good against bad (Idaho State, 56-0)
...and Washington would quite possibly be in the top 10 as well. I don't want to overstate things here -- killing Idaho State doesn't mean much, and as we get further removed from Illinois' random pasting of Cincinnati, we might be less impressed by the Huskies' 10-point win in Chicago. But that Boise State win scored serious points with me, and I'm leaning toward "Washington is legit" right now.
SEC
Alabama (3-0)
Very good against good (Virginia Tech, 35-10)
Very good against very good (Texas A&M, 49-42)
Good against okay (Colorado State, 31-6)
A) Yes, Alabama tends to hold something in reserve against lesser opponents and is less likely than peers to go out and win a game by 63 points.
B) Yes, previous Alabama national champions have had their lackluster performances. The Tide only beat a bad FAU team by 40-7 last year and struggled with Georgia Southern's option in a 45-21 win in 2011.
C) Still, the Tide barely gained 200 yards against Virginia Tech and led Colorado State by just a 17-6 margin heading into the fourth quarter on Saturday. Previous Alabama teams would have done more than that. I'm not changing my national title pick by any means, but I'm far less sold on the Tide than I was four weeks ago.
D) Yes, I'm being incredibly generous giving Alabama a "very good" for Virginia Tech. Too generous, probably.
LSU (4-0)
Very good against good (TCU, 37-27)
Very good against bad (UAB, 56-17)
Very good against bad (Kent, 45-13)
Very good against okay (Auburn, 35-21)
This is the best LSU offense since at least 2007. The defense still has some questions to answer, but thus far the Tigers have been the top-six to -eight team I expected them to be.
Missouri (3-0)
Good against bad (Murray State, 58-14)
Good against okay (Toledo, 38-23)
Good against okay (Indiana, 45-28)
The Toledo game probably should have been closer (Toledo blew some opportunities), and the Indiana game should have been even more lopsided (Missouri blew some opportunities). In all, though, this is a good team. We'll find out how good when the Tigers visit Vanderbilt in a couple of weeks (and then embark on an @Georgia-Florida-SC stretch).
Ole Miss (3-0)
Good against good (Vanderbilt, 39-35)
Okay against bad (SE Missouri State, 31-13)
Very good against good (Texas, 44-23)
The last impression is always the clearest, and Ole Miss looked awesome in the second half against Texas. The Rebels haven't looked that good all year, but obviously they'll get a chance to make a statement in Tuscaloosa on Saturday.
Okay, so what if we give out GPAs based on the grades above? Let's give four points for a "very good," three for "good," two for "okay," and one for "bad." How are teams grading out so far?
(Teams' AP rankings are listed below.)
4.0 average
No. 8 Florida State (vs. 2.0 competition)
No. 13 UCLA (vs. 2.0)
No. 6 LSU (vs. 1.8)
No. 2 Oregon (vs. 1.7)
No. 19 Baylor (vs. 1.3)
Forget your preconceptions for a moment; these five teams have looked the most consistently great so far this year. Granted, almost none of them have played anybody, but as I like to say, you can only pass the tests you've been given. The tests will get tougher for all involved soon enough.
3.7
No. 1 Alabama (vs. 3.0)
No. 16 Washington (vs. 2.0)
And this is only if you give Alabama a "very good" for the defensive (and non-offensive) performance against Virginia Tech. Nick Saban has some work to do, but he probably likes it that way.
3.5
No. 7 Louisville (vs. 1.5)
No. 4 Ohio State (vs. 1.3)
Good enough for the schedules at hand.
Seriously, can we redraw the schedules before Saturday? Obviously Wisconsin (in Columbus) and Northwestern (in Evanston) will be a pretty stiff 1-2 punch for Ohio State to handle, but that shouldn't be the stiffest test standing between you and the BCS title game. And what's Louisville's toughest 1-2 punch... Rutgers-UCF, I guess? Yuck.
3.3
No. 3 Clemson (vs. 2.3)
No. 5 Stanford (vs. 2.0)
No. 27 Georgia Tech (vs. 2.0)
No. 32 Arizona (vs. 1.3)
Either Clemson and Stanford are overrated, or Georgia Tech and Arizona are underrated. Or, you know, neither. It's still early.
3.0
No. 21 Ole Miss (vs. 2.3)
No. 18 Michigan ( |
1000BC is now being repeated in Palestine by the US Alliance-backed racist Zionists as summarized below.
In 1880 there were about 0.5 million Indigenous Palestinians. Of the 25,000 Jews in Palestine half were immigrants (see: http://www.palestineremembered.com/... and http://www.mideastweb.org/palpop.htm ). Palestinian casualties of war violence total about 80,000 since 1948 and about 100,000 since 1936 (see “Palestinian casualties of war”. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palest... ). However one must also consider avoidable Palestinian deaths from war-, expulsion- and occupation-imposed deprivation that now total about 1.9 million since 1948. Thus Palestinian deaths from violence or from violently-imposed deprivation since 1936 total about 2.0 million. In contrast, according to the Israeli Foreign Ministry: “From 1920 through 1999, a total of 2,500 residents of Mandatory Palestine and, since 1948, the State of Israel fell victims to hostile enemy action; in most cases, terrorist attacks” and “1,218 people have been killed by Palestinian violence and terrorism since September 2000” i.e. 3,700 Israelis have been killed by Palestinians since 1920 as compared to 2.0 million Palestinians killed by racist Zionist colonizers since 1936.
Palestinian refugees total about 7 million, of whom about 5 million are registered with the UN. Of 12 million Palestinians, about 6 million are forbidden to even step foot in their own country, one of the world’s oldest civilizations dating to the very dawn of agrarian civilization. This has been a Palestinian Genocide as defined by Article 2 of the UN Genocide Convention as "acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial or religious group". The race-based, racist Zionist-run Apartheid State of Israel is a democracy-by-genocide. Of about 12 million Palestinians, only the adults of 1.6 million Palestinian Israelis (21% of the Israeli population) can vote for the government ruling all of a 90% ethnically cleansed Palestine plus part of Lebanon and a near-completely ethnically cleansed part of Syria, albeit as third class citizens. 1.6 million Occupied Palestinians are abusively confined to the Gaza Concentration Camp and 2.5 million Occupied Palestinians live under highly abusive military rule in West Bank Bantustans. There are 5.9 million Jewish Israelis and 0.3 million non-Jewish and non-Arab Israelis (see “Palestinian Genocide”: https://sites.google.com/site/pales...).
Yet as pointed out by Professor Shlomo Sand of Tel Aviv University (a university that sits on the site of an Arab village ethnically cleansed within living memory), the cultural and ethnic descendants of the Palestinians of the time of Jesus are indeed today’s Indigenous Palestinians. In contrast, most of the Jewish Israelis are descendants of Yemeni, Berber and Khazar converts to a commendably universalist Judaism of the first millennium CE.
Outstanding Jewish American scholar Professor Jared Diamond in his best-selling book "Collapse” (Prologue, p10, Penguin edition) enunciated the "moral principle, namely that it is morally wrong for one people to dispossess, subjugate, or exterminate another people", an injunction grossly violated by racist Zionist-run Apartheid Israel and by its racist, genocide-committing and genocide-ignoring US Alliance backers in the post-1990 War on Muslims that has been associated, so far, with 12 million Muslim deaths from violence or from violently-imposed deprivation (see “Muslim Holocaust Muslim Genocide”: https://sites.google.com/site/musli... ).
The largely Christian Americans have an acronym WWJD that stands for “What would Jesus Do?” There is no doubt in the mind of decent people that the wonderfully humane Jesus would be dead opposed to the following genocidal atrocities by the racist Zionists or by the Zionist-backed US Alliance (deaths from violence or from violently-imposed deprivation in parentheses): the Palestinian Genocide (2.0 million since 1936), the Iraqi Genocide (4.6 million since 1990), the Somali Genocide (2.2 million since 1992) and the Afghan Genocide (5.6 million since 2001). Jesus no doubt would share the humane position of anti-racist Jews and ant-racist non-Jews opposed to such atrocities (for the opinions of such outstanding humanitarians about the ongoing Palestinian Genocide see “Jews Against Racist Zionism: https://sites.google.com/site/jewsa... and “Non-Jews Against Racist Zionism”: https://sites.google.com/site/nonje... ).
At Christmas time we remember the Biblical story of the Holy Family fleeing as refugees from the genocidal infanticide of King Herod. We should spare a thought for the 7 million Palestinian refugees and over 20 million Muslim refugees in the world today largely due to Anglo-American-backed Zionist violence or Zionist-backed Anglo-American violence, the breakdown being 7 million Palestinians, 5-6 million Iraqis, 2.0 million Somalis, 3-4 million Afghans, 1 million Libyans, 0.5 million Syrians, 1 million Myanmar Rohingyas and 2 million Pashtun refugees generated in NW Pakistan by US and US-backed violence.
At Christmas time we remember the Biblical story of mass murder of infants by Herod. We should spare a thought for the present era, and the 3,000 Palestinian infants dying deprivation-linked deaths under Israeli Occupation and the 0.2 million who have done so since 1967; the over 7 million under-5 infants dying avoidably each year on Spaceship Earth with Neocon American and Zionist Imperialist One Percenters in charge of the flight deck; and the nearly 6 million under-5 year old infants who have died avoidably in the Zionist-backed US War on Muslims since 1990, the breakdown being 1.8 million (Iraq), 2.6 million (Afghanistan) and 1.2 million (Somalia), this being a Muslim Holocaust commensurate with the WW2 Jewish Holocaust (5-6 million killed, 1 in 6 dying from imposed deprivation).
Yet these horrendous realities are steadfastly ignored by One Percenter-run Mainstream media in the Western Lobbyocracies, Murdochracies and Corporatocracies in which Big Money buys people, politicians, parties, policies, public perception of reality and votes. For decent human beings it goes without saying that “thou shalt not kill children”. If Indigenous Palestinian Jesus had been born in our era He might well have become one of the 1 million Palestinian children killed through violence or deprivation since 1936; one of 2 million Occupied Palestinian children denied human rights by the Israelis; or one of 0.8 million Palestinian children abusively confined to what the Catholic Church has described as the Gaza Concentration Camp, and of whom 80,000 are physically stunted due to Israeli sanctions.
WWJD (“What would Jesus Do?”) Jesus would speak out as he did 2,000 years ago when he declared (Matthew 18.6): “But whoso shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me, it were better that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea.” We must all live Jesus’ message of “love they neighbor as thyself” but love is not enough – we must speak out on behalf of the innocents suffering at the hands of the Neocon American and Zionist Imperialist One Percenters. Peace is the only way but silence kills and silence is complicity.Physiological electric potential is well-known for its indispensable role in maintaining bone volume and quality. Although implanted biomaterials simulating structural, morphological, mechanical, and chemical properties of natural tissue or organ has been introduced in the field of bone regeneration, the concept of restoring physiological electric microenvironment remains ignored in biomaterials design. In this work, a flexible nanocomposite membrane mimicking the endogenous electric potential is fabricated to explore its bone defect repair efficiency. BaTiO 3 nanoparticles (BTO NPs) were first coated with polydopamine. Then the composite membranes are fabricated with homogeneous distribution of Dopa@BTO NPs in poly(vinylidene fluoridetrifluoroethylene) (P(VDF-TrFE)) matrix. The surface potential of the nanocomposite membranes could be tuned up to −76.8 mV by optimizing the composition ratio and corona poling treatment, which conform to the level of endogenous biopotential. Remarkably, the surface potential of polarized nanocomposite membranes exhibited a dramatic stability with more than half of original surface potential remained up to 12 weeks in the condition of bone defect. In vitro, the membranes encouraged bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (BM-MSCs) activity and osteogenic differentiation. In vivo, the membranes sustainably maintained the electric microenvironment giving rise to rapid bone regeneration and complete mature bone-structure formation. Our findings evidence that physiological electric potential repair should be paid sufficient attention in biomaterials design, and this concept might provide an innovative and well-suited strategy for bone regenerative therapies.Most people never delve into the world of alternate operating systems, instead sticking with macOS or Windows simply because that's what came installed on their computer. That's perfectly fine, since both Cupertino and Redmond deliver excellent desktop operating systems. However, Ubuntu (a GNU/Linux system published by Canonical) can fill the gaps for those who want a free OS to install on their home, work, or hobbyist devices. (Yes, technically, macOS is also free, but you pay a premium for any device that runs that system.) For this review, I tested the latest release of Ubuntu (pronounced "oo-boon-too"), version 18.04, and found it both familiar and feature-complete, despite its steeper learning curve and lack of support for some common software. Windows 10 and macOS remain our Editors' Choices for desktop operating systems because of their broader device and application support, more polished feel, and wider user bases.
What Are Unix, Linux, GNU, and GNOME?
Before I dive into the latest iteration of Ubuntu, it's important to understand how it came about and some of the terms you may encounter while researching and ultimately deploying Ubuntu on a device. I'll start with a brief history of operating systems. If you don't want to learn about the origins of Ubuntu, feel free to skip down to the What Is Ubuntu? section.
Unix is a proprietary command-line based OS originally developed by Dennis Ritchie and Ken Thompson (among others) at AT&T's Bell Labs in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Unix is coded almost entirely in the C programming language (also invented by Ritchie) and was originally intended to be used as a portable and convenient OS for programmers.
Unix slowly gained popularity, but it was still owned by AT&T, which meant that it could not be freely distributed. Thus, several developers created Unix-like systems that upheld the Unix philosophy (a minimalist, modular software design philosophy created by Thompson), but that did not contain any of the original Unix code to avoid legal issues. Linux, developed by Linus Torvalds in 1991, is one such example. On a side note, macOS is still technically a Unix-certified operating system. Unix-certified simply means that macOS is compliant with a series of operating system standards, such as the POSIX (Portable Operating System Interface) family of standards, that qualify it to use the Unix name.
It's important to understand that Linux is not a complete operating system on its own. This is where GNU (which, confusingly, stands for "GNU's Not Unix"), founded by Richard Stallman in the 1980's enters the picture. GNU describes itself as "an operating system that is free software," and is one of the missing parts. Per GNU "Linux is the kernel: the program in the system that allocates the machine's resources to the other programs that you run. The kernel is an essential part of an operating system, but useless by itself; it can only function in the context of a complete operating system."
While GNU is also in the process of creating its own kernel, called GNU Hurd, that project is still in the early stages of development, leaving GNU and Linux co-dependent, for now. To bring up a common point of debate, GNU members and others argue that references to Linux (as a complete operating system) should instead be written as GNU/Linux, in acknowledgment of GNU and Linux's symbiotic relationship. The opposing side tends to focus on the fact that Linux (by itself) is a more mainstream term. Further, opponents argue that by using the same logic that leads to GNU/Linux, the name could expand ad nauseam to GNU/Linux/ [Windowing System]/ [Desktop Environment]/ [Other component]. For the purpose of this review, I will take the middle ground and use GNU/Linux nomenclature where relevant.
The histories of each of these projects could fill many books, but this brief summation should be enough to help you understand Ubuntu's origins.
What Is a GNU/Linux Distro?
A GNU/Linux distribution (more commonly referred to as a distro) is best thought of as a neatly wrapped package of the core software components that make up an operating system. A GNU/Linux distribution usually includes the Linux kernel, GNU tools and libraries (such as the Terminal and commands), a windowing system for displaying windows on the display and interacting with input devices (in this case X Org's X Window System, or X), and a desktop environment (GNOME 3, in the case of this review). For reference, the Free Software Foundation (FSF), also founded by Stallman, sponsors GNOME (along with GNU).
A software company or organization typically packages all these software parts and creates an ISO image, which end users can download and install on devices. (I discuss the installation process in a later section.) For example, Canonical manages the release of Ubuntu, one of the most popular GNU/Linux distros. If you are skilled enough, you can package all these elements on your own, but that is an expert-level undertaking.
Other popular GNU/Linux distros include Debian, Fedora, Mint, and RedHat. All of those distros are similar to Ubuntu in that they are suitable as a work or home desktop environment and use many of the same core components. Some distros serve narrower purposes, such as the "just enough OS" for running Kodi, called LibreELEC. Although our review focuses on Ubuntu, setting up and using some of the other more mainstream distros should be similar.
Yet another important note is that Ubuntu itself is Debian-based, meaning that it "builds on the Debian architecture and infrastructure and collaborates widely with Debian developers," per Ubuntu's website. Basically, this means that Ubuntu uses the same method to install software, called.deb packages. Ubuntu makes fixes and changes to the packages based on Ubuntu's software philosophies and deploys those to its users (sometimes sending changes back upstream to Debian). Ubuntu further clarifies differences from Debian on its website, "Ubuntu has a distinctive user interface, a separate developer community (though many developers participate in both projects) and a different release process."
What Is Ubuntu?
According to Ubuntu's site, the word Ubuntu is of ancient African origin and translates to "humanity for others." However, the exact translation seems to be under debate. This name hints at Canonical's grand goal of developing software for the greater good. Ubuntu's mission page states "In an era where the frontiers of innovation are public, and not private, the platforms for consuming that innovation should enable everyone to participate." The page also lists a couple more core tenets, chief among them the user's "freedom to download, run, copy, distribute, study, share, change and improve their software for any purpose, without paying licensing fees."
So with all that in mind, what exactly should a user reasonably expect from a do-it-all amicably aimed desktop OS? When I consider what an OS should be in this context, the words that come to my mind are free, simple, fast, secure, and customizable. I evaluate Ubuntu for those qualities in this review.
The latest Ubuntu version at the time of publishing is 18.04 LTS (Bionic Beaver). LTS stands for long-term support, which guarantees five years of free security and maintenance updates. Bionic Beaver is the latest bi-annual (every two years) release that the Ubuntu community plans to support long-term. Ubuntu releases additional updates every six months, but those are optional and tend to be less significant. For example, one of the next releases of Ubuntu, (version 18.10), will focus on improving battery life on laptops.
As I mentioned, Canonical is the privately held, UK-based software company founded by Mark Shuttleworth that is responsible for publishing Ubuntu, among other projects, such as Mir (alternative to X). Notably, Canonical was involved with developing Chrome OS in its early days. Apart from the desktop version of Ubuntu that I focus on in this review, Canonical also releases versions of Ubuntu for cloud, server, and core/IoT platforms.
One notable thing about the latest Ubuntu desktop release is that it uses GNOME 3 as its default desktop environment. Past versions of Ubuntu used the Canonical-developed graphical shell, Unity, as part of an effort to create a mobile Ubuntu OS. However, Shuttleworth announced in a 2017 memo that Canonical would "end our investment in Unity8, the phone and convergence shell." The UBports community continues to develop Ubuntu Touch, an open source mobile OS based developed on Unity.
In addition to experimenting with other desktop environments, Ubuntu has also shipped with other windowing systems in the past, including Mir, and more recently, Wayland. For 18.04 though, Ubuntu reverted to X Org's older X Window System. That said, users can switch from X to the more modern Wayland from the Ubuntu login screen by hitting the gear icon and selecting Ubuntu on Wayland. GNOME is pushing Wayland since it is simpler, more modern, and less error-prone than X, itself now more than 30 years old.
Who Should Use Ubuntu?
Coders are certainly a major user base for Ubuntu. One advantage of Ubuntu for programmers is cross-platform development; projects can be deployed across a wide range of Ubuntu platforms (such as desktop, server, IoT). Further, coders can create Snaps, or packaged apps with all of their dependencies, which are compatible with many distros other than Ubuntu. Another perk is that Ubuntu supports nearly every coding language you throw at it, including Python, Ruby, JavaScript, Perl, C, and C++. And since Ubuntu is open-source, you can easily drill down to low-level areas of the operating system, too.
That said, Ubuntu is not just for people who argue with compilers all day. Businesses and governments are also potential user bases, since Linux tends to be highly stable. Additional user groups are the hobbyists and regular desktop users. Raspberry Pi, the Intel NUC, and other home-brewed IoT devices are all prime candidates for Ubuntu.
Linux (and by extension Ubuntu) is also typically less susceptible to viruses and malware, though not necessarily because of its architecture. Instead, Linux's biggest advantage is its small user base compared to macOS or Windows. Furthermore, Linux's user base is fragmented across many different distros. Ubuntu's open-source nature also theoretically improves the chances of the community discovering and reporting vulnerabilities. However, obscurity is not a sufficient protection against security threats; those who think they can do without Mac antivirus sometimes learn this lesson the hard way.
Although Canonical is not nearly as large as Apple or Microsoft, the organization does maintain an Ubuntu Security Notices page, which details all of the known Ubuntu vulnerabilities and their fixes. For example, you can read all about Ubuntu's resolutions to the Specter and Meltdown exploits. Canonical also integrates a Livepatch service (this requires you to create an account for the Ubuntu One single sign-on service) for installing critical kernel patches without rebooting your system. For those curious about firewalls, Ubuntu uses the Netfilter subsystem. Dedicated antivirus utilities aren't very common for the platform, but I discuss some security program options in a later section.
On a global scale, the Linux user base does not even come close to the usage numbers of Windows or even macOS. According to the latest reports from Stat Counter, Linux accounts for a mere 1.6 percent of desktop users in the US. That's even less than Chrome OS' roughly 5 percent share. For comparison, Windows and macOS respectively sit at 72 percent and 20 percent. I've always enjoyed the following summation of Linux adoption: Year of mass adoption = current year + 1.
Still, 1.6 percent of total US desktops is a large number of users. Take Statista's report that roughly 87 percent of US households had a desktop in the home as of 2015. The total US population at the end of 2015 was roughly 322 million. 87 percent of 322 million is around 280 million. And 1.6 percent of 280 million people still accounts for about 4.4 million users (or roughly the total population of the state of Kentucky). This estimation does not account for worldwide numbers or laptop users, nor does it factor in any growth over the past few years.
How Do I Set Up Ubuntu?
Before I go into the details of installing and configuring Ubuntu; know that you will likely run into some problems during this process and they probably won't be same ones that I encountered. So if whisperings of BIOS, Boot Manager, or Terminal send shivers down your spine, then Ubuntu may not be worth your time. For everyone else, follow along below.
Since there are very few computers you can buy with Ubuntu preinstalled (more on that towards the end), you'll likely need to set it up yourself. Ubuntu's hardware requirements are not too demanding. Ubuntu requires a 2GHz dual-core processor or better, 2GB system memory (RAM), 25GB of free hard drive space, either a DVD drive or a USB port for the installer media, and internet access (though internet access not vital). When you download Ubuntu, you can add a donation (it recommends $15), but payment is optional. Also, you can set up an Ubuntu One account, a single sign-on option for managing applications and encryption keys.
I first installed Ubuntu via a bootable USB Drive on a low-end HP Notebook 15 PC alongside its Windows 10 system. This laptop features a quad-core AMD E2-7110 APU, integrated Radeon R2 graphics, 4GB of RAM, and a standard 500 GB HDD. Ubuntu provides an excellent step-by-step guide on how to create a bootable USB with the OS. All you need to do is download the Ubuntu ISO file and Rufus, a free USB writing tool. Once Rufus reformats your flash drive (be aware that this permanently deletes everything on the drive), you are ready to dual-boot.
Simply plug in the flash drive and turn on the system. To launch Ubuntu instead of Windows 10 (or vice versa), tap the F12 key repeatedly when the manufacturer logo shows up during a restart to bring up the GNU GRand Unified Bootloader (GRUB), for installing or booting into Ubuntu. If you have any issues reaching the GRUB, you can always go to Window's Advanced Startup Options or force the boot order change via the Command Prompt. Subsequent boots should bring up the GRUB automatically.
Next, you choose to either try Ubuntu or install Ubuntu. The former is useful if you only plan to use a machine temporarily, such as at a library, but you will need to fully install the distro to save any configuration changes. In my testing, the installation process worked smoothly. I did notice occasional lag in use, which I initially thought had to do with the system's 4GB RAM. To test this assumption, I installed Ubuntu on my higher-end desktop with an AMD Ryzen 1700X CPU, RX 580 GPU, 32GB RAM, and 256GB SSD. I encountered some of the same minor lag as before, so the issue seems to be more with Ubuntu than my test systems.
More seriously, I ran into an issue with my display; a screen-wide parallel bar kept blinking in on the bottom third of the screen (this never appears on Windows). To fix this issue, I tried to install a new AMD driver, figuring that there was a problem with GPU. This crashed Ubuntu completely (my system would not boot back up), so I had to boot into the recovery mode and purge the bad driver via the Terminal.
I'll chalk the screen-tearing issue up to my monitor's refresh rate, since the GPU functioned normally in other applications and I didn't experience this issue on any other test device. The generic preinstalled drivers for any GPU should work fine for now, though Nvidia and AMD will likely release drivers specifically for the 18.04 release, given that it is an LTS build.
Another option is to run Ubuntu via a virtual machine. I downloaded Oracle VM VirtualBox and set up a 64-bit instance of Ubuntu using the same install package. I dedicated 20GB of virtual hard drive space and 4GB of RAM to this virtual machine on my Lenovo ThinkPad T470 laptop running Windows 10. One quick note: If you are having difficulties installing the 64-bit version from Oracle VM Virtual Box, try toggling the Windows Virtualization feature (via the Add or Remove Windows Features menu). You may, as I did, also have to enable virtualization via the BIOS. After figuring that out, I had no trouble getting through the rest of the install. In these later steps, you essentially just select a language and time zone and then create a local account.
Ubuntu is also available as a download from the Microsoft Store. Note that this version only includes the Ubuntu terminal; there is no graphical user interface. Thus, it is mostly aimed at the developer crowd. If this is all you need, then the Ubuntu app is an excellent way to work without worrying about dual-booting the OS or allocating precious computer resources towards a virtual machine.
Again, if you plan to install Ubuntu, be prepared to troubleshoot and tinker with your system. Whether or not the trouble is worth it to you depends on how dedicated you are to the idea of using a free OS.
Getting Started With Ubuntu
After you make it through the setup, you arrive at the Ubuntu desktop, which employs a clean and straightforward aesthetic. It looks pretty much like any other WIMP (windows, icons, menu, pointer) desktop. Ubuntu is not as pretty as Microsoft's Fluent-design system nor does it look as sleek as macOS Mojave's forthcoming dark mode, but it gets the job done.
More annoyingly, I also noticed in my testing that Ubuntu doesn't feel as smooth in operation. With macOS and Windows, elements move around the screen gracefully, but I definitely noticed stutters with Ubuntu. The biggest offender is opening up the app tray; instead of smoothly fanning out; the animation looks jagged. Further, when opening windows or sometimes when just resizing items, it simply does not feel snappy. These performance quirks were consistent across all the devices I tested (both virtual and dual-booted), all of which met the OS hardware requirements.
Depending on the icon size of dock items that you choose and where you position the dock on the screen, you can make Ubuntu look a lot like either Windows or macOS, though in general Ubuntu more often embraces the macOS aesthetic. For example, Ubuntu uses an OS menu rather than in-app menus for changing preferences. Other elements, such as the app launcher, remind me a lot of Chrome OS's equivalent feature. You won't find anything reminiscent of the Windows Start Menu, though.
You can change Ubuntu's look completely by installing a different flavor of Ubuntu. Keep in mind that each flavor is its own ISO image, so you need to repeat the entire installation process as described in the earlier sections. Standard Ubuntu doesn't look as sophisticated as some of the other flavors available for download, but it is clean and functional. Ubuntu flavors are just variations of Ubuntu with different preconfigured settings, apps, and designs, but the software core remains the same. Some popular examples include Kubuntu, Lubuntu, Ubuntu Budgie, Ubuntu Mate, and Xubuntu.
Although some flavors are specialized for particular users (Ubuntu Kylin is specifically tuned for Chinese users and Edubuntu is aimed at the education market) most will work fine as a home or work desktop environment. You can install any of these flavors in the same manner as the vanilla Ubuntu, so these alternatives are worth checking out if you want a change of pace or aren't content with your current desktop, since many use a different default desktop environment altogether. Kubuntu, for example, uses the K Desktop Environment (KDE), an alternative to GNOME, and features a Start Menu of sorts.
Front-End Familiarity
Ubuntu's desktop works like any other desktop. You can save files, edit the names, and create folders. Dragging and dropping files works fine. One quick note about naming conventions: file and folder names are case sensitive. So, for example, you can create a Test folder and a test folder without any problems. This feature was added as an option in Window's April 2018 update.
Ubuntu's persistent, top OS menu bar shows the time and the machine's network, sound, and battery information. If you click on the clock, Ubuntu opens a tray that shows system notifications (for application installs and audio playback controls) and a calendar. You can also access the settings, lock the device, or power down the machine from a menu in the upper left. Ubuntu feels very familiar at the surface level, which should help new users get up to speed quickly. macOS integrates program settings into a top-level menu bar as well, while Windows programs each typically have their own settings menu.
As mentioned previously, you can configure the dock to emulate macOS's dock or to behave like the Windows taskbar, depending on the size of icons and the location you choose (bottom, left, or right). Other than those options, you can choose to auto-hide the dock to clear up some space. If you right-click on an application in the dock, you can open a new window, remove it from Favorites (remove it from the dock), or view the details of the program in the Ubuntu Software application. You cannot, however, drag applications and folders in and out of the dock from the desktop, which would be a nice usability enhancement.
When you launch an application, Ubuntu opens a tab at the top of the screen, next to an Activities menu. The Activities menu works similarly to macOS's Mission Control; it shows all your open windows in an array and lets you launch or switch between another Workspace (another desktop screen). It does not go as far as Windows 10's new Timeline feature, but it's an effective way to manage your workflow. You can also resize windows easily by dragging to corner of the window or by snapping them to the right or left side of the screen. On a Windows keyboard, pressing the Windows + [right, left, or up arrow key (for full screen)] is a useful keyboard shortcut.
The Files app (officially called Nautilus) works the same way as any other file manager. macOS, Windows, and Chrome OS users will find themselves right at home. One welcome usability feature is the ability to open multiple tabs within the same File window, which is something Windows 10 does not currently offer (its Sets feature seemingly faces delays).
Ubuntu's settings are pretty straightforward, and I appreciate that all of the preferences are in the same place, unlike the mess that is Windows' traditional Control Panel and modern Settings app. That said, I do wish that the settings were better organized, since it is difficult to distinguish between categories.
Settings include visual customizations (such as changing the wallpaper), usability features (such as Search and Notifications sections), and hardware-related categories (including Sound, Power, and Network). I particularly appreciate the dedicated Privacy section, which lets you turn off Usage & History data (Ubuntu says nothing is ever sent over the network), toggle automatic problem reporting, and automatically delete and purge items in the trash. Some sections, like Devices, break down into more detailed subsections. Displays, for example, lets you turn on a blue-light limiting feature here for nighttime computing; and Keyboard features a handy list of reprogrammable keyboard shortcuts.
Accessibility on Ubuntu
One additional section worth calling out is the Universal Access panel. Ubuntu includes accessibility options across a number of categories including: Seeing (high contrast, large text, screen reader), Hearing (visual alerts), Typing (screen keyboard, repeat keys), and Pointing and clicking (mouse Keys, click assist).
If you want, you can even permanently pin the Universal Access tab to the system-level menu bar for easier access. Ubuntu does not offer as many native options or customizations as Windows 10, though it covers all the basics.
Ubuntu Device and Driver Support
Linux lacks a large consumer user base, which means that it might be difficult to convince mainstream developers to support the platform. Many excellent operating systems of years past, including NeXTSTEP, OS/2, Palm OS, Windows Phone/Mobile, and Blackberry OS failed because they lacked a substantial user base. I don't believe that Linux will ever fade to those levels of obscurity, given that it is free, works well for many enterprise and server scenarios, and is independent of any proprietary hardware. Still, Ubuntu's current usage numbers do not bode well for massive software development efforts from mainstream companies.
Additionally, few computers come preinstalled with Ubuntu. Dell now sells an XPS 13 Developer Edition with Ubuntu 18.04 preinstalled. HP also offers Ubuntu-based models, but that's about it for mainstream US retailers. The models that I did find also only came with older versions of the OS. You can go the route of some less known manufacturers such as System 76 or Think Penguin, but I doubt many will throw down cash on these unverified manufacturers. Otherwise, you can build your own PC and simply not buy a license for Windows.
You can certainly dual-boot Linux on Windows or install it via Bootcamp on macOS, but there's a benefit to having software and hardware drivers working seamlessly right out of the box. Apple's iMac and MacBook devices, Microsoft's Surface lineup, and Google's Pixelbook all benefit from this close integration. That's not to say that you can't have a smooth experience with Ubuntu, but if you do run into any device issues, you can head over to Ubuntu's Hardware and Drivers page for troubleshooting steps.
In testing, Ubuntu correctly detected my USB keyboard and mouse. Ubuntu recognized all the keyboard function keys as well, such as those for controlling volume and brightness. It also had no trouble installing drivers for the Logitech USB unifying receiver I use with my wireless Logitech MX Anywhere 2 mouse. I successfully set up the mouse with Bluetooth as well. That said, Logitech's customization software is not available for the platform, so I could not take advantage of its full capabilities.
Ubuntu installed a generic driver for my AMD RX 580 graphics card without any issues, but the screen-blinking issue on my monitor is annoying. Ubuntu also did not have any issues connecting to my router via Ethernet or Wi-Fi. Initially, I could not hear any sound through headphones, but a quick switch from the default audio drivers to the actual headphone device in the settings panel resolved that issue. My Windows 10 desktop also sometime mixes up the audio input when I unplug headphones.
What Applications Support Ubuntu?
Ubuntu and GNU/Linux in general simply do not support as many applications as Windows or even macOS. You should start your search for compatible software from the Ubuntu Software application. Consider the Ubuntu Software application as equivalent to the Microsoft Store or macOS's desktop App Store. The Software application is mostly populated by entries from the Snap Store (not related to the social media platform), managed by Snap Craft. As I mentioned earlier, Snaps are bundled software packages that work across multiple distros.
One neat feature of the Ubuntu Software app is that it lets you download store apps from different development channels (such as stable, beta, and candidate). You can also find other software packages that work on Ubuntu online, which you can add to the software repository for later installation or install via the Terminal. Both methods add the packages to the Software app for easy management.
Most people will find suitable software for all of their tasks. The pre-installed applications depend on whether you choose a normal or minimal installation during setup. The normal install includes a web browser (Mozilla Firefox), utilities, office suite software (Libre Office), games, and media players. The minimal installation just comes with a Firefox and basic utilities, along with the core GNOME system utilities, such as the Nautilus file browser and gedit text editor. Of course, utilities like the Terminal and System Monitor are also standard.
For everything else, Ubuntu may or may not offer everything you need. For browsers, you can install Chrome, Firefox, or Opera. For creating and editing documents, you can use the built-in Libre Office Suite (Word Processing, Spreadsheets, and Presentations) or Google's suite of productivity apps online. Notably, Microsoft Office 365 is not available for installation, though Office Apps are available online. Music lovers can use the built-in Rhythmbox player or download Spotify from the Ubuntu Software app. But there's no iTunes. You don't need to look any further than VLC for video playback.
As for other productivity apps, you can get Slack, though its Ubuntu version is still in beta and a little light on features. ZenKit, a project management app; Hiri, an alternative interface for Office 365 or Exchange mail accounts; Tusk, an Evernote desktop client; and Nautilus Dropbox, which emulates the typical Dropbox desktop experience, are also available. Coders can download Atom or Sublime Text.
Adobe CC is notably not available on Linux. That said, there are many free and open-source alternatives for design and creation. For graphics editing, you can use Gravit Designer, Inkscape, Vectr, and Krita. Photographers can turn to darktable, an excellent open-source raw photo workflow app, or Shotwell, for image editing. Animators, modelers, and game developers can most likely find a home with Blender and Unity (not to be confused with Canonical's ill-fated graphical shell), but AutoCAD users are out of luck, though Medusa may be a workable alternative. Again, some of these alternatives are not quite as polished or feature-rich as the ones they emulate, but they are still highly usable.
You can also install several Linux VPNs and antivirus solutions on Ubuntu. Editors' Choices Nord VPN and Private Internet Access both offer Linux solutions. On the security side of the equation, you can use Sophos or ClamAV, but know that many of the major players don't offer antivirus utilities for the platform. Then again, as previously mentioned, Ubuntu isn't a major target for malware perpetrators.
Ubuntu offers several ways to uninstall applications. The easiest way to uninstall an app (or package) is to head over to the Ubuntu Software app and select the middle tab, Installed. From here, you can view everything installed on your system and select the programs you want to eradicate. Alternatively, you can run the following commands in Terminal:
sudo apt-get -- purge remove [package |
soundly. “I eat everything through a mashed-up liquid diet,” he says. “I haven’t smelled or tasted or eaten since the accident.
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“It’s a day that I relive every day,” he says. “With the medications, treatments, doctors, I relive that day every day.” No Saskatchewan government investigation followed and regulators took no actions in Crawford’s case. The near-fatal accident appears nowhere in the province’s incident database because the companies involved never reported it to authorities responsible for protecting public health and holding industry accountable, an investigation into oil industry safety by the Toronto Star, Global News and National Observer has found. The ongoing investigation, which also includes students from journalism programs at Ryerson, Regina, Concordia the University of British Columbia, has obtained documents through freedom of information laws that detail growing safety concerns about H2S, also known as sour gas, dating back to 2012. Those documents were never made public. The province only learned of the incident that felled Crawford after receiving questions from reporters. “It’s disappointing we were not advised,” a provincial spokesperson wrote in a statement last week, declining an interview. “Valuable lessons may have been lost because of that.”
Jeff Crawford at his parent's apartment in Montreal on Dec. 11. The veteran oil worker is living with the effects of his exposure to hydrogen sulphide, known as sour gas. ( Graham Hughes/Toronto Star )
Three months after Crawford’s incident, Michael Bunz, a 38-year-old oilfield worker, died in a similar incident involving H2S. The province says it has now issued a notice of contravention against Crawford’s former employer, a small trucking company in Unity, Sask., for failing to report. But no formal investigation or charges will follow because of a two-year statute of limitations.
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“It’s too bad it happened but it wasn’t known to be an H2S place,” said Daryl Heiland, owner of D.J. Heiland Trucking. “There’s always a risk of it accumulating. That’s just how it is in the oilpatch … I wasn’t aware I had to report it.” Read more: ‘Like saying cancer is not a disease’: Ottawa considers declaring deadly oilpatch gas non-toxic That rotten stench in the air? It’s the smell of deadly gas and secrecy Public safety is the number one priority, Saskatchewan government says after toxic gas investigation The province also says it is investigating the operators of the facility where the incident took place — owned by Cona Resources Ltd. (formerly Northern Blizzard Resources Inc.) — “to determine whether there was a breach of the regulations related to incident reporting.” Cona officials declined repeated interview requests. In a statement, president and CEO Rob Morgan said the company never completed an investigation because it “did not receive nor was able to independently verify” information. Company officials, according to the statement, did assess equipment at the site that showed “between zero and a trace amount” of H2S. “The site is correctly marked to indicate the potential for sour gas even though the area is not generally known for sour gas production.” Saskatchewan’s Workers’ Compensation Board and doctors who examined Crawford in Saskatchewan and Montreal have attributed his injuries directly to H2S. Medical diagnoses and opinions obtained by the Star reference H2S gas 16 times. Along with Crawford’s physical ailments, psychological and neurological problems have emerged: PTSD, suicidal tendencies, anxiety and dizziness. Crawford now lives with his parents in Montreal, unable to care for himself, living on workers’ compensation benefits and spending his days in a sequence of medical appointments. “I got divorced (from his common law partner) because of the eating and not sleeping properly. I sleep upright because if I fall asleep down I end up choking. I am here, but I’m here in a terrible way,” he says. “It was just too hard on her with the medical issues I was going through.” Stunned and barely able to speak in the moments following the gassing on Feb. 9, 2014, Crawford, an industry veteran with nearly two decades of experience, stumbled to his truck and radioed for help. “I tried to talk but my voice was messed up,” he says, his voice still raspy and broken. “Somebody came on and said, ‘Are you OK? Are you OK?’ I said, ‘no, no.’” Then Crawford blacked out. He woke as he was being rushed to the small hospital in Unity.
Three years after an accident at a Saskatchewan oilfield, former oilfield worker Jeff Crawford still suffers severe health problems. Crawford, who suffered chemical burns in the ordeal, only eat food in a mashed-up liquid diet. He has lost his sense of taste or smell, and he must sleep upright, or else he ends up choking.
A note on his chart at 6:20 p.m. that evening reads: “Confirmed with boss at Northern Blizzard if any chemicals in oil — None.” After four intubation attempts, Crawford was put on life support and airlifted to Saskatoon. He regained consciousness two days later. Medical staff told him he had redlined three times. “The doctors said it’s a miracle for me to be here,” he says. “All everybody kept saying is they couldn’t understand how I woke up from this.” Crawford’s initial diagnosis, detailed in his chart at Saskatoon Health Region, reads: “Post-inhalation injury of hydrogen sulphide,” which included symptoms of “loss of smell sense,” “difficulty swallowing and hoarseness.” The Workers’ Compensation Board accepted his injury claim a month later. A report from the WCB said Crawford was “struck in the face by a combination of crude oil, water and H2S gas,” which led to “difficulty breathing,” intubation, “inflammation of the throat area,” “lung collapse,” “swallowing and speech problems,” “olfactory paralysis” and “frequent severe headaches.” The key factor in his diagnosis was H2S, a “toxic and irritating” substance that “affects basic metabolism.” “The scarring documented of the palate/uvula area is almost certainly from the chemical burn he suffered from the H2S,” the report reads. The diagnosis came as no surprise to Crawford. “I worked for quite a few oil companies and that was the only site I was ever nervous going into,” he says. “They said it was a sweet, not sour, field but every well we went into had HS2 marked on it.” At the time, industry and provincial Ministry of the Economy (ECON) officials were already dealing with complaints and concerns about H2S in southeast Saskatchewan, according to internal documents. A 2012 incident, in which a teenager was overcome by H2S in their driveway near Oxbow, Sask., triggered inspections of 11 oil and gas facilities. All failed with “serious infractions,” including releasing H2S at lethal levels “that may be exceeding 150,000 (parts per million),” according to an internal memo from December 2012. No fines or public warnings followed. No escalated enforcement, penalties or prosecutions followed. The problem continued. But Crawford and his other oilfield workers knew nothing about it. “There are growing public concerns regarding the air quality issues in southeast Saskatchewan,” wrote an official with the industry’s largest group, the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers (CAPP). “This has the potential to become a broader industry reputation/social license concern and warrants immediate attention by operators in the region.” In a March 2013 letter, then-energy minister Tim McMillan — now president and CEO of CAPP — warned companies to meet “compliance obligations” or face “escalated enforcement, penalty and/or prosecution.” In early 2014 — two months after Crawford’s incident — government and industry officials met to discuss whether to make public ECON data showing H2S hot spots in the province. “ECON believes current risk is significant,” read the minutes from the April 7, 2014 meeting. “Risk is highest for the workers, at the source … Are we creating a risk by not releasing this data immediately?” It was never made public. In May 2014, Michael Bunz died from H2S exposure from a broken valve on an oil tank near Carlyle, Sask. His employer is facing three charges under the province’s occupational health and safety legislation. Saskatchewan’s regulations require that when workers are in situations that are “immediately dangerous” to life or health, employers and contractors “shall ensure that the worker is provided with and uses an approved atmosphere-supplying respirator” and that “a second worker, suitably equipped and trained, is present and in communication with the worker at all times.” The case remains before the courts. Like Bunz, Crawford was working alone. “There was nobody on site, which you’re supposed to have,” he says. “After reading the story about Mr. Bunz, I just think this is so unnecessary … These oil companies keep doing the same thing and nothing changes. The government keeps letting them getting away with it. And I’m a forgotten person.”
The disposal facility near Unity, Sask. where Jeff Crawford was sprayed with hydrogen sulphide gas.
Bruce Peachey, a petroleum engineering instructor at the University of Alberta, says rules to warn workers about the potential presence of H2S and ensure two workers are present in dangerous situations are standard safety measures in the oilpatch. Dr. Aaron Thompson, program director for the occupational medicine at the University of Toronto, says that to lose consciousness, as Crawford did, signifies a “critical” incident that should have been reported. “That would seem to be a breakdown in reporting and a breakdown in the occupational health and safety system.” Provincial officials stated the province has increased inspections of wells and facilities that process high volumes of H2S, added inspectors and enforcement activities, erected air-monitoring stations and acquired highly sensitive hand-held measurement devices that allow inspectors to identify the source of sour gas odours. Crawford says he filed complaints with Cona Resources and the Mullen Group, a transportation company that subcontracted to D.J. Heiland Trucking, but was never interviewed and never told of any investigation. “All the safety guys came back and tried to blame the accident on me,” Crawford says of Mullen Group, whose subsidiary, R.E. Line Trucking, is listed in some WCB documents as his employer. “I was in no shape to fight them.” Mullen Group officials declined to be interviewed for this story. In a written statement, chairman and CEO Murray Mullen denied that company officials blamed Crawford. The statement confirms Crawford contacted the company’s subsidiary, R.E. Line Trucking, two weeks after the incident and informed them he had “sustained a throat injury.” The statement says the subsidiary conducted an investigation along with Cona and D.J. Heiland Trucking. The statement does not detail that investigation, but says the area where the facility is located does not have H2S. “This incident was not H2S related as you have alleged,” it reads. “We are not aware of any H2S-related incidents that would have required Saskatchewan (Occupational Health and Safety) reporting.” That conclusion contradicts Crawford’s medical assessments. In July 2014, a specialist in Montreal detailed Crawford’s inability to swallow well, sleep apnea and speech problems “after his hydrogen sulphide exposure.” Neurologist Michael Sidel concluded that Crawford suffered from “decreased taste and smell” as a result of exposure to H2S. Sidel updated that assessment last year, stating Crawford suffers from “chronic dizziness, unsteadiness and decreased concentration. He has a permanent loss of smell and a functional change in his voice since the event. It is most probable that Mr. Crawford will not be able to return back to work on a permanent basis and his disability to some extent is likely permanent.” Crawford’s psychologist, Dr. Sydney Miller, wrote in 2015 that Crawford was suffering from serious PTSD following an injury involving the “inhalation and swallowing of hydrogen sulphide gas.” This past summer, Crawford says the Saskatchewan Workers Compensation Board threatened to stop his benefits and transition him back into the workforce. “They were going to cut me off. After I said I spoke with (a Toronto Star journalist three weeks ago), now all of a sudden they’re paying for everything again.” “In principle, we are always working towards some form of return to work,” Phil Germain, vice-president of prevention at Saskatchewan WCB, said, not addressing Crawford’s individual case. “That doesn’t always happen. Sometimes it just can’t happen. And that’s fine. But we wouldn’t be doing our job if we weren’t trying.” Sitting down for a meal, Crawford now goes through a ritual of liquefying his food and swallowing each mouthful slowly while pressing two fingers under his jaw to help it down with a slight gagging motion — among the many lingering effects of Feb. 9, 2014. “I lost my house, I lost my truck, I lost everything I had. Thank God my parents are alive. If they weren’t alive, I don’t know where I’d be. “I was the healthiest guy in the world. I played hockey, I did sports, I hunted, I fished, I helped my dad with his renovation company, I worked, I had fun. Now, I don’t do much.” Robert Cribb can be reached at [email protected] With files from Steph Wechslerfullscreen continue view fullscreen close
Brooklyn has Smorgasburg, Queens has the LIC Flea & Food and Smorgasburg, and now Manhattan has La Marqueta, the borough's newest summer weekend food market, which debuted yesterday in East Harlem. Curated by the Vendy Awards—which serve as a fundraiser and ceremony for the Street Vendor Project—the Plaza will now operate every Sunday from noon to 6 p.m. through September 6th at La Marqueta, an urban market space underneath the Metro North tracks at 116th Street. It's a little secluded under there—but at least you won't get a sunburn!
For their first weekend of the season, the Plaza boasted Vendy vets like Solber Pupusas, Lechonera La Pirana and Khao Man Gai, plus other local eateries including Mighty Edible (Jamaican food) and Walking Dog BBQ, who were selling smoked pork tenderloin wrapped in bacon.
During their tenure under the tracks, the Vendy Plaza will also be pouring beers, which this weekend were brewed by Harlem Brew, plus ciders by 1911 Ciders from upstate. Vendors won't be the same week-to-week, with other Vendy regulars like Luke's Lobster and Neapoitan Express stopping by from time to time.They had driven about 225 miles from tiny Lakeland, Ga., to Atlanta on Saturday, unsure if they wanted to sit through the rain, unsure that Junior Gnonkonde would even play, before the moment came when they rose from their seats and celebrated as if he was one of their own.
In a lot of ways he is. Gnonkonde, a junior defensive end at North Carolina, had grown up in Abidjan, the largest city in the African nation of Ivory Coast (Côte d’Ivoire). He had left home when he was 14 and wound up in Lakeland, in rural south Georgia.
He had arrived without knowledge of English and without much knowledge of American life and culture. He knew nothing about football.
Yet there he was Saturday, early in the fourth quarter of UNC’s 38-31 victory at Georgia Tech, breaking through the line of scrimmage and picking up a fumble and running with it while about 25 people from his hometown – his U.S. hometown – went wild.
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“It was a lot of excitement for us,” John White, a former athletics director at Lanier County High, said during a phone interview Monday, “and I know it was for him.”
In a figurative sense, the town of Lakeland and the Lanier County High community adopted Gnonkonde and three other Ivory Coast natives when they arrived for their freshman year. White, though, adopted Gnonkonde in more of a literal sense and became his legal guardian.
“I’ve been pretty much his dad since he got here at age 14,” White said last week.
Doubts about trip
And so White and one of his three sons had been planning to drive up to Atlanta on Saturday for UNC’s game at Georgia Tech. When it came time, though, White wasn’t sure he wanted to go.
He knew Gnonkonde had been recovering from a back injury that had limited his ability to practice. It was unclear if Gnonkonde would play. And then there was the weather.
Friday night, White, who helps coach the Lanier County High football team, stood drenched on the sideline while he watched his biological son, Matthew, the team’s quarterback. White wasn’t looking forward to more rain.
But, he thought, how many times would he have a chance to drive to Bobby Dodd Stadium and watch Gnonkonde – the first, and only, Lanier County High football player to earn a scholarship to a Division I school? And so father and son got in the car and headed north. On the drive up, White shared a vision.
“I told my son on the way up there, I wish there’d be one of them plays where he’d get a sack and a fumble and pick it up and run it all the way back for a touchdown,” he said.
If his parents and seven siblings back home in Ivory Coast could see him now, playing on Saturdays in front of tens of thousands, playing at large stadiums in nationally televised games, “They’d be in shock,” Gnonkonde said recently.
He hasn’t been back to Ivory Coast or seen any member of his family in seven years, going on eight. Still the Tar Heels’ game Saturday represented something of a homecoming – or as much of a homecoming as there can be when home is 5,000 miles away.
Decided to stay
After completing the eighth grade in Ivory Coast, Gnonkonde came to the United States, to San Francisco, for an international basketball tournament when he was 14. He hasn’t been back to Africa since.
“I decided to stay and see if I can have a better life than (in) Africa,” he said last week.
Gnonkonde was sitting on the fifth floor of the Kenan Football Center, overlooking the field at Kenan Stadium, looking back on a strange, long journey that led him from Africa to San Francisco to Atlanta to Lakeland, Ga., where one day he saw this strange game kids were playing after school.
He asked his basketball coach at Lanier County High what it was all about. Football practice, the coach told him.
“Oh,” Gnonkonde said, recounting the story. “What is football?”
His coach led him outside where Gnonkonde watched practice for a while.
“Can I try?” he asked.
Gnonkonde didn’t speak much English then. When he arrived in the United States, he could speak several languages. He spoke the two most common languages in Abidjan. He could speak French. He knew German and Spanish.
A Spanish teacher at Lanier County High eased the transition. She communicated with Gnonkonde in French and started him in a Rosetta Stone program through which he learned the basics of English.
Gnonkonde is fluent now, though bashful about his improvement. He laughs and brushes off compliments about how far he has come since he began learning the language.
“I’m not there yet,” Gnonkonde said, though he said the same about a lot of things: his development on the football field, his physique, his studies.
‘A little hostile’
Gnonkonde has come a long way, literally and figuratively, though the distance of the journey is somewhat unclear, given there are some things he’d rather not talk about. Gnonkonde doesn’t talk a lot about home, besides how much he misses his family.
“I really wish I knew about his life back in Ivory Coast,” UNC coach Larry Fedora said last week. “Because from my understanding, it was pretty tough.”
Gnonkonde, whose given first name is Bohou, doesn’t talk much about the political landscape he fled. Or much about the civil war that broke out in Ivory Coast a few years after he left.
“It was a little hostile,” he said last week of his homeland, and there were “government issues” that influenced his decision to seek a new life an ocean and a continent away. For the first time since he left, he hopes to visit home next summer. He imagines what it might be like.
“Oh, I might cry, you know?” Gnonkonde said. “Because I haven’t seen my mom and dad for eight years. And my little brother. I know everything would be different. I hope I’m going to be ready to see and adapt to the change.”
He has become adept at that. His life has been nothing but a series of dramatic changes: leaving home, creating a life in a new place, learning a language, fitting into a new community and school, learning a new sport and on and on.
Gnonkonde wasn’t alone, at least, in his journey. Eight members of that Ivory Coast basketball team decided to stay in the United States after they came to San Francisco for the tournament. Four of them, including Gnonkonde, made the journey to Georgia.
They all wound up in Lakeland, Ga., because its basketball coach at the time knew a former junior-college coach who knew of a group of kids from Ivory Coast who needed a place to go. Eventually three came to live with White, who took legal custody of Gnonkonde.
White, no longer the school’s athletics director, said “everything his first two years was really, really slow.”
White likes to tell the story of the first time he took Gnonkonde and others from Ivory Coast to a buffet-style restaurant. The boys had never experienced one of those, White said.
White, who speaks in a thick south Georgia accent that offers a distinct juxtaposition to the accent Gnonkonde brought with him, remembers that first trip to the buffet as a “wild sit-down.”
“That was a two-hour session,” White said. “Now, they got them a plate, I went back and got me another plate, and they looked at me kind of funny and I said, ‘Y’all done?’ I said you get all you want to eat. Their little eyeballs popped open, and the next two hours was, ‘Get it, son.’ ”
After a couple of years, during which White helped Gnonkonde through the immigration process and helped him obtain a green card, the foursome from Ivory Coast “became Americanized,” White said. Their clothing changed, and gradually they became more comfortable.
Yet one thing stayed the same, White said: the boys’ dedication to making the most of their fresh start. White said Gnonkonde and the three others from Ivory Coast made As and Bs throughout high school. They approached school and sports with a sense of gratefulness others might have lacked, White said.
“All the luxuries that kids over here complain about, they were very appreciative of all the stuff that our kids take for granted,” White said.
By his junior year, Gnonkonde, who played basketball from the start at Lanier County, was thriving on the football field. College coaches – intrigued by his size, physical attributes and the thought that he’d improve significantly given he’d just started playing the game – began making scholarship offers.
Gnonkonde didn’t really know what a scholarship was. Or what college football was, for that matter. One of his coaches explained it to him this way: Colleges will give you a free education in exchange for playing football. All you have to do is make the grade and stay out of trouble.
“I said, ‘OK,’ ” Gnonkonde said. “I said, ‘I can do that.’ ”
He wanted to do it at Georgia Tech. Gnonkonde committed there and stopped considering other schools. Then during his senior season, weeks before national signing day, Georgia Tech rescinded his scholarship offer.
There were concerns about Gnonkonde’s transcript, White said, that prompted him to hire an attorney to ensure Gnonkonde’s college eligibility. Beyond that, White said the Georgia Tech assistant coach most responsible for recruiting Gnonkonde contacted Gnonkonde excessively – to the point, White said, that the school was concerned it might have committed an NCAA violation.
All of a sudden, Gnonkonde was without a scholarship offer to his dream school. He wasn’t sure where he’d wind up.
“They kind of took everything away from a kid,” White said of Georgia Tech.
Fedora’s first class
Still, Gnonkonde didn’t lack for interested suitors. Central Florida wanted him badly. So did South Carolina. Florida made a late offer. Then there was North Carolina. Asked what he knew about North Carolina, the state, when UNC began recruiting him, Gnonkonde said he knew “just the name.”
When he visited Chapel Hill, the UNC basketball team happened to be playing against Georgia Tech. Gnonkonde nearly committed on the spot and was a member of Fedora’s first recruiting class at UNC.
Since his arrival in Chapel Hill, Gnonkonde – a double major in African American studies and Peace, War and Defense – has been roommates with Justin Thomason, a senior defensive tackle.
Gnonkonde is a “different character,” Thomason said, smiling, and is the chef of the place – always cooking chicken and rice. The way Thomason tells it, sometimes Gnonkonde will walk through the door singing a song, and though Gnonkonde is “always a positive guy,” some things remain difficult.
“I’m from Atlanta, and that’s six hours away,” Thomason said. “And I struggle sometimes missing family. So it’s got to be tough. I know it’s a hard thing to do.”
Gnonkonde uses phone cards to call home. He emails regularly with his parents and siblings abroad – he’s the second-youngest among four sisters and three brothers – and when he does, his dad asks about his grades, and his mom tells him not to get hurt playing a game that’s foreign to her.
“I try to explain sometimes, but I don’t think they get it,” Gnonkonde said.
His parents have never watched him play, not even in games broadcast over the Internet. Neither have his brothers and sisters. They keep up with him, he said, by Googling his name and reading about him.
That means that after Saturday, they might have read about how Gnonkonde made one of the most important plays in one of UNC’s most important victories in years. His fumble recovery in the 38-31 victory at Georgia Tech represented the game’s most dramatic momentum swing.
Days earlier, Gnonkonde had thought back to his recruitment. He thought about having wanted to go to Georgia Tech, about his plan to go there before that plan fell apart.
“I (will) make sure that they’re going to regret that,” Gnonkonde said then.
His moment came early in the fourth quarter. White, Gnonkonde’s guardian, had been waiting for it, as had a group of about 25 others. The group included Malick Kone, one of Gnonkonde’s closest friends. Kone, a basketball player at the University of West Georgia, followed the same path as Gnonkonde to Lakeland, Ga.
They all had a chance to celebrate, briefly, after the game before they went their separate directions – White back to Lakeland, Kone back to Carrollton, Ga., and Gnonkonde back to Chapel Hill. White thought about what he’d hoped for on the drive up: the fumble recovery for a touchcdown.
“I got half of it,” he said.Remember when Oregon's Spout Springs Ski Area, went on sale for a cool $1.25 million this summer? And then Montana's Marshall Mountain got listed for $3 million, and your dreams of maybe, actually, possibly, someday, almost owning your own ski hill seem attainable?
Well, get off those groomers, it's time to hit the big jump. The nearly 13,000-acre Wasatch Peaks Ranch near Ogden, Utah, is on the market for $46 million.
The 12,740-acre property offers about 5,500 acres of skiable terrain with 4,600 feet of vertical. For comparison, Vail, Colorado, offers 5,289 skiable acres with a vertical rise of 3,450 feet.
When combined with the adjacent national forest land, the ranch up for grabs has a continuous 11-mile ridgeline including 24 peaks and 15 bowls that sees about 400 inches of snow annually, according to the property listing. The 25 miles of boundary within the Uinta-Wasatch-Cache National Forest provides additional recreational opportunities including heli skiing.
The ranch which has sat unused for the last 20 years, until the late July death of one of the property's current owners, 85-year-old Snowbird co-founder Dick Bass, prompted the sale. Bass co-owned the property with the Holding family, the current owner of Snowbasin Resort.
Currently zoned for one home per 160 acres, quick math reveals that's about 80 homes—aka the 80 friends you're going to share this fat bill with. Split $46 million 80 ways and you're only on the hook for a smidge over a half million. Um, can you do separate checks? Who had the extra guac?
The real estate listing totes the property as having stunning scenery including alpine forests, woodlands, sagebrush, and meadows. (Read: black, blue, green.)
The property's broker, Ken Mirr, is pushing the property as a potential private ski resort akin to Montana's Yellowstone Club, telling the Denver Post, "I'm not sure how many more mountains there are out there left to own."
You said it Ken. And if this is going to be our private club, we’re making the rules this time. Here’s a start:
1. Free parking!
2. Double chairs! With beer coozies!
3. Helicopters for everyone!
4. PBR in the drinking fountains!
5. Sack lunches only!
6. All lifties are former CEOs!
7. All CEOs are former lifties!
8. Personal massages from Tom Brady and Giselle! (When they aren’t skiing at the Yellowstone Club).
9. Overnight camping allowed!
10. Casual Friday! Everyday!Map Info
General info:
This is a minecraft ( Minecraft JAVA Edtion: version 1.12 ) roleplay game map with a medieval fantasy story and lots of exciting quests. You can play the map with up to 2 friends (It's always more fun to play with others :D ). Unlock epic regions with castles, breathtaking custom landscapes and cities! Solve exciting riddles in dungeons and all over the map! Fight against many enemies and bosses!
We are always adding new things and updating the map. So keep up to date :)
The team
Prologue:
For centuries humans (Cugon Kingdom) dwarfs (Nogein Kingdom) and magicians (Kingdom of Bunzur) are living together in peace. Your name is Déor Charlton and you have two brothers (The other players): Timothy and Aaron. Your father is Ekkbert and your mothers name is Carolina.
You are living in a little farm village and are really happy with your life until your father suddenly got ill! So ill, that he is now nearly dying......
More info:
Follow us on planetminecraft.com to keep up to date. Support us with a little diamond :D We would really appreciate that :D
Enter our discord server to get the latest news about the map and updates: https://discord.gg/8mbbvtd
Help us with donating:
Everything on earth costs money except of our adventure map ;) We wanted to create a 100% free game experience for you! But that's not that free for us: We need to pay for this website and domain and other things :(
If you want to support us, you can donate some money. We promise, that we will use every money for this project and not for some luxury in the private life!
Every donator will be shown below and on the planeminecraft project page (optional with link to websites or advertising) (only if the donator wants that!).
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After spending over 6 hours last Friday in front of my computer at work riveted to the stage set by the House Judiciary Committee players holding a meeting entitled Executive Power and Its Constitutional Limitations, impeachment-lite as Republican Congressman Lundgren called it, or whatever else it is referred to, I had such a headache, and was extremely depressed.
I watched, possibly jeopardizing my job, intently hoping and waiting for Chair John Conyers to gain a backbone at age 79. I saw many of my activist friends sitting in rows behind the star witnesses like Rep. Dennis Kucinich, former Representative Elizabeth Holtzman, who served on the Judiciary Committee overseeing the Nixon impeachment, and who I had the privilege to work for when she was NYC Comptroller, and Bruce Fein, both of whom wouldn’t back down from the issue of impeachment. In fact, Holtzman said she was there to spell out the primary reasons for impeachment. And that the responsibility to deal with impeachment is sad, but it cannot be shrugged off. There were disruptions, and Conyers pandered to the war-mongering republicans by throwing out people who applauded the witnesses. However, to his credit, he let the scene play out.
I kept yelling at my computer, people around me thinking I had really lost my mind, but I wanted those congress members to LISTEN to what Liz was saying. There is no remedy other than impeachment! They kept asking for other suggestions, only to be told, and with great frustration by Liz and Bruce Fein, the only way out of this mess IS impeachment.
Conyers looked like he needed a shot of adrenaline, and Nadler looked very pensive, as if there was some silver bullet he was missing. So in my estimation this committee wasted the taxpayer’s money upwards of $300,000 just for them sitting there for 6 hours and doing nothing. Figure the cost of what they are getting paid, maybe 10 in the room at a time, and you do the math.
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So over ¼ million dollars was just spent to “think” about impeachment. Not to mention that during those 6 hours, hundreds of more Iraqi’s were killed, as well as who knows how many Afghani citizens, as well as troops. But these esteemed members need a reason.
Want one? Here it is. My son, Sgt. James Brower, USMC Reserves, NYPD police officer, which is his regular job, has received redeployment orders. This will be his THIRD tour of duty. I quote from the original orders I now have in my possession since he will be leaving shortly for Baghdad:
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TO: Sergeant James W. Brower
SUBJ: ORDERED TO ACTIVATION-PARTIAL MOBILIZATION
You have been involuntarily ordered to active duty from your residence in support of the national emergency declared under Presidential Proclamation 7463 of 14 September 2001 and as prescribed in Executive Order 13223. Under the provisions of Title 38, US Code, Section 4312(c)(4)(A) and (B) this period of active duty is exempt from the five-year cumulative service limitation on reemployment rights under Title 38, US Code, Chapter 43. Your period of active duty is pursuant to US Code Title 10, Section 12302. You are assigned to activation, in support of PFO – Operation Iraqi Freedom, on such a date that will enable you to report to the commanding officer. Period of Duty: 17 May 2008 to 20 June 2009 for 400 days.
So upon doing some research I found that Proclamation 7463 – Declaration of National Emergency by Reason of Certain Terrorist Attacks, was signed by the President 3 days after the attacks of 9/11. In part it reads:
“A national emergency exists by reason of the terrorist attacks at the World Trade Center, New York, New York and the Pentagon, and the continuing and immediate threat of further attacks on the United States.
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NOW, THEREFORE, I, GEORGE W. BUSH, President of the Unites States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States, I hereby declare that the national emergency has existed since September 11, 2001, and, pursuant to the National Emergencies Act, I intend to utilize the following statutes…”
The National Emergencies Act (50 U.S.C. 1601-1651) is a United States federal law passed in 1976 to stop open-ended states of national emergency and formalize Congressional checks and balances on Presidential emergency powers. The act sets a limit of two years on states of national emergency. It also imposes certain "procedural formalities" on the President when invoking such powers, and provides a means for Congress to countermand a Presidential declaration of emergency and associated use of emergency powers.
Next Page 1 | 2A second office landlord in Florida has kicked Republican Sen. Marco Rubio out due to continued protests outside the two buildings both officials said were interfering with building operations.
On Monday, Rubio's spokesperson said the landlord at his Jacksonville office had alerted them that the month-to-month lease would be discontinued due to the distracting activity taking place out front of the facility.
"For the second time in another major region of the state, the unruly behavior of some anti-Trump protesters is making it more inconvenient for Floridians to come to our local office to seek assistance with federal issues," Rubio's spokesperson Christina Mandreucci told the Florida Times-Union.
"In Jacksonville, these protesters weren't just impacting our two person office, they were impacting the children being served next door at a pediatric behavioral clinic, which is why we understand the decision not to renew our lease."
The building is owned by Baptist Health Properties Inc., which houses the Wolfson Children's Center for Behavioral Health.
The second-term lawmaker has until April 30 to leave the Dupont Center on the Southbank in Jacksonville.
Last week, Jude Williams, president of America's Capital Partners, which owns the nine-story Bridgeport Center at 5201 Kennedy Boulevard, said it contacted Rubio's office on Feb. 1 to say it would not renew its month-to-month lease due to the demonstrators' disruptiveness.
The senator has seven offices throughout the Sunshine State and has leased from this building since 2014. Rubio's Democratic colleague, Sen. Bill Nelson, also has an office in Tampa, but has not seen the weekly turnouts of around 150 people intent on expressing their views.
Most of the people who showed up could double as Trump protesters, but some of those who turned out at the Jacksonville office were Trump supporters |
and remedial math — at 42, Su was still multiplying by repeated addition.
Su was a slow learner — her husband can read eight pages to her one. She plodded through assignments, reading difficult passages again and again so she would remember them.
“I think she must have spent hours and hours and hours every day to try to do this,” said Michael Yassa, a brain expert at Johns Hopkins University.
She persevered in the quest for her first college degree, earning a 3.9 average and rising to chapter president of the Phi Theta Kappa honor society.
Here, surely, lay a trace of the old Su, the same stubborn resolve that had driven her youthful rebellion and, later, her obsessive study habits as a teen at Ohio Wesleyan.
“I think that part of her personality stayed with her,” said her sister Barb. “I think she needed to do this for herself.”
Su and her husband are planning a move to Massachusetts, where she will enroll at Smith College in the fall as a transfer student seeking a bachelor’s degree.
Her specialty is still the drums. She plays on a kit her husband bought for her for Christmas four years ago. It sits in the family den, framed by posters of Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd and the Who. Atop the kit is a small, stuffed Animal, the crazy Muppet drummer, another relic of a forgotten childhood.
Su went through two decades of adult life without telling anyone outside her inner circle that she had no memory of the previous two decades. She didn’t want to be pitied.
The story finally poured out one day last spring at the college, when someone in the honor society asked other members to each bring five things that meant something to them.
Su brought “Hop on Pop.”An optometrist who failed to spot abnormalities in the eyes of a boy who later died has been found guilty of gross negligence manslaughter.
Eight-year-old Vincent “Vinnie” Barker died on 13 July 2012 – about five months after he had a routine eye test at Boots opticians in Upper Brook Street, Ipswich.
The conduct of locum optometrist Honey Rose, 35, fell so far below the standards expected that it was “criminal”, prosecutor Jonathan Rees QC said at the beginning of the trial.
Suffolk police said the jury at Ipswich crown court found Rose, of Newham, London, guilty of manslaughter through gross negligence.
Jurors heard postmortem examinations showed the cause of death was hydrocephalus – a buildup of fluid on the brain which led to an increase in pressure within his skull and, ultimately, his collapse and death.
Opening the prosecution case, Rees said: “The prosecution allege that Vinnie’s death was preventable and would have been prevented had the defendant, Ms Rose, done her job properly.”
He added: “At the heart of the prosecution case against the defendant is the allegation that the defendant’s failure to detect the swollen optic discs and refer Vinnie on for further investigation was grossly negligent on her part.”
Rees said it is agreed that at the time of Vinnie’s examination on 15 February 2012 there were “obvious abnormalities” in both of his eyes.
The jury heard photographs taken by another member of staff of the back of his eyes shortly before he was examined by Rose suggested he had bilateral papilloedema – the optic disc at the back of each eye was swollen because of the raised pressure within his skull.
Rees added: “The prosecution say that the abnormalities in his optic discs would have been obvious to any competent optometrist who had examined them.”
He said this would have led to him being “urgently referred for further investigation” because of swollen optic discs signifying the patient may be suffering from papilloedema, “a life-threatening condition”.
The jury was told Rose’s failure to detect the swelling of Vinnie’s optic discs was a significant contributory factor to his death.
In a statement, Vinnie’s parents, Ian and Joanne Barker, said: “The outcome of this case does not change our life sentence; we will never be able to fully accept that our special little boy is never coming home.
“The void left in our lives will never heal and the ripple effect to those around us is immense. As parents the distress of witnessing your child’s life from start to end in just eight short years is excruciatingly hard and nonsensical.
“The decision of a jury or judge cannot bring Vinnie back or undo the devastation of his death. A guilty verdict would never make us winners, our loss is simply too great.
“Our main concern has always been the accountability of those we entrust with our own health and the health of those we love. It is the responsibility of individuals and the organisation they work for to perform their duties to the expected levels of good practice without exception.
“The actions of professionals or their failure to act to a standard at which they are required to perform should not go without consequence.”
Suffolk police senior investigating officer Det Supt Tonya Antonis said: “If this case makes the optometry profession reflect on their practices and review their policies to prevent it happening to anyone again, or encourages other parents to take their children to get their eyes tested with the knowledge that any serious issues would be picked up, then it will be worthwhile.”
Rose will be sentenced at Ipswich crown court on 25 August.If you are searching for some great 3D street paintings, you come at right place because in this post we are showcasing some awesome paintings which demonstrate the 3D street art. We have carefully selected these paintings and are very much sure that you will like this assortment, and the credit of which must be given to their creator who have been practicing outstandingly.
You will find these paintings as amazing that create an unbelievably amazing optical illusion. So let’s get ready to indulge your eyes in these wonderful masterpieces of art. Feel free to share your opinion.
You are welcome if you want to share street painting examples which our readers/viewers may like. Do you want to be the first one to know the latest happenings at SmashingApps.com just subscribe to our rss feed and you can follow us on twitter.
Street paintings 2
Amazing 3D street-paintings by Genius1337
Amazing 3D street-paintings-2 by Genius1337
HDI
GRANTS – MOSKAU
Johnnie Walker in Taipei
3D Street Painting – Jaguar Temple
3D Street Painting – Medici Garden
EasyJet – Edinburg
Astana
Bukaresti – Romania 2009
The cave in Geldern
Gluttony
Echo & Narcissus
Perseus
St.Anthony
Visit Wales – Utrecht
3D_Street_Paintings_Tracy_Lee_08
Champions League in Paris
Amazing 3D Sidewalk Chalk Art 36
Amazing 3D Sidewalk Chalk Art 19
Hell in London
Tracy lee stum
Sky HDTV at Waterloo station-London
Don’t Step into Danger
Julian Beever’s Sidewalk Rafting IllusionBret Weinstein, a biology professor at Evergreen State College in Olympia, Washington, was surrounded by a group of student protesters Wednesday after he wrote an email objecting to plans for a Day of Absence.
In the past, the Day of Absence has been a day where black and Latino students leave campus to highlight their significance on campus. This year students wanted to change the format. Instead of leaving campus themselves, they wanted white students and professors to leave campus, thereby creating a safe space for the students left behind. Professor Weinstein objected to that format and wrote and email saying he would not be leaving campus and encouraged others not to do so. Here’s his full email:
Here's the (incredibly thoughtful and well-written) email. pic.twitter.com/3NecW0tNfw — William Treseder (@williamtreseder) May 24, 2017
“There is a huge difference between a group or coalition deciding to voluntarily absent themselves from a shared space in order to highlight their vital and under-appreciated roles (the theme of the Douglas Turner Ward play Day of Absence, as well as the recent Woman’s Day walkout), and a group or coalition encouraging another group to go away,” Weinstein wrote. He continued, “The first is a call to consciousness which is, of course, crippling to the logic of oppression. The second is a show of force and an act of oppression in and of itself.” Weinstein added that he would not participate and added, “On a college campus, one’s right to speak—or to be—must never be based on skin color.”
Student protesters decided that email was racist and a firing offense. They gathered at Weinstein’s classroom and began shouting at him and, eventually, demanding he be fired or resign. There are two video clips showing this from different angles. Here’s the clip from near Weinstein (video from the reverse angle is here):
For about 3 minutes there is something like a discussion but when Weinstein suggests this moment could be a turning point in favor of the student’s values, one of the protesters says, “Yeah, resign.” The professor refuses and the protesters start chanting, “Hey, hey, ho, ho, Brett Weinstein has got to go!”
Students then complain that Weinstein isn’t listening to them and that he’s trying to “control” the situation. At this point, the audio in the clip drops out. The students eventually file outside and quickly forget about Weinstein as they are confronted with another problem: the police. Again, audio is shifted so it doesn’t match the video but it seems the police were responding to word that Professor Weinstein had been surrounded by a group of students. The students yell at the police for a few minutes and the whole group ends up outside.
We’ve seen this same sort of exchange before. Last September I wrote about a group of Yale students who confronted professor Nicholas Christakis about an email his wife had written and berate him as he tries to have a discussion with them. In that case, one student even got in Christakis’ face and tried to intimidate him. Students then claim he’s not listening, even though he’s clearly interacting with everything they are saying, and someone eventually gets angry and demands the professor lose his job. It’s the same script. The lesson for professors: You can’t hold a discussion with an angry mob.
Addendum: Sam Harris gets it right:
These kids don't belong at a university. They need cult deprogramming first. https://t.co/vwyxpw6lAr — Sam Harris (@SamHarrisOrg) May 25, 2017
And on that note, I’ll link to this post about intersectionality as a religion without salvation.
Update: Biology professor Bret Weinstein held class off campus after he was told it was not safe for him to be on campus this week. From King 5 (hat tip @JimmieWrites):
“I have been told by the Chief of Police it’s not safe for me to be on campus,” said Weinstein, who held his Thursday class in a downtown Olympia park. An administrator confirmed the police department advised Weinstein it “might be best to stay off campus for a day or so.”… When student Marissa Parker, one of the protesters, heard Weinstein was advised to stay off campus, she responded, “If he feels unsafe or frightened for two days, he can only imagine what black and brown bodies have feared for years.”
So students wanted to demand white people leave campus. When a white professor objected to that they demanded he be fired. Now he has in fact left campus out of concern for his own safety. So the protesters, through the threat of violence, got what they wanted. And at least one of the protesters thinks this is fine.U.S. President Donald Trump gives a thumbs-up as he and White House Senior Advisor Jared Kushner depart the White House in Washington, U.S., March 15, 2017. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque
President Donald Trump's son, son-in-law, and campaign chairman met with Russian lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya last year, just weeks after Trump clinched the Republican presidential nomination, The New York Times reported Saturday.
Veselnitskaya is known for waging a harsh campaign against the 2012 Magnitsky Act, which blacklisted Russians suspected of human-rights abuses, and has strong ties to the Kremlin. She is married to a former deputy transportation minister of the Moscow region, and her clients have included Russian state-owned businesses.
She is also the family lawyer for Denis Katsyv, the son of senior Russian government official Pyotr Katsyv and owner of the Cyprus-incorporated real-estate company Prevezon. Prevezon was under investigation by the Department of Justice at the time of the meeting over whether it laundered millions of dollars into New York City real estate.
The case, which was settled for approximately $6 million in May, garnered high-profile attention given its ties to the $230 million Russian tax-fraud scheme uncovered by Russian lawyer Sergei Magnitsky, whose suspicious death aroused international media attention in November 2009.
Magnitsky uncovered the scheme, which became one of the biggest corruption scandals of Russian President Vladimir Putin's presidency, in 2008 on behalf of the investment advisory firm Hermitage Capital. Magnitsky was later thrown in jail and died in custody, and an independent human-rights commission found he had been illegally arrested and beaten. The Kremlin maintains that Magnitsky died of a heart attack.
The founder of Hermitage, William Browder, sought justice for Magnitsky in the US and Europe after Magnitsky died. In 2012, Congress passed the Magnitsky Act, which authorizes the president to deny visas to, and freeze the assets of, Russians believed to have been complicit in Magnitsky's death.
The meeting between Veselnitskaya and the Trump campaign is the first confirmed meeting between a Russian citizen and the campaign. Veselnitskaya's meeting was arranged by Trump's oldest son, Donald Trump Jr., and was attended by his son-in-law Jared Kushner and then-campaign chairman Paul Manafort.
Both Kushner and Manafort are people of interest in ongoing congressional and FBI investigations into Russian interference in the 2016 election and whether the Trump campaign played a role in it.
The Trump campaign's meeting with Veselnitskaya was only recently disclosed to government officials, when Kushner filed a revised security clearance form after The Times reported in April that he had failed to disclose his contacts with Russian officials before joining the Trump administration.
Trump Jr. told the Times that the meeting had been to discuss an adoption program. He was likely referring to Putin's retaliatory measure against the Magnitsky Act, which was blocking Americans from adopting Russian children.
"It was a short introductory meeting. I asked Jared and Paul to stop by," Trump Jr. said in a statement to The Times. "We primarily discussed a program about the adoption of Russian children that was active and popular with American families years ago and was since ended by the Russian government, but it was not a campaign issue at the time and there was no follow up."
Katsyv, the owner of Prevezon whom Veselnitskaya represents, registered a nonprofit company in Delaware called the Human Rights Accountability Global Initiative Foundation in February 2016, the stated aim of which is to overturn the adoption ban.
Veselnitskaya helps "represent" the HRAGIF along with a colleague, according to an email that colleague sent last April seen by Business Insider and first reported by The Daily Beast. And she had been lobbying to repeal the Magnitsky Act at the time the HRAGIF was set up, roughly four months before she met with Trump Jr., Kushner, and Manafort. She also helped organize the Brussels screening of an anti-Magnitsky film that cast doubt on both Bill Browder's claims and Magnitsky's findings.
Browder, the founder of Hermitage, said in an interview on Saturday that fighting against the Magnitsky Act was Veselnitskaya's "main project last year. And "there was no obvious reason," Browder said, for Veselnitskaya and her team to engage in this lobbying "as part of their defense for Prevezon."
"It wouldn't have helped the company address the money laundering allegations mounted by the US Department of Justice," Browder said. "The only reason for them to do this would have been at the behest of the Russian government."
Putin called the Magnitsky Act "outrageous" upon its signing by President Barack Obama in 2012, and created his own anti-Magnitsky blacklist of US citizens that included US Attorney Preet Bharara. Bharara, known as the Sheriff of Wall Street for his dogged pursuit of organized crime and money laundering in Manhattan, was fired by Trump earlier this year.
Trump Jr., for his part, said he was asked to attend the meeting by an acquaintance, but was not told the name of the person he would be meeting with beforehand. In March, Trump Jr. denied ever having discussed government policy with Russian citizens.
"One-hundred percent no," he said then.Gillian Duffy baked Simon Danczuk a cheese and onion pie the other night. Apparently it was "very nice". They are "good friends", the Labour MP for Rochdale and the lady who, during the last election campaign, was flattered by Gordon Brown in public, then branded a "bigoted woman" in what he thought was private. Which just goes to show, eh? Brown may not have "connected" with Duffy. But others in Labour have no such problem. Her support for the party has survived the encounter. Victory!
It was Danczuk who told Duffy that the Lib Dem leader, Nick Clegg, was visiting Rochdale earlier this week, and suggested that she might like to take the opportunity to give him a piece of her mind. Danczuk arranged a car to take her to the offices of Holroyd Precision, the local business that was expecting Clegg at 9am, and three Labour activists accompanied her on the trip. The wheeze worked like a dream.
Clegg recognised Duffy right away, greeting her with a "Hello, Gillian", before subjecting himself to the inevitable barrage of basic and critical questions. Duffy had heard all Clegg's answers before, and told him so. But that didn't matter. The object of the exercise was publicity, not fresh political debate, and it worked. Publicity has been duly drummed up.
Publicity for what, though? Duffy first gained media attention because her conversation with Brown, and its aftermath, graphically exposed something important. Labour, not just Brown, had become used to condemning any wariness about the impact of fast-changing global demographics on local communities (Duffy offered the example of "flocking" eastern Europeans) as merely the result of a personal weakness – prejudice. Yet if the party is any further forward now with formulating policy, or even a "narrative", that addresses such worries in a less dismissive way, then it is keeping it oddly quiet.
Labour doesn't have any such policies, of course, or even any such narrative. Explaining that international labour-market flexibility has to be maintained for the benefit of business, not its employees, and everyone must therefore learn to like it, would hardly indicate that Labour is getting back to its roots. Certainly, the Conservative approach – complaining about immigration while backing to the hilt the economic policies that accelerate it – is hypocritical and divisive in the extreme. But the fact that neither party dares to be honest on this matter says a lot about the empty gesture of contemporary politics.
This Duffy palaver is very much part of that empty-gesture politics. Duffy stands, supposedly, for ordinary wisdom and speak-your-mind decency. But her totemic prominence, as the only ordinary woman who has ever even met politicians, has the whiff of the amusing stunt about it, and is perhaps a sign of how little, not how much, ordinary wisdom and speak-your-mind decency is valued in our politics.
Danczuk's release of Duffy's private kindness of pie-baking into the public domain does not make him a cynical person. What politician could resist the temptation to offer up pie-baking, that international signal of sound, modest, home-loving nurture, to the media? The grandmother making a pie for her friend the MP: it suggests solid, simple, community values that politicians often hark on about, even though they have little ability actually to promote them.
Yet this too is a stunt, a stunt that takes in politicians, it appears, much more than it takes in the electorate. Both main parties suffer from a longing to cloak themselves in storybook nostalgia. The Conservatives nod to Phillip Blond's Red Toryism, Labour to Maurice Glasman's Blue Labour. David Cameron talks about the Big Society, and Ed Miliband about the Good Society. In fact, neither of them talk too much about these things, because there is not very much to say about them. The Conservatives, no less than Labour, rely on offering financial blandishment from the state in order to kid themselves that they can orchestrate such things as a rekindled enthusiasm for marriage, or a desire to succeed in education. But neither party is able, for obvious reasons, to formulate the set of blandishments that will inspire us all to tick the box that promises to make us, the electorate, "better people". The entire concept is patronising, silly and absurd.
In their not-so-different ways, these community-emphasising, small-c conservative strands of thought each conjure a vision of village Britain, with a yearning for self-reliant communities, complete in themselves, nurturing and neighbourly, sober, law-abiding, respectable and respectful. The idealised inhabitants of these imaginary communities are like the "little man" of early 20th century Conservatism, who featured in Sidney Strube's cartoons in the Daily Express.
Yet it's plain that neither party is at all keen on truly promoting "localism", complete with butcher, baker and candlestick-maker, because that would mean challenging the might of monopoly capitalism. And everyone knows, after the banking crisis, that monopoly capitalism goes pretty much unchallenged, even when it is on its knees. The Tory little man has been replaced by Labour's little woman. But the idea – of flattering every voter for his or her willingness to be a modest cog in someone else's big wheel – remains the same, and still manages to be both romantic and insulting.
There's something fatuous in Labour's eagerness to adopt Duffy as a mascot, and literally wheel her out to score political points. It's as if her support in itself washes away the errors that they made when in power, and says something substantial about the changes the party must somehow have made in order to regain Duffy's trust – changes that Labour politicians cannot articulate because they have not yet thought of them. Labour seems to think it has all the time in the world to fill up Miliband's blank sheet of paper, with room for light-relief knockabout larks along the way. That in itself says worrying things about the length of time they think – or even hope – that the cutting Coalition is going to last.Paul Johnston and Rachel D'Amore, CP24.com
Despite the promise of being impenetrable by hungry four-legged Toronto residents, it seems as if some critters have found a way to breach the city’s new green bins.
Photographs sent to CP24 Wednesday afternoon show one of the city’s new bins with what appear to be holes and scratch marks along the top of the receptacle.
The resident, who lives in the Pharmacy and St. Clair avenues area and did not want to be identified, said the damage was done over the period of a few days.
She said she also saw a squirrel emerge from the container.
The new bins began to roll out in Scarborough last month.
Approved by the Public Works and Infrastructure Committee last year, the new bins are twice the size of those currently in use in other parts of the city. They also feature a locking lid designed to keep animals – particularly raccoons – out.
Residents in Etobicoke are slated to receive the new bins beginning this fall, with North York to follow in January 2017.
Toronto’s mayor took to Twitter Wednesday night to respond to the pictures that have been making the rounds via social media.
“Well, at least they didn't figure out how to turn the handle. #opposablethumbs,” John Tory wrote.
“This is apparently rats or squirrels, not raccoons. Not sure that makes me feel better.”
Last spring, the city issued a video showing one of the new bins being 'tested out' by a pair of raccoons.
In the video, one animal is seen trying to claw its way into the bin through the lid. The second tries its claws at the design. Neither is able to open the latched lid.
The city is currently looking into the matter.July 27, 2012
The potential exists to rid society of poverty and hunger--and do it in a way that doesn't destroy the environment.
FROM THE poisoning of rivers and seas by chemicals to the contamination of the earth by nuclear waste, from acid rain to the depletion of the ozone layer, from soil depletion to reckless deforestation--the evidence of environmental degradation is everywhere.
What causes this destruction?
One argument--put forward by environmentalist organizations like Earth First!--is that environmental destruction is caused by too many people on the planet. They argue that industrial production for billions of people is not only fouling the planet, but is depleting its natural resources.
By contrast, Marxists argue that the way capitalism organizes production--not industrial production per se--is what causes environmental destruction.
In fact, the potential exists to eliminate poverty and hunger, once and for all. And the technology exists to produce that abundance in a way that won't destroy the environment.
Let's look first at the idea that there are limited resources. Consider the question of oil.
In 1981, Lester Brown, a well-known ecologist, wrote a book that argued the world would run out of oil in 1996. Yet in 1996, proven world oil reserves were about 170 percent larger than in 1976--in spite of the fact that per capita oil consumption and population grew considerably.
Columnist: Paul D’Amato Paul D'Amato is managing editor of the International Socialist Review and author of The Meaning of Marxism, a lively and accessible introduction to the ideas of Karl Marx and the tradition he founded. Paul can be contacted at [email protected].
It is true that there's a finite amount of oil under the ground. But there are other technologies that harness the sun, sea and wind for power that can take its place.
What about food production?
Some 800 million people in the world go hungry. But it isn't because there isn't enough food. Figures provided in the United Nations' Human Development Report for 1999 show that food production outstripped population growth by 25 percent over the last decade.
According to the 1998 edition of the excellent book World Hunger: Twelve Myths, there's enough food produced in the world to give every person 3,500 calories a day--well higher than the medically recommended requirement.
People go hungry not because of shortages, but because they can't afford to buy enough food. In 1844, Frederick Engels wrote that "every adult produces more than he can himself consume."
More than 150 years later, human productivity has leaped far beyond anything Engels could have imagined. The irony of capitalism is that it isn't scarcity that produces hunger and unemployment but overabundance.
Capitalist crisis, Karl Marx and Frederick Engels wrote in the Communist Manifesto, produces the "absurd" situation of people thrown out of work because there's "too much means of subsistence, too much industry, too much commerce."
There is, in short, plenty to go around. The shortages argument is used by the ruling class to convince us that inequality can't be overcome.
But what about pollution and environmental devastation? Aren't all the potential benefits of mass production undermined by pollution?
The scientific know-how exists to eliminate things like acid rain and ozone depletion and to prevent the poisoning of seas and rivers--not to mention our neighborhoods and workplaces. It is simply not profitable to do so.
The unplanned character of the free market combined with the scramble for profits means capitalists give no thought or care to the effects of the production process.
Wrote Engels:
What cared the Spanish planters in Cuba, who burned down forests on the slopes of the mountains and obtained from the ashes sufficient fertilizer for one generation of very highly profitable coffee trees--what cared they that the heavy tropical rainfall afterwards washed away the unprotected upper stratum of the soil, leaving behind only bare rock!
The only way humans can establish a "oneness" with nature is not by turning our backs on technology and the scientific knowledge achieved so far but by interacting with our environment on the basis of the fullest scientific understanding of that relationship.
But as Engels added, this "requires something more than mere knowledge. It requires a complete revolution in our hitherto existing mode of production and simultaneously a revolution in our whole contemporary social order."
First published in the June 22, 2001, issue of Socialist Worker.Story highlights The contagious disease was considered eliminated in the U.S. in 2000
The outbreak in Ohio began with a mission trip to the Philippines
Measles is one of the most contagious infectious diseases
Sixty-eight and counting.
An outbreak of measles in Ohio has infected 68 people, adding to what is already an 18-year high of measles cases in the United States.
That's disturbing news for health professionals, who considered the contagious infectious disease eliminated in the United States in 2000.
The outbreak in Ohio began with a group from Christian Aid Ministries, who went on a mission trip to the Philippines earlier this year, health officials say. Philippines is experiencing a very large measles outbreak; at least 20,000 confirmed and suspected cases have been reported in the Asian nation.
Four people who were on the mission trip became infected, according to Pam Palm, the public information officer for Knox County Health Department, and the disease has since spread to 62 others in the Amish community. Knox County has 40 cases.
Palm said the first few cases were initially misdiagnosed as dengue fever, a testament to how few cases of measles doctors usually see.
"Because of the success of the measles vaccine, many clinicians have never seen measles and may not be able to recognize its features," Dr. Julia Sammons wrote in a commentary published in April in Annals of Internal Medicine.
Ohio health officials have immunized nearly 800 people with the MMR (measles, mumps, and rubella) vaccine since the outbreak began.
"The Amish who are family members and acquaintances of those who now have measles have been extremely cooperative in a willingness to get vaccinated," Jackie Fletcher, director of nursing for the Knox County Health Department, said in a statement. "And those who currently have measles have been staying home."
California, another state reporting a high number of measles cases this year, said its outbreak also resulted from people visiting the Philippines.
Visitors may pick up the disease and bring it back to the United States, potentially infecting those who cannot be vaccinated against the measles because they are too young, for example, or who have intentionally remained unvaccinated.
Data released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on April 24 found 129 cases of measles in the United States between January 1 to April 18. That's the highest number of cases recorded for the period since 1996. Some of the Ohio cases were recorded after that reporting period -- meaning the total now is undoubtedly higher.
Fletcher said many of the measles patients her staff are seeing are "really sick." Symptoms usually include fever, cough and conjunctivitis, along with a rash. In rare cases, measles can lead to pneumonia and brain infections, which can be fatal.Amid the events surrounding the 2014 World Cup showcasing Brazil's dynamic culture, food and other assets, and the memorable plays on the soccer field, with perhaps the best so far being Robin Van Persie's masterful header against Spain on the second day of play, there's a dark side: deep-rooted problems simmering just below the surface in South America's largest country with child prostitution an especially grim reminder that all is not football and Carnival.
In the first decade of the 21st century, Brazil emerged as one of the world's economic powerhouses, only to see its ambitions undermined by the ravages of the global financial meltdown. Now the country is struggling to come to terms with divisive inequality, a burgeoning slum problem and the civil unrest that often accompany such woes.
One of the saddest reminders can be seen at night on streets within walking distance of the country's World Cup stadiums: child prostitutes looking to sell their bodies to tourists, often for little more than just a few dollars.
It's not easy to talk about, nor is it simple to stop, but child sex workers are unfortunately a part of life in Brazil, as they are in many other places around the globe. And during the World Cup, awareness of them has spread as people are appalled at stories of exploitation coming out of cities like Recife and Rio de Janeiro.
Recife is known as a ground zero for child prostitution and sex trafficking in Brazil. Located on the South American nation's northeast coast, its streets serve as a base for literally thousands of child sex workers as young as 10, an investigation by the U.K.'s Mirror newspaper indicates.
Children and teens have flooded the city -- often forced to do so by pimps who ply them with crack cocaine, toxic glue and other drugs -- where they sell sex for as little as $2 or a pack of cigarettes, Time reported.
Lorrisa, a 13-year-old prostitute in Recife, told the Mirror she sniffs glue to deal with her dangerous life.
“Sniffing the glue makes me feel dizzy and numb and it stops me feeling hungry so I don’t need to eat," she said. "It helps me cope with the violence and danger on the streets.”
Rampant poverty provides pimps with a constant supply of young, desperate kids looking for a way out of the favelas and into economic prosperity. But instead they find themselves forced into having sex with as many as eight men a night, and struggling to fight against the diseases and pregnancies that come with such a life.
In Brazil, adults over the age of 18 can legally sell their bodies, but prostitution by younger teens and children is illegal. Still, CBS News reports authorities and experts anticipate a 30 to 40 percent increase in child prostitution during the World Cup, which will bring hundreds of thousands of people to Brazil in the next month. This World Cup is the most expensive in history at more than $11 billion, has exposed.
A Brazilian pimp and sex trafficker identified as Thiago told Time magazine he bought girls away from their parents for $5,000 to $10,000 each.
“I sought the girls in Recife because there is so much poverty there," he said. “It makes it way easier to convince the girls to come down and prostitute themselves.”
Brazilian authorities attempted to crack down on prostitution in the months leading up to the World Cup kickoff, generating controversy when some prostitutes allege police arrested, robbed and perhaps even raped about 100 prostitutes on the streets of Niterói in May, Citylab reported.
But prostitution, often referred to as "the oldest profession" will likely remain a fixture of life in Brazil as long as the favelas are filled with destitute children with few options for survival. And the World Cup only exacerbates the problem,Self driving car software has made a lot of progress in the last year, none more so than Google’s own offering. The Google car has learned about railroad crossings and cyclist hand signals, highway shoulder etiquette and the government hell-mazes we call construction zones. Though some companies have been working on self-driving technology for longer than Google, feature announcements from rivals like Audi, Tesla, and Volvo imply that their software still lags in that kind of detailed, everyday versatility. Perhaps more importantly, Google has cemented a nigh-Kleenex level of brand association with the concept of the self-driving car. You’d think that Google, a company built on convincing third parties to use its software solutions, would have no trouble parlaying such a powerful lead into a market stranglehold to make Android look like Google+. Yet, the more progress it makes, the more anxious the search giant seems to become.
The reason is simple: government regulation could scuttle the business strategy that has worked so well for Google in the past. Google has a long and storied history of aggressive expansion, but always in areas where their biggest limitations are their own resources and the complacency of their competitors — both of which are functionally infinite. In the case of Android, Google developed a non-Apple mobile OS that was advanced enough to attract a few major partners. This forced most other manufacturers to either adopt it as well or endure years of inferiority as their proprietary options rushed to catch up. Some smartphone manufacturers (rhymes with “Hamsung”) likely entered the Android relationship with the explicit intent to someday switching to an in-house alternative; unsurprisingly, few companies have gone on to actually spend the millions it would take to reinvent the wheel in this way.
Still, few if any of us would be using Android today, had the mobile OS launched next to similarly full-featured offerings from Samsung, LG, and HTC; it was the search giant’s ability to quick-march its coders to the center of an empty mobile space that gave Google the all-important advantage, and it has yet to cede that high ground. In the case of self-driving cars, though, government inspection and public reticence threaten to stall a consumer roll-out long enough to allow competitors to catch up. With Audi touting rally-speed driving up dirt roads, and Volvo thinking of self-driving software as a natural fit for its safety-based brand, Google’s heels are being nipped from just about every direction. Even the military likely has a version in the works — and while it could conceivably trounce Google’s performance, we of course have no way of knowing for sure.
That means Google will have a much harder time convincing partners to come on board, its implicit threat of obsolescence being so much less powerful this go-round. The search giant seems to understand its dilemma, recently cementing a number of partnerships with parts manufacturers like Continental AG. This suggests that it could be at least considering building its own in-house vehicles, which implies the Google car might be headed for something more like the Chromebook model — a very good idea, but perhaps still not enough.
Chromebooks are a particularly stark example of Google’s approach to markets: first dream up the customers you want to serve, then create those customers and convince them they need service. Faced with widespread skepticism about the online-only laptops, Google began its push by producing Chromebooks itself. The hope was to stimulate the market and incentivize competition from companies like Asus, Lenovo, and HP, and it worked beautifully. Today, Google has gladly backed off the hardware business almost entirely; the only Google-made Chromebooks left are super-high-end models the likes of which other manufacturers still mostly ignore.
Fiber seems destined for the same fate; if the optical broadband offering can |
hero status on the islands when he scored in the World Cup play-off in Bahrain in 2005. It helped propel the national team to their first World Cup and the supporters made up a rap song in his honour. "The place has gone crazy," he said at the time. Birchall was eligible to play for Trinidad and Tobago because his grandparents moved to the islands to work and his mother, Jennifer, was born in Port of Spain. He was selected when the team's Dutch coach, Leo Beenhakker, learned of his eligiblity. The Stafford-born midfielder was playing for Port Vale at the time, but the attention he drew during the World Cup - especially in the build-up to playing England in the group stages - helped him seal a move to Coventry. He has now joined LA Galaxy and he replaced someone called David Beckham when he made his debut in May. Return to link FRANCE - CHARLIE WINSTON "If I never make it big in England it doesn't matter," says Winston, who has become an overnight sensation in France, where he has topped the single and album charts. Winston has outsold Coldplay and U2 in France The singer-songwriter and former busker recently played to 55,000 people at France's biggest music festival, with the crowd singing along to every word. His profile in France means he has to travel with a security team, but he could walk down any street in the UK quite freely, especially if he took off his trademark battered trilby. He spent 10 years playing to tiny audiences in British pubs and clubs, but became fed up with the London music scene. Rarely could a move abroad - to Paris at the end of 2008 - been better judged. But music pundits think the days when Winston could walk the streets of London unnoticed are numbered. A buzz about the 30-year-old Cornishman is now starting to build on this side of the Channel. Return to link SOUTH AFRICA - JOHNNY CLEGG The Rochdale-born musician has a career spanning more than 30 years and his political activism combined with his commercial success has made him a very significant figure in African music. He says his band of black and white musicians, Juluka, broke the law by performing during the apartheid era, and annoyed the authorities with its mixture of Zulu and English influences. The man nicknamed the "White Zulu" wrote election anthems for the ANC and performed at Nelson Mandela's inauguration in 1994. He has enjoyed international success, with a Grammy nomination for his band Savuka, and a million-selling album in France. Return to link
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StumbleUpon What are these? E-mail this to a friend Printable versionThree years ago, Musical.ly didn’t exist. Now the app, which lets teens make videos of themselves lip-syncing, is set to sell for at least $800 million.
The Shanghai-based company has agreed to sell to Jinri Toutiao, a Chinese media startup that had already bought Flipagram, which competed to some degree with Musical.ly, earlier this year.
The deal hasn’t closed yet, but Bloomberg pegs the price at $800 million, while the Wall Street Journal puts it at “$800 million to $1 billion,” which is the range I’ve heard. Without a public disclosure of the price, you’re generally safe betting on the lower number on deals like these and assuming that the bigger number includes hard-to-hit earnout targets.
Musical.ly is interesting for a bunch of reasons:
It’s indicative of the astonishing trajectory a hit app can enjoy, fueled by a worldwide population of mobile phone owners.
It’s the first Chinese-bred social app to enjoy real success in the U.S.
It may be the most successful video app not owned by an internet giant like Facebook or Google.
It effectively served as a social and messaging app for a very young user base — likely too young to be using social and messaging apps.
The caveat: The fact that Muscial.ly is selling three years after launch, and a year after a funding round that reportedly valued the company around $500 million, is an indicator that its owners believe its growth curve has flattened out.
The company says it has 60 million users, but I’m told that it acquired most of them in the first two years of its existence, and that it hasn’t been able to expand beyond the tweens and teens that first adopted the app.
For what it’s worth, a Google Trends query shows a peak in the summer of 2016. Which may not map with actual user numbers, but seems directionally correct:As the 2016 presidential election season marches on, politics is on everyone’s minds. And whatever your feelings on the man, it’s hard not to talk about Donald Trump. In addition to his latest turn as a politician, this guy’s been a millionaire businessman, a beauty pageant host and a reality TV star. Now, he can add one more career path to that list: supervillain.
No, I promise I’m not making a political statement. Trump is actually a supervillain in one of Marvel’s comic universes, as reported by Comics Alliance.
This revelation comes in the recently released Spider-Gwen Annual #1. The Spider-Gwen books take place in an alternate universe where long-dead Spider-Man love interest Gwen Stacey was bitten by a radioactive spider and became a masked crimefighter. It’s a goofy setup, but the series has actually received a lot of critical and fan acclaim, and its creators have slowly started revealing the wider world of this alternate universe (known as Earth-65).
In Spider-Gwen Annual #1, the focus of that universe is on the stories of Samantha Wilson, the Captain America of Earth-65. Near the end of the issue, we get a brief glimpse of M.O.D.A.A.K., a reimagining of an older Marvel villain with a, um, familiar face.
If you’re not convinced from the likeness in that panel alone, later in the issue M.O.D.A.A.K. tosses out the line, "Must make America-" before being interrupted by an attack from Captain America. This is a clear reference to Trump’s "Make America Great Again" tagline.
If you’re wondering the supervillain this is based on, M.O.D.O.K. (Mobile Organism Designed Only for Killing) is a recurring Captain America bad guy who is basically a giant floating head with very laughably small arms and legs (oh, and extremely tiny hands). He’s an evil scientist who’s often associated with the villainous group A.I.M. (Advanced Idea Mechanics).
Trump isn’t the only new Earth-65 supervillain who looks shockingly recognizable. Spider-Gwen Annual #1 also includes a version of Baron Blood who looks like a reimagining of popular musician Prince, who died earlier this year.
In true Prince fashion, the encounter between Captain America and Baron Blood is mostly about Cap struggling to resist the allure of this stunning siren.
Whether you’re a fan of superhero comics slyly putting real-life figures into the stories, Spider-Gwen at least appears to be doing so with tongue firmly in cheek. You can check out more for yourself by picking up Spider-Gwen Annual #1 at your local comic shop or digitally via Marvel’s website.Yesterday, Microsoft released Windows 10 for PCs Insider Preview build 16273 to the Fast ring, bringing a range of new features that will debut in the Fall Creators Update. Despite there being no new Windows 10 Mobile builds, it would seem that the company also pushed Mobile build 15240 to the Slow ring yesterday, despite not giving any indication of its release.
Indeed, Windows 10 Mobile almost never gets a mention anymore when a build gets pushed to the Slow ring. The original blog post for build 15240 hasn't even been updated, as a PC build post would have been. In fact, when this build was first made available to the Fast ring, it was on a day when Windows Insider Program chief Dona Sarkar had said that there would be no new builds.
Windows 10 Mobile build 15240 comes from the feature2 branch, rather than Redstone 3, which is where PC builds come from. This build actually triples the amount of new features coming in the update, to a total of three. The two new features included are support for Emoji 5.0, and support for the Chinese Lunar Calendar.
Earlier this week, the company also released Mobile Emulator Insider Preview build 15240, alongside SDK Preview build 16267. If you're a developer, these might be worth checking out.
If you're on the Slow ring, you can update your phone to the new build by going to Settings -> Update & security -> Windows Update -> Check for updates.Looking for news you can trust?
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This story first appeared on the TomDispatch website.
It was heinous. It was underhanded. It was beyond the bounds of international morality. It was an attack on the American way of life. It was what you might expect from unscrupulous Arabs. It was “the oil weapon”—and back in 1973, it was directed at the United States. Skip ahead four decades and it’s smart, it’s effective, and it’s the American way. The Obama administration has appropriated it as a major tool of foreign policy, a new way to go to war with nations it considers hostile without relying on planes, missiles, and troops. It is, of course, that very same oil weapon.
Until recently, the use of the term “the oil weapon” has largely been identified with the efforts of Arab producers to dissuade the United States from supporting Israel by cutting off the flow of petroleum. The most memorable example of its use was the embargo imposed by Arab members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) on oil exports to the United States during the Arab-Israeli war of 1973, causing scarcity in the US, long lines at American filling stations, and a global economic recession.
After suffering enormously from that embargo, Washington took a number of steps to disarm the oil weapon and prevent its reuse. These included an increased emphasis on domestic oil production and the establishment of a mutual aid arrangement overseen by the International Energy Agency (IEA) that obliged participating nations to share their oil with any member state subjected to an embargo.
So consider it a surprising reversal that, having tested out the oil weapon against Saddam Hussein’s Iraq with devastating effect back in the 1990s, Washington is now the key country brandishing that same weapon, using trade sanctions and other means to curb the exports of energy-producing states it categorizes as hostile. The Obama administration has taken this aggressive path even at the risk of curtailing global energy supplies.
When first employed, the oil weapon was intended to exploit the industrial world’s heavy dependence on petroleum imports from the Middle East. Over time, however, those producing countries became ever more dependent on oil revenues to finance their governments and enrich their citizens. Washington now seeks to exploit this by selectively denying access to world oil markets, whether through sanctions or the use of force, and so depriving hostile producing powers of operating revenues.
The most dramatic instance of this came on September 23rd, when American aircraft bombed refineries and other oil installations in areas of Syria controlled by the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS, also known as ISIL or IS). An extremist insurgent movement that has declared a new “caliphate,” ISIS is not, of course, a major oil producer, but it has taken control of oil fields and refineries that once were operated by the regime of Bashar al-Assad in eastern Syria. The revenue generated by these fields, reportedly $1 to $2 million daily, is being used by ISIS to generate a significant share of its operating expenses. This has given that movement the wherewithal to finance the further recruitment and support of thousands of foreign fighters, even as it sustains a high tempo of combat operations.
Black-market dealers in Iran, Iraq, Syria, and Turkey have evidently been assisting ISIS in this effort, purchasing the crude at a discount and selling at global market rates, now hovering at about $90 per barrel. Ironically, this clandestine export network was initially established in the 1990s by Saddam Hussein’s regime to evade US sanctions on Iraq.
The Islamic State has proven adept indeed at exploiting the fields under its control, even selling the oil to agents of opposing forces, including the Assad regime. To stop this flow, Washington launched what is planned to be a long-term air campaign against those fields and their associated infrastructure. By bombing them, President Obama evidently hopes to curtail the movement’s export earnings and thereby diminish its combat capabilities. These strikes, he declared in announcing the bombing campaign, are intended to “take out terrorist targets” and “cut off ISIL’s financing.”
It is too early to assess the impact of the air strikes on ISIS’s capacity to pump and sell oil. However, since the movement has been producing only about 80,000 barrels per day (roughly 1/1,000th of worldwide oil consumption), the attacks, if successful, are not expected to have any significant impact on a global market already increasingly glutted, in part because of an explosion of drilling in that “new Saudi Arabia,” the United States.
As it happens, though, the Obama administration is also wielding the oil weapon against two of the world’s leading producers, Iran and Russia. These efforts, which include embargoes and trade sanctions, are likely to have a far greater impact on world output, reflecting White House confidence that, in the pursuit of US strategic interests, anything goes.
Fighting the Iranians
In the case of Iran, Washington has moved aggressively to curtail Tehran’s ability to finance its extensive nuclear program both by blocking its access to Western oil-drilling technology and by curbing its export sales. Under the Iran Sanctions Act, foreign firms that invest in the Iranian oil industry are barred from access to US financial markets and subject to other penalties. In addition, the Obama administration has put immense pressure on major oil-importing countries, including China, India, South Korea, and the European powers, to reduce or eliminate their purchases from Iran.
These measures, which involve tough restrictions on financial transactions related to Iranian oil exports, have had a significant impact on that country’s oil output. By some estimates, those exports have fallen by one million barrels per day, which also represents a significant contraction in global supplies. As a result, Iran’s income from oil exports is estimated to have fallen from $118 billion in 2011-2012 to $56 billion in 2013-2014, while pinching ordinary Iranians in a multitude of ways.
In earlier times, when global oil supplies were tight, a daily loss of one million barrels would have meant widespread scarcity and a possible global recession. The Obama administration, however, assumes that only Iran is likely to suffer in the present situation. Credit this mainly to the recent upsurge in North American energy production (largely achieved through the use of hydro-fracking to extract oil and natural gas from buried shale deposits) and the increased availability of crude from other non-OPEC sources. According to the most recent data from the Department of Energy (DoE), US crude output rose from 5.7 million barrels per day in 2011 to 8.4 million barrels in the second quarter of 2014, a remarkable 47% gain. And this is to be no flash in the pan. The DoE predicts that domestic output will rise to some 9.6 million barrels per day in 2020, putting the US back in the top league of global producers.
For the Obama administration, the results of this are clear. Not only will American reliance on imported oil be significantly reduced, but with the US absorbing ever less of the non-domestic supply, import-dependent countries like India, Japan, China, and South Korea should be able to satisfy their needs even if Iranian energy production keeps falling. As a result, Washington has been able to secure greater cooperation from such countries in observing the Iranian sanctions—something they would no doubt have been reluctant to do if global supplies were less abundant.
There is another factor, no less crucial, in the aggressive use of the oil weapon as an essential element of foreign policy. The increase in domestic crude output has imbued American leaders with a new sense of energy omnipotence, allowing them to contemplate the decline in Iranian exports without trepidation. In an April 2013 speech at Columbia University, Tom Donilon, then Obama’s national security adviser, publicly expressed this outlook with particular force. “America’s new energy posture allows us to engage from a position of greater strength,” he avowed. “Increasing US energy supplies act as a cushion that helps reduce our vulnerability to global supply disruptions and price shocks. It also affords us a stronger hand in pursuing and implementing our international security goals.”
This “stronger hand,” he made clear, was reflected in US dealings with Iran. To put pressure on Tehran, he noted, “The United States engaged in tireless diplomacy to persuade consuming nations to end or significantly reduce their consumption of Iranian oil.” At the same time, “the substantial increase in oil production in the United States and elsewhere meant that international sanctions and US and allied efforts could remove over 1 million barrels per day of Iranian oil while minimizing the burdens on the rest of the world.” It was this happy circumstance, he suggested, that had forced Iran to the negotiating table.
Fighting Vladimir Putin
The same outlook apparently governs US policy toward Russia.
Prior to Russia’s seizure of Crimea and its covert intervention in eastern Ukraine, major Western oil companies, including BP, Chevron, ExxonMobil, and Total of France, were pursuing elaborate plans to begin production in Russian-controlled sectors of the Black Sea and the Arctic Ocean, mainly in collaboration with state-owned or state-controlled firms like Gazprom and Rosneft. There were, for instance, a number of expansive joint ventures between Exxon and Rosneft to drill in those energy-rich waters.
“These agreements,” Rex Tillerson, the CEO of Exxon, said proudly in 2012 on inking the deal, “are important milestones in this strategic relationship… Our focus now will move to technical planning and execution of safe and environmentally responsible exploration activities with the goal of developing significant new energy supplies to meet growing global demand.” Seen as a boon for American energy corporations and the oil-dependent global economy, these and similar endeavors were largely welcomed by US officials.
Such collaborations between US companies and Russian state enterprises were then viewed as conferring significant benefits on both sides. Exxon and other Western companies were being given access to vast new reserves—a powerful lure at a time when many of their existing fields in other parts of the world were in decline. For the Russians, who were also facing significant declines in their existing fields, access to advanced Western drilling technology offered the promise of exploiting otherwise difficult-to-reach areas in the Arctic and “tough” drilling environments elsewhere.
Not surprisingly, key figures on both sides have sought to insulate these arrangements from the new sanctions being imposed on Russia in response to its incursions in Ukraine. Tillerson, in particular, has sought to persuade US leaders to exempt its deals with Rosneft from any such measures. “Our views are being heard at the highest levels,” he indicated in June.
As a result of such pressures, Russian energy companies were not covered in the first round of US sanctions imposed on various firms and individuals. After Russia intervened in eastern Ukraine, however, the White House moved on to tougher sanctions, including measures aimed at the energy sector. On September 12th, the Treasury Department announced that it was imposing strict constraints on the transfer of US technology to Rosneft, Gazprom, and other Russian firms for the purpose of drilling in the Arctic. These measures, the department noted, “will impede Russia’s ability to develop so-called frontier or unconventional oil resources, areas in which Russian firms are heavily dependent on US and western technology.”
The impact of these new measures cannot yet be assessed. Russian officials scoffed at them, insisting that their companies will proceed in the Arctic anyway. Nevertheless, Obama’s decision to target their drilling efforts represents a dramatic turn in US policy, risking a future contraction in global oil supplies if Russian companies prove unable to offset declines at their existing fields.
The New Weapon of Choice
As these recent developments indicate, the Obama administration has come to view the oil weapon as a valuable tool of power and influence. It appears, in fact, that Washington may be in the process of replacing the threat of invasion or, as with the Soviet Union in the Cold War era, nuclear attack, as its favored response to what it views as overseas provocation. (Not surprisingly, the Russians look on the Ukrainian crisis, which is taking place on their border, in quite a different light.) Whereas full-scale US military action—that is, anything beyond air strikes, drone attacks, and the sending in of special ops forces—seems unlikely in the current political environment, top officials in the Obama administration clearly believe that oil combat is an effective and acceptable means of coercion—so long, of course, as it remains in American hands.
That Washington is prepared to move in this direction reflects not only the recent surge in US crude oil output, but also a sense that energy, in this time of globalization, constitutes a strategic asset of unparalleled importance. To control oil flows across the planet and deny market access to recalcitrant producers is increasingly a major objective of American foreign policy.
Yet, given Washington’s lack of success when using direct military force in these last years, it remains an open question whether the oil weapon will, in the end, prove any more satisfactory in offering strategic advantage to the United States. The Iranians, for instance, have indeed come to the negotiating table, but a favorable outcome on the nuclear talks there appears increasingly remote; with or without oil, ISIS continues to score battlefield victories; and Moscow displays no inclination to end its involvement in Ukraine. Nonetheless, in the absence of other credible options, President Obama and his key officials seem determined to wield the oil weapon.
As with any application of force, however, use of the oil weapon entails substantial risk. For one thing, despite the rise in domestic crude production, the US will remain dependent on oil imports for the foreseeable future and so could still suffer if other countries were to deny it exports. More significant is the possibility that this new version of the oil wars Washington has been fighting since the 1990s could someday result in a genuine contraction in global supplies, driving prices skyward and so threatening the health of the US economy. And who’s to say that, seeing Washington’s growing reliance on aggressive oil tactics to impose its sway, other countries won’t find their own innovative ways to wield the oil weapon to their advantage and to Washington’s ultimate detriment?
As with the introduction of drones, the United States now enjoys a temporary advantage in energy warfare. By unleashing such weapons on the world, however, it only ensures that others will seek to match our advantage and turn it against us.
Michael T. Klare, a TomDispatch regular, is a professor of peace and world security studies at Hampshire College and the author, most recently, of The Race for What’s Left. A documentary movie version of his book Blood and Oil is available from the Media Education Foundation. To stay on top of important articles like these, sign up to receive the latest updates from TomDispatch.com here.It’s no secret that mobile technology is growing at an alarmingly fast rate, and when we have devices like tablets and smartphones that can do basically everything, the influence of home consoles on the overall gaming market has been declining at a steady rate.
Paradox Interactive CEO, Fredrik Wester, has chimed in and said that he believes the next gen will definitely be the last one. When there are devices with smaller form factor and pack in a lot of power, who would buy a bulky console box which clutters up their living room?
“The next generation of console hardware will probably be the last. I’d be surprised if we see another generation after that,” he said.
While this may be a little disturbing for console ‘fans’, this is how the inevitable evolution will be headed. Now, there is no reason why Sony and Microsoft, and even Nintendo cannot adapt to these changing conditions, they are already preparing for the future in a way, when you look at it.
Wesker also said that he expects the walled gardens to decline and open platforms like PC to rise a lot. In a way, we are already seeing that.
Paradox Interactive have been really successful with revenues multiplying at an insane percentage, almost from 1.5% in 2006, to 97% in 2011.
This is what EA has been projecting, and I think this is pretty accurate. Consoles still bring in the most revenue but the growth rate isn’t that high, and in comparison the social and mobile markets are growing at a rapid rate.
Tell us what you think in the comments section below.
Thanks, SI.The best things in life are free?
Maybe not so much anymore for Arianna Huffington and the Huffington Post, now that she's got AOL money.
"Umbrella art publishing company" Visual Art Source (aka ArtScene), which had been contributing content to the Huffington Post gratis since 2010, has now declared a strike on the site and is refusing to furnish the site with further material.
Moreover, they're calling on other HuffPo contributors who've provided free material to join them in the strike.
ArtScene and Visual Art Source publisher Bill Lasarow lays out the group's demands on Visual Art Source's Web site, writing, "First, a pay schedule must be proposed and steps initiated to implement it for all contributing writers and bloggers. Second, paid promotional material must no longer be posted alongside editorial content; a press release or exhibition catalogue essay is fundamentally different from editorial content and must be either segregated and indicated as such, or not published at all."
Lasarow adds, "I am also calling upon all others now contributing free content, particularly original content to the Huffington Post to also join us in this strike."
Lasarow and company's sudden unwillingness to accept exposure alone as payment for their efforts is understandable, given AOL's $315 million purchase of Huffington Post in February.
And HuffPo has, after all, famously relied on the kindness of perhaps over-generous contributors, some of whom might like a little payback now that the gravy's pouring in.
Now, Lasarow argues, it's time for the free ride to come to a halt. And he reasons that there's strength in numbers.
"We think it is incumbent upon the many writers and bloggers to form a negotiating partnership with Huffington/AOL in order to pursue these and other important matters so as to professionalize this relationship," he writes. "It is not entirely Ms. Huffington’s fault that so many talented professionals have been willing to accept the company’s terms on an 'in kind' basis. Surely most do so in the hopes of achieving their own fame and fortune thanks to the great exposure that Huffington Post potentially offers. Unfortunately, such participants are only complicit in a relationship that fails the ethical smell test. And those who are already nationally known figures who will never need to be concerned about pay scales, shame on you, you should know better."
Lasarow stops short of calling Arianna Huffington a crook — but he certainly hopes she experiences a change of heart when it comes to her current non-pay scale.
"None of [the Huffington Post's practices are] illegal, only unethical and oh so very hypocritical, so Ms. Huffington if you insist do carry on, by all means. However we are taking this action, with the full knowledge of our contributing writers and editors, in the belief that your better angels will enable you to do the right thing. We stand ready to provide whatever helpful input we can."This week’s post comes from recent conversations we’ve had around the Reed group concerning tools to quickly solve (approximately) non-linear programming problems. First, some context.
As part of a simulation model our group is building, a drinking water allocation sub-problem must be solved. Figure 1 is a simplified example of the sort of problem we are solving.
There are three utilities that each have a demand (,, and ). The utilities are connected via some infrastructure, as shown in Figure 1. When our total available water ( ) is in excess of the demand ( ), no rationing is needed. When we do need to ration, we want to allocate the water to minimize the percent supply deficits across the three utilities:
Subject to:
The last constraint here describes the a limitation of the distribution network. The real problem is much more complicated, but we needn’t detail that here.
This problem needs to be solved thousands, or hundreds of thousands of times in each simulation, so we want any solution technique to be fast. The natural solution is linear programming (LP), which can solve problems with tens of thousands of variables and constraints nearly instantaneously.
We won’t discuss LP in great detail here, except to say that LP requires an objective and constraints that are linear with respect to the decision variables. These restrictive requirements significantly reduce the number of potential optimal solutions that must be searched. By systematically testing and pivoting between these potential optimal solutions, the popular Simplex Algorithm quickly converges to the optimal solution.
As stated in equation 1, our rationing scheme is indifferent to imposing small deficits across all three utilities, or imposing one large deficit to a single utility. For example, the objective value in equation 1 is the same, whether each utility has a deficit of 5%, or if utility 1 has a deficit of 15%, and utilities 2 and 3 have no deficit. In reality, many small deficits are likely preferable to one large one. So what are we to do?
We could square our deficits. In that case, our rationing scheme will prefer small distributed deficits over one large deficit:
BUT, we can’t use LP to solve this problem, as our objective is now non-linear! There are non-linear programming algorithms that are relatively fast, but perhaps not fast enough. Instead we could linearize our non-linear objective, as shown in Figure 2.
The strategy here is to divide a single allocation, for instance, into many decision variables, representing different ranges of the actual allocation. In each range, a linear segment approximates the actual quadratic objective function. Any actual release can be achieved by assigning the appropriate values to the new decision variables (,, and ), and the contribution to the objective function from that release can be approximated by:
Subject to:
If a more accurate description is needed, the range of can be divided into more segments. For our purposes just a few segments are probably sufficient. A similar strategy can be adopted for and. Of course the constraints from the original optimization problem would need to be translated into terms of the new decision variables.
Now we are adding many more decision variables and constraints, but this is unlikely to slow a modern LP algorithm too much; we are still solving a relatively simple problem. BUT, how does the LP algorithm know to increase to its maximum threshold before applying? Do we need to add a number of conditional constraints to ensure this is done properly?
It turns out we don’t! Because our squared deficit curve in Figure 2 is monotonic and convex, we know that slope of the linear segments making up the approximation are increasing (becoming less negative). Thus, in a minimization problem, the marginal improvement in the objective is highest for the segment, followed by the segment, followed by the segment, and so on. In other words.For this reason, the algorithm will increase to its maximum threshold before assigning a non-zero value to, and so forth. No need for complicated constraints!
Now this is not always the case. If the function were not monotonic, or if it were convex for a maximization, or concave for a minimization, this would not work. But, this trick works for a surprising number of applications in water resources systems analysis!
If nothing else this simple example serves as a reminder that a little bit of thought in formulating problems can save a lot of time later!Posted on: November 12, 2015 3:33 PM
[ACNS, by Gavin Drake] This month, the Most Revd Michael Curry began a new chapter of his Christian ministry when he was installed as the 27th Presiding Bishop and Primate of the Episcopal Church in America – a province of 109 dioceses in 16 different nations. And he has already made waves around the world for his impassioned plea for Episcopalians to take seriously their role as part of what he calls the Jesus Movement.
“I can tell you that I believe passionately in the Great Commission and its call to go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit; and teaching them to obey everything that Jesus has taught us,” he said in an interview with ACNS.
“I believe that that’s a call, an invitation and an exciting possibility; and I think that is one of the foundational principles of our call to be the Church: to help to make other followers of Jesus who can then, following his teachings and following the way of Jesus in their life and in our lives together, help to make this world a better world – something that is less like a nightmare and more like God’s dream and God’s vision and God’s intention for the human family and the whole of creation.
“That, for me, is one of the centre-pieces of the Gospel.”
The Presiding Bishop exudes confidence and joy when he speaks about evangelism. It is clear that this is foundational to his understanding of the Christian faith – and he is going to work hard to make it the top priority of the Episcopal Church under his leadership.
“Imagine every Episcopalian, imagine every Anglican, committed to living out the teachings of Jesus of Nazareth and living in his Spirit in their lives,” he said. “I dare say we could transform the world. I really believe that.
“Remember Jesus in Luke’s Gospel, in the fourth chapter, at the very beginning of his ministry, Jesus calls on the prophet Isaiah, and it is like Jesus issuing his mission statement, his inaugural address, and he goes back to Isaiah and he defines his ministry in terms of Isaiah’s words: ‘the Spirit of the Lord is upon me because he has anointed me to preach Good News to the poor, to proclaim release to the captives, the recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty all those who are oppressed and to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.’ And then, in the next chapter, Jesus says to Peter: ‘Now follow me.’
“Those are our marching orders. Those are some of the teachings of Jesus. Imagine every Episcopalian getting up every morning and going out into the world actually learning to live like Jesus, to love like Jesus [and] every Anglican around the world – that’s transformative. And I really do believe that that kind of transformative possibility can help us make for a better world – both ourselves, and joining hands with others.
“That’s exciting, that’s the Great Commission. One of my favourite words is ‘go’. That’s one of the words of God to people when he calls them. That’s the word for mission – go. ‘Go and make disciples’; Moses in Leviticus: ‘go proclaim liberty to all the land’; Isaiah responds to the ‘Who will go for us,’ and Isaiah responds and goes.
“We have got an incredible opportunity, a remarkable faith, and my hope and dream and prayer is that we in the Episcopal Church will find ourselves deeply in what I like to call the Jesus Movement which has been going on a long time; and we are the 21st Century iteration of that.
“That’s what we’re about and that’s where we are going.”
It is just under a fortnight since Michael Curry first gave this charge to the Episcopal Church during his sermon at his installation in Washington National Cathedral. He repeated the charge in a video message released the following day. And the response, he says, has been “very positive”, despite the church being “very aware” of the changing nature of the society and countries it serves.
Presiding Bishop Michael Curry urges Episcopalians to become the Jesus Movement during his installation service sermon at the National Cathedral in Washington DC. Photo: Mary Frances Schjonberg / Episcopal News Service
“When I was a little boy growing up everybody went to church or synagogue or temple or something,” he said. “Everybody proclaimed to have a religious tradition – now whether they really lived it out is another question – but there was a sense in which, at least for us, that we were living in a Christian culture to some extent.
“The truth of the matter is that we live in a culture – I’m not sure if secularising is the right word – but where there are more diverse personal possibilities, some of which are religious, that takes people’s attention.
“We can no longer automatically assume that the culture is going to reinforce people’s Christian faith in their walk. Nor should we expect the culture to do that – that’s our job.
“And so now, I think we in the Episcopal Church have the remarkable challenge and opportunity to present the Gospel anew, to share that faith in ways that are authentic and genuine to us. I’m not trying to be something that we aren’t, but being authentic; and to engage and live a kind of evangelism that I believe is as much listening to the faith story and journey of others as it is sharing our own.
“The kind of evangelism that emerges out of a genuine and authentic human relationship and then letting God take it from there. That’s the kind of evangelism, or way of evangelism, that is not coercion, that is really open to the Holy Spirit, taking a leading someone into a deeper relationship with God without us trying to control that – to be supportive but not trying to control.”
When he was the Bishop of North Carolina, he adopted an approach developed by the Diocese of Texas: Sharing our Faith, in which a small group of Christians would get together over supper and play a card game designed to break people’s fear of telling their faith story. The cards featured a series of questions designed to elicit a response.
“For example, one question might be ‘was there a person who was significant in your life journey who actually was a saint for you? Tell that story’”, Bishop Curry said. “My guess is every one of us has somebody who was significant. And in the telling of that story, I’m actually telling who I am.
“I’m not pretending to be somebody else. It’s my story. How God has been in my life. And, being in a group, I actually have to listen to other people’s stories – so in the process you are actually practising what we are inviting people to do in their own lives out in the world.
“I can tell you, I was sitting with a Vestry after we had done this one year and instead of the Vestry – you know, I’ve been a bishop a long time – and instead of the Vestry wanting to sit down and talk about the roof and the boiler, they wanted to tell me their stories.
“And I will never forget one woman in particular who worked in administration in a community college and realised that just her listening to the stories of her students and staff and, when invited, sharing her own. Not uninvited, but when invited. She didn’t realise she was actually engaged in evangelism. And the Holy Spirit can take it from there. That’s one of the simple ways but I think it is deeply profound.”
As the Presiding Bishop was keen on people telling their stories of faith, it seemed |
at women's health so they cannot get proper care with cancer screenings, birth control, pre and post-natal care and for abortions for tubal pregnancies or other circumstances forcing some women to seek unsafe procedures on the black market.
They promote racism which endangers black and Hispanic men and women with profiling. They refuse to legislate for women caught in domestic violence or are raped in the military.
They promote out of control gun ownership that endangers thousands of people each year.
They work for corporations instead of people and line their pockets at the expense of their constituents.
They spread panic so they can rule by fear. By spreading unfounded panic they endanger us. They promote war whenever possible and spend our men and women in them without serving in the wars themselves.
So yes, I am more afraid of them than I am of Ebola.by BAR editor and senior columnist Margaret Kimberley
So-called liberals and “progressives” have caught the Mad Democratic Cow Disease, frothing at the mouth at those who would resist the coronation of the corporate warmonger, Hillary Clinton. They flail with McCarthyite fury at both Donald Trump and the Green Party presidential ticket of Jill Stein and Ajamu Baraka. “Liberals are now quite deranged and applaud a woman who will crush their feeble agenda as soon as she says the oath of office.”
Freedom Rider: Liberal Hate for Stein and Baraka
by BAR editor and senior columnist Margaret Kimberley
“There is no longer any pretense of claiming a desire for systemic change or even calling themselves progressives.”
Liberals have joined Hillary Clinton’s “big nasty tent” in a very big way. They have moved far beyond the usual rationales for sticking with the Democrats and are now carrying on a full-fledged hate fest. Their targets are Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein and her running mate Ajamu Baraka, who is also a Black Agenda Report editor and columnist.
The screeds have become more and more extreme and defy the run of the mill rationales that progressives use to justify remaining within Democratic Party lines. Holding one’s nose and voting for the “lesser evil” democrat is passé. So is fear of Republican judicial appointments. Concern for abortion rights doesn’t cut it anymore.
Liberals are no longer going through the motions of criticizing the Democrat. Instead they openly show love for Hillary Clinton and disdainfully pile on Stein and Baraka with fury. The blog Wonkette called Jill Stein “cunty” and “a mendacious nihilist piece of shit.” The site Very Smart Brothas declared that a vote for Stein was akin to putting it in the trash. They also threw in a dig at Cornel West because he dared to criticize Barack Obama. The Huffington Post chose to deride Green Party convention delegates because they ate at McDonald’s. Gawker tried to link Ajamu Baraka to holocaust denial. His unassailable human rights credentials didn’t mean much when the media decided to go into attack mode.
“Liberals have sided with the ruling classes and resist anyone pointing out the truth.”
The list is long and will get longer between now and Election Day. The degree of antipathy is actually quite useful. It tells us why the Green Party is so important and why liberals are such a dangerous enemy.
They are wolves in sheep’s clothing. They spend years wringing their hands because Republicans control state legislatures but when the recently released DNC emails show that the party starves local races of money they say nothing. When they spoke up at all they made a big deal about a spurious Russian hacker connection to Donald Trump.
There is no longer any pretense of claiming a desire for systemic change or even calling themselves progressives. They are “with her” -- as the slogan goes -- and her illegal activities and record of mass killing don’t dissuade them from supporting her.
Liberals don’t want the Democrats to change. They cling to a bizarre hope for reform, nibbling around the edges while keeping the criminals in charge. They prefer to look down their noses at Trump supporters or consider themselves the cool kids in the high school clique. When they have an opportunity to make history and begin the process of dismantling the hold of the Democratic Party they instead become quite vicious on their behalf.
“They cheerlead for Hillary Clinton just as they did for Barack Obama and will say nothing against her once she is in office.”
Donald Trump is the perfect foil for their con game. His open appeals to racism and unpredictable statements and behavior give them an excuse to do nothing except make excuses for the very crooked Mrs. Clinton.
They don’t even feign concern when Republicans who contributed to Chris Christie and John Kasich start doling out dollars to Hillary. They long ago gave up on fighting for peace and just as the name Trump is a one-word attack ad, questions about foreign policy turn into harangues directed against Vladimir Putin.
Liberals have sided with the ruling classes and resist anyone pointing out the truth. While they falsely accuse Jill Stein of being anti-vaccine, even after she clearly stated she was pro-vaccine, American police departments keep up their body count. The United States risks war with China and Russia and unemployment is still high. But they say nothing about any of those issues. They cheerlead for Hillary Clinton just as they did for Barack Obama and will say nothing against her once she is in office.
The election of 2016 will be a notable one in history but for all the wrong reasons. Millions of people voted for the not-so-left wing Bernie Sanders who wasn’t serious about denying Clinton the nomination. Yet it must be said that they wanted change within the Democrat Party. He left his followers high and dry and made the case for the people who feared and scorned his half-hearted campaign.
“Progressives and big money Republicans are now on the same page and that is why Stein and Baraka face so much scrutiny and so many big lies.”
While Democrats were confused about what made a candidate a progressive, the Republicans were following a new leader. Donald Trump was a political novice who used free media attention and blatant appeals to white nationalism to win the nomination. But Trump makes statements which don’t sit well with the Republican establishment. He went on record saying that the trade deals beloved by the duopoly are harming American workers. He asked reasonable questions about United States/Russian relations. He was then used to invent numerous lies about the Russian president, who was already demonized by the media and the ruling classes.
Liberals are now quite deranged and applaud a woman who will crush their feeble agenda as soon as she says the oath of office. Progressives and big money Republicans are now on the same page and that is why Stein and Baraka face so much scrutiny and so many big lies.
The Green Party’s existence is proof that the Democratic Party emperor has no clothes. The logical progression of success for the Greens is the end of the party which claims to be more inclusive and the champion of working people and human rights. It does none of those things while the party which actually articulates these policies has been designated an enemy.
In this case the enemies of the enemy are most definitely our friends. Far from being wasted votes, support for the Green Party ticket can be the beginning of the end for the Democratic Party.
There is no downside to that. The 2016 election is an opportunity to send scoundrels to the proverbial dustbin of history.
Margaret Kimberley's Freedom Rider column appears weekly in BAR, and is widely reprinted elsewhere. She maintains a frequently updated blog as well as at http://freedomrider.blogspot.com. Ms. Kimberley lives in New York City, and can be reached via e-Mail at Margaret.Kimberley(at)BlackAgendaReport.com.The Xerox machine may be a dinosaur of the 20th century still taking up space in your office, but here's a cool new trick by the old dog. The company just revealed a feature called Xerox Translates that will auto-translate the text of anything you put into the copy machine into one of more than 30 languages, then spit out a print-out of the translated version.
What's nice if you don't have a ConnectKey-enabled Xerox machine around, and might be more useful overall, is that Xerox Translates has an app, too. Take a picture of your document and you'll get an instantly translated version sent back. You'll be able to upload JPEG and other files to a web service for the same purpose.
After a free trial period, you'd have to pay per page to use the service. There's also an option to have a human rather than a machine translate your text, which is no doubt more accurate. But that costs 10 cents per word, so you're looking at a fee of nearly $20 to translate just this little story you're reading.
Source: Xerox via GizmodoBetween the insulting defeat in 1962 at the hands of the Chinese and attaining the glorious heights with the victory in 1971 leading to the creation of Bangladesh, the Indian armed forces had a mixedbag experience in the 22-day war with Pakistan in 1965.
In the run up to the 50th anniversary of the 1965 war, dissection of the conflict has begun with the Indian Air Force (IAF) veterans gathering in New Delhi on Friday to dissect what was the first fullblown air battle between the arch-rivals. It was the test of the IAF's combat worthiness against the Pakistan Air Force's (PAF) formidable fleet of F-86F Sabres and superior air defence capabilities.
The result of the first air battles is highly contested with the "Sabre slayer" IAF taking significant hits with high rate of attrition and the PAF despite its much smaller size rattling the Indians with the devastation of the Pathankot base on September 6, 1965. One of the first strikes saw the IAF lose more than 10 aircraft on ground. The subsequent PAF strikes, however, on Adampur and Halwara were repulsed.
The war broke out when the IAF's modernisation plan was still taking off and the Pakistan Air Force had already stolen the march after signing the Baghdad pact and becoming a US ally. The Americans had armed Pakistan with F-104s, F-86 Sabres, B-57 bombers and advanced air defence radars.
The Indian Air Force was still struggling with obsolete fleet of Vampires, Toofanis and Mystere fighters. It had added a modest second generation aircraft fleet of the Gnats and Hawker Hunters and the Canberra bombers. Even Hunters and Gnats faced problems of gun stoppages.
The PAF's air raid on the Kalaikunda base in the eastern sector destroying 10 Indian aircraft on the ground was left unchallenged. The IAF was numerically much stronger in the east, but the front remained dormant.
At a seminar on the 1965 war, IAF chief Arup Raha talked about the four elements of the Pakistan's operations. The first came in the form of probing encounter on April 8 in the Rann of Kutch in Operation Desert Hawk.
It was followed by Operation Gibraltar to infiltrate into Jammu and Kashmir in August. A full-scale assault followed through Operation Grand Slam in the Chhamb sector and an armoured attack on Amritsar.
The IAF veterans said the 1965 war was a preparatory exercise for the subsequent 1971 war.
Air Marshal Manjit Singh Sekhon said the experiences of the 1965 war proved useful in 1971 in nailing down the PAF.
Despite the rivalry, the veterans also credited their PAF counterparts for their professionalism. Flying officer V. Dutta recalled how the precise bombing by a Pakistan flight commander had destroyed the Jamnagar base.
The PAF aircraft was shot down but not before it had crippled the airfield, he recalled. Dutta had carried the diary recovered from the Pakistani pilot to New Delhi as it contained key information.
One of the major problems for the IAF which still persists is the intelligence failure. It was the hallmark of the 1965 operations as the Indians were completely surprised by the offensive from Pakistan.Warnings about "peak oil" have been with us since the OPEC crisis in the 1970s. At some point, the experts said, the world would hit a limit on how much oil could be extracted from the ground. Production would then drop, prices would soar, chaos would ensue.
But after a worrisome series of price spikes starting in 2007, oil triumphalism is once again ascendant. Companies are now using new technologies to extract crude from hard-to-reach sources, from the tar sands of Alberta to shale formations in North Dakota. After decades of decline, U.S. oil production has risen to its highest levels since the 1990s. And that's led many analysts and journalists to confidently declare that "peak oil is dead."
Not everyone's convinced, however, that oil is really on the verge of a new boom. Energy analyst Chris Nelder, for one, has spent a lot of time scrutinizing the claims of the oil triumphalists. Our newfound oil resources, he argues, aren't nearly as promising as they first appear. And peak oil is still as relevant as ever.
I talked to Nelder by phone this week. A lightly edited transcript follows.
Brad Plumer: Let's start with the basics. How would you define "peak oil"?
Chris Nelder: There has always been a lot of confusion about this point. Peak oil was never about "running out of oil." The only people who characterized it that way either didn't know what they were talking about or were trying to confuse the issue. Peak oil has always referred to the production rate of oil — it's about finding the point where that production rate peaks.
BP: So back in 2005, plenty of analysts were suggesting that the world would soon hit a ceiling in annual oil production. How has that panned out?
CN: The predictions weren't monolithic. But what everyone agreed on was that at some point in the near future, maybe five or 10 or 15 years away, the rate of oil production would stop growing. Some said we'd hit an absolute peak in a specific year. Others said we'd reach a "bumpy plateau" that might be five or 10 years long. But everyone agreed that sometime after 2005, within 10 or 15 years, global oil production would stop growing.
And that's exactly what happened. The growth in conventional oil production ended in 2004, and we've been on a bumpy plateau ever since.
Note: Chart only shows crude oil, not "total liquids." (Credit: Gregor Macdonald)
BP: It looks to me like there was an uptick in 2012. Doesn't that mean we've finally broken the plateau?
CN: Not necessarily. In 2005, we reached 73 million barrels per day. Then, to increase production beyond that, the world had to double spending on oil production. In 2012, we're now spending $600 billion. The price of oil has tripled. And yet, for all that additional expenditure, we've only raised production 3 percent to 75 million barrels per day [since 2005].
BP: So what we're seeing is that the world can no longer increase its production of "easy" oil — many of those older fields are stagnant or declining. Instead, we're spending a lot of money to eke out additional production from hard, expensive sources like Alberta's tar sands or tight oil in North Dakota.
CN: Right, and that's entirely consistent with peak oil predictions, which said that extraction would plateau, that the decline in conventional oil fields would have to be made up by expensive unconventional oil. Right now, we're struggling to keep up with declines in mature oil fields — and that pace of decline is accelerating.
Mature OPEC fields are now declining at 5 to 6 percent per year, and non-OPEC fields are declining at 8 to 9 percent per year. Unconventional oil can't compensate for that decline rate for very long.
Even all the growth in U.S. tight oil from fracking, which has produced about 1 million barrels per day, hasn't been enough to overcome declines elsewhere outside of OPEC. Non-OPEC oil has been on a bumpy plateau since 2004:
(Credit: Gregor Macdonald)
BP: Now when you say "mature" oil fields are declining — these are older fields in places like Saudi Arabia or California that used to produce cheap, easy-to-extract oil. And we're replacing them with fields that decline more quickly and are difficult to produce?
CN: Look at Ghawar in Saudi Arabia [the largest conventional oil field in the world]. We know that its water cut has been increasing — they're getting more water with the oil that comes out, which is an indication that the field is in decline. That's a field with a high flow rate and cheap production costs.
And we're replacing it with tight oil wells in the U.S. that decline 40 percent in the first year, where the production cost is over $70 per barrel. Or deepwater wells, which deplete at 20 percent per year. Or tar sands, which is expensive. Anticipated production growth for tar sands has consistently failed to meet expectations, year after year after year. Ten years ago, tar sands production today was expected to be twice what it actually is.
These are just low-quality oil resources, and we're relying on them to compensate for the decline in cheap, high-quality stuff.
BP: One of the things peak-oil analysts often talk about is the "energy return on investment," or EROI. The idea seems to be that we're now spending more and more energy just to extract oil from difficult places like Alberta's tar sands. Why is this important?
CN: At some point, you wind up investing so much energy to produce more energy that you start losing the race. It becomes non-useful or ineffective to keep trying to produce more energy.
And there's a turning point on this — it's called the "net energy cliff." When the ratio of energy output to energy input gets down to about 6, then you fall off this cliff, and it's just not worth doing. In the early days of oil production, that ratio was about 100 to 1. Globally, right now, it's approaching 11 to 1. And it's even lower for some newer sources. The return on investment for heavy oil from the Kern River field in California is about 4 to 1.
The point is that the net energy available to society has been declining radically. Researchers have done a number of papers on this. If you want to run a society, your net energy for oil production has to be at least 5. And if you want to run a modern complex society, with televisions, iPads, highly advanced medicine, etc., then you probably need an EROI closer to 10. So it's reaching the point where we're in the danger zone.
BP: Now what about prices? We've seen oil prices soar from around $40 per barrel in 2004 to $140 per barrel in 2008. And nowadays, prices in the $100 range are pretty much normal.
CN: One of the implications of peak oil is that as production starts to falter, we need much higher prices in order to sustain production. And that's exactly what's happened since 2005.
Another implication is that the economy would be unable to tolerate those high prices and would contract. That also seems to have happened. U.S. employment is still below 2008 levels. Europe is struggling. Now, it's difficult to sort out the effects of high oil prices on the global economy because we also had the financial crisis and everything else. But guys like James Hamilton have done some interesting research showing that when oil expenditures reach a certain percentage of GDP, that induces a recession. So there is some evidence.
BP: It seems like one of the implications of peak oil is that prices will bounce around a narrow window. They can't go too low, because then all those tight oil wells in North Dakota will be unprofitable. But they can't go too high, because that will crush the global economy.
CN: A number of analysts have argued that the floor on oil prices is now around $85 per barrel. It might vary from place to place. An existing well in the Bakken might be profitable when oil's at $70 or $75. For Arctic drilling, prices might have to rise to $110 per barrel. But the floor is around $85.
But there's also a price ceiling for what consumers are able to pay. I think that's probably around $105 for West Texas Intermediate and $125 for Brent. This is why world prices have been bouncing around this narrow ledge between floor and ceiling since 2007. We have to keep prices in that range, not too high to kill demand, but not too low to kill supply. Again, that's very consistent with the concept of what peak oil has always been.
BP: The other interesting dynamic you've noted is that once oil production stagnates, we're essentially in competition for oil with China and India.
CN: Right now, all of the new oil consumption in the world is coming from outside the OECD and the developed world. It's largely coming from in China and India. And that new oil demand is now being met, almost exactly, by declining demand in North American and Europe:
Source: Samuel Foucher/Logi Energy LLC
Another consequence of hitting that plateau is that net global oil exports will continue to fall. Oil-exporting nations will make a lot of money thanks to higher prices, and they'll grow as a result. But that means they'll also start consuming more of their own oil. And this is exactly what's happening worldwide — net global oil exports have declined since 2005. Countries like Saudi Arabia have seen enormous growth in oil consumption.
And what that means is that the United States will have to cut consumption in response. We are the most vulnerable oil importer: We consume about 18 million barrels per day and produce about 7 million. So as net global exports decline, our consumption will have to fall. And that's already happened.
BP: I'm not sure I quite follow. If there's only a limited amount of oil to go around in a growing world, why does that oil go to Saudi Arabia or China instead of the United States?
CN: The growing economies of Asia get so much more marginal economic utility out of a gallon of fuel than we do. In a poorer country, you might have a couple guys on a moped, burning one gallon of fuel to get to the market and back. They get so much more economic value out of doing that than a construction worker in the U.S. gets in his pickup truck burning 5 gallons per day.
In China you've now got cars that get 50 miles per gallon. And I've done the math on how many of these new vehicles they're building in China and how many new vehicles we're buying per year. And it turns out we will never catch up with China on fuel economy, because we still have 240 million vehicles out there with low fuel economy.
BP: I see. As long as production plateaus, they'll always be able to outbid us for oil — it's worth more to them. So what's the upshot of all this?
CN: The upshot is that we need to prepare for the day when oil is going to leave us. The sooner we commit to an energy transition, to renewable energy, the better off we'll be in every respect. You can make that argument just on the basis of production rates and price. And that's not even considering carbon emissions and climate change, which is another great reason. Let alone what oil is doing to the global economy.
And there are always going to be unforeseen developments. If you were a hard-core doomer 10 years ago, you might have said that when oil gets to $100 per barrel, our economy will simply shut down. But you would've missed the fact that a lot of Americans have quit driving and switched to public transportation. You would've missed a significant transition from 18-wheel trucking to rail over the past decade — a huge transformation of freight.
So you can't always predict things perfectly. But likewise, it's just not correct to say that because we've unlocked tight oil and we're drilling in shale that everything is great, that we're off to the races, that we can keep growing the global economy on this stuff.
Further reading:
--Colin Sullivan has an overview of the recent debate over "peak oil."
--One of the most optimistic predictions about oil production has been a study (pdf) by Leonardo Maugeri of the Harvard Kennedy School. Here's Nelder's essay disputing Maugeri's optimism.Story highlights Peter Bergen: NATO troops falling victim to shooting by Afghan forces
He says the trust that once existed between NATO, Afghans has been eroded
Plans for drawing down U.S., NATO troops assume handover of duties to Afghans
Bergen: Does NATO have a Plan B?
Nearly one out of every five NATO soldiers killed in Afghanistan this year were killed by Afghan police or army forces. Nine of the 16 victims were U.S. soldiers.
This pattern of attacks raises a fundamental problem for the plans of the United States and other NATO countries to draw down their forces over the next two years. That plan is, in part, predicated on the idea that as Afghan forces take the lead in security operations, they will be supported by small numbers of U.S./NATO advisers embedded in Afghan army and police units. Those advisers will be quite vulnerable to attack.
This problem was underlined earlier this week when an Afghan Local Police (ALP) officer on Monday shot and killed a U.S. soldier in the eastern province of Paktika, and the same day an Afghan soldier murdered two British soldiers at a NATO base in Lashkar Gah, the capital city of Helmand Province.
Peter Bergen
Monday's shootings were the latest in a wave of attacks on international troops by Afghan security forces, prompting concerns over the stepped up frequency of what NATO terms "green-on-blue" incidents.
Incidents of green-on-blue violence were rare in the first few years of the Afghan War, averaging no more than one a year through 2008.
With the "surge" of 33,000 U.S. troops in 2009, though, the number of attacks jumped to 4, likely due to the increased exposure of Afghan forces to international troops.
Instead of tapering off, this upward trend continued to a peak of 12 incidents in 2011. And there have already been nine such attacks this year.
Attacks on U.S./NATO soldiers
NATO deaths by year
In January, an Afghan soldier fired on a group of French troops during a training exercise, killing four and wounding 16. The deadly attack prompted French President Nicolas Sarkozy to temporarily suspend French training programs in Afghanistan and threaten the early withdrawal of French troops.
NATO officials usually characterize these incidents as "isolated," and not indicative of the overall relationship between coalition forces and their Afghan partners.
But the trust that might have once existed between international forces and their Afghan counterparts has been seriously undermined by three recent incidents.
-- In January a video surfaced on YouTube showing U.S. Marines urinating on the bodies of suspected Taliban insurgents.
-- This month U.S. Staff Sgt. Robert Bales was accused of going on a murderous rampage a mile from his base in Kandahar, killing 16 Afghan civilians.
-- The accidental burning of Qurans by U.S. soldiers at Bagram Airfield on February 21 sparked massive protests across Afghanistan. During one such protest outside a military base in Nangarhar Province, a man wearing an Afghan army uniform turned his gun on NATO troops, killing two U.S. servicemen. Two days later, Afghans wearing police uniforms shot and killed two U.S. officers in one of the most secure areas of the Interior Ministry.
The Taliban quickly claimed responsibility for the murders inside the Interior Ministry, saying they were in retaliation for the Quran burnings. However, the insurgent group's involvement in planning most of the green-on-blue attacks is doubtful.
A few perpetrators have found safe-haven with the Taliban following their attacks, such as the Afghan army soldier, Mohammed Roozi, who appeared in a Taliban video in February boasting about his attack on Australian troops, but rarely have the Taliban declared that the Afghan soldiers and police who have turned their guns on U.S. and NATO troops were working for them.
With American forces making up almost 70% of the NATO troops on the ground in Afghanistan, it is not surprising that almost half of the attacks involved the death or injury of U.S. troops, but as the bar chart on the left shows, many other NATO countries have also been the target of insider attacks by Afghan security forces. Sixteen British soldiers, for instance, have been killed in such attacks.
NATO's withdrawal strategy requires a high degree of trust between small numbers of military advisors embedded with much larger units of Afghan troops in order to succeed.
This trust has now been eroded to a dangerous degree. Does NATO have a Plan B?
Follow us on Twitter: @CNNOpinionEDMONTON – A neighbourhood president is calling out the Edmonton Police Service for what she says is a lack of resources in the area.
McCauley Community League President Meredith Porter made the comments after a violent assault in the area left one man in hospital with life threatening injuries.
Porter’s letter has been posted on the McCauley Community League website.
In the letter, the McCauley president not only talks about past criminal activity in the area, but gives a list of what residents would like to see from police in the future.
“When our residents call reporting a crime in progress, it seems as though there is always something more serious to attend to,” writes Porter. “There is no preventative policing, even though we can predict the outcomes.”
“It seems open season has been declared on our residents and our businesses. These crimes are committed by those who do not reside here; our people are reduced to machete-wielding self defence and reliance on passers-by,” continues Porter.
Three men have been arrested and charged with attempted murder in connection with last weekend’s assaults.
Edmonton police say they are already taking proactive steps to fight crime in the area.
“The CAT team [Community Action Team] is out every month and that is a huge presence,” explains Clair Seyler, EPS spokesperson. “We always pick a select area, and McCauley has been selected several times, and we focus just on McCauley with a large police presence and we go directly after the drivers of crime and try to prevent any issues before they crop up.”
“Right now we have our crime in the McCauley area – violent crime – is down 9 percent over last year, so we’re making a lot of headway, but it’s not just a policing issue, it’s a community issue, there’s a lot more partners involved than just the police,” she adds.
“We need businesses involved, and the social services involved, and the community involved to address all the issues like addictions and other drivers of crime.”
In her letter, Porter has several requests for police:
· “Zero tolerance for public drinking, drunkenness and disorder.
· Relocate events that propose to feed and ‘help’ crowds of greater than 500 persons.
· Lobby politicians and other governmental agencies for the deconcentration of poverty and associated services out of our distressed communities and into all corners and crevices of the City of Edmonton.
· Stop treating our neighbourhood like a public relations problem and/or social experiment and start treating us and our adjacent neighbouring communities like any other area in the City of Edmonton.
· Recognize the normalcy of everyone living their lives in McCauley.
· Do not villainize us for complaining of these circumstances.”
Edmonton police say a Superintendent and Deputy from downtown met with the McCauley community in June and will sit down to discuss issues again in August.
“It is a constant conversation that we’re having dealing with issues that crop up,” says Seyler.A number of reports on executive pay are out this week, including one on how bank pay seems to have been immune to the recession and unaffected by the bailouts.
According to report yesterday in American Banker, even while the economy took a beating and unemployment soared, average pay in the banking industry continued rising at the same rate as it had before the financial crisis:
The clear trend, in both nominal and absolute terms, is up: Over the last eight years, average compensation for a full-time bank employee has risen 35% to $83,050, twice the rate of inflation. In 2003, the banking industry's 1.3 million full-time employees took home $78.3 billion. In 2010, its 2.1 million employees took home $168.1 billion. In the first half of that period, raises were to be expected given climbing industry profitability and bank equity's market gains. But the financial crisis appears to have had little impact on pay. Total compensation per full-time employee rose at the same pace from 2007 to 2010 as it did from 2004 to 2007. In the later time period, profitability plunged and the KBW bank index fell by more than 50%.
Keep in mind that the point here is the trend, not the actual average. The figure mixes the modest wages of bank tellers with the big bonuses for top execs and investment bankers. The New York Times noted last year that within investment banks, average pay was solidly in the six figures.
CEOs, of course, are still pulling in millions. Bank of America made headlines this week for what seemed to be a cut to CEO Brian Moynihan’s compensation. But the $1.94 million he’s reported to have taken home in 2010 doesn’t include the more than $9 million in deferred compensation that he’s due to receive this year.
The high pay isn’t limited to Wall Street bankers. A government watchdog report released yesterday [PDF] noted that the now government-controlled Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac paid their CEOs a total of $17 million in 2009 and 2010. The report faulted regulators for failing to scrutinize the mortgage giants’ lavish compensation.
The Wall Street Journal also reported this week that several Wall Street firms are backing a proposal to give shareholders an annual vote on compensation, though such votes are mostly symbolic. And then there’s the matter of the corporate boards that actually set compensation: The SEC is working on finalizing rules that would require disclosure of conflicts of interest for board members and compensation consultants.
The Federal Reserve and other regulators have also proposed a rule that would require top execs at big Wall Street banks to have some compensation deferred. The idea is to rein in the incentive to take risks.Denver police found no weapon after East High School was placed on lockdown due to a report of a weapon on campus.
The school was placed on lockdown at 9:45 a.m. after police received the report, said Alex Renteria, spokeswoman for Denver Public Schools.
At 10:48 a.m. police tweeted that officers were clearing the scene and hadn’t found a weapon.
In modified lockdown, “instruction is continuing and students are in their clasrooms,” Renteria said.
UPDATE: Officers are clearing the scene. No weapon was located. #Denver https://t.co/Zlq4jKEFyC — Denver Police Dept. (@DenverPolice) November 1, 2017
ALERT: #DPD at #EastHS investigating a report of a possible weapon on premise. School on modified lockdown. Watch here for updates. #Denver pic.twitter.com/GB8qQRxfWT — Denver Police Dept. (@DenverPolice) November 1, 2017
For more information on lockdowns, please send your questions to @DPSNewsNow. https://t.co/Zlq4jKEFyC — Denver Police Dept. (@DenverPolice) November 1, 2017Thousands of children were forced to flee during the civil war A group of parents in Sierra Leone has accused a charity of sending more than 30 children abroad for adoption without consent during the country's civil war. The parents say they have no idea what happened to their children after they were handed over to Help a Needy Child International (Hanci). But the charity says it has documents signed by the parents giving permission for overseas adoption. Sierra Leone was devastated by a decade of civil war, which ended in 2002. Children were frequently abducted and forced to fight in the brutal conflict. 'Convoluted issue' The BBC's Umaru Fofana, in the capital Freetown, says the parents have been lobbying the government for years to find out what happened to their children. He says they have become frustrated with what they see as a lack of action from ministers, so have taken their campaign to the media. So many years have elapsed so I have to take my time to look at it very carefully
Soccoh Kabbia
Minister of children's affairs One parent told our correspondent how she agreed to let Hanci care for and educate her children at a local centre to save them from the war. "We regularly visited our children at the centre until some time in 1998 when we stopped seeing them," she said. "We went to Freetown to find out what had happened, and we were told they had sent our children overseas and they would be visiting us every five years. "We want the government to intervene and let us have our children back." The parents of more than 30 children make similar allegations. But Hanci director Roland Kargbo denies the claims, saying the charity obtained written consent from the parents whose children were sent overseas. "There were two agreements - one for children to be cared for and reintegrated into the community locally, and another for parents who wanted their children to be adopted," he told the BBC. "The parents know that, we have documents to support that." Minister of Children's Affairs Soccoh Kabbia says the government is still investigating the issue. "It is a convoluted story because so many years have elapsed so I have to take my time to look at it very carefully," he said. The children are believed to have been adopted by American families.
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StumbleUpon What are these? E-mail this to a friend Printable versionWorking time is the period of time that a person spends at paid labor. Unpaid labor such as personal housework or caring for children or pets is not considered part of the working week.
Many countries regulate the work week by law, such as stipulating minimum daily rest periods, annual holidays, and a maximum number of working hours per week. Working time may vary from person to person, often depending on economic conditions, location, culture, lifestyle choice, and the profitability of the individual's livelihood. For example, someone who is supporting children and paying a large mortgage might need to work more hours to meet basic costs of living than someone of the same earning power without children. In developed countries like the United Kingdom, some workers are part-time because they are unable to find full-time work, but many choose reduced work hours to care for children or other family; some choose it simply to increase leisure time.[1]
Standard working hours (or |
’t happen in Ferguson. What did happen was that progressive whites, together with professional activists of various races, tried to criminalize and prevent non-peaceful responses. They faced an uphill battle in Ferguson, but they succeeded in pacifying solidarity events around the country, preventing protesters from taking the lead of folks in Ferguson, experiencing rage at the same level, or engaging in the same bold process of taking over space and learning how to fight back.
It’s a shame that this happened, because a multiracial crowd can accomplish things that other crowds cannot. I have mentioned how police in Ferguson and St. Louis were uncharacteristically restrained, and did not open fire on rioters and looters the way they did in L.A. in ’92 or New Orleans in ’05. Perhaps they held back this time because there were more white people in the streets, or because they feared a wider insurrection, or both. In any case, if more white people took part in fierce, combative responses to police killings rather than constraining those responses, the State would either have to step back as crowds pushed cops out of entire neighborhoods, allowing communities to experiment with police-free zones and other forms of autonomy, or they would have to start shooting more white people, which would drastically undermine one of the most important hierarchies for upholding State power in this country.
An honest conversation about tactics and strategies in the streets is sorely needed, and at a broader scale than has happened in the past. A long list of manipulations and clichés makes that conversation impossible, aided by the fact that many people still trust the media as a forum for a social conversation, or they don’t notice when discourses crafted in and for the media (often by academics and NGO activists who are seduced by the power of a sound byte) infiltrate their own thinking. The media weigh in heavily on the side of nonviolence, finding purchase in the common misconception that nonviolence has worked in the past.
If we can resurrect subversive, or even just factually vigorous, histories of the Civil Rights movement and other struggles, and rediscover the thread of continuity from those times to the ones we currently inhabit, we can lay the groundwork for a much more intelligent discussion of how to move forward.
But moving forward requires us to think about where we are going, and the artificial consensus on nonviolence pales in comparison to the consensus that has been manufactured around the police; good or bad, they are necessary, and at the very most they must be reformed.
The rocks on which the present movement will founder and break apart, or which it will climb to finally leave behind the cesspool of problems that have cycled and recycled for centuries, is the question of a world without police.
If we can effectively engage with this question, we might be able to surpass the miseries of reformism that devoured the Civil Rights movement and left us with the problem of police killings that haunts us today.
Peter Gelderloos has participated in various initiatives to support prisoners and push the police out of our neighborhoods. He is the author of several books, including The Failure of Nonviolence.
To be continued in Part III: A World Without PoliceThe main academic reference for Tor is "Tor: The Second-Generation Onion Router" by Dingledine, Mathewson, and Syverson. But that paper was published back in 2004, and Tor has evolved since then. So Steven Murdoch and Nick Mathewson are currently preparing an updated version of the Tor design paper, to include new design changes and research results concerning Tor over the last 8 years.
In this series of posts, we (Steven and Nick) will try to summarize the most interesting or significant changes to Tor's design since the publication of the original paper. We're only going to cover the stuff we think is most interesting, and we'll aim to do so in an interesting way.
We think this will be a three part series. In this first part, we'll cover the evolution of Tor's directory system, and some performance improvements in Tor's circuit creation and cell scheduling logic.
1. Node discovery and the directory protocol
Since the earliest versions of Tor, we knew that node discovery would require a better implementation than we had. There are a few key issues that any anonymity network's node discovery system needs to solve.
Every client needs to be selecting nodes from the same probability distribution, or an adversary could be able to exploit differences in client knowledge. In the worst case, if an adversary can cause one client to know about an exit node that no other client uses, the adversary can know that all traffic leaving that exit is coming from the targeted client. But even in more mild cases, where (say) every client knows every node with P=90%, an adversary can use this information to attack users.
While there has been some work on quantifying these so-called "epistemic attacks," we're proceeding with the conservative assumption that clients using separate sets of nodes are likely to be partitionable from one other, and so the set of nodes used by all clients needs to be uniform.
The earliest versions of Tor solved this problem with a "Directory" object – each server generated a signed "router descriptor", and uploaded it to one of a small set (three) of "directory authorities". Each of these authorities generated a signed concatenated list of router descriptors, and served that list to clients over HTTP.
This system had several notable problems:
Clients needed to download the same descriptors over and over, whether they needed them or not.
Each client would believe whichever directory authority it had spoken to most recently: rather than providing distributed trust, each authority was fully trusted in its own right, and any one misbehaving authority could completely compromise all the clients that talked to it.
To the extent that directory authorities disagreed, they created partitions in client knowledge, which could in the worst case allow an adversary to partition clients based on which authority's directory each client had downloaded most recently.
The load on the authorities promised to grow excessive, as every client contacted every authority.
The contents of the directory were sent unencrypted, which made them trivially easy to fingerprint on the wire.
Early changes in the Version 1 Directory System
Our earliest changes focused on improving scalability rather than improving the trust model. We began by having each authority publish two documents, rather than one: a directory that contained all the router descriptors, and a "network status" document that was a list of which descriptors were up and which were down (Tor 0.0.8pre1, in Jul 2004). Clients could download the latter more frequently to avoid using down servers, and refresh the former only periodically.
We also added a caching feature in Tor 0.0.8pre1, where nodes could act as directory caches. With this feature, once a client had a directory, it no longer needed to contact the directory authorities every time it wanted to update it, but rather could contact a cache instead.
The Version 2 Directory System (deprecated)
In Tor 0.1.1.8-alpha (Oct 2005), we took our first shot at solving the trust model. Now, we had each authority sign a more complete network status statement, including a list of all the nodes that it believed should be in the network, a digest of each node's public key, and a digest of each node's router descriptor. Clients would download one of these documents signed by each authority, and then compute, based on all the documents they had, which collection of nodes represented the consensus view of all the authorities.
To get router descriptors, clients would then contact one or more caches, and ask for the descriptors they believed represented the consensus view of all the authorities.
This approach meant that a single rogue directory authority could no longer completely control any client's view of the network. Clients became more fragmented, however, since instead of falling into one of N possible groups based on which authority they contacted most recently, they fell into one of MN groups where N was the number of authorities and M was the number of recently valid opinions from each authority.
Around this time we also had authorities begin assigning flags to nodes, so that in addition to recording "up" or "down" for each node, authorities could also declare whether nodes were fast, stable, likely to be good guard nodes, and so forth.
All of the improvements so far were oriented toward saving bandwidth at the server side: we figured that clients had plenty of bandwidth, and we wanted to avoid overloading the authorities and caches. But if we wanted to add more directory authorities (a majority of 5 is still an uncomfortably small number), bootstrapping clients would have to fetch one more network status for every new authority. By early 2008, each status document listed 2500 relay summaries and came in around 175KB compressed, meaning you needed 875KB of status docs when starting up, and then another megabyte of descriptors after that. And we couldn't add more authorities without making the problem even worse.
Version 3: Consensus and Directory Voting
To solve the problems with the v2 directory protocol, Tor 0.2.0.3-alpha (Jul 2007) introduced a directory voting system, where the authorities themselves would exchange vote documents periodically (currently once per hour), compute a consensus document based on everyone's votes, and all sign the consensus.
Now clients only need to download a single signed consensus document periodically, and check that it is signed by a sufficiently large fraction of the authorities that the client knows about. This gives clients a uniform view of the network, makes it harder still for a small group of corrupt authorities to attack a client, and limits the number of documents they need to download.
The voting algorithm is ad hoc, and is by no means the state of the art in byzantine fault tolerance. Our approach to failures to reach a consensus (which have been mercifully infrequent) is to find what's wrong and fix it manually.
Saving bytes with microdescriptors
Now that the consensus algorithm finally matched what we had in mind when we wrote the first Tor paper, it was time to address the protocol's verbosity.
Out of all the data in a typical 1500-byte server descriptor, a client really only needs to know what ports it supports exiting to, its current RSA1024 onion key, and other information that is fully redundant with its listing in the consensus network status document.
One crucial observation is that signatures on the router descriptors themselves don't actually help clients: if there were enough hostile authorities to successfully convince the clients to use a descriptor that a router didn't actually sign, they could as easily convince the clients to use a descriptor signed with a phony identity key.
This observation let us move (in Tor 0.2.3.1-alpha, May 2011) to a design where the authorities, as part of their voting process, create an abbreviated version of each descriptor they recommend. Currently, these contain only a short summary of the router's exit policy, and the router's current onion key. Clients now download these abbreviated "microdescriptors", which cuts the information downloaded each node by about 75%. Further, because the data here change relatively infrequently, it cuts down the frequency with which clients fetch new information about each router at all.
Tunneling directory connections over Tor
In 0.1.2.5-alpha (Jan 2007), we added support by default for clients to download all directory documents over HTTP over Tor, rather than by contacting directories and caches over unencrypted HTTP. This change helps clients resist fingerprinting.
Because clients aren't using Tor for anonymity on directory connections, they build single-hop circuits. We use HTTP over a one hop Tor circuit, rather than plain old HTTPS, so that clients can use the same TLS connection both for a directory fetch and for other Tor traffic.
2. Security improvements for hidden services
Decentralized hidden-service directory system
A partly-centralized directory infrastructure makes sense for Tor nodes, since every client is supposed to be able to know about every node, but it doesn't make a great deal of sense for hidden services.
To become more censorship-resistant, we started (in Tor 0.2.0.10-alpha, Nov 2007) to instead use the Tor network itself to cache and serve hidden service descriptors. Now, instead of publishing their hidden service descriptors anonymously to a small fixed set of hidden service authorities, hidden services publish to a set of nodes whose identity keys are closest to a hash of the service's identity, the current date, and a replica number.
Improved authorization model for hidden services
We also added improved support for authentication to hidden services. Optionally, to use a hidden service, a client must know a shared key, and use this key to decrypt the part of a hidden service descriptor containing the introduction points. It later must use information in that encrypted part to authenticate to any introduction point it uses, and later to the hidden service itself. One of the main uses of authentication here is to hide presence -- only authenticated users can learn whether the hidden service is online.
3. Faster first-hop circuit establishment with CREATE_FAST
At each stage of extending a circuit to the next hop, the client carries out a Diffie-Hellman (DH) key agreement protocol with that next hop. This step provides confidentiality (and forward secrecy) of the relay cell payload as it is passed on by intermediate hops. Originally Tor also carried out DH with the first hop, even though there was already a DH exchange as part of the TLS handshake. DH is quite computationally expensive for both ends, so Tor 0.1.1.10-alpha (Dec 2005) onwards skipped the DH exchange on the first hop by sending a CREATE_FAST (as opposed to a standard CREATE) cell, which generates key material simply by hashing random numbers sent by the client and server.
4. Cell queueing and scheduling
The original Tor design left the fine-grained handling of incoming cells unspecified: every circuit's cells were to be decrypted and delivered in order, but nodes were free to choose which circuits to handle in any order they pleased.
Early versions of Tor also punted on the question: they handled cells in the order they were received on incoming OR connections, encrypting/decrypting them and handing them off immediately to the next node on the circuit, or to the appropriate exit or entry connection. This approach, however, frequently created huge output buffers where quiet circuits couldn't get a cell in edgewise.
Instead, Tor currently places incoming cells on a per-circuit queue associated with each circuit. Rather than filling all output buffers to capacity, Tor instead fills them up with cells on a near just-in-time basis.
When we first implemented these cell queues in 0.2.0.1-alpha (Jun 2007), we chose which cells to deliver by rotating the circuits in a round-robin approach. In Tor 0.2.2.7-alpha (Jan 2010), we began to instead favor the circuits on each connection that had been quiet recently, so that a circuit with small, infrequent amounts of cells will get better latency than a circuit being used for a bulk transfer. (Specifically, when we are about to put a cell on an outgoing connection, we choose the circuit which has sent the lowest total exponentially-decaying number of cells so far. Currently, each cell has a 30-second half-life.)
In Part 2 we will look at changes to how Tor selects paths and the new anti-censorship measures.My Dear Extended Family,
The following was written at Changi Airport in Singapore on route to Dar es Salaam, East Africa, November 22nd 2013/
My presence in Singapore is a mission for us. Having reported to you the six locations where cash and physical only exchanges for silver and gold were to be established, I did not leave it at that. My staff and I have contacted each proposed exchange in order to determine which of the six held the best promise for the gold market transition phase for price discovery away from paper gold and to physical gold material.
My original interest was to join that exchange on behalf of TRX. That desire transmuted itself into putting my shoulder behind that exchange which offers the global window to the real price of gold. That exchange in my opinion is the Singapore Physical Precious Metals Exchange, headed by CEO Victor Foo.
Too long has gold suffered from trading in its paper form which was originally conceived of and has continued to live as the means of manipulating the paper price of gold for the benefit of the few.
The time is at hand for Free Gold. The mechanism of freeing physical gold from price slavery to paper gold is the present time deletion of future exchange warehouse supply as the real cash price of physical gold exceeds the spot futures paper contract by the cost of shipping, the cost of insurance, and the cost of recasting of Western form 100 ounce gold bars into Asian product demand form.
The reported shipment of one billion in gold recently from the USA to the Rand Refinery in the Republic of South Africa was not junk jewelry form as reported. It was rather in the form of 100 ounce Comex bars being shipped to the Rand Refinery for recasting into Asian product, and was sold mainly in China as gold rose in price.
I was there as a member of the Comex exchange in March of 1980, the last time the Comex board of directors panicked over the threat of the Hunt Brothers asking for delivery of both gold, silver and copper in excess of, or equal to, the then Comex warehouse qualified for delivery supply.
Asian demand for physical gold is now in excess of supply and the declining Comex warehouse supply qualified for delivery. This is the mechanism for the emancipation of Physical Gold from the 41 years of price slavery to paper gold due to the cheap paper mechanism to manipulate the world gold price.
With the present time and predictable need to change the delivery mechanism on the COMEX to cash in order to avoid default on delivery, the reign of paper gold is ending. With this end we have the arrival of physical gold as the new discovery mechanism for the price of gold.
For the transition to take place it is necessary that we have functional global platforms for the trading of physical metals between peers of merit and a transparent price for global physical gold that exists nowhere for even professional public consumption.
There has been a clarion call from the long suffering holders of gold shares and investment gold for the Chief Executive Officers of gold companies to identify and take definitive action to end the slavery of the gold price to the mechanism of manipulation, the paper gold market. The advent of global platforms for and the true revelation to the gold public of the real gold price, the physical cash price on a 24 hour basis in the answer.
The cost of trying to manipulate this public physical price wherein delivery must be immediately made or payment presented immediately in full makes it too expensive to manipulate the gold price on a consistent basis. The paper gold market cannot move far away from the real physical price when the real physical price is globally known. Therefore to manipulate price the tricksters will have to participate on the physical exchanges thereby increasing their cost of their operation by orders of magnitude. That huge increase in the cost of moving price at will is the beginning of the end of paper gold ruling the physical gold price. That substantial increase in the cost of operation is the beginning of the physical gold market taking the position as the true discovery mechanism for the global price of gold. It is the beginning of the end of the reign of paper gold.
We CEOs of gold companies owe our stockholders economic production and all of our efforts to defeat the plans of the tricksters and their paper machinations that cost near to nothing and results in gold moving such as $1900 to $1200 when the true demand for physical over ground gold was on the rise and not on the fall. Where demand exceeded supply as paper gold was forced by bullies down from $1900 to $1200. This dichotomy in price is only viable via paper gold manipulation and must end here and now. To that object of "Free Gold" and the economic production of gold, I dedicate all my strength, all my contacts of 53 years in the business, all my knowledge of how to, and my capital.
Respectfully yours,
Jim SinclairA team of NASA's LaRC engineers and designers from Clouds Architecture Office and SEArch made the design after they'd won first place in NASA's earlier Centennial Challenge for their 3D printed "Mars Ice House" habitat. Their new concept describes a torus -- a large, inflatable innertube -- lined with a shell of water ice. Not only is the structure lightweight, it incorporates materials from Mars itself. In addition, the water, which protects against cosmic rays, could be repurposed as rocket fuel for the Mars Ascent Lander.
The Mars Ice Home is just a concept with some drawbacks -- for example, experts at Martian resource extraction say it would take 400 days to fill the shell with enough water directly from the planet. On the other hand, robots could inflate and pump the shelter while the astronauts are en route, and the water's radiation shielding would allow the shelter to exist aboveground, obviating the need to dig deep enough to protect the shelter's inhabitants. It's far more theory than ironed-out solution, but the Ice Home is just the kind of fascinating concept that will prod designers and experts to innovate elegant, efficient answers to Martian exploration's challenges.A Port of Seattle spokesman says a human foot in a white sneaker has been found on the shore at a park near Seattle’s Pier 68.
The Seattle Times reports that port spokesman Peter McGraw says volunteers cleaning the park found the shoe and foot Tuesday.
Port police turned both over to the King County medical examiner’s office.
Since 2007, there have been roughly a dozen cases in which a human foot encased in a tennis shoe has washed ashore in regional waters. A number of them were found in British Columbia.
In a couple of cases, investigators determined the feet belonged to men who had been reported missing.
The Times reports that oceanographer Curtis Ebbesmeyer of Seattle says it’s common for decomposing bodies to come apart at the joints, including at the ankles.
He knows of at least two feet turning up in Puget Sound over the past decade. He says new lightweight sneakers stay buoyant and float sole up, protecting the remains.With Roman Catholic clergy in short supply in the United States, Indian priests are picking up some of their work, saying Mass for special intentions, in a sacred if unusual version of outsourcing.
American, as well as Canadian and European churches, are sending Mass intentions, or requests for services like those to remember deceased relatives and thanksgiving prayers, to clergy in India.
About 2 percent of India's more than one billion people are Christians, most of them Catholics.
In Kerala, a state on the southwestern coast with one of the largest concentrations of Christians in India, churches often receive intentions from overseas. The Masses are conducted in Malayalam, the native language. The intention -- often a prayer for the repose of the soul of a deceased relative, or for a sick family member, thanksgiving for a favor received, or a prayer offering for a newborn -- is announced at Mass.
The requests are mostly routed to Kerala's churches through the Vatican, the bishops or through religious bodies. Rarely, prayer requests come directly to individual priests.
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While most requests are made via mail or personally through traveling clergymen, a significant number arrive via e-mail, a sign that technology is expediting this practice.After months of waiting, we finally have Apple iPhone 6 (and its big brother, the iPhone 6 Plus). It’s the 7th or 8th edition of the iPhone (depending on how you count the 5C) and with each passing year, the “phone” designation appears less and less on the nose. Isn’t it really the iCamera?
No matter what you call it, photography stands at or near the center of the iPhone 6’s key attributes. Considering where smartphone photography began, it’s a surprising turn of events.
Years ago I wrote an angry post begging consumers to stop using their puny, 1 megapixel flip phone cameras to capture precious moments. It was a futile effort and also quite wrongheaded. What I did not understand at the time is that consumers were not settling for bad smartphone photography, they were grabbing with both hands the ability to share instantly with friends and family visual news of the birth of their daughter or of their son graduating from college. Having any camera of any quality on always-connected devices was, quite simply, a revelation for consumers.
That connectivity has only gotten better and with it, smartphone photography and the myriad platforms for us to share our images has vastly grown and improved. Smart phone manufacturers such as Apple are not necessarily leading the trend, but are riding the wave and, the best of them are using the top technology our ultra-thin and light smartphones will support. With the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus, Apple continues to lead this charge.
It’s all about the photo
Apple upgraded the OS, components and design, but let’s stop and think about how many of those things have a direct impact on the iPhone 6’s photographic capabilities. The A8 chip includes an image signal processor that helps the iSight camera capture 240 frames per second movies and powers things like “Focus Pixels” that speed up autofocus through a more technical process called phase detection autofocus. So the 8 MP iSight is focusing on a pixel-by-pixel level.
The camera also has better facial and smile recognition (a feature often most noticeable in burst mode – it loves a good smile and open eyes). The M8 chip is all about motion sensing, but it lends a hand in telling the lens how to move so images stay smooth. Heck, Apple even described the larger displays on the 4.7-inch iPhone 6 and the 5.5-inch iPhone 6 Plus as excellent "viewfinders" for the iSight camera.
Everyone thought Apple would finally deliver sapphire crystal covered screens, but the only place you’ll find sapphire on the iPhone 6 is, you guessed it, the iSight camera lens cover.
At a software level, iOS 8 now natively edits photos and Apple has spent a lot of time improving how we organize all our photos and videos based on time and place taken. Perhaps more tellingly, Apple now also organizes your media by kinds of imagery, including panorama, videos, slo-mo and timelapse.
Apple is not alone in realizing how crucially important image tools (hardware and software) have become in the smartphone market. Samsung typically puts photo and video advancements at the forefront of its Galaxy and Galaxy Note rollouts.
Be sensible
I’m all for a laser focus on more powerful smartphone cameras, but over the past few years, I’ve seen too many smartphone manufacturers try to one-up each other with increasingly gimmicky options.
When Samsung released the Galaxy S4 a year or so ago, it had nutty options like simultaneous use of the front and back cameras and vignettes that let you put your face inside a heart on top of another picture.
Other manufacturers keep trying to give you post-focusing tools. I blame this trend on Lytro, which created a whole product just for this single photo trick. At least companies such as LG and Samsung can make it just one of many useless gimmicks (I’ll do my artistic blurring in Instagram, thank you very much).
Apple, though, kind of stays above all this. It rarely, if ever, introduces photography gimmicks (Okay, okay, I do remember Photo Booth). I know, slow motion video may seem like a gimmick, but I think it’s a powerful artistic and research tool (What really does happen when you hit someone with a banana cream pie? How does that fire really move?). Time lapse is an awesome tool for project tracking and even pure entertainment.
However, all these features are not what makes Apple’s iSight camera special. It’s Apple’s approach to photography, which is both basic and essential.
Look at the interface for example. It’s spare. There’s the large view finder screen and the menu below it. Flash, HDR, Timer and flip cameras are above. Below are the shoot modes and below that is a thumbnail of your last photo (or the one you just took) and a link to pre-set filters you can apply as you shoot (I never use these as we have now entered the post-filter era).
It’s been this way for years. When I look at camera interfaces on Android phones, I usually see the manufacturer’s vision of what the right collection of photograph tools should be and whatever esoteric iconography they think makes the most sense. It can be quite jarring to switch between a Samsung Galaxy S5 and an Amazon Fire Phone or LG G3. Only in the last year or so have I noticed companies such as Samsung and Nokia (with the Windows Phone), paring back down to essentials. In smartphone photography, less often is more.
Looking good
Apple’s iSight 8 megapixel sensor and five-element lens is not necessarily the most sophisticated among smartphones. Of course, virtually all smartphones’ image capture capabilities pale in comparison to the run-of-the mill super zoom or prosumer camera. Most, including the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus, only offer image-degrading digital zoom and it is notable that competitors get around this limitation by stuffing in the megapixels, so there’s more information that you can zoom in on after you’ve taken the photo. And while some of these smartphones have some exposure control, none offer a complete set of native manual camera settings, such as shutter speed, aperture and ISO.
Apple is no different. It’s doesn’t have a big lens or optical zoom. And, as I noted in my review, Samsung, LG and Nokia all beat the iPhone 6 on pure pixel count. Based on my tests, though, pixels only tell half the story.
Since photography plays such a crucial role in our smartphone experience, I decided to go back and take an even more comparative look at the iPhone 6 iSight camera versus more-megapixel-packing cameras on the Samsung Galaxy S5, Nokia Lumia Icon and Amazon’s Fire Phone, which have 16, 20 and 13 megapixels, respectively.
A few notes about the photos: Unless indicated, I didn’t use HDR and, wherever possible, tried to let the smartphone cameras set focus points and exposure levels. Since these photos were not taken under strictly controlled conditions and the images below are not actual size, the results should be considered anecdotal.
The model in all of my tests is Watercooler Reporter Laura Vitto.
Low light still life
Image: Mashable, Lance Ulanoff
All the camera’s handled this shot fairly well. I used natural light and no flash. The Apple iPhone and Amazon Fire Phone did the best jobs of replicating the colors. While taking the photos, I noticed that the iPhone 6 was the only one to pick up faces in the photo in the background.
Winner: iPhone 6
Natural light portrait
Image: Mashable, Lance Ulanoff
Of the four phones I tested, three produced good-looking portraits of Laura illuminated by natural light from the window. The Nokia Lumia Icon has an unaccountably green tinge. The Samsung Galaxy S5 and Apple iPhone 6 produced the truest portraits, with the most accurate skin tone and hair color.
Winners: iPhone 6 and Samsung Galaxy S5
Backlit with Not HDR
Image: Mashable, Lance Ulanoff
Photos where the main illumination is behind your subject are the bane of all photography, but that doesn’t stop people from taking these kinds of photos. Smartphone cameras will almost invariably read the light behind the subject and even tapping on the subject in the viewfinder screen may not correct the final image.
None of the four phones did a particularly good job here, but the Samsung Galaxy S5 almost managed to produce a balanced photo. The Amazon Fire Phone also did well, although the background is totally blown out.
Winner: Samsung Galaxy S5
Honorable Mention: Amazon Fire Phone
Backlit with HDR
Image: Mashable, Lance Ulanoff
How do you fix backlit photos? With High Dynamic Range photography, which actually shoots multiple images at different exposures in rapid succession and then squeezes them all into one properly exposed photo.
For this shot, I turned on HDR on all the cameras, but did not touch the screen to help them set exposure.
Three of the phones, the iPhone 6, Nokia Lumia Icon and Amazon Fire Phone, produced vastly better images. Oddly, the Samsung Galaxy S5 barely improved at all. In this case, the image is over-saturated compared to the rest. Part of the problem may be it tried too hard to properly expose and sharpen the background, almost at the expense of the subject.
As for the other three images, the iPhone 6 shot is the best exposed and rendered the truest colors.
Winner: iPhone 6
Action
Image: Mashable, Lance Ulanoff
It’s not easy to catch action with smartphone, but new technology such as focus pixels or phase detection (on both the iPhone 6 and Samsung Galaxy S5) help these little camera focus and set exposure more quickly.
Without the use of a flash, though, all these cameras were at a disadvantage, The Nokia Lumia Icon’s shot was a blurry mess, but none of the phones, including the optical-image-stabilizing iPhone 6 Plus could completely stop the action. Of all of them, the iPhone 6 captured the sharpest shot, but that may have been dumb luck.
Winner: Inconclusive
Motion test
Image: Mashable, Lance Ulanoff
My last photo set was specifically designed to test the optical image stabilizing capabilities found in the IPhone 6 Plus. It’s a feature the iPhone 6 Plus shares with one other phone in this shootout: the Amazon Fire Phone.
The set-up for this shot was pretty simple. I walked along side Laura as she looked at me and then took a picture. The idea was to try and simulate a parent who might be trying to get a shot of her kid running down the soccer field. The two cameras with OIS did the best job of keeping Laura’s face in focus, though there’s a bit of image distortion in the Fire Phone shot.
Winner: iPhone 6 Plus.
Conclusions
It’s true, photos from the cameras with higher megapixels are considerably larger than what you’ll get from either iPhone 6. However, in my tests and day-to-day experience, those cameras do not always produce higher quality pictures.
All the manufacturers apply a wide variety of photographic technologies to deliver the best image results. Both the iPhone and Fire Phone have five-element lenses. The Nokia Lumia Ion has a Carl Zeiss lens. They’re all pushing the boundaries on aperture, with Fire Phone going down to a 2.0 F stop (the iPhone goes down to 2.2). They’re all backed by differing sensors, CPUs and software.
In the end, it’s a kind of alchemy that produces the best imagery and in many cases, Apple’s image magic leads the pack.By Robert Windrem and Victor Limjoco
The 9/11 Commission suspected that critical information it used in its landmark report was the product of harsh interrogations of al-Qaida operatives - interrogations that many critics have labeled torture. Yet, commission staffers never questioned the agency about the interrogation techniques and in fact ordered a second round of interrogations specifically to ask additional questions of the same operatives, NBC News has learned.
Those conclusions are the result of an extensive NBC News analysis of the 9/11 Commission’s Final Report and interviews with Commission staffers and current and former U.S. intelligence officials.
The analysis shows that much of what was reported about the planning and execution of the terror attacks on New York and Washington was derived from the interrogations of high-ranking al-Qaida operatives. Each had been subjected to "enhanced interrogation techniques." Some were even subjected to waterboarding, the most controversial of the techniques, which simulates drowning.
The NBC News analysis shows that more than one quarter of all footnotes in the 9/11 Report refer to CIA interrogations of al-Qaida operatives who were subjected to the now-controversial interrogation techniques. In fact, information derived from the interrogations is central to the Report’s most critical chapters, those on the planning and execution of the attacks. The analysis also shows - and agency and commission staffers concur - there was a separate, second round of interrogations in early 2004, done specifically to answer new questions from the Commission.
9/11 Commission staffers say they "guessed" but did not know for certain that harsh techniques had been used, and they were concerned that the techniques had affected the operatives’ credibility. At least four of the operatives whose interrogation figured in the 9/11 Commission Report have claimed that they told interrogators critical information as a way to stop being "tortured." The claims came during their hearings last spring at the U.S. military facility in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
"We were not aware, but we guessed, that things like that were going on," Philip Zelikow, the 9/11 Commission executive director, told NBC News. "We were wary…we tried to find different sources to enhance our credibility."
Specifically, the NBC News analysis shows 441 of the more than 1,700 footnotes in the Commission’s Final Report refer to the CIA interrogations. Moreover, most of the information in Chapters 5, 6 and 7 of the Report came from the interrogations. Those chapters cover the initial planning for the attack, the assembling of terrorist cells, and the arrival of the hijackers in the U.S. In total, the Commission relied on more than 100 interrogation reports produced by the CIA. The second round of interrogations sought by the Commission involved more than 30 separate interrogation sessions.
No one disputes that the interrogations were critical to the Commission’s understanding of the plot.
"What we did is the authoritative basis of knowledge on the interrogations until historians get to ply them years from now," said a former Commission staffer who worked with the CIA on the interrogation reports.
Errors pointed out
One critic of U.S. use of harsh interrogation techniques says that while the Commission Final Report remains credible, it was a mistake to base so much of it on what was retrieved from the interrogation sessions.
Karen Greenberg, director of the Center for Law and Security at New York University’s School of Law, put it this way: "You read it, the story still makes sense, forgetting the interrogations. What matters - who did it, who planned it - looks like the right story. But it should have relied on sources not tainted. It calls into question how we were willing to use these interrogations to construct the narrative."
According to both current and former senior U.S. intelligence officials, the operatives cited by the Commission were subjected to the harshest of the CIA’s methods, the "enhanced interrogation techniques." The techniques included physical and mental abuse, exposure to extreme heat and cold, sleep deprivation and waterboarding.
In addition, officials of both the 9/11 Commission and CIA confirm the Commission specifically asked the agency to push the operatives on a new round of interrogations months after their first interrogations. The Commission, in fact, supplied specific questions for the operatives to the agency. This new round took place in early 2004, when the agency was still engaged in the full range of harsh techniques. The agency suspended the techniques in mid-2004. Agency spokesmen have refused to identify what techniques were used, when they were used or the names of those who were harshly |
No
Nominations No
Nominations Evicted
(Day 350) Lelo Not in
the house Exempt Nominated Nominated Nominated No
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(Day 343) Peggy Not in
the house Exempt Exempt Nominated Nominated No
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Nominations No
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(Day 336) Geraldine Michael H. Solveigh Sandra L. Exempt Lydija Exempt Exempt Exempt Nominated Nominated No
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(Day 329) Isabel Not in
the house Exempt Nominated Nominated No
Nominations Evicted
(Day 322) Marcus Michael H. Franziska Sascha S. Exempt Michael H. Exempt Exempt Exempt Nominated Nominated Evicted
(Day 315) Rolf Not in
the house Exempt Exempt Exempt Nominated Evicted
(Day 308) Eric Not in
the house Nominated Evicted
(Day 301) Katrin Not in
the house Exempt Nominated Evicted
(Day 287) Volkmar Not in
the house Sascha S. Exempt Zoya Exempt Exempt Walked
(Day 287) Serhat Not in
the house Walked
(Day 277) Lydija Michele Franziska Geraldine Exempt Zoya Nominated Walked
(Day 273) Jerry Evicted
(Day 189) Exempt Zoya Nominated Evicted
(Day 273) Zoya Not in
the house Mario Sandra L. Exempt Michael H. Evicted
(Day 252) Mark Lydija Mario Sandra L. Nominated Evicted
(Day 252) Petra Not in
the house Walked
(Day 250) Sandra L. Michele Franziska Geraldine Evicted
(Day 245) Solveigh Not in
the house Mario Sandra L. Walked
(Day 244) Mario? Solveigh Evicted
(Day 231) Miriam Michele Ejected
(Day 224) Michele Lydija Evicted
(Day 217) Christian Evicted
(Day 210) Audience No public
nominations Daniela
10%
to save
Mark
12.5%
to save No public
nominations Nicole H.
3.5%
to save
Jerry
10%
to save Katrin
4%
to save
Nicole H.
6.4%
to save
Toni
14.5%
to save Eric
4.5%
to save
Lelo
5.9%
to save
Nicole H.
7.6%
to save No public
nominations Isabel
Lelo
Peggy Daniela
Geraldine
Jupp Natalie
Nicole H.
Peggy Daniela
Lelo
Toni Daniela
Natalie
Toni No public
nominations Up for
eviction Lydija
Michele Mario
Solveigh Geraldine
Sandra L. Carsten
Daniela
Mark Daniela
Zoya Jerry
Lydija
Nicole H. Katrin
Nicole H.
Toni Eric
Lelo
Nicole H. Carsten
Daniela
Franziska
Geraldine
Isabel
Lelo
Marcus
Michael H.
Nicole H.
Peggy
Rolf
Sascha S.
Toni Carsten
Daniela
Franziska
Geraldine
Isabel
Lelo
Marcus
Michael H.
Natalie
Nicole H.
Peggy
Sascha S.
Toni Isabel
Lelo
Peggy Daniela
Geraldine
Jupp Natalie
Nicole H.
Peggy Daniela
Lelo
Toni Daniela
Natalie
Toni Natalie
Toni Carsten
Jupp
Nicole H.
Toni All
housemates Evicted Michele
36.8%
to save Mario
43.6%
to save Sandra L.
43.7%
to save Mark
16.6%
to save Zoya
13.6%
to save Jerry
15.3%
to save Katrin
7.7%
to save Eric
11.5%
to save Rolf
1.09%
to save Marcus
1.60%
to save Isabel
22.7%
to save Geraldine
23.7%
to save Peggy
20.7%
to save Lelo
9.5%
to save Daniela
22.2%
to save Natalie
29.7%
to save Nicole H.
18.7%
to save Toni
2.3%
(Out of 6) Michael H.
28.7%
(Out of 3) Carsten
7.9%
(Out of 5) Franziska
47.47%
(Out of 2) Jupp
15.7%
(Out of 4) Sascha S.
52.53%
to winSALEM, Ore. - The Oregon Liquor Control Commission on Friday warned liquor licensed businesses of scam phone calls from people misrepresenting themselves as members of state or federal law enforcement.
The fake callers claiming to be a “Special Agent” and that the licensee has outstanding fees and/or citations. The scam callers demand that the liquor licensee come down to the courthouse to meet with them or else warrants will be issued.
OLCC urged any business receiving these false phone calls to notify both local police and the local OLCC office. Contact information for OLCC offices can be found on the agency website.
“When the OLCC issues an administrative violation, it is mailed to the licensee via certified mail,” said OLCC Salem Regional Manager James Lynch. “If in doubt, please call your local office, and we can help sort it out. We want to make sure our licensees aren’t put in a compromising position.”Figura 1. Localizaciones del sismo de magnitud 7.1 del 19 de septiembre de 2017 (color rojo) y algunos otros del mismo tipo en la región. Las "pelotas de playa" ilustran la orientación de las fallas y la dirección en que deslizaron. Todas estas son fallas de tipo normal. Localizaciones del sismo de magnitud 7.1 del 19 de septiembre de 2017 (color rojo) y algunos otros del mismo tipo en la región. Las "pelotas de playa" ilustran la orientación de las fallas y la dirección en que deslizaron. Todas estas son fallas de tipo normal.
Figura 2. Espesor de la cuenca sedimentaria donde se encuentra gran parte de la Ciudad de México. Nótese la localización del terremoto del 19 de septiembre en el cuadro de la parte superior izquierda. Los puntos azules indican los sitios de dos estaciones sísmicas que registraron los terremotos de 1985 y 2017. La región entre los contornos azul y rojo representa la zona de transición entre el suelo firme y el suelo blando. Espesor de la cuenca sedimentaria donde se encuentra gran parte de la Ciudad de México. Nótese la localización del terremoto del 19 de septiembre en el cuadro de la parte superior izquierda. Los puntos azules indican los sitios de dos estaciones sísmicas que registraron los terremotos de 1985 y 2017. La región entre los contornos azul y rojo representa la zona de transición entre el suelo firme y el suelo blando.
Figura 3. Localización de daños graves y colapsos durante el sismo del 19 de septiembre de 2017 (puntos rojos). El mapa contiene de fondo la información del periodo natural del suelo (degradado de colores), que es una característica que determina el potencial de amplificación del suelo blando de la ciudad. La zona en tonos grises representa los periodos de 0.5 a 1.0 segundos, también conocida como la zona de transición. (Fuente: ERN Ingenieros Consultores, ERNTérate, “Nota de interés al respecto del sismo del 19 de septiembre de 2017”, publicada el 23 de septiembre de 2017). Localización de daños graves y colapsos durante el sismo del 19 de septiembre de 2017 (puntos rojos). El mapa contiene de fondo la información del periodo natural del suelo (degradado de colores), que es una característica que determina el potencial de amplificación del suelo blando de la ciudad. La zona en tonos grises representa los periodos de 0.5 a 1.0 segundos, también conocida como la zona de transición. (Fuente: ERN Ingenieros Consultores, ERNTérate, “Nota de interés al respecto del sismo del 19 de septiembre de 2017”, publicada el 23 de septiembre de 2017).
Figura 4. Aceleraciones experimentadas en las azoteas de edificios con diferentes alturas en los sitios CU (a, suelo firme) y SCT (b, suelo blando) (ver Figura 2) para los sismos del 19 de septiembre de 1985 (rojo) y 2017 (azul). 1 gal = 1 cm/s2. Las aceleraciones reportadas corresponden al promedio geométrico de ambas componentes horizontales del movimiento. Aceleraciones experimentadas en las azoteas de edificios con diferentes alturas en los sitios CU (a, suelo firme) y SCT (b, suelo blando) (ver Figura 2) para los sismos del 19 de septiembre de 1985 (rojo) y 2017 (azul). 1 gal = 1 cm/s2. Las aceleraciones reportadas corresponden al promedio geométrico de ambas componentes horizontales del movimiento.
Figura 5. Mapa de aceleraciones espectrales para periodos de 1 segundo, correspondientes a la respuesta de estructuras de 7 a 10 pisos. Los triángulos negros muestran las localizaciones de los edificios colapsados o fuertemente dañados. Mapa de aceleraciones espectrales para periodos de 1 segundo, correspondientes a la respuesta de estructuras de 7 a 10 pisos. Los triángulos negros muestran las localizaciones de los edificios colapsados o fuertemente dañados.
Mucho nos preguntamos si el sismo, de magnitud 7.1, fue más fuerte en la Ciudad de México que el terremoto de magnitud 8.0 de 1985. Sólo por la enorme diferencia en magnitud de los dos eventos, uno podría suponer que no. Esto tiene sentido, ya que el sismo de 1985 liberó 32 veces más energía sísmica que el del 19 de septiembre de 2017. Sin embargo, en 1985, el epicentro fue muy lejano y bajo las costas del estado de Michoacán, a más de 400 km de la capital, mientras que el 7.1 ocurrió apenas 120 km al sur de la ciudad. Al propagarse, las ondas sísmicas se atenúan rápidamente. Por ello, a pesar de que la ruptura que generó las ondas sísmicas el martes pasado es mucho menor que la de 1985, las sacudidas en la Ciudad de México fueron tan violentas. A continuación, veremos porqué.La ruptura del sismo del 19 de septiembre de 2017 ocurrió dentro de la placa oceánica de Cocos (i.e. sismo intraplaca), por debajo del continente, a una profundidad de 57 km (Figura 1). Si bien este tipo de sismo no es el más común en México, de ninguna manera es extraordinario. En la Figura 1 se muestran los epicentros y profundidades de algunos sismos similares, incluyendo el del pasado martes. Estas rupturas se producen a profundidades mayores que los típicos sismos de subducción como el de 1985, que tiene lugar bajo las costas del Pacífico mexicano sobre la interfaz de contacto entre las placas tectónicas de Cocos y de Norteamérica (línea roja, Figura 1). Los sismos intraplaca, de profundidad intermedia, se producen por esfuerzos extensivos a lo largo de la placa de Cocos. Las fallas geológicas asociadas a estos sismos se conoces con el nombre de "fallas normales". Es preciso mencionar que estudios realizados para sismos intraplaca en México muestran que, por año, la probabilidad de que la intensidad de las sacudidas en la Ciudad de México debidas a este tipo de terremotos sea grande es muy similar a la de los sismos típicos de subducción, como el de 1985, entre otros. Esto implica que el peligro sísmico en la capital, asociado a los sismos intraplaca (como los del 7 y 19 de septiembre de 2017), es tan grande como el de los sismos más comunes que ocurren bajo las costas del Pacífico mexicano.Gracias a la vasta red de acelerógrafos y sismómetros que registraron ambos terremotos en la Ciudad de México, y a los esfuerzos de muchos sismólogos e ingenieros mexicanos, hoy hemos entendido mejor qué ocurrió. Uno de los ingredientes que usan los ingenieros civiles para calcular las estructuras de los edificios de la CDMX es la aceleración máxima (Amax) del suelo producida por las ondas sísmicas. En 1985, la Amax en Ciudad Universitaria (CU), que está en suelo firme (Figura 2), fue de 30 gal (1 gal = 1 cm/s2), mientras que la Amax del 19 de septiembre de 2017 fue de 57 gal. Es decir que el suelo en la zona cercana a CU experimentó una sacudida dos veces mayor que en 1985.Sin embargo, todos sabemos que gran parte de la Ciudad de México está edificada sobre sedimentos blandos de los antiguos lagos que existieron en el valle. Estos sedimentos provocan una enorme amplificación de las ondas sísmicas en la Ciudad de México que, probablemente, sea la más grande reportada en el mundo.Para dar una idea tangible, la amplitud de las ondas sísmicas con períodos cercanos de 2 segundos en zona de lago (o zona blanda) (e.g. colonias Roma, Condesa, Centro y Doctores) puede llegar a ser 50 veces mayor que en un sitio de suelo firme de la Ciudad de México. Sin embargo, como las ondas también se amplifican en el suelo firme de la periferia, con respecto a lugares lejanos de la Ciudad de México, la amplitud en zona de lago puede ser de 300 a 500 veces mayor. En algunos sitios de la zona del lago, las aceleraciones máximas del suelo producidas por el sismo de magnitud 7.1 fueron menores a las registradas en 1985. Por ejemplo, en la Secretaría de Comunicaciones y Transportes (SCT, Figura 2), que se encuentra en dicha zona, Amax en 1985 fue de 160 gal, mientras que el pasado 19 de septiembre fue de 91 gal. En otros sitios de la zona de lago, las aceleraciones del suelo durante el sismo reciente fueron, muy probablemente, mayores que la registradas en 1985. Se trata de un patrón de movimiento complejo y muy variable en el espacio.Un análisis detallado del movimiento del suelo producido por ambos sismos en la Ciudad de México revela cosas interesantes. De la misma manera que sucede con el sonido emitido por una cuerda de guitarra, los sismos están formados por ondas con diferentes períodos de oscilación. Los sismogramas registrados muestran que la amplitud de las ondas sísmicas con períodos de oscilación menores a 2 segundos fue mucho más grande en 2017 que en 1985 (en promedio unas 5 veces), grosso modo, en toda la ciudad. Sorprendentemente, sucede lo contrario para ondas con períodos mayores de 2 segundos, cuya amplitud fue mucho mayor en 1985 (hasta 10 veces mayor). Como veremos abajo, esto tiene fuertes implicaciones en el tipo de daños observados durante ambos terremotos.En resumen, los movimientos del suelo debidos al sismo de magnitud 7.1 fueron muy violentos y, de cierto modo, comparables a los de 1985 a pesar de haber sido provocados por una ruptura (falla geológica) mucho más pequeña que, sin embargo, ocurrió mucho más cerca de la Ciudad.Para los edificios, la situación no es tan sencilla. La aceleración máxima del suelo (Amax) no es necesariamente lo que pone en riesgo su estabilidad. Por el contrario, al ser estructuras de dimensiones (alturas) diferentes, su vulnerabilidad es muy variada. Ondas con mayor período de oscilación amenazan estructuras más altas. Contrariamente, ondas con períodos más cortos, amenazan estructuras más bajas. Para identificar qué estructuras pudieron verse afectadas por el sismo de 2017, los ingenieros y sismólogos calculan lo que llaman las "aceleraciones espectrales" a partir de los sismogramas registrados. Dichos valores nos dan una idea de las aceleraciones que pudieron experimentar, en sus azoteas, edificios con diferentes alturas. Las aceleraciones espectrales en CU (suelo firme) indican que, los edificios de 1 a 12 pisos cercanos a la estación sísmica experimentaron una aceleración promedio de 119 gal, que es aproximadamente 2 veces mayor que la observada en 1985 (Figura 4a). En contraste, las estimaciones en SCT (suelo blando) muestran que edificios pequeños de este tipo, cercanos a la estación, experimentaron una aceleración promedio de 188 gal, muy similares a las de 1985 (Figura 4b).Por otro lado, edificios más altos, de entre 12 y 20 pisos, experimentaron una aceleración promedio en CU de 60 gal, que es 30% menor a la de 1985, que fue de 85 gal (Figura 4a). La diferencia más clara entre los dos terremotos ocurrió en suelo blando para edificios con más de 15 pisos. La Figura 4b muestra claramente cómo, en 1985, los edificios de este tipo cercanos a SCT experimentaron aceleraciones de 1.5 a 4.9 veces más grandes que las observadas el 19 de septiembre de 2017. En 1985, algunas de estas grandes estructuras experimentaron aceleraciones de hasta 760 gal. Como referencia, la aceleración de la gravedad terrestre (i.e. la de un cuerpo en caída libre) es de 981 gal.Como veremos a continuación, la estación SCT no se encuentra en la zona con los mayores daños, que se encuentra más al oeste (hacia las colonias Roma y Condesa), principalmente en la zona de transición de la cuenca sedimentaria. Un análisis similar al de la Figura 4 a partir de registros en dichas colonias permitirá estimar qué tipos de edificios fueron los más amenazados. En esa zona, esperamos aceleraciones mayores que las de SCT para edificios de 4 a 10 pisos.Los ingenieros y sismólogos de la UNAM, gracias a múltiples investigaciones basadas en miles de registros sísmicos en la Ciudad de México y el desarrollo de herramientas sofisticadas han podido cartografiar, en toda la mancha urbana, valores de aceleración experimentados el pasado 19 de septiembre para diferentes tipos de estructuras. Dichas herramientas fueron desarrolladas en el Instituto de Ingeniería de la UNAM y operan automáticamente en tiempo real. Con ellas, se generan mapas de intensidad en toda la ciudad pocos minutos después del sismo, mismos que son útiles para identificar, rápidamente, las zonas potencialmente dañas. La Figura 5 ilustra claramente esto para el sismo del 19 de septiembre de 2017. Ahí se puede apreciar que existe una clara correlación entre los daños ocurridos (i.e. los edificios colapsados o fuertemente dañados) y las zonas donde se produjeron las mayores aceleraciones espectrales. Consistentemente con lo explicado en el párrafo anterior, el sismo de magnitud 7.1 dañó, en su mayor parte, estructuras relativamente pequeñas, de entre 4 y 7 pisos, a lo largo de una franja con orientación norte-sur dentro de la zona de transición (entre las zonas de suelo firme y blando) al poniente de la zona de lago (Figuras 3 y 4). En contraste, las estructuras dañadas en 1985 fueron en su mayoría más grandes, con alturas de entre 7 y 14 pisos.La violencia del movimiento del suelo en la Ciudad de México depende principalmente del tipo de suelo donde nos encontremos. Como ya se dijo, gran parte de la ciudad está asentada en suelo blando, sobre sedimentos lacustres (contorno rojo en de Figura 1). La Figura 5 muestra la aceleración estimada en las azoteas de edificios de 7 a 10 pisos (i.e. con períodos de resonancia cercanos a 1 segundo) provocada por el sismo del 19 de septiembre de 2017. Cabe precisar que este mapa fue generado en forma automática, casi en tiempo real, por el Instituto de Ingeniería de la UNAM, por lo que se hizo público unos minutos después del sismo. Como ya se dijo, existe una clara correlación entre la franja roja de máxima aceleración al poniente de la cuenca y la localización de los edificios colapsados o fuertemente dañados. También es sorprendente la correlación que hay entre los valores grandes de aceleración (franja roja) y la geometría (espesor) de los sedimentos lacustres (Figuras 2 y 3). La mayoría de los daños se encuentran al oeste de la cuenca sedimentaria, sobre la zona de transición y parte del suelo blando, muy cerca de su límite poniente. Ahí, los sedimentos tienen un espesor de 10 a 30 m. La interacción y amplificación de las ondas sísmicas con esta región de la cuenca sedimentaria provocaron los daños.Además de la amplificación de las ondas, la duración del movimiento del suelo es también mucho mayor dentro de los sedimentos blandos. Estudios recientes muestran que las duraciones más grandes esperadas para períodos de oscilación menores a 2 segundos coinciden con la zona de mayor destrucción para el sismo de magnitud 7.1 del 19 de septiembre de 2017. Por ejemplo, la duración de la fase intensa del movimiento en CU fue de 36 segundos, mientras que en SCT, fue de 1 minuto. Por esta razón, tanto la violencia de las sacudidas como su duración en la zona de transición y de lago son las causantes de la destrucción.No tenemos hasta el momento indicios de que las fuerzas de diseño (i.e. los criterios de resistencia estructural) actualmente vigentes en el reglamento de construcción de la Ciudad de México se hayan excedido durante el sismo del 19 de septiembre de 2017. Por lo tanto, los edificios construidos en los últimos años no deberían haber sufrido daños. Sin embargo, en el caso de estructuras comunes, el Reglamento de Construcciones de la ciudad no exige que las edificaciones antiguas sean reforzadas para resistir las fuerzas especificadas en las normas emitidas después de su fecha de construcción. Es posible, entonces, que en el caso de edificaciones antiguas sí se hayan excedido las fuerzas de diseño con las que fueron proyectadas.Independientemente de lo anterior, se sabe que existe un grave problema por falta de cumplimiento de las normas especificadas en el reglamento vigente de construcción, documentado en proyectos de investigación realizados en la UNAM. En consecuencia, los daños observados se explican mejor con la falta de observancia de las normas, más que por posibles deficiencias en el Reglamento de Construcción actual.Es muy probable. Bajo las costas del estado de Guerrero, por ejemplo, existe una brecha sísmica (i.e. segmento donde no ha ocurrido un terremoto significativo en más de 60 años) de 250 km de longitud en dónde podría ocurrir un sismo de magnitud superior a 8. Este segmento se encuentra a unos 300 km de la Ciudad de México. Es decir, aproximadamente 150 km más cerca que la zona epicentral del terremoto de 1985. Estimaciones hechas por sismólogos de la UNAM sugieren que, si este sismo ocurriera en un futuro, las aceleraciones del suelo blando en la Ciudad de México podrían ser, bajo ciertas condiciones, mayores que las del sismo reciente de magnitud 7.1, y de 2 a 3 veces mayores que las de 1985 en particular para edificios de más de 10 pisos. La duración del movimiento del suelo sería mayor que las experimentadas en 2017 (alrededor de 3 minutos en su fase intensa).
23 de septiembre de 2017
La información utilizada para elaborar esta nota resulta del esfuerzo
de investigadores y técnicos académicos de los institutos de Geofísica e Ingeniería de la UNAM.
Meet the Dolls. Camry (2017). Naturally Perfect Dolls. Recuperado de <https://www.naturallyperfectdolls.com/pages/camryn>.Getty Images
Hey remember a few years ago when they had the Olympics in Sochi, and USA Hockey produced a pretty underwhelming team?
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You know what I mean: When the brain trust left some of the best players at their positions in the whole world home because of things like a perceived lack of hustle or because they had bad dreams and really only wanted to beat Canada? That team ended up not even winning a medal, and in fact humiliated itself in the bronze medal game with a performance so shameful the people who make these decisions were lucky to keep their jobs.
Or maybe you remember how just a few months ago, when they had the World Cup in Canada, and USA Hockey produced a pretty underwhelming team?
They did this thing where they left some of the best players at their positions in the whole world home because of things like perceived lack of hustle or because they didn’t think being an elite NHL player would translate to a short tournament and, more specifically, beating Canada. That team was, in fact, so bad that the US didn’t even make the medal round and actually lost all three games in regulation. Only Finland did worse.
And while these are short tournaments, so anything can happen, these are the kinds of results that anyone with a brain spent a month before both saying, “Here’s what’s going to happen.” It’s not hard to figure out that if you’re playing best-on-best tournaments, it stands to reason that you should always aim to bring your, I don’t know, best players.
This isn’t advanced nerd-thinking of which long-time Hockey Guys are incapable. It’s a simple concept. And yet …
Story continues
This week, USA Hockey announced two cuts for its World Junior roster. One of which saw Senators prospect Logan Brown, the No. 11 pick in June’s draft, sent packing. It was a bit of a puzzler but not a huge one; while Brown is immensely talented (he’s currently 11th in the OHL in points per game), he is also coming off an injury suffered in early November. The tournament would have been his first games since then, and Bob McKenzie reported that Brown was seen as having been rusty and potentially wasn’t keeping up with the pace his coaches wanted.
So really, it’s a tough bounce for Brown, but you get the rationale.
Then there’s the Alex DeBrincat. If for some reason you ever needed a perfect distillation of everything wrong with the way Hockey Guys think about this sport, the decision to leave Alex DeBrincat off a World Junior team — which he already made last year — should be Exhibits A-Y (Exhibit Z will be the beautiful Stanley Cup champion Phil Kessel, who is the nicest boy alive).
DeBrincat is everything Hockey Guys are skeptical of even now, after years of what should have been learning. He’s third in the OHL in points per game (2.14) after finishing 13th and seventh in the past two seasons. The first time he broke 100 points in the OHL, in his draft-year-minus-1, that could have been written off as a product of playing with Connor McDavid. Fair enough. But then he did it again in his draft year sans McDavid, forming a lethal one-two punch with Dylan Strome instead. And hey, Strome’s another with a high-end talent level, so maybe you write that off too.
And it seems like a lot of teams did, because it’s tough to think of too many guys who score 200 OHL points across their age-17 and age-18 seasons. Seems quite rare, in fact. But DeBrincat did it and was rewarded for his efforts by dropping into the mid-second round in June.
The probable guesses as to why have little to do with production, and everything to do with some rather tangible intangibles. DeBrincat is listed as 5-foot-7 and 170 pounds. And unlike, say Johnny Gaudreau whose skating and speed are superlative, DeBrincat doesn’t get around at an elite level. So the feeling is that he’s a guy who’s going to score in junior, but it might not translate to the pros. Adding in the fact that he played pretty much his entire OHL career next to high-level talents, and you can see where teams rationalize the decision to drop him down the draft board.
Even this year, when DeBrincat played a big chunk of the year without Strome, who started with the Arizona Coyotes and got sent back to Erie in time to play only seven games there so far this year (in which he has 16 points!), the little guy was still a goals factory when he was on the ice.
Let’s put it this way: Among the OHL’s top-200 all-time scorers (DeBrincat is already 191st after just 156 games), DeBrincat’s points-per-game number — just shy of 1.7 — is 16th ever. Pretty much everyone ahead of him is a “Oh yeah he had a decent career” kind of player or better. It’s even ahead of another small, ultra-skilled recent OHLer named Mitch Marner who many didn’t think would make it in the bigs.
As for the reasons the US cut him, per Corey Pronman, are the fact that he “was lackluster” in the tournament last year, mostly because he got kicked out of his first game and was injured in the next, but continued to play through it and therefore didn’t produce. And the fact that he didn’t stand out in a summer tournament, or in the recent camp, or in the US’s pre-tournament game on Wednesday.
(Also in last year’s tournament: USA Hockey left more than a couple of very good players at home for reasons beyond rational explanation.)
Of course, that leaves out the 70 or so junior games he flat-out dominated in what many consider the best development league in the world. But hey, the US was always always always going to put more stock in like 60 minutes of actual World Junior experience, a short summer tournament, a low-stakes training camp, and an exhibition than the 85 points he’s going to score every 50 OHL games he plays. Which makes a lot of sense.
Pronman had this to say in summarizing the USA Hockey decision to pass on DeBrincat: “In the end, sometimes skills don’t always translate up the competition ladder, and that may be the case here.”
The question is — or at least should be — how often that happens. How often does a kid score a near-historic number of points in his first three OHL seasons and do it in a way that won’t “translate?” Given how much everyone at Hockey Canada loved Lawson Crouse in recent years because he was gigantic, and despite mediocre production in the same league DeBrincat destroys every night, you see where this is a hockey problem. Crouse was a No. 11 pick despite being under a point a game in his draft year. And now in his first NHL season he’s 2-1-3 in 29 games. If Mitch Marner did that his ass would be so on-the-Marlies-forever you couldn’t believe it.
And anyway, the likelihood that DeBrincat scores in the NHL is immaterial to what he does at World Junior; he’s playing U20 players, an age group in which he has literally always humiliated defenses and goaltenders. The likelihood that he would score a lot of points in this tournament is high, based on the 150 or so games of evidence we have.
So yeah, this really does boil down to the “little guys have to prove they can play (over and over and over) and big guys have to prove they can’t” thing. Of course it does. This is USA Hockey we’re talking about.
It is baffling that well-paid decision-makers could look at so many failures — including last year’s World Junior team that only finished with bronze in part because it left a few high-skill players home — and repeatedly arrive at the same conclusions as to what they need to do. If something doesn’t work, you change how you do it. Again, not a difficult concept.
The good news for USA Hockey is that the Americans are bringing a very skilled team overall, and may not end up hurting for goals. But if they do, well, you have to wonder if Bobby Ryan I mean Phil Kessel I mean Tyler Johnson I mean Kyle Okposo I mean Alex Tuch I mean Kyle Connor I mean Jeremy Bracco I mean Alex DeBrincat would have made a difference.
Ryan Lambert is a Puck Daddy columnist. His email is here and his Twitter is here.
All stats via Corsica unless otherwise stated.
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Greg Wyshynski is a writer for Yahoo Sports. Contact him at [email protected] or find him on Twitter. His book, TAKE YOUR EYE OFF THE PUCK, is available on Amazon and wherever books are sold.
MORE FROM YAHOO HOCKEYWith X-Men: Apocalypse being released on Digital HD tomorrow, 20th Century Fox has released a new deleted scene featuring Jean Grey (Sophie Turner).
It begins with Alex Summers/Havok (Lucas Till) taking his younger brother, Scott Summers/Cyclops (Tye Sheridan), to meet Charles Xavier (James McAvoy) at his School for Gifted Youngsters. Once those introductions are out of the way, we see Jean Grey apparently honing her archery skills, aiming at a target across the pond, but instead, she decides to work on her telekinesis skills as well. Acting recklessly and dangerously, she points and shoots an arrow toward her fellow classmates who are frolicking across the pond. She then uses her mental abilities to direct the arrow to the archery target, hitting the bullseye.
Following the critically acclaimed global smash hit X-Men: Days of Future Past, director Bryan Singer returns with X-MEN: APOCALYPSE. Since the dawn of civilization, he was worshipped as a god. Apocalypse, the first and most powerful mutant from Marvel’s X-Men universe, amassed the powers of many other mutants, becoming immortal and invincible. Upon awakening after thousands of years, he is disillusioned with the world as he finds it and recruits a team of powerful mutants, including a disheartened Magneto, to cleanse mankind and create a new world order, over which he will reign. As the fate of |
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(Image: Gazette live)
His torment came to light the day before his body was discovered at his home, Teesside Acting Senior Coroner Clare Bailey was told.
David's sister Grace said her brother "was having a laugh" at a family Sunday dinner but she could tell there was something on his mind.
“He said he was having a hard time from a woman at the dole," said Grace.
(Image: Getty)
“He said she was rude and belittled him.”
She said her brother had told her that "he didn't want to be a burden" on his family.
“He tried hard to look for work,” she added.
(Image: Getty)
The court heard David had "actively" been looking for work.
David's body was discovered by his brother Adam after looking through the letter box following attempts to get into his home.
The coroner ruled that David took his own life on October 3 this year.
After his death, Boro fans held a moving minute's applause for David at the Premier League club's Riverside Stadium.
David had been a season ticket holder since he was 11 and was enjoying his first year following the team in English football's top flight.
His brother Adam, speaking before the inquest, said David "was passionate about every game".
Adam recalled celebrating the club's promotion to the Premier League.
He added: “I remember on the last day of the season we were running round the Riverside, it was just a mint feeling being there celebrating with him.”
David had initially wanted to join the British Army but was desperately looking for an apprenticeship after completing a welding course.
Adam said: “He absolutely loved it and he was really good at it."
The DWP launches reviews when suicides or suspected cases of people taking their own lives are "associated with DWP activity".
David's sister Jenna, speaking after David's death, said her brother was "an adventurous teenager who will be remembered for his humour, kindness and courage".
She said he "was full of energy and had a zest for life".
Jenna added: “He still had so much to offer as a kind young man and we are all proud to call him a son, brother, grandson and friend.
“He made the world warmer and he will be greatly missed by everyone who knew him.”
A DWP spokesman said: “Our thoughts are with Mr Brown’s family at this difficult time.
“Suicide is a very complex issue and there is no evidence of a link between Mr Brown’s suicide and his interaction with Jobcentre Plus.”Having the best possible settings you can is of the utmost importance when playing a competitive game as Counter-Strike: Global Offensive. We may be talking about video, audio or even keyboard settings - everything can be the difference between you getting stuck in a certain skill level or advance to the next one, whatever it may be.
One thing to have in mind is that although most of the tips I’m going to give are general knowledge and some even common sense, it all comes down to personal preference. You may not care about being the best player but prefer a good visual experience. That is a different topic. In this article I’m going to focus on the preferred settings you should aim for a high-level gameplay.
Video Settings
Although most people would say that it is best to just follow a basic rule, I don’t totally agree. That rule is: everything should be as low as possible, despite your computer power. In my opinion, that rule can and should be a little tweaked, according to your computer's capability. I think that is a generalization that should not be totally followed. More FPS is always good, especially on a game that relies on an engine where its performance is strongly tied to FPS (Source Engine), but is not everything. There are certain video options that can give better visibility if they’re not on its lowest setting.
Below you can check the settings I’m currently using.
Brightness: Use a high brightness setting, so you can you easily spot enemies in those corners with low light. (The level bar is bugged and although it seems like it is on the lowest setting possible, it is actually on the highest).
Color Mode : I use Television because it is brighter, although I play on a Computer Monitor.
Resolution and Aspect Ratio: personal preference. Most pro players use a 4:3 resolution, but that is not generally better. In fact, it is worse. They use it simply because they’re used to it. Playing in 4:3 reduces your FOV, making you see less area around you in your screen.
Laptop Power Settings: Always Disabled, so it doesn’t cap your FPS.
Display Mode: Fullscreen gives you better performance.
Regarding Advanced Video Options, I want to call your attention to the following aspects:
Global Shadow Quality: as the name implies, it only changes the shadow quality. It does not remove or add shadows. You will always see the shadows of your opponents and teammates, no matter the setting you’re in.
(Editor's note: if you put shadows on high you will see shadows when you're further away, giving you an advantage. So put this setting on high!)
Shader Detail: This one is dependent on the graphical power available in your PC. If you set it to medium-high, you can discern movement better across the flames from a Molotov or Incendiary. It can be a bit hard to spot those movements on the lower setting. But then again, it is not game changer in my opinion and having a high setting can tank your FPS more than you would like.
Multicore Rendering: Always Enabled if you have more than one Core in your CPU, which you most surely have.
Multisampling Anti-Aliasing Mode and FXAA Anti-Aliasing: The first is more demanding on your PC, but also produces better visual results. This one is 100% preference. In my opinion, having it set to 2x MSAA gives you a good balance between visuals and performance. This setting can greatly help you on long range engagements, allowing you to spot your enemy more easily. FXAA is a less demanding option, but can make your picture look a bit jagged on some corners.
Motion Blur: Always disabled. It can mess with your aim on those fast movements, causing you to lose track of the target.
Keyboard Inputs
One very important set of settings that most people don’t give the proper attention are the inputs. Most players will probably use the default binds or switch it to what they’re used to from other games. On such a high-paced and competitive game, all the little advantages you can get are needed to succeed, and these start on having the right keybinds on your keyboard and mouse. I’m not going to recommend a set key for a set action, because those are according to every player level of comfort – the movements that I feel comfortable doing with my hands to reach certain keys or even combinations may not be the best for another player and vice-versa. There are no wrong keyboard and mouse inputs, only harder or easier to use.
Nevertheless, there are a few guidelines you should follow regarding key inputs:
- Raw Input should be turned on, so that the movement you do with your mouse is exactly the one replicated on the screen. Windows can make a few corrections which are not desirable during your game.
- Mouse Acceleration is something that can mess with your aim during fast movements. Most player and professionals have it turned off, so that they can be more precise. But some of the best players in the world (although a minority, even amongst them) use it, so it is up to your personal preference. I strongly recommend having it turned off though.
- Use a single key bind for each one of the different utility (HE Grenade, Flashbang, Smoke Grenade, Molotov or Incendiary Grenade and even the bomb). This one is a must have. When using utility, you should have it in your hands the least amount of time possible. The more time you have them in your hands, the greater the chance to get caught off-guard. So, it is only logical that it’s best to press a single key to get to the exact utility you want to use instead of scrolling through every single one available to you at the time, which makes you lose time and you can even sometimes click one time more than you should, leaving you cycling again through them until the one you want. It also has another advantage. If you’re not sure you have the utility you want to use, as soon as you press the key you will know it – if it doesn’t change to it, it means you don’t have it.
- Avoid, at all costs, choosing your weapon with the mouse wheel. It will get you killed a lot of times, unnecessarily. There are those moments where you end your magazine while fighting with an opponent and you want to switch as fast as possible to your pistol to resume firing. That rush will make you scroll more than you should, leaving you with something in your hand that as no use to you at that moment, causing you to die and giving a free kill to your opponent. Disable that mouse scroll bind. Instead, get used to using keys on your keyboard for each weapon, just like the last tip I gave you on utility. Have a key for the main weapon, one for the secondary and another for the knife/Zeus.
- If you have a “gaming mouse” with more keys than the usual ones, use them. They will never come assigned by default. Those keys are some of the easiest to reach and get used to, so use them to your advantage. Whether you it for utility, to jump or even to enable voice chat, it’s up to you, but remember that you have those keys in the reach of your finger at all times, unassigned by default.
Below you can check the bindings I’m currently using:
Sound Options
As you probably know, sound is one of the key aspects in Counter-Strike. Sound can give you a lot of information in places that you are unable to see. But there are some elements to it that you can avoid, like the music (except in certain moments that I will talk later).
Valve is massively changing the sound in CS:GO at the moment, adding new options that greatly improve the 3D and Directional Audio. If you have been playing for a few years, you may not like the new sounds. Although they’re still far from perfect, they are a big improvement and getting used to them is the way to go. I feel that they really help you in pinpointing more exactly the positions of your enemies or even teammates. These are the settings I use currently:
Regarding Music Volume : Music is a big distraction, but can also help you timing those bombs defuses. The music changes when you have 10 seconds left to complete the defuse, which can help a lot on those clutch situations where you win but you’re not sure if you have the time to defuse or if you should just run away to save the guns. I keep it at very low volume, as you can see in the screenshot above.
These are just some of the settings that can have a big impact in your game and skill progress. Don’t forget that most of these, as I said several times throughout the article, are personal preference and the best way to find your comfort zone is by experimenting different things. Good luck on your path to finding the best settings possible and reaching even higher levels, maybe even raising your own skill ceiling.
Like our content? Support us by getting our merchandise in our shopOn Saturday, Sept. 21, 2013, the Somali militant group al-Shabab carried out an assault on Kenya’s Westgate Mall in one of the worst terrorist attacks in the country’s history. A group of young gunmen stalked the halls and stores of the upscale Nairobi shopping center, and methodically murdered at least 67 people. News of the attack seized the world’s attention, dominating international media coverage for days.
But much of that reporting was confused and contradictory, mirroring the litany of false and misleading statements made by Kenyan authorities. There were between 10 and 15 gunmen, the interior minister said. Two or three of them were Americans, said another cabinet minister. Together they took hostages, used heavy explosives, and pulled off a three-day siege, according to other government sources. Except none of these things were true.
Far from a dramatic three-day standoff, the assault on the Westgate Mall lasted only a few hours, almost all of it taking place before Kenyan security forces even entered the building. When they finally did, it was only to shoot at one another before going on an armed looting spree that resulted in the collapse of the rear of the building, destroyed with a rocket-propelled grenade. And there were only four gunmen, all of whom were buried in the rubble, along with much of the forensic evidence.
During the roughly three-and-a-half hours that the killers were loose in the mall, there was virtually no organized government response. But while Kenyan officials prevaricated, an unlikely coalition of licensed civilian gun owners and brave, resourceful individual police officers took it upon themselves to mount a rescue effort. Pieced together over 10 months from more than three dozen interviews with survivors, first responders, security officers, and investigators, the following account brings their story to life for the first time since the horrific terrorist attack occurred exactly two years ago.
Don't think that the government is going to protect you from the global jihad. Not only is the US government resolutely refusing to go to war with ISIS, but it is actively importing the terrorists and settling them in your cities. This detailed recounting of the attack on the Westgate Mall is sobering indeed.I impression that the war in the USA will start when an attack of similar scale takes place in the USA and Americans begin to respond in kind despite the best efforts of the federal government to defend their attackers. There is no assimilation taking place; observe that one of the four Somalis involved in the attack grew up in Norway.The First Amendment will be rejected by the American public long before the Second. As it has been said, the Constitution is not a suicide pact and few Americans will stand by freedom of religion when doing so jeopardizes their right to life, liberty, and happiness. Between the Scylla of godless pedophiles and the Charybdis of Sharia, the USA is no longer a society fit for a First Amendment.After the Breivik shootings in Norway, I said that future Europeans generations will likely regard him as a national hero akin to William Tell and Vlad Tepes. In light of the way events are beginning to take shape, I may have been in error. They may well make him a saint.
Labels: Clash of Civilizations, warA A
RICHLAND, Wash. -- KEPR has learned a tort claim was filed, alerting the Richland School District that it may be sued for $10,000,000 in the future.
The claim is in connection to a sledding accident on the grassy hill behind Carmichael Middle School in January 2012. The hill off Wellsian Way is a popular spot for sledding when it's covered in snow. A boy suffered severe injuries while sledding on January 19th, 2012.
Attorneys for the family of the injured boy say he crashed into an "unguarded blocked dugout" which resulted in severe and lasting injuries including "multiple facial traumatic abnormalities, fractures of the inner and outer sinuses, intracranial hemorrhage, right shoulder injury, liver laceration, kidney laceration, blood in his bladder, loss of several teeth, complicated traumatic brain injury, and a cerebral spinal fluid leak."
The claim seeks a possible $10,000,000 in damages. The family says the medical bills for the boy's injuries have amounted to more than $250,000 and he has lasting injuries.
The child, who was 10 years old at the time, was using a typical store-bought, flat-bottomed sled to slide down Carmichael Hill. The attorney for the family says sledders on that hill may reach speeds of up to 20 mph and believes the district has an obligation to make the hill safe. Attorneys cited statements from district spokesperson Steve Aagaard who said it was important for the tradition of sledding on Carmichael Hill to continue despite the injuries caused that day.
The attorney for the boy's family says the hill wasn't closed until emergency room doctors from Kadlec Regional Medical Center called Richland Police to report an abnormal number of injuries coming into the ER as a result of sledding on the hill. The injury to the 10 year old boy occurred on January 19th, 2012 and RPD closed the hill on January 21st, 2012.
Following the severe accident, RSD added a sign warning users to sled at their own risk.
The boy's family believes the district has a responsibility to make the hill safe for sledding if it is inviting sledders to use it.
To get all sides, KEPR called RSD for comment. The district would only say it had successfully received the suit and would be reviewing it.
RSD has 60 days to respond before the lawsuit may be filed.One of the first large cargo ships in 100 years to cross the Atlantic with the help of the wind will set off from European shores this month on a voyage which is due to make maritime history.
When the 10,000-tonne Beluga Skysail is well clear of the land, it will launch a giant kite, which wind tunnel tests and sea trials suggest will tug it along and save 10-15% of the heavy fuel oil it would normally burn. If the journey from Bremen in Germany to Venezuela and back proves successful, it could become common to see some of the largest ships in the world towed by kites the size of football fields.
"This is a serious attempt to reduce bunker [fuel] costs and polluting emissions. The kite will be used whenever it is possible on the voyage, and we are convinced it will revolutionise cargo shipping. We would consider fitting them to all our ships," said Christine Bornkessel, a spokeswoman for the Bremen-based Beluga shipping line, which has 52 merchant vessels.
The ship's maiden voyage will use a 160 sq metre kite which is expected to cut fuel consumption by 10-15%, but in time it will be fitted with much larger kites, possibly saving 30-35% on fuel, she said.
The largest kites could be as big as 5,000 sq metres and theoretically be capable of assisting giant container ships.
Shipping is now a booming global industry, with most manufacturing being concentrated thousands of miles from consumer centres in Europe and the US. Nearly 100,000 cargo ships transport 95% of world trade by sea, and the world shipping industry is expanding rapidly as countries such as India and China become major players in the global economy. But the cost of shipping or "bunker" fuel has nearly doubled in the past two years, forcing the industry to consider alternatives. At the same time, concerns have grown about climate change and air pollution from shipping.
It is estimated that commercial shipping, which traditionally uses the most polluting fuel, uses nearly 2bn barrels of oil a year and emits as much as 800m tonnes of CO2, or 4% of the world's man-made emissions. Shipping also pollutes the atmosphere with more sulphur dioxide than all the world's cars and lorries.
The notoriously conservative industry has so far failed to harness renewable energy, either because conventional fuel has been cheap, or because modern cargoes, mostly carried in containers, need to remain stable on deck or in holds. Sails or spinnakers have been proposed for merchant ships, but these can take up storage space and cause vessels to heel.
The kite system, which has been developed over 10 years with help from the German government, uses an automatic pilot, is controlled by computers and runs on a metal track around the ship. This allows the "sail" to move around to collect wind and also prevent tilting.
The kite is not designed to replace engines, however. There are still questions about how the system behaves in high winds and what would happen if the kite landed in the sea.
According to the company, orders have been placed with trawlers and a super-yacht. The system could be applied to nearly two out of three boats registered at Lloyd's register of shipping in London.
· This article was amended on Monday January 7 2008. In the article above we said that sails or spinnakers had been proposed for merchant ships but that these can cause vessels to keel. We meant heel (lean over). This has been corrected.Jeremy Lin has decided to decline his player option, opting him out of the final year of his contract and becoming an unrestricted free agent.
Charlotte G Jeremy Lin will decline $2.2 million player option to explore unrestricted free-agency, league sources inform @clevelanddotcom. — Chris Haynes (@ChrisBHaynes) June 7, 2016
Lin signed with the Hornets last offseason on a very short term, low money deal, in a bet on himself to prove to teams that he was worth more than they were offering. That paid off in spades as Lin had a great season that had many making call backs to his Linsanity days in New York. Once it became apparent that Lin was playing as well as he was it became very obvious to anybody watching the Hornets on a consistent basis that he was going to opt out of his contract. It just made the most sense business wise.
On top of how well Lin played, this offseason there's an expectation for a lot of money to be thrown around. Cap space is going up thanks to new TV revenue, and teams are willing to spend more money than ever on free agents. Lin appears to be hitting the market at the perfect time with the perfect mix of a great season in a market where money is no consequence. Someone is going to pay him a pretty penny.
Now for the question on if he will return to Charlotte or not. It's likely the Hornets want him to come back. He was the perfect sixth man, a steady hand in the backup unit, and a solid secondary ball handler next to Kemba Walker in multiple lineups. He played well in the playoffs, and even won a few games in the regular season. However, with all that on his resume, and the free agency market the way it is, Lin is likely going to be paid starter money. The Hornets will want to keep him, but are they willing to pay that kind of money for a player that they brought off the bench most of the year?
There's also questions on if Lin is willing to continue with his bench role, or if he would prefer to go elsewhere and play heavier minutes. He's made comments on how much he enjoyed being in Charlotte, and loved playing in a locker room with as great of chemistry as there's. However, the NBA is a business and at the end of the day he'll make what he feel is the best decision for himself.CHICAGO (CBS) — A Far South Side man accused of shooting at a Chicago Police officer lashed out at a Cook County judge in court Tuesday, saying he should have just “smoked his a ‑ ‑” after being ordered held without bail, the Chicago Sun-Times is reporting.
“Chicago Police shot at me first,” Kentrell Pledger, a reputed Black Disciple gang member, pleaded with Judge Adam Bourgeois Jr.
As sheriff’s deputies led Pledger away, his protests grew louder: “He shot at me first. So get your story straight, dog. And for that, I should have smoked his a ‑ ‑.”
Pledger then told Bourgeois, who is African-American, “You ain’t black, you’re white, b ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑.”
A picture of Pledger holding the same weapon used in the shooting Monday in the 300 block of West 106th was posted on social media two hours earlier, Assistant State’s Attorney Guy Lisuzzo said.
When Pledger was arrested after officers found him hiding under a nearby porch, he came out with his hands up, according to a police report.
He allegedly continued to tell the police that he left the gun under the porch wrapped in his red T-shirt.
Pledger, 29, also had one more thing to tell the arresting officers, according to the police report: “Thank you for not shooting me.”
The police officer was patrolling with others in an unmarked vehicle about 2:15 p.m. Monday when they saw Pledger walking on the sidewalk, fidgeting with his belt in the 300 block of West 105th, Lisuzzo said.
They pulled alongside Pledger and the uniformed officer started asking him questions, Lisuzzo said.
Pledger ran away as he took a gun out from his pants and the officer started chasing him on foot, Lisuzzo said.
When Pledger ran toward the end of an alley, he looked back and fired twice at the officer, Lisuzzo said.
The officer was not injured, and he returned fire, Lisuzzo said.
Pledger was not hurt and fled, authorities said.
When Pledger was arrested, he was shirtless and officers found a.40-caliber handgun under the porch in a T-shirt, Lisuzzo said. Officers also found suspected heroin in Pledger’s wallet, Lisuzzo said.
Pledger allegedly admitted to firing a gun at the officer.
Pledger, of the 400 block of West 103rd, was charged with attempted murder of a police officer, aggravated assault of a police officer, aggravated discharge of a firearm and possession of a controlled substance.
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Caption why is this posible? how can this make it a fun game when you can block of a so important loot point on the map Save Cancel
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Last Online 41 hrs, 53 mins ago File Size Posted Size 0.450 MB Dec 11, 2015 @ 6:49am 1920 x 1080 95 Unique Visitors 0 Current FavoritesState Dodges 'Education Train Wreck' With Defeat of Mary Lou Bruner
In a stunning upset, a retired schoolteacher who believes President Barack Obama once worked as a gay prostitute lost her bid to become a member of Texas' State Board of Education (SBOE) on Tuesday.
Mary Lou Bruner, who's made national headlines for her incendiary statements and bizarre conspiracy theories, was defeated by Lufkin school board President Kevin Ellis, 59-41 percent, in the GOP primary runoff for the District 9 SBOE seat representing ultraconservative East Texas.
Odd sign of the times that a Texas candidate who thinks Obama is an ex-gay prostitute may lose her runoff is viewed as a surprise #tx2016 — Aman Batheja (@amanbatheja) May 25, 2016
Bruner was favored to win the runoff after outpacing Ellis in the March 1 primary. However, even some tea party groups withdrew their endorsements of Bruner in recent weeks, largely due to numerous inaccurate statements she made — and later declined to retract — at a forum for school superintendents.
"Texas escaped an education train wreck tonight," the Texas Freedom Network (TFN), a progressive group that monitors the SBOE, said in a statement. "If Bruner had ultimately won election to the board, she would have instantly become the most embarrassingly uninformed and divisive member on a board that already too often puts politics ahead of making sure our kids get a sound education. We commend the majority of East Texas voters for their wisdom in this particular race."
TFN listed some of Bruner's most outrageous assertions:
That President Obama had turned to gay prostitution to fund a drug addiction
That climate change is a communist hoax designed to undermine capitalism
That Democrats had President Kennedy assassinated so that Lyndon Johnson could enact a socialist agenda
That the Affordable Care Act part of a United Nations plot to take over the United States
That the Common Core Standards for education mark a step toward Naziism
That Texas Land Commissioner George P. Bush is turning over the Alamo to the United Nations
That public school pre-K programs are designed to indoctrinate children into socialism, multiculturalism, and homosexuality
In other Texas races, a candidate who once dressed as "Gay Hitler" won a GOP primary runoff for Texas House.
Could run for public office someday? Might want to avoid dressing as 'Gay Hitler'. https://t.co/ctYRpMWc4g pic.twitter.com/3hIA62OJUJ — S.A. Express-News (@ExpressNews) March 30, 2016
Kyle Biedermann, who wore the costume to a Saturday Night Live-themed party benefitting a local food pantry, defeated incumbent GOP state Rep. Doug Miller, 55-45 percent.
Texas, where dressing up as gay Hitler only helps https://t.co/Vvwn2AMO2K — Andrea Grimes (@andreagrimes) May 25, 2016
Meanwhile, another GOP challenger who was recently accused of being a closeted gay man also defeated an incumbent state representative.
Briscoe Cain, 31, has denied the allegations in a mailer saying he's "well known to those who frequent" gay nightclubs in Houston's Montrose gayborhood. Cain, a tea partier who's endorsed by several anti-LGBT hate groups, accused his opponent, incumbent state Rep. Wayne Smith, of being behind the mailer, but Smith denied any knowledge of it.
Cain defeated Smith by just 23 votes, so there's likely to be a recount.
Image: Mary Lou Bruner, Facebook
See a mistake? Email corrections to: [email protected]One of the best-known photographs of the late Steve Jobs pictures him sitting in the middle of the living room of his Los Altos house, circa 1982. There isn’t much in the room, save an audio system and a Tiffany lamp. Jobs is sipping tea, sitting yoga-style on a mat, with but a few books around him. The picture speaks volumes about the less-is-more motive behind every Apple product designed under his command.
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As Warren Berger wrote on Co.Design, Jobs’s love for elegantly simple, intuitive design is widely attributed to his appreciation of Zen philosophy (Jobs was a practicing Buddhist). But while many people might be familiar with Zen as a broad concept, far fewer are knowledgeable of the key aesthetic principles that collectively comprise the “Zen of design.” To understand the Zen principles, a good starting point is shibumi. It is an overarching concept, an ideal. It has no precise definition in Japanese, but its meaning is reserved for objects and experiences that exhibit in paradox and all at once the very best of everything and nothing: Elegant simplicity. Effortless effectiveness. Understated excellence. Beautiful imperfection.
James Michener referred to shibumi in his 1968 novel Iberia, writing that it can’t be translated and has no explanation. In his 1972 book, The Unknown Craftsman, Soetsu Yanagi talked about shibumi in the context of art, writing that a true work of art is one with intentionally imperfect beauty that makes an artist of the viewer. In the 1979 best-selling spy novel Shibumi, the author Trevanian (the nom de plume of Dr. Rodney William Whitaker) wrote, “Shibumi has to do with great refinement underlying commonplace appearances.” Shibumi was first introduced to the West by House Beautiful in 1960. Nearly 40 years later, architect Sarah Susanka reintroduced shibumi in her 1998 book The Not So Big House: “The quality of shibumi evolves out of a process of complexity, though none of this complexity shows in the result. It often seems to arise when an architect is striving to meet a particular design challenge. When something has been designed really well, it has an understated, effortless beauty, and it really works. That’s shibumi.” The process may be complex, but these seven Zen principles can help you approach shibumi in your own designs: The Shibumi Seven 1. Austerity Koko emphasizes restraint, exclusion, and omission. The goal is to present something that both appears spare and imparts a sense of focus and clarity. In the world of mobile apps, Clear is a great example, and according to Co.Design’s John Pavlus, is “interesting for what it doesn’t do. It doesn’t sync. It doesn’t tag. It doesn’t “intelligently” sort anything. It also doesn’t have any obvious clues in its gestural interface for how to actually use the thing.”
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Zen lesson: Refrain from adding what is not absolutely necessary in the first place. 2. Simplicity Kanso dictates that beauty and utility need not be overstated, overly decorative, or fanciful. The overall effect is fresh, clean, and neat. Instagram may just owe its popularity to kanso. CEO Kevin Systrom’s first iteration (called Burbn) was a feature-laden app lacking a simple value proposition and, as such, had few users. By streamlining it so people could understand and have fun with it inside of 30 seconds, Instagram gained 2 million users in only four months, a rate of growth faster than Foursquare, Facebook, and Twitter. Zen lesson: Eliminate what doesn’t matter to make more room for what does. 3. Naturalness The goal of shizen is to strike a balance between being “of nature” yet distinct from it–to be viewed as being without pretense or artifice, while seeming intentional rather than accidental or haphazard.
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Designer Noé Duchaufour Lawrance captured the essence of shizen in his Naturoscopie collection of furniture intended to re-create and abstract nature’s sensations: light filtering through trees, the setting sun, shadows of passing clouds. As he explained it, he wanted to “go beyond literal transcription of nature.” Zen lesson: Incorporate naturally occurring patterns and rhythms into your design. 4. Subtlety The principle of yugen captures the Zen view that precision and finiteness are at odds with nature, implying stagnation and loss of life, and that the power of suggestion is often stronger than that of full disclosure. Leaving something to the imagination piques our curiosity and can move us to action. Yugen has figured centrally in the Apple marketing strategy, ever since the original iPhone. In the months leading up to its June 2007 launch, it was hailed as one of the most-hyped products in history. To hype something, though, means to push and promote it heavily through marketing and media. Apple did the exact opposite: Steve Jobs demonstrated it at Macworld 07 just once. Between the announcement and the product launch, there was nothing but radio silence: no publicity, promotion, leaks to the media, price discounts, demos for technology reviewers, clever advertising, or preordering. There was essentially an embargo on official information, with only the Jobs demo available to reference online. The blogosphere exploded, resulting in over 20 million people expressing an intent to buy. Zen lesson: Limit information just enough to pique curiosity and leave something to the imagination.
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5. Imperfection, Asymmetry The goal of fukinsei is to convey the symmetry of the natural world through clearly asymmetrical and incomplete renderings. The effect is that the viewer supplies the missing symmetry and participates in the creative act. There was a huge buildup to the last episode of The Sopranos, the popular HBO series about a band of loosely organized criminals in northern New Jersey, led by one Tony Soprano. The big question was whether Tony would be whacked or not. In the final tension-filled seconds, everyone’s screen went black, and the credits rolled. It was a no-ending ending. The media went wild, accusing the show’s writer, producer, and director David Chase of copping out, until he announced the following day that everything anyone needed to determine the fate of Tony Soprano was in the episode. People went back and watched the show, again and again. Viewership went from the initial 12 million to 36 million in three days. Three distinct endings emerged on the Internet. By leaving the story incomplete and denying his audience conventional story symmetry, but embedding enough clues for someone to connect the dots, Chase made everyone a creator and tripled his impact. Zen lesson: Leave room for others to cocreate with you; provide a platform for open innovation. The last two Zen principles deal with the concept of a “break.” There are two kinds of break: Those you make, and those you take.
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6. Break from routine Datsuzoku signifies a certain reprieve from convention. When a well-worn pattern is broken, creativity and resourcefulness emerge. Imagine that you get a flat tire while you’re driving. If you’re normal, you curse out loud. That curse signals a break from the ordinary, which, being creatures of habit, we don’t much care for. But now suddenly you’re wide awake, with senses on high alert, and you’re aware of a problem requiring your full attention to solve. Suddenly everything you normally take for granted becomes vitally important: How the car handles, the shoulder of the road, safe spots to pull over, traffic around you, tire-changing tools in your trunk, immediate avenues for help. These are all the resources you need for a creative solution. They were there all along, but it was the break that brought them to your attention. (Click here for 11 ways to manufacture those breaks.)
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Zen lesson: An interruptive “break” is an important part of any breakthrough design. 7. Stillness, Tranquillity The principle of seijaku deals with the actual content of datsuzoku. To the Zen practitioner, it is in states of active calm, tranquillity, solitude, and quietude that we find the essence of creative energy. Enter meditation, which is an incredibly effective way to enhance self-awareness, focus, and attention and to prime your brain for achieving creative insights. Leaders at GE, 3M, Bloomberg Media, Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, and Salesforce.com all meditate. Oracle chief Larry Ellison meditates and asks his executives to do so several times a day. Zen lesson: Doing something isn’t always better than doing nothing. *** While there is nothing easy about achieving shibumi, if taken together as a cohesive set of design principles, these seven Zen principles can at least put you on the right path. The goal is not to attempt to incorporate every Zen principle into a given design, but rather select those aligned to your goals and use them to guide and inform |
ons," are strikingly similar to the equations that describe detonation waves produced by explosions, says Aslan Kasimov, lecturer in MIT's Department of Mathematics. That discovery enabled the team to solve traffic jam equations that were first theorized in the 1950s.
The equations, similar to those used to describe fluid mechanics, model traffic jams as a self-sustaining wave. Variables such as traffic speed and traffic density are used to calculate the conditions under which a jamiton will form and how fast it will spread.
Once such a jam is formed, it's almost impossible to break up — drivers just have to wait it out, says Morris Flynn, lead author of the paper. However, the model could help engineers design roads with enough capacity to keep traffic density low enough to minimize the occurrence of such jams, says Flynn, a former MIT math instructor now at the University of Alberta.
The model can also help determine safe speed limits and identify stretches of road where high densities of traffic — hot spots for accidents — are likely to form.
Flynn and Kasimov worked with MIT math instructors Jean-Christophe Nave and Benjamin Seibold and professor of applied mathematics Rodolfo Rosales on this study.
The team tackled the problem last year after a group of Japanese researchers experimentally demonstrated the formation of jamitons on a circular roadway. Drivers were told to travel 30 kilometers per hour and maintain a constant distance from other cars. Very quickly, disturbances appeared and a phantom jam formed. The denser the traffic, the faster the jams formed.
"We wanted to describe this using a mathematical model similar to that of fluid flow," said Kasimov, whose main research focus is detonation waves. He and his co-authors found that, like detonation waves, jamitons have a "sonic point," which separates the traffic flow into upstream and downstream components. Much like the event horizon of a black hole, the sonic point precludes communication between these distinct components so that, for example, information about free-flowing conditions just beyond the front of the jam can't reach drivers behind the sonic point. As a result, drivers stuck in dense traffic may have no idea that the jam has no external cause, such as an accident or other bottleneck. Correspondingly, they don't appreciate that traffic conditions are soon to improve and drive accordingly.
"You're stuck in traffic until all of the sudden it just clears," says Morris.
In future studies, the team plans to look more detailed aspects of jamiton formation, including how the number of lanes affects the phantom traffic jams.
The research was funded by the U.S. Air Force Office of Scientific Research, the National Science Foundation and the (Canadian) Natural Science and Engineering Research Council.
A version of this article appeared in MIT Tech Talk on June 10, 2009 (download PDF).After the announcement of a “de-escalation” agreement in four regions of Syria during talks in Astana, Kazakhstan in May, Khan Sheikhoun, in the southern countryside of Idlib province, witnessed a marked decrease in air attacks by regime forces and their allies, including Russia.
Khan Sheikhoun was the site of a deadly chemical attack in April that killed at least 74 people, including children.
On September 15, Idlib province—in addition to parts of neighboring Aleppo, Hama and Latakia provinces—became the fourth and final “de-escalation zone,” where international monitors would oversee a cessation of hostilities between regime and rebel forces.
But after the hardline Islamist coalition Hay’at Tahrir a-Sham launched an offensive on September 19 in northern Hama—just south of Khan Sheikhoun—regime forces and their allies responded within hours, launching dozens of airstrikes on rebel territory in Hama and Idlib provinces.
Regime and Russian warplanes have conducted air raids across Idlib province and opposition-controlled territory in neighboring Hama through Monday. [Some of Syria Direct’s coverage is here.]
“When the bombing resumed, life came to a complete standstill,” says Mohammed al-Junaid, a first responder and spokesman for the Civil Defense from Khan Sheikhoun.
“Half of the residents fled while those who remain will not leave the shelter, fearing the bombardment,” al-Junaid tells Syria Direct’s Bahira al-Zarier.
Regime forces and their Russian allies have carried out more than 80 airstrikes on the city of Khan Sheikhoun over the last four days, according to a September 23 statement from the Khan Sheikhoun Media Center.
Civil Defense members clear rubble in Khan Sheikhoun on September 21. Photo courtesy of Civil Defense Idlib.
Syrian state media outlet SANA reported that airstrikes are targeting “terrorist supply lines” in Idlib province, which is largely controlled by Hay’at Tahrir a-Sham.
Five of those airstrikes hit the Civil Defense center in Khan Sheikhoun on September 19, reported the rescue organization. First responders are now working at a limited capacity, resorting to using civilian vehicles to transport injured residents.
Al-Junaid was at the center when the strikes began, but escaped without injury.
“All of the equipment in the center was destroyed,” says al-Junaid. “This means working for hours, trying to pull injured civilians or bodies from their homes [after an airstrike] with bare bones equipment.”
Q: Could you describe for us what Khan Sheikhoun looks like today? What conditions are civilians in the city living after bombardment in Idlib province resumed last week?
The bombing of the city continues, and the warplanes are still in the sky. Yesterday, Khan Sheikhoun was hit with 13 strikes while the city has been hit by four strikes today as of three o’clock in the afternoon.
As for the situation inside the city, it has become like a ghost town. Half of the residents fled while those who remain will not leave the shelter, fearing bombardment.
When the bombing resumed, life came to a complete standstill. It’s tragic.
Q: Could you talk to us about some of the rescue cases that you’ve witnessed as a Civil Defense member? Are there certain cases that have stuck with you?
Yes, there are a number of cases that have stuck with me, the most recent one being yesterday [Sunday]. A warplane targeted a residential district of Khan Sheikhoun at approximately four in the afternoon, and an entire house collapsed in the air raid. A family of four lived in the house—a mother and her three children.
We transported two of the children [for medical care]. The mother was not injured, but her 8-month-old daughter was missing. We spent hours looking for her through the rubble and the dirt. We saw movement and found the girl. She was buried under the dirt, but she was still alive. But as we rushed her to a medical facility, she passed away on the road. I could not do anything as a paramedic, and it tore me up inside.
Q: On September 19, the headquarters of the Syrian Civil Defense in Khan Sheikhoun was shut down after being damaged in an air raid. Could you tell us about how the Civil Defense in Khan Sheikhoun is able to continue its work? What are the major obstacles that you now face?
The city is constantly being hit, with several locations often struck at the same time. We don’t have enough equipment—this is the main obstacle.
We only have one vehicle to transport the injured, and we are about 25 kilometers from the nearest medical facility. We depend on civilian vehicles, and Civil Defense members are now riding motorcycles to reach bombing sites.
These are the only options we have.While there is an economic benefit for strapped cities, it comes at a cost to taxpayers. In the last fiscal year, $30 million was authorized to pay overtime for officers working on the drunken-driving crackdowns. That money came from federal taxpayers through the California Office of Traffic Safety, which contracts with the University of California, Berkeley, to help distribute the money.
While the checkpoints do catch some drunken drivers, the police manning them are also leaving sober but unlicensed drivers, like Bernardino, on the side of the road, with no hope of regaining their vehicle for at least a month. Once vehicles are impounded, California law requires towing companies to hold them for 30 days. That can mean storage fees and fines that run from $1,000 to $4,000, municipal finance records show. Unlicensed motorists rarely challenge the impoundments.
Often the owners lack the money to recover their cars. Tow companies do not require vehicle owners to have a driver’s license, but they must bring a legal driver with them to the tow lot.
Perry Shusta, vice president of the California Tow Truck Association and owner of Arrowhead Towing in Antioch, said two-thirds or more of the impounded vehicles were never reclaimed and were sold at lien sales.
The proceeds go primarily to the towing companies.
The Investigative Reporting Program reviewed hundreds of pages of city financial records and police reports, and analyzed data from sobriety checkpoints during the past two years. The data revealed that police departments across the state are seizing a growing number of vehicles from unlicensed drivers. In the last fiscal year, the police seized approximately 24,000 such cars at sobriety checkpoints, up from 17,900 in 2008 and 15,700 in 2007.
Law enforcement officials say demographics play no role in determining where the police establish checkpoints. But records show that cities where Hispanics make up a majority of the population are seizing cars at three times the rate of cities with small minority populations.
Sobriety checkpoints typically take place on major thoroughfares near highways. On average, officers seize seven cars for each drunken-driving arrest, state data show. The disparity is far greater in some cities. San Rafael averaged almost 15 impoundments for each drunken-driving arrest in the last fiscal year, and the police in Oakland seized 11 cars for every drunken driver who was caught. And in Montebello, state records show, checkpoints netted up to 60 impoundments for every drunken driver apprehended.
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Police officials said they asked for driver’s licenses at sobriety checkpoints because doing so helped remove another kind of unsafe motorist from the road — unlicensed drivers — and because the California Office of Traffic Safety, which provides the grants for the checkpoints, advises departments to do so. Research by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration shows that motorists driving with a suspended or revoked license cause collisions at a higher rate than licensed drivers.
“I think that a significant number of the hit-and-run drivers, when we do apprehend them, often have no driver’s license,” said Chief Ron Ace of the Hayward Police Department. “Which adds to one of the reasons why they don’t stick around.”
The seizures appear to defy a 2005 federal appellate court ruling that the police cannot impound a car solely because the driver is unlicensed.
Christine Gasparac, a spokeswoman for the office of Attorney General Jerry Brown, wrote in an e-mail message that the “law is unclear regarding the circumstances under which a vehicle operated by a driver who is determined at a checkpoint to be unlicensed may be constitutionally impounded at the scene.”
A challenge to the constitutionality of California’s 30-day impound law will be argued later this year before the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, and Ms. Gasparac said the ruling might clear the matter.
The San Francisco Police Department is not waiting for a ruling; it recently altered its impoundment policy to allow unlicensed motorists 20 minutes to find a legal driver to move their car from the scene. The policy of the California Highway Patrol is to refrain from impounding vehicles at its checkpoints simply because the driver has no license.
Data from state records show that Bernardino was one of 91 unlicensed drivers to lose his car in San Pablo in 2009. The ratio of impoundments to driving under the influence arrests was high around the Bay Area in 2009: In Daly City, there were 39.5 impoundments for every D.U.I. arrest; in San Rafael, 18.6; and in San Pablo, 9.
Drunken-driving checkpoints have saved countless lives on the nation’s roadways. But in California, motorists arrested for drunken driving can usually retrieve their vehicles the next day.
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Impoundments, on the other hand, can create a significant economic hardship for those who depend on a vehicle to get to work. And the consequences can be more than economic.
Bernardino, for example, worked seven days a week to raise $1,900 to pay the city fines and tow fees so he could recover his sports utility vehicle. After 30 days, he gave the money to his brother-in-law — a licensed driver and the vehicle’s registered owner.
But an acquaintance robbed Bernardino’s in-law of the money and shot him to death the day he was to retrieve the Explorer.
For three months, as his family mourned and struggled to send money to relatives back home, Bernardino said he worked long hours so he could buy another car, allowing him to travel to higher-paying jobs in other Bay Area cities.
“If I lose the car, I cannot do anything, so I need to have it,” Bernardino said in Spanish. “I have to drive because I have no alternative.”
While state law prevents an illegal immigrant like Bernardino from getting a driver’s license, it does not prevent him from buying a vehicle.
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Location, Location
A checkpoint typically lasts six hours. As the cars roll through and licenses are checked, officers rarely inquire about the drivers’ residency status. Nor do they contact United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement when they suspect unlicensed motorists are in the country illegally.
In mid-December, the Hayward police stopped Hugo Hernandez, a 26-year-old illegal immigrant and unlicensed driver, at a checkpoint and impounded his 2002 Nissan Altima.
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Mr. Hernandez went to the police headquarters the next day to pay his fine and retrieve the car. But a Hayward Police Department clerk told him the car would be kept for 30 days, he said.
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Local governments require car owners to pay impoundment release fees, on average $155, cities’ records show. And cities increasingly charge tow companies franchise fees, which gives the governments a cut of the dollars raised through impoundments.
The checkpoint where Mr. Hernandez was stopped was outside El Potro, a Latin music nightclub run by Francisco Ruiz. Mr. Ruiz said that for a dozen years, he had not seen any sobriety checkpoints. Then, the police department confirmed, it conducted four operations there in 2009.
The state does not consistently collect data on where departments set up sobriety checkpoints. A majority of more than a dozen California law enforcement agencies refused to release records showing which intersections they single out or what had happened at checkpoints.
But the disparity between vehicle impoundments and arrests for drunken driving exists in nearly every region of California. South Gate and several other cities around Los Angeles average 20 cars impounded for every D.U.I. arrest.
Hispanics make up only a quarter of the residents of San Rafael, according to data from the federal Census Bureau. In the past two years, however, 10 of the city’s 12 sobriety checkpoints took place on streets surrounding the city’s Hispanic neighborhoods, the Canal District. Those operations resulted in four arrests for drunken driving and 121 cars impounded for driver’s license violations.
Lt. Glenn McElderry, head of the San Rafael Police Department traffic unit, said, “We do not put checkpoints right there in the Canal District.”
While the police have not staged operations inside that district, department records show that checkpoints halted traffic on two primary feeder streets.
Impoundments at checkpoints are incidental, not intentional, law enforcement officials say. And the operations, they say, do not single out Hispanic areas. Nonetheless, it is often Hispanic drivers — sometimes whole families — who are left by the side of the road at a checkpoint without their car and all that was in it.
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Some tow-company workers have seen Hispanic mothers arrive at impoundment lots to remove car seats and toys.
“You’re standing there like some armed guard inventorying her belongings as she takes them out,” said Mattea Ezgar, an office manager at Terra Linda Towing in San Rafael. “I have to stand here for days and watch them take their whole life out of their vehicles.”
Checkpoints’ Origins
Fifteen years ago, California lawmakers who broadened the impoundment authority of local police had no expectation of the kind of checkpoints now common in the state, said David Roberti, former president pro-tem of the State Senate.
“It’s turned out to be a far more vigorous enforcement than any of us would have dreamed of at the time,” Mr. Roberti said.
In 1994, Quentin L. Kopp, then a state senator representing San Francisco, sponsored the 30-day impoundment legislation to toughen penalties for a variety of traffic violations. Driving without a license was just one of them. The measure became law in 1995.
In an interview last month, Mr. Kopp, now a judge in South San Francisco, said he had not intended to single out unlicensed drivers, and certainly not illegal immigrants.
“The impounding bill I don’t remember as being that controversial,” he said.
What he did not anticipate was the way his law would work in concert with a voter initiative, Proposition 187, which voters approved in 1995 and which took away illegal immigrants’ driver’s licenses and their chance to obtain one legally. The impoundment law then helped strip them of their cars.
But even with the new legal authority to set up frequent checkpoints, it was not until 2006 that their extensive use became evident.
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Search and Seizure
“It is assumed under the law that the taking of personal property without a warrant is unconstitutional,” said Martin J. Mayer, a founding partner in the Fullerton law firm Jones & Mayer, who represents numerous law-enforcement associations.
Mr. Mayer was referring to the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution, which restricts law enforcement’s authority to seize private property without a court order. That, he said, protects everyone, whether they are in the country legally or not. He communicated his opinion in a memorandum to his clients, California’s police chief and sheriffs, in 2005 after a ruling by the Ninth Circuit in an Oregon case.
In that decision the court held that law enforcement could not impound a vehicle if the only offense was unlicensed driving. The only exception permitted the police to impound a car was if it posed a threat to public safety, was parked illegally or would soon be vandalized if left in place.
The ruling sharply altered the legal status of vehicle impoundments. In response, in 2007 the legislative counsel of California called on the state’s police departments to cease what had become a standard practice.
“If a peace officer lawfully stops a motor vehicle on the highway and the driver of the motor vehicle is an unlicensed driver, that alone is not sufficient justification for the peace officer to cause the impoundment of the motor vehicle,” the counsel, who advises lawmakers, said in a report. But the counsel has no authority over police departments.
In 2008, in a separate case in Federal District Court case, a judge arrived at a different conclusion, agreeing with the State of California and several cities, who were defendants and argued that the impoundments were penalties for a criminal offense, and that therefore car owners were not subject to Fourth Amendment protections. The plaintiffs’ appeal is pending.
Most California law enforcement agencies continue to seize vehicles based on driver’s license violations alone.
State officials have declared that 2010 is the “year of the checkpoint,” and plan 2,500 of the operations statewide.Nobody—or just about nobody, depending on whom you ask—beats William Lane Craig in a debate about the existence of God, or the resurrection of Jesus, or any topic of that sort. During their debate at Notre Dame in April of last year, New Atheist author Sam Harris referred to Craig as “the one Christian apologist who seems to have put the fear of God into many of my fellow atheists.”
Over the course of working on my book about how people search for proof of God’s existence, I had the chance to spend a generous amount of time with Craig, both in the Atlanta area where he lives and at Biola University, an evangelical school on the outskirts of Los Angeles, where he teaches a few weeks out of the year. For the book, I’ve gotten to write about ideas like his “kalam cosmological argument,” one of the most-cited ideas of its generation in philosophy of religion, which fuses medieval Muslims with modern cosmology. I also tell of his entrepreneurial savvy in turning the Evangelical Philosophical Society into an academic organization that moonlights as a slick-as-a-banana apologetics platform for changing hearts like yours and mine. But none of that quite captures the man’s role as a sage and exemplar, in which he renders something like the upbuilding service Oprah provides to home-bound American women, except that his acolytes are the precocious set among conservative, evangelical, young-adult males. He makes me almost wish I were that kind of conservative evangelical myself—which is, to him, the point.
Craig dresses impeccably and professorially, often with a buttoned shirt and a patterned blazer, sweater, or sweater-vest. His dimples hint at a basic innocence that can be startling when it pokes through the frontage of logic. I find in Craig the decency associated with an era I am too young to be nostalgic for, and which I’ve been taught to imagine was imperialistic, sexist, homophobic, narrow-minded, or otherwise regressive. His rationalizations of certain parts of the Hebrew Bible can sound like he’s okay with genocide. Yet none of these accusations quite sticks to him; none is even comprehensible in the cosmic snow-globe within which he expertly thinks his way through life, whose sole and constant storyline is bringing more and more souls to a saving knowledge of the one true Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
I live in a different snow-globe from Craig’s. Nevertheless, I’ve gained a lot from the lessons I learned with him, and from his carefully crafted advice, and from his answers to my questions. (“I may not answer, but you can ask!” he once warned.) They’ve improved my productivity, and my relationship with loved ones, and my physical fitness. It would be selfish if I did not pass some of these lessons on, in synthesized and practicable form, to you.
1. Do Everything Like It’s a Ministry
Each day during the two-week, winter-session course that Craig teaches for master’s philosophy and apologetics students at Biola, he begins with a short devotional reflection. On my first day sitting in on the class, the text he recited came from Howard Hendricks, a famed professor at Dallas Theological Seminary: “Men, don’t study for a class, study for a life of ministry.” That it was addressed to “men” was almost appropriate; of the 15 or so people in the class that day, only two were women—one, a visiting significant other, and the other, a retired housewife. But, for anyone, the message is the same: Pursue the higher calling of serving God, and success will follow.
What, though, should we think of as success? This was the subject of other devotional reflections during that fortnight of classes. Craig quoted Bill Gothard, minister and founder of the Institute in Basic Life Principles, as having said, “Success is not measured by what you are compared to others; success is what you are compared to what you could be.” While one might be tempted to take this maxim as license for lowered expectations, Craig’s interpretation was, of course, wiser. Consider this “humility for the proud,” he said—for where much is given, more is expected—and “encouragement for the discouraged.”
Another morning’s reflection offered yet another view on success, this time, from 1 Corinthians: “the foolishness of God is wiser than men.” Craig was surely speaking from his own experience when he warned his students not to hope for academic respectability above all. “Don’t seek the praise of men, but the praise of God.” And: “You’re not really ready to be used of God,” he warned them, in typically antique syntax, “until you’re ready to be seen a fool for Christ.” Here he speaks from experience; “my burden is evangelism,” he once told me over lunch. Preaching his gospel has often conflicted with mainstream academia’s expectations, but by the standards of ministry, he’s been an eminently faithful servant.
Surely we can use every chastisement we can get against careerism, and every encouragement to make service our business. It’s the job of each of us to discern the ministries we have to offer and to carry them out as such—foolishly if necessary.
2. Make a Covenant with Your Wife
This lesson should come as no surprise from an evangelical of Craig’s stripe. But among philosophers, who are notoriously solitary creatures, it definitely bears repeating. “I am not a philosopher of mind, so I don’t have any great insight into the properties of persons,” he once noted, while evading an esoteric question from a student in class. More to the point, though, is his hope “that you not become so work-oriented that you let the other be neglected and you put your career in front of this person that you’ve pledged yourself to love and care for.” The first section heading on his curriculum vitae is “FAMILY,” under which are listed his wife Jan and two children.
He tells stories about times that he has struggled in this with Jan. While a graduate student, he used to buy a lot of books for himself, even though the family didn’t have much money. Jan finally had had enough when he came home with a copy of Sartre’s Being and Nothingness; she reprimanded him for the alleged waste. From then on, he committed himself to buying only books that were assigned for class, and to this day he buys very few of those.
He recommends to his students, “Make a covenant with your wife.” Promise her that you will not “sacrifice your relationship on the altar of academic success.” Make sure she knows that you’re willing to give up your career entirely if she needs you to. Once he promised that to Jan, Craig explains, she became far more tolerant of his need to focus on work, because she knew that ultimately her needs mattered more to him. Craig instructed, also, that “when you talk to a woman it’s very different than talking to other guys.” While making your covenant, look her long and hard in the eyes.
One of the students that year had just become engaged to be married, and over the course of the class he and Craig had an ongoing exchange—in philosophical terms, of course—about whether God singles out a particular person that we’re supposed to marry or whether, in the student’s words, God wants us to “just pick a woman and love ‘er.” Craig, who is a defender of a sixteenth-century theory of God’s foreknowledge known as Molinism, argued for the former—that God knows exactly who is right for each of us. God’s criteria for this determination, furthermore, are not simply a matter of the person who will make you happiest—God isn’t out to make life “a bowl of cherries”—but about finding the person with whom you will bring about the salvation of the most souls.
To this end, Craig especially encourages his students to consider marrying a missionary. He, for one, met Jan while they were working together for Campus Crusade for Christ. “These single women on the staff of Campus Crusade for Christ are really choice women,” he explained to me. “They are young, single, intelligent, university graduates, very attractive, independent, and capable of managing their own finances and a ministry.” If everything is a ministry, after all, so is your partnership.
3. Organize the Day
There was a time, says Craig, when he began to worry he was losing his knack for philosophy. “Honey,” he remembers telling Jan, “I don’t know what’s the matter with me. I just can’t seem to concentrate anymore. I used to be able to study all day long, and there was no problem, and now I find I just can’t concentrate anymore. My mind wanders, and I’m tired.” He was tempted to despair.
“No, no, don’t be ridiculous!” she told him. “You just need to organize your day.”
As usual, she was right. She put him on a new schedule: starting the workday with the hardest philosophical work in the morning, then lighter material, like his writing for popular audiences, after lunch. He doesn’t look at his email until late afternoon, “when my brain is really fried.” (For fear of being bombarded with mail, he doesn’t even share his email address with his graduate students.) Soon after trying this regime, he regained his philosophical powers completely.
The couple’s life together, at home in the suburbs of Atlanta, is a picture of (a certain kind of) teamwork. Craig wakes up each morning at 5:30, and begins the day with devotional time, reading from the Church Fathers and the New Testament in Greek, and then he prays for the spread of the gospel in some benighted part of the world, with the help of the Operation World handbook. Soon, Jan is up. They have coffee together (which he dislikes, but recommends for the health and social benefits), after which he goes down to the weight room for an hour of exercise. By the time he reemerges, she has a hot breakfast ready and waiting—sometimes as elaborate, he says, as ham and eggs and pumpkin waffles with whipped cream and strawberries. (“She’s a fabulous cook.”) He’ll return downstairs for an intensive morning of scholarship, and reemerge for the hot lunch Jan has prepared. Then, he’s back downstairs for the lighter work of the afternoon, culminating in emails, which he responds to in longhand and she has often been the one to type out and send, since his rare neuromuscular disease—more on that in a moment—renders him unable to type. Between meals and typing sessions, Jan plays the stock market. Before long dinner is ready, and they eat, and spend the evening together, watching TV and drinking red wine (which he also dislikes, but also recommends for the health and social benefits).
“She’s not an intellectual herself,” Craig says of his wife, “but she appreciates the value of what I do, and that’s what matters.” One would hope that this is true, because she has typed out all of his papers, books, and both doctoral dissertations. Would that we all had such devoted help, though it may be untenable in the present economic climate for those scholars among us unable to garner five-figure speaking fees. We can at least hold off on our email for a few hours—which I have since done, to enormous benefit.
4. Turn Weakness into Strength
One of the defining facts of William Lane Craig’s life is the aforementioned Charcot-Marie-Tooth syndrome, which has afflicted his nervous system since birth, causing atrophy in his hands and feet. His case is relatively light, but debilitating nonetheless. As a boy, he couldn’t run normally, preventing him from excelling at sports.
“Children can be very cruel, and make fun, and call you names,” he told me, curling his brow in sincerity, but without losing his poise. “That makes you feel like dirt, like you’re worthless.”
In early 1980s, Craig traded a friend apologetics lessons for some sessions in marriage counseling with Jan, and it was only then that he realized the effect those memories from his childhood have had on him. “Emotions welled up within me and I began to cry,” he said. “I didn’t realize just how bad I still felt. I still had these feelings inside of me.” Those sessions helped him understand that his drivenness and determination as an adult are also a result of those early frustrations.
“Well, I’ll show them,” he imagined himself thinking, beneath the surface. “I’ll make something of my life, and they won’t make fun of me anymore.”
That’s why he first started debating in high school. “I was no good at athletics,” he told me, “but I could represent my school by being on the debate team.” There, he excelled, and traveled across Illinois for competitions, debating all four years of high school and through his four years at Wheaton College as well. “The Lord has used this in my life to help me,” Craig can now say about his disease. And now, in his early sixties, exercising six mornings a week (all but Sunday) means he’s in better shape than when he was in his twenties.
“Bodily exercise profiteth little,” went the text of one of the morning devotions in his class—a passage from 1 Timothy. “But it doesn’t say there’s no profit!” Craig continued, as if relieved, and then proceeded to outline his exercise regimen for his students, recommending Mayo Clinic newsletters and bodybuilder Bill Phillips’s Body for Life program.
Craig once noted that he really likes the idea of how plate tectonics and volcanoes and earthquakes are part of what God used to make life on Earth possible, spewing up the necessary elements from underneath the crust. It’s the same logic he applies to his own life—trauma transformed for a higher purpose. Even the Christmas tsunami of 2004 “would be great,” he said, if God could use it to bring more people to Christ. In that case, “Thank God for the suffering.”
5. Be Prepared
Confronting horrific suffering so philosophically, and so spiritually, takes practice. Part of the two-week course concentrated on the so-called problem of evil, which deals with whether God can be consistent with the experience of so much pain and cruelty in the world. “The study of philosophy can help prepare one for suffering,” Craig told his class. Such study helps one see the work of God in the world, or at least trust in God’s unsearchable providence. He promised, “This has real devotional bite.”
The arena in which Craig’s penchant for preparedness is especially on display is, of course, debating. Throughout any given debate, often against a valiant atheist challenger, he never seems to lose his unflappable confidence, except to venture into ridicule. He has an answer ready for every objection, with a relevant quotation in his notes to drive it home, as if some of God’s Molinistic foreknowledge of the opponent’s moves is wearing off on him.
Really, though, the process is very straightforward; it’s one that he learned back in the debate team on high school and practiced for years even before he later took to debating about religion. In advance of a debate, sometimes for months ahead of time, Craig makes sure to read through the opponent’s oeuvre, and to “scout the Internet” for videos of the speaking style and mannerisms he’ll be up against. In some cases, he’ll even hire assistants to read through the opponent’s writings and prepare synopses that he can skim. He methodically lays out what he thinks the opponent will try to argue, and what objections might be raised to his own arguments, and then prepares rejoinders accordingly, filing notes on each so they’re at the ready during the debate. Otherwise, he says, “I have great difficulty remembering this stuff.”
Nota bene, if you’re preparing to face him and can somehow turn his meticulousness to your advantage. It’s hard to imagine how, though, except by even more of the same. Even the cleverest of zingers tend not to phase him.
6. Remember That Time Is Everything—and Nothing
There is no weapon that Craig wields more effectively in a debate than the clock. When I asked for his secrets, he told me, “The ability to know how to say something succinctly, to get to the point and move to the next point, is really, really important.” He plans out exactly what he intends to say and proceeds through it methodically, making sure that he can get from the beginning to the end, without rushing or skipping around from point to point and back. When his opponent proceeds to bounce back and forth through a few objections and fails to reply to each of the points Craig made, Craig can remind the audience at the end how many of his points remain standing, uncontested.
He does this in just about every single debate, and it’s so effective that people complain. He defended himself to me: “Now I think you can see, Nathan, that’s not a rhetorical trick! That’s not a clever device!” It’s just a technique, and it works.
Time, however, is not always on William Lane Craig’s side. During the class’s discussions of temporality, he quoted the passage from Macbeth about the shortness of human life as “a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.”
“This really resonates with me,” he said.
In his telling article “On the Argument for Divine Timelessness from the Incompleteness of Temporal Life,” he suggests, “It is far from obvious that the experience of temporal passage is so melancholy an affair for an omniscient God as it is for us. Indeed, there is some evidence that consciousness of time’s flow can actually be an enriching experience.” Repeat: It’s “obvious” that the very flow of time is “melancholy” “for us,” except perhaps for “some evidence” that may “actually” exist to the contrary.
The search for the infinite and the eternal, and dissatisfaction with anything less, is a constant theme in Craig’s scholarship and his rhetoric. Either something is eternally meaningful, or valuable, or it is nothing. Contrary to the legions of non-religious philosophers (and others) who seem to find benefit in reflecting on ethics and morality, in a debate with philosopher Louise Antony, he described thinking of morality in the context of atheism as being “like shuffling chairs on the deck of the Titanic.” What we do with our worldly lives isn’t worth squat to him unless it’s noticed by an infinite and eternal God.
Love is a possible exception. In class he would sometimes talk (as a philosophical example, of course) about the moments when you’re with the person you love, and you’re enjoying it so much that in the moment it seems to last forever. Even then, though, the value of such passing moments comes only from their resemblance to eternity.
Some of the students disagreed. They tried to argue that love is only possible within time. What would love be without memory, or aging, or the possibility of loss? In a discussion about the |
's Jos Buttler (Mumbai Indians) and Sam Billings (Daredevils).
A total of 351 players, including 122 capped internationals, will feature in the auction, which will be held in Bangalore on February 20. Although franchise officials had earlier indicated that this season's auction could be a short event, with teams trying to plug a few gaps, the likely early departure of South Africa and England players could impact the teams' auction strategies.
Of the 13 South African players who have entered the auction, CSA is interested specifically in the release of Kagiso Rabada, Imran Tahir, Farhaan Behardien, Wayne Parnell, Lungi Ngidi, Andile Phehlukwayo and Dwaine Pretorius. Except for Ngidi, who is recovering from a hip injury, the other six players are part of the limited-overs squad for the upcoming series against New Zealand.
An official privy to the discussions between the BCCI and CSA said that it was a one-off situation which could not be avoided. South Africa's tour of England will begin with two practice matches followed by the three-ODI series scheduled between May 24 and 29. The three T20Is and the four Tests will be played after the Champions Trophy. The official said that CSA is keen on getting the best possible preparation for the Champions Trophy, given the team's record in ICC tournaments, and had thus sought an early release of its main players from the IPL.
As for the England players, a few may leave for the two ODIs against Ireland on May 5 and 7. An official with one of the franchises said that prominent players like Buttler and some of the players who have entered the auction, like Eoin Morgan and Ben Stokes, could leave after May 14 to prepare for the ODIs against South Africa.
Morgan, Stokes and fast bowler Chris Woakes are part of the list of marquee players who have listed the maximum base price of INR 2 crore (approx US $298,000) for the auction. The other England players in the auction are wicketkeeper-batsman Jonny Bairstow (INR 1.5 crore), opening batsmen Alex Hales and Jason Roy (INR 1 crore), and fast bowlers Chris Jordan and Tymal Mills (INR 50 lakh).UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Russia has made clear to Western nations that it has no objection to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad stepping down as part of a peace process, in a softening of its publicly stated staunch backing of Assad ahead of talks in New York, diplomats said.
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad speaks during a TV interview in Damascus, Syria in this still image taken from a video on November 29, 2015. REUTERS/Reuters TV courtesy of Czech Television
Russia, like Iran, has been a firm ally of Assad and is intervening militarily on his behalf against anti-government forces in the five-year civil war that has claimed more than a quarter million lives. Both Russia and Iran have long insisted Assad’s fate should be decided in a nationwide vote.
Western powers, Turkey, Saudi Arabia and others reluctantly agreed to allow Assad to remain in place during a transition period, a compromise that has opened the door to a shift on the part of Russia, Western diplomats said.
“What you’ve got is a move that will end up with Assad going,” a senior Western diplomat said on condition of anonymity.
“And the Russians have got to the point privately where they accept that Assad will have gone by the end of this transition, they’re just not prepared to say that publicly,” he added.
Several other Western officials confirmed the diplomat’s remarks.
The United States, Russia along with Iran, Saudi Arabia and major European and Arab powers have agreed on a road map for a nationwide ceasefire, to have six months of talks between Assad’s government and the opposition on forming a unity government to begin in January, and to have elections within 18 months.
There will be a third round of talks in New York on Friday at which U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and over a dozen other ministers will aim to keep up the momentum to get a deal to end the war.
U.S. and European officials say that Assad cannot run in any elections organized along the lines major powers agreed in the two previous ministerial meetings in Vienna.
Despite the narrowing of disagreements, there is still a deep divide in the negotiations on ending Syria’s five-year civil war, diplomats and officials close to the talks said on condition of anonymity.
“Gradually the gap is narrowing but there is still a big gap,” said one senior Western diplomat. “There are still countries that think Assad is the solution to fighting Daesh (Islamic State), which is the complete opposite of our view.”
Diplomats say that Russia has moved further than Iran on the question of abandoning the Syrian president if a transition plan can be agreed. For years, Iran has backed Assad with its own military personnel and, like Russia, with weapons, and it would lose face and influence if it gives up.
The senior Western diplomat added that “Iran is not in the same place yet” as Russia on Assad.
Another Western official said the key would be getting both Russia and Iran to agree precisely on how to abandon Assad.
“They have to drop him together and getting them to coordinate on that won’t be easy,” the official said.
According to one senior Western diplomat, Russia already has a list of possible replacements for Assad, though he declined to provide details. It was not clear whether Iran had a list too.
The fate of Assad will not be a focus of the ministerial meeting on Friday, though it is one that Washington and Moscow will continue to grapple with in bilateral talks, diplomats said.
After those talks the Security Council is hoping to adopt a resolution endorsing the push for a political transition. Council diplomats say the five permanent members - Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States - have yet to agree on a text.
Other challenges for the Syria talks include agreeing on a lineup for an opposition delegation to negotiate with Assad’s government. A recent meeting in Saudi Arabia of opposition figures made significant headway, Western officials say, in coming up with an opposition bloc.
“Now we have a clear opposition that is not Daesh,” Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir said. “We have negotiators sitting at the table. If the other side is serious, then, Bashar al-Assad and his allies, show me your team and let’s have them get together.”
Syria accuses the Saudis, Qatar and Turkey of supporting Islamic State and other jihadist groups, something that all three have denied.A Nova Scotia businessman whose sexual abuse convictions were overturned in Canada has reportedly been sentenced to a seven-year jail term by a Nepalese court for molesting a boy.
Ernest Fenwick MacIntosh, 71, was also handed a fine of one million Nepalese rupees, reported the Hindustan Times. That's equivalent to $12,600 Canadian.
"MacIntosh had come to Nepal in August last year and reportedly targeted other street children during his stay. Other victims of his assaults have also recorded their statements with the police," said the newspaper.
A court official in Nepal confirmed the sentence to the Associated Press.
A spokesperson for the federal Foreign Affairs department earlier told CBC News in an email that "consular services are being provided to the Canadian citizen who has been detained in Nepal."
The spokesperson also said that further details on the case would not be released to "protect the privacy of the individual concerned."
A lengthy extradition
Bob Martin, a Nova Scotia man who says he was one of MacIntosh's victims in Nova Scotia in the 1970s, says the news from Nepal comes as a relief.
"The monkey's off my back," he said, explaining that he spent his life feeling almost like a detective tracking MacIntosh's movements.
"For them to incarcerate him and to sentence him is a good feeling," he said.
In the 1980s, MacIntosh was twice convicted of two separate sexual assaults and an indecent assault. He moved to India in 1994.
In 1995, a Canadian man told police he had been abused by MacIntosh in the 1970s. Eventually, nine people came forward, resulting in more than 40 charges. Police contacted MacIntosh in 1996, but he did not return to Canada.
Canada sought to extradite him from India, but it took until 2007 to do so. His first trial began in 2010.
In 2010 and 2011, MacIntosh was convicted of 17 sex-related charges involving three complainants who were boys at the time of the offences, which allegedly took place in Port Hawkesbury during the 1970s.
But those convictions were overturned on appeal because it took too long to bring him to trial, partly because he had to be extradited from India.
MacIntosh has consistently denied the allegations.
After his convictions in Canada were overturned, MacIntosh got a new job in Asia promoting companies that sell spices.AUSTIN – The clock finally struck midnight on an effort to ditch daylight saving time in Texas.The House on Friday voted down, by a 56-79 tally, what always seemed a bit fanciful measure by Rep. Dan Flynn, R-Van, to stop the seasonal time changes. Under his initial proposal, Texas would’ve gone back to standard time in November – and stayed there.But in a sometimes jocular debate that invoked the safety of school children, the enjoyment of evening youth soccer tournaments and the sanctity of Dallas Cowboys football Sundays, lawmakers muddied the bill with an even more complicated proposal.Most of Texas, pending federal approval, would’ve switched permanently to Eastern Standard Time -- effectively the current Central Daylight Time. And to combat East Coast elitism, this new outlier in the time zone map would’ve been called “Texas Time.”But with time running out in the 140-day session to address other pressing matters of state, lawmakers decided that happy hour was over.“DST survives,” Rep. Jason Villalba, R-Dallas, tweeted after the vote. “I voted to keep it. Here comes the sun, and I say, it’s alright.”Flynn earned national media attention this year for his idea, which he admitted came to him when he couldn’t figure out how to change his car’s clock after a recent time change.He cast them as dangerous, citing reports that they cause traffic accidents and increase heart attacks. He sought to dispel the notion that daylight saving time is important to farmers and ranchers. And he blasted the time changes as outdated and unnecessary.“It’s simply a hassle that we don’t need anymore,” said Flynn, who added later that he planned to seek a reconsideration of the vote on Monday.But some weren’t too keen on Texas joining only Hawaii and most of Arizona in not observing daylight saving time.Rep. Larry Gonzales, R-Round Rock, said that he liked the extra daylight hours that the current setup provides in the summer time. He said it was important in allowing him a chance to play with his kids and attend their soccer games.And Rep. Rafael Anchia, D-Dallas, went a step further by raising potential conflicts with two sacred Texas traditions: church and Cowboys football.If Texas stuck to Central Standard Time, then the traditional noon NFL games would kick off instead at 11 a.m. during the early part of the season. And that could conflict with many church services that conveniently start an hour before noon.“That messes up my whole Sunday,” Anchia said. “I don’t want to miss church, and I don’t want to miss the Cowboys. So what am I supposed to do?”So then Flynn accepted an amendment to switch all of Texas to Eastern Standard Time, a move that would’ve required added approval from the U.S. Transportation Secretary. That switch would’ve included the portion of West Texas that’s currently on Mountain Time.That tweak won some supporters. But it upset others.Rep. Debbie Riddle, R-Tomball, had initially supported Flynn’s idea because she said it would prevent school children from having to wait for the morning bus in the dark. By going the other way, she said, lawmakers were taking steps that were “dangerous.”El Paso-area lawmakers also balked at the idea of essentially having to jump two time zones. So Flynn accepted an amendment that the two counties now on Mountain Time could pick Mountain Standard Time, Central Standard Time or Pacific Standard Time.And by that time, some lawmakers were fed up with protracted debate.Rep. Phil King, R-Weatherford, pointed out that legislative deadlines were looming, with just over three weeks left in the session. And King, who still voted for the bill, asked House Speaker Joe Straus to confirm that time constraints might cause many other bills to “fade into the sunset.”Straus responded, “That’s certainly possible.”AUSTIN – An effort to ditch daylight saving time in Texas could end up getting more than just 15 minutes of fame.The House is scheduled to vote on Friday on a bill by Rep. Dan Flynn, R-Van, that would eliminate the seasonal time changes. Under the proposal, Texas would fall back to standard time in November – and stay there.“Let’s go back to ‘Texas time’ or ‘God’s time,’ however you want to say it,” Flynn said this week.Flynn earned national media attention this year for his idea, which he admitted came to him when he couldn’t figure out how to change his car’s clock after a recent time change.He’s blasted the time changes as outdated and unnecessary. He’s cast them as dangerous, citing reports that they cause traffic accidents and increase heart attacks. And he’s sought to dispel the notion that daylight saving time is important to farmers and ranchers.“The bottom line is that a rooster or a cow, they don’t know what a clock says,” he said.But with all the weighty topics that lawmakers must address in a 140-day session, many figured the clock would just run out on Flynn’s idea.A House committee, however, quietly approved the proposal late last month. And with just over three weeks left in the session, there could be enough time for the House and Senate to make Texas join Hawaii and most of Arizona in not observing daylight saving time.Flynn said one sticking point had been whether Texas should forever spring forward or permanently fall back. But it turns out he didn’t really have a choice, since federal law on uniform time outlines just a state’s ability to disregard daylight saving time.“We have to go back,” he said.LESOTHO -- El Niño is scorching the earth in southern and eastern Africa, where recently there has been little to no rain. The United Nations says a million children are at risk of starvation, and many are in the tiny nation of Lesotho.
As dawn broke over Lesotho's Ha Khabele village, it promised yet another scorching day without rain. Seventy-year-old Malepota Makara woke her five grandchildren, most of them orphaned by AIDS.
Malepota Makara CBS News
It didn't take long to get the three eldest ready for school. That's because there was nothing to eat. Like everyone else in the village, Makara's crops failed.
"It is painful to go to school without food," said nine-year-old Litipitso.
"This drought is more severe than I have ever seen," his grandmother explained.
Makara knows instinctively what experts have confirmed -- this is the strongest El Niño on record in southern Africa, delaying the rains, and putting 14 million people at risk of starvation.
El Niño's hot, dry conditions on top of already high temperatures have combined to form a lethal cocktail. A pitiful burst of rain in recent days coaxed out some greenery. But it was a cruel illusion, as it came too late.
It should be Lesotho's rainy season. Normally the river would have water waist high. Instead the riverbed is bone dry.
CBS News' Debora Patta stands in a riverbed where the water should be up to her waist at this time of year CBS News
U.N. humanitarian coordinator Yolanda Dasgupta said she is worried about what's ahead.
"The rainfall has been delayed to an extent that people haven't been able to plant the crops that they need to survive. We are looking at people not having enough to eat at least until 2017."
At school, Makara's grandchildren get their one meal of the day -- a bowl of watery porridge and some corn.
But as the country's grain supplies run out, schools are worried they will have to stop their feeding schemes.
Schoolchildren in Lesotho eat porridge, which for many is the only meal of the day. CBS News
Water is a concern too. Lesotho's government trucks deliver water to the villages, but its not enough. A nearby dam has only two weeks supply left before it too runs dry.
At home, Makara managed to scrounge a few unripe peaches for the younger children.
And later, when their brothers and sisters returned, she rested for the first time. There was no supper once again.
Relief worker: Southern Africa drought leaves homes with no food
"If I can just give them food and love," she sighed, "then they will be fine."
Lesotho desperately needs at least $27 million to feed people on the brink of starvation. But they are battling to attract the attention of international donors who are already over-stretched dealing with other global crises.Olicity fans will be smiling as much as Felicity (Emily Bett Rickards) and Oliver (Stephen Amell) when the superhero hit returns for Season 4 with a new attitude in tow. “We’re eyeing a lighter tone,” executive producer Marc Guggenheim teases, admitting the show has been “very dark” since the middle of Season 2. But given this new couple’s penchant for keeping secrets and finding trouble, Guggenheim confirms that things in Starling City won’t be as bright as Arrow’s offshoot. “It’s never going to be The Flash!”
Arrow, Season premiere, Wednesday, Oct. 7, 8/7c, The CW
More Arrow Features
Questions? Ask Critic Matt Roush!
TV critic (and occasional TV therapist) Matt Roush answers viewer questions and concerns in his Ask Matt column each week. Wondering about Olicity and Season 4? Submit your query to Matt via the form below:TRENTON — Two top officials of the East Orange Water Commission have been indicted for allegedly conspiring to hide elevated levels of an industrial solvent in drinking water pumped to more than 80,000 residents in the city and neighboring South Orange, state authorities said today.
The commission’s executive director, Harry Mansmann, 58, of Lawrenceville, and its assistant executive director, William Mowell, 51, of Wyckoff, falsified levels of tetrachloroethene to show the water supply was meeting state safe drinking water standards, the Attorney General’s Office said.
The office said the men were attempting to protect the commission’s bottom line by not paying for clean water from elsewhere or for multi-million dollar equipment to remove the chemical.
Despite the allegations, a spokesman for the state Department of Environmental Protection, Larry Ragonese, said independent testing showed the residents served by the commission were not at risk and the water in the two municipalities was safe to drink.
Exposure to high concentrations of the chemical over a prolonged period of time is a potential cancer risk, according to the federal health department.
"(The levels are) not high enough to shut anything down or to cause a safety issue for folks, but enough to say, ‘Hey wait, you’re over our standard, you need to figure out what’s causing it and you need to take some action,’" Ragonese said.
The city and water commission said in a statement that Mansmann and Mowell were suspended Tuesday without pay and they assured residents "there is no need for alarm." A spokesman for the city said today she was unable to provide salaries for Mansmann and Mowell.
John Vazquez, an attorney for Mansmann, said his client is "100 percent innocent."
"While we vigorously assert that the allegations are without merit, we do want to point out that even under the government’s claims, no one was put at risk," Vazquez said.
Michael Baldassare, an attorney for Mowell, said his client "is a dedicated professional and a well-respected member of his community" and will "defend himself against these allegations."
The commission pumps water from wells in eastern Morris and western Essex counties to two reservoirs. Authorities allege that once in 2010 and twice in 2011, Mansmann and Mowell shut down contaminated wells several days before testing to artificially reduce levels of the chemical in the commission’s reservoirs, and then restarted the wells after the testing was completed.
In April 2011, they allegedly took multiple samples and chose to report the cleanest one.
Authorities said the pair also illegally pumped water from the most contaminated well to the Passaic River for about a month in 2011 to try to clean it out and lied in a notice issued to the public the same year, saying the water met the state’s standards when in fact it did not.
State environmental officials, who have cited the commission on numerous occasions during the past three years for failing to comply with regulations, referred the case to the Attorney General’s Office for investigation. Ragonese said testing by the department last fall detected the chemical at levels in excess of state limits, but within federal limits. The chemical, often used in dry cleaning, is prevalent in groundwater in northern New Jersey but can be diluted or treated.
The village president in South Orange, Alex Torpey, said his and other officials’ concerns about the commission and its oversight of the water supply "are finally being vindicated."
"It is unfortunate that the management of EOWC has refused to deal with the condition of its water supply and now must respond to a criminal indictment, even though we wish, and believe, this could’ve been solved long ago had EOWC properly stepped up and addressed its problems," Torpey said.
The indictment, handed up Tuesday, charged Mansmann and Mowell with conspiracy, official misconduct, a pattern of official misconduct, unlawful release of a toxic pollutant, tampering with public records or information and violating the state drinking water and pollution laws. The most serious of the charges carry a sentence of five to 10 years in state prison.
Read the full indictment here.
Follow @cbaxter1If you haven’t been to a music festival this year, or are still hankering for more, then Bunbury Music Festival is the festival you need to get to this summer. Music acts range from Cage the Elephant to The Easthills to Paramore to Saintseneca to the Flaming Lips across the entire three day weekend festival. It is one of the premiere music festivals in the Midwest! There are so many acts performing every day that cover nearly every genre, so you have no excuse to not attend! Buy tickets here.
Bunbury Music Festival is an annual festival held at Sawyer Point / Yeatman’s Cove 705 East Pete Rose Way, Cincinnati, Ohio. If you are familiar with the general area of Cincinnati, it is just a few blocks east of Grand America Ballpark; if you are not familiar with the Cincinnati area, then click the link just above for a Google Map of the location of Bunbury Music Festival.
The times, locations, and general information on all acts for Day 3 at Bunbury are below, and it is important to note that Warsteiner is the official beer of Bunbury Music Festival. There is also a craft beer village that will feature local brews and other fantastic beers. That has to be music to beer lovers’ ears.
Be sure to follow us on Twitter to stay up-to-date on everything Bunbury Music Festival, and everything music!
Acoustic Stage
Daniel in Stereo 2:00 – 2:45
Genre: Indie Pop / Blues
Latest Album: 4 Years
Our Favorite Song: Son Be Careful
[youtube id=”_08vv9pk0SA” width=”620″ height=”360″]
James Gilmore 3:30 – 4:15
Genre: Rock
Latest Album: James Gilmore
Our Favorite Song: Plastic Armor Hide
[youtube id=”Xb73dn8FjVU” width=”620″ height=”360″]
Kelly Thomas 5:00 – 5:45
Genre: Alternative Country
Latest Album: Fly
Our Favorite Song: Everbody’s Darlin’
[youtube id=”mufryuRRO8E” width=”620″ height=”360″]
Dan Tedesco 6:45 – 7:30
Genre: Folk / Rock
Latest Album: Death in the Valley
Our Favorite Song: How Good It Feels
[youtube id=”C6EW8NCxYWs” width=”620″ height=”360″]
Amphitheater Stage
Young Heirlooms 2:45 – 3:30
Genre: Pop Folk
Latest Album: Young Heirlooms
Our Favorite Song: Cutting Back Colder
[youtube id=”QvZasRMmcds” width=”620″ height=”360″]
Lamps & Voids 4:15 – 5:00
Genre: Indie Rock
Latest Album: 5 song digital album
Our Favorite Song: Dust
[youtube id=”WRJb8y8fGyw” width=”620″ height=”360″]
Harbour 5:45 – 6:30
Genre: Indie / Pop / Rock
Latest Album: Harbour
Our Favorite Song: What I’m Looking For
Saintseneca 7:15 – 8:00
Genre: Folk
Latest Album: Dark Arc
Our Favorite Song: Happy Alone
[youtube id=”OuzHUFlyGYI” width=”620″ height=”360″]
Lawn Stage
Clairaudients 2:00 – 2:45
Genre: Rock / Blues / Experimental
Latest Album: Digital Album
Our Favorite Song: I’m a Loudmouth, You’re a Puppet
[youtube id=”iiFRHsE7HvA” width=”620″ height=”360″]
The Easthills 3:30 – 4:15
Check out this photo gallery of The Easthills by OnStage Magazine’s Larry Philpot!
Genre: Rock
Latest Album: World Class Prick
Our Favorite Song: My Morning Highway
[youtube id=”w2QA9No6WDk” width=”620″ height=”360″]
The Yugos 5:00 – 5:45
Genre: Dream Pop / Dance / Shoegaze
Latest Album: Life Is Awesome And Then You Live Forever
Our Favorite Song: Desario
[youtube id=”vdsIJAgWCfU” width=”620″ height=”360″]
Motherfolk 6:30 – 7:15
Genre: Folk / Indie Rock
Latest Album: Motherfolk
Our Favorite Song: Salt Lake City
[youtube id=”PRVWpDE0cvM” width=”620″ height=”360″]
Main Stage
Brick + Mortar 2:00 – 2:45
Genre: Indie Rock
Latest Album: Bangs
Our Favorite Song: Bangs
[youtube id=”9D0VgF7I8kM” width=”620″ height=”360″]
Red Wanting Blue 3:30 – 4:15
Genre: Rock
Latest Album: Little America
Our Favorite Song: You Are My Las Vegas
[youtube id=”oN0-vgNX6Nc” width=”620″ height=”360″]
ZZ Ward 5:00 – 6:00
Genre: Blues Rock / Soul / Pop Rock
Latest Album: 365 Days
Our Favorite Song: Put the Gun Down
[youtube id=”5chkHjTNFgk” width=”620″ height=”360″]
Young the Giant 7:00 – 8:00
Genre: Indie Rock
Latest Album: Mind Over Matter
Our Favorite Song: Cough Syrup
[youtube id=”UAsTlnjvetI” width=”620″ height=”360″]
Flaming Lips 9:00 – 10:15
Genre: Psychedelic Rock / Dream Pop
Latest Album: The Terror
Our Favorite Song: Do You Realize??
[youtube id=”lPXWt2ESxVY” width=”620″ height=”360″]
River Stage
The Lighthouse and the Whaler 2:45 – 3:30
Genre: Indie / Folk / Pop
Latest Album: This is an Adventure
Our Favorite Song: Venice
[youtube id=”U5zZ1l4scgM” width=”620″ height=”360″]
Kopecky Family Band 4:15 – 5:00
Genre: Indie Rock
Latest Album: Kids Raising Kids
Our Favorite Song: Heartbeat
[youtube id=”Wq-8dxYHnyU” width=”620″ height=”360″]
Robert Delong 6:00 – 7:00
Genre: Electronic
Latest Album: Just Movement
Our Favorite Song: Happy
[youtube id=”0XlARVImjVo” width=”620″ height=”360″]
Holy Ghost! 8:00 – 9:00
Genre: Synthpop
Latest Album: Dynamics
Our Favorite Song: Dumb Disco Ideas
[youtube id=”bdYVlX4TrPk” width=”620″ height=”360″]
Warsteiner Stage
Kim Taylor 2:45 – 3:30
Genre: Country / Pop
Latest Album: Love’s A Dog
Our Favorite Song: Days Like This
[youtube id=”xN-hiLXaLTg” width=”620″ height=”360″]
The Black Cadillacs 4:00 – 4:45
Genre: Rock
Latest Album: Radio Silence Single
Our Favorite Song: Choke
[youtube id=”Nl3MDpqfwuw” width=”620″ height=”360″]
The Ceremonies 5:15 – 6:00
Genre: Rock
Latest Album: The Ceremonies (EP)
Our Favorite Song: Land of Gathering
[youtube id=”mEokNXNWdMQ” width=”620″ height=”360″]
Bear Hands 6:30 – 7:30
Genre: Post Punk / Indie Rock
Latest Album: Distraction
Our Favorite Song: Giants
[youtube id=”PG_D-JpGqsM” width=”620″ height=”360″]
The Orwells 8:00 – 9:00
Genre: Rock
Latest Album: Disgraceland
Our Favorite Song: Who Needs You
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On the final day of Bunbury, the lineup keeps the pace of the previous two days with big acts like the Flaming Lips, The Orwells and Young the Giant; while providing the opportunity for lesser-known, high-quality bands, for instance The Easthills and Lamps & Voids, to shine on a large stage. Day 3 is the last day for Bunbury Music Festival, but it will be just a good as the previous two!
What acts grab your attention? What acts are you most excited for on Day 3? Let us know in the comments!
Be sure to follow us on Twitter to stay up-to-date on everything Bunbury Music Festival, and everything music!
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Powered by Facebook CommentsAn RPG to the core with tons of sidequests, memorable NPCs, a brilliant storyline and much, more!
A vast world full of mysteries and countless ways to solve them
Immersive, post-apocalyptic mood, offset by tons of “easter eggs” and cultural references
Set in the aftermath of a world-wide nuclear war, Fallout will challenge you to survive in an unknown and dangerous world. You will take the role of a Vault-dweller, a person who has grown up in a secluded, underground survival Vault. Circumstances arise that force you to go Outside - to a strange world 80 years after the end of modern civilization. A world of mutants, radiation, gangs and violence.Your immediate task is to find a replacement for the broken water purification controller chip. Without that chip, your fellow Vault dwellers are doomed to dehydration or will be forced to leave the safety of the Vault for the Outside.The core of the game revolves around your character. Fallout uses a skill-based system to allow you to fine tune your character. As you gain experience (roughly half from combat, the other half from solving adventure seeds and non-combat events), your character will grow as you determine. Combat in Fallout is tactical turn-based. You can take as much time as you need to make decisions. Choose from different types of attacks, with a variety of weapons and attack skills.There’s naked yoga, naked dating, naked dining. But is it OK to take your clothes off in public? There’s only one way to find out...
It’s like a dream. I’m at the pub with a pint of stout and a packet of nuts, wearing no clothes. Families tuck into their Sunday roasts, darts players carry on unperturbed. No one gives me so much as a second glance. I could get used to this.
How things have changed. In 1974, when Sally Cooper stripped naked and attempted to run across Richmond Bridge in west London, she caused a national sensation. Caught momentarily in the jaws of a police dog and eternally by the lens of a tabloid photographer, she was one of Britain’s first streakers. At the time, public nudity was virtually unheard of. Naturists, or “sunbathers” as they often euphemistically called themselves, kept to the shadows.
Today, naked people are everywhere. No longer happy to be hidden in naturist clubs and on nudist beaches, the bare body has jiggled its way into areas previously reserved for the clothed, round the dinner table and on primetime TV. London had a pop-up naked restaurant, the Bunyadi, with a waiting list 46,000 strong, Last year saw the launch of Naked Attraction, Channel 4’s full-frontal dating show. We have naked yoga, a naked nightclub and, of course, naked Justin Bieber. Does this mean Britain has come to terms with collective undress?
I’m no naturist, but there have been moments over the years when it has felt appropriate to publicly disrobe. A mass skinny-dip after a friend’s seaside wedding was liberating, a slosh into the Serpentine on a sweltering summer evening was thrilling, and there was one time, perhaps slightly unwise, at a party where the drinks were flowing freely and the heating was on far too high and… nudity may have occurred.
Being naked is profoundly liberating. It’s not just the physical feeling of the air, sun or sea over your entire body: there’s a psychological release, too. When you shed your clothes, many social pressures also somehow fall away. A 2015 survey by British Naturism, the national society for social nudity, found that practising naturists had higher self-esteem and body confidence.
Yet, from personal experience, I’ve found reactions can be unappreciative, ranging from mothers screaming and covering their children’s eyes to hostile attention from security personnel. So which Britain are we: a nation of nudes or prudes? I decided to find out.
***
Brighton seems a safe place to begin. It was here, in 1979, that the first major naturist beach was created. Even in this historically tolerant town, it was met with vociferous opposition. “What distresses me is that people naively believe what is good for the Continent is good for Britain,” grumbled one local Tory councillor. Perhaps because of that, the nudist beach is a long way from any popular tourist spots, quarantined behind shingle barricades and warning signs. On an unseasonably sunny winter’s day, only a few fanatics are out on the rocks: older men with all-over tans. They seem relaxed, welcoming, even. Perhaps a little too welcoming: “All right, John Lennon?” one shouts, twiddling his nut-brown knob in my direction.
For many, being naked in public is the stuff of nightmares. When we strip, it’s not just a warm, protective layer we remove. Clothes make us who we are: our status and personality are all tied up with thread. Tony, a 30-year veteran of the scene, wanders over to offer his two bits. “The main problem we are up against is that, out there, people see the human body as inherently sexual,” he says. “The first time lots of young people see naked people is in pornography. That does warp people’s minds a bit, although things are much easier now.”
Facebook Twitter Pinterest Letting it all hang out on the beach. Photograph: Sarah Lee for the Guardian
It isn’t naturist spaces such as this beach that Tony thanks for the growing acceptance of nudity; rather, it’s more adventurous projects such as the annual World Naked Bike Ride that are bringing people into the fold. “That’s really changed things,” he says. “You can just cycle through Whitehall, past No 10, the seat of power, completely naked. Everyone who does it just feels so free.”
Brighton has had its own naked bike ride since 2006, and last summer the seafront was awash with bare bodies: hundreds of topless Free the Nipple protesters paraded from the pier in June, and in September naked litter-pickers took to the shingle to draw attention to sea pollution and make the point that nudity isn’t necessarily dirty.
But are Brighton’s streets nude-friendly? I lace up my shoes, bid farewell to my new friends and head towards town.
Being naked in public is not illegal in England, Wales or Northern Ireland, provided you show consideration for others, though there are two acts you run the risk of coming up against: the 1986 Public Order Act and the 2003 Sexual Offences Act. Avoid causing “harassment, alarm, or distress”, and don’t be a pervert, and you should be fine. The laws are different in Scotland, which is partly why Stephen Gough, the “naked rambler”, has done so much jail time. For England and Wales, the Crown Prosecution Service’s guidelines are reassuring: “A naturist whose intention is limited to going about his or her lawful business naked will not be guilty” of an offence.
Nobody runs for the hills when I come crunching over the shingle: some point, others giggle, most carry on with their lives. The only offence is imagined. “There are children over there,” snarls a large man in a leather jacket. I cower behind a groyne while the Guardian’s photographer scampers over to test the waters. “Would it offend you if there was a naked man over there?” she asks |
-Tehrani to four years in prison for membership in an "illegal" organization (the Iranian DemocraticFront) that "acts against state security," 40 lashes for "insulting the leadership and the state," and three-and-a-half years on charges of belonging to the Mojahedin'e Khalgh Organization (MKO). According to Sanjari, this charge was fabricated by the interrogator Sheikhan and furthered by a personal conflict with Judge Hadad, the judge who later sentenced Iranian-American journalist Roxana Saberi to eight years for espionage.
An appeals court reduced the sentence on the MKO charge by six months. Javid-Tehrani has now served more than half his 2005 sentence. Most prisoners in Iran are eligible for release after serving half of their sentence, but he has not been granted even one day of customary temporary release since 2005.
Human Rights Watch is concerned that Javid-Tehrani's life is in immediate danger, in light of the suspicious deaths of political prisoners at Gohar Dasht prison (also known as Rajayi Shahr), most recently that of Amir Heshmat Saran in March 2009. Gohar Dasht was one of the main sites of the 1988 mass summary executions of political prisoners which killed thousands.
"Amongst Iran's political prisoners, Gohar Dasht prison is known as the ‘doghouse' because prisoners are sent there to die," said Whitson. "The Iranian government is legally bound to ensure safety and provide healthcare for all its prisoners. But it has consistently failed to do so for political prisoners, with deadly results."
Human Rights Watch urged Iranian authorities to release Javid-Tehrani immediately and end its persecution of peaceful critics and dissidents.
برای انتشار فوری
جان زندانی سیاسی در خطر است
https://www.hrw.org/en/news/2009/05/23A Street View of Google Street View Date 25th January 2010 Author anakha Editor James "Agg" Rolfe
Introduction, Photos
Having sat at the computer all day working, last night I needed some exercise so I went for a brisk walk around my neighbourhood on the lower north shore of Sydney. I was almost back home when I spied an unexpected sight: a Google Street View car resting for the night.
Given Googles habit of taking photos of everywhere, I thought this would be an opportunity to do a little of the same. So I grabbed my Panasonic DMC-TZ7 camera and took a few snaps (which Ive shrunk in size for the web).
1) Sitting relatively unobtrusively in a grey carpark of a tyre repair shop:
2) A closer view (it appears to be a late-model grey Holden Astra hatchback):
3) Confirmation: its a Holden (for overseas readers, that's the Australian subsidiary of General Motors):
4) Side-on View showing the Google Maps sticker (note the rear wheel appears to be the spare: Ill return to that later):
5) How does a Google Street View Car know where it is? Roof-mounted GPS receiver, of course!
6) To get under low-bridges, etc, the camera tower can be lowered. Here is a better view of the linkage mechanism which holds it upright, supported by what look like two hydraulic struts facing rearwards:
7) A closer look at the roof-mounted camera tower:
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Select Page Page 1 - Page 2 - All original content copyright James Rolfe.
All rights reserved. No reproduction allowed without written permission.
Interested in advertising on OCAU? Contact us for info.Insight Artificial Intelligence Fellow Program launches in Silicon Valley and New York
Jake Klamka Blocked Unblock Follow Following Oct 5, 2016
We’re excited to announce the launch of the Insight Artificial Intelligence Fellows Program. This free, seven-week professional fellowship program will help scientists and engineers with machine learning experience to learn cutting-edge techniques in deep learning and join top AI teams in Silicon Valley and New York City.
There are rapid advances being made in intelligent system design and many companies are looking to implement the latest techniques in their products and businesses. As a result of the incredible progress in this field, there is a shortage of researchers and engineers who are able to take the latest academic advances and translate them into applied products and systems.
The Insight AI program will focus on bridging the gap between academic machine learning and applied product development. Machine learning researchers and engineers from Facebook, Google TensorFlow, Twitter, IBM Watson, Salesforce, Fast Forward Labs, Intel, Bloomberg, and many top AI startups will be mentoring and hiring during the fellowship. During the program, Insight AI Fellows will get to work on cutting edge applied AI problems provided by top AI startups funded by Y Combinator, Data Collective, Khosla Ventures and others.
In addition to working with leading machine learning engineers and scientists from the top AI teams in Silicon Valley and New York, Fellows will join our network of over 750 Insight alumni now working as data scientists and engineers across the US. Many Insight Fellows who have gone through our data science, data engineering, and health data fellowships have gone on to do cutting edge work in artificial intelligence and will be actively involved in the AI program.
Applications are now open for the in-person, full-time AI fellowship sessions in Silicon Valley (March 2017) and New York City (June 2017) — the program is free and need-based scholarships will be provided to assist with living and moving expenses.
Find out more and apply at http://insightdata.ai
— Jake Klamka, Jeremy Karnowski & Ross FadelyThe ticket sale for A Pink's 'Pink Paradise' concert was opened via Interpark on December 23rd at 8pm kst and just after 2 minutes, a total of 7200 tickets were all sold out. It was also revealed that during the ticket reservation, the term 'A Pink Concert' even made it into the top search on portal real-time sites and those fans who didn't get to buy the tickets, have demanded for additional seats over phone calls to the group's company.
A rep from Cube Entertainment said,"Thank you to all the fans who have been patient for A Pink's first concert. The members were all surprise at your explosive interest, and they are going to practice for the concert even harder so please look forward to it a lot".
'Pink Paradise' will be held on January 30th and 31st at Olympic Park Olympic Hall.
A Pink proves their rising popularity by having their first concert' tickets sold out in just 15 minutes.Suspect gets 9 yrs in beating of elderly man in Santa Ana (WARNING: DISTURBING VIDEO) https://t.co/Nbwss8Zf1mhttps://t.co/tL7KYmzXmM — ABC7 Eyewitness News (@ABC7) February 25, 2016
Demarrea Chante Barnes, 29, is seen in this mugshot photo provided by the Santa Ana Police Department.
A man was sentenced to nine years in prison Thursday morning for brutally beating an 83-year-old man in Santa Ana last year.Demarrea Chante Barnes, 29, attacked Tuyen Nguyen in the parking lot of a restaurant in the 5000 block of W. Edinger Avenue around 6:10 a.m. on Sept. 25. The unprovoked assault was caught on surveillance video."He doesn't sleep too well anymore. He wakes up screaming sometimes. He has frequent nightmares," the victim's son, Huy Nguyen, told the judge.Nguyen was transported to a local hospital in critical condition following the attack. He suffered a brain hemorrhage and broken eye socket."He is now unable to walk without the assistance of a walker. He has lost vision in his right eye," Nguyen said.Barnes, believed to be a transient, was arrested the day after the attack. The judge said this case is an example of how the system has failed someone with mental illness, pointing out that Barnes has 32 prior cases and never got mental help."At the end of nine years without help, is he going to come out, not take his meds and do it again? He needs help," said Tammy Palmer, Barnes' great aunt.While the victim continues his recovery at home, he told his family he forgives Barnes. He even echoed the words of the judge, telling his son he wants his attacker to get the right support."We're all just hoping and praying that Mr. Barnes, once he gets released from custody, that he's able to get the help that he needs," Huy Nguyen said.Palmer says she hopes to use her great nephew's case as a way to raise awareness about people with mental illnesses in the justice system.Is Microsoft serious about dynamic languages?
That is a question that software developer K. Scott Allen asked on his OdeToCode blog in a Nov. 23 post.
Specifically, Allen questioned Microsoft's commitment to its IronPython and IronRuby implementations of the Python and Ruby dynamic languages, saying he does not see them as first-class citizens in the Microsoft portfolio of languages.
"A first-class language is deployed when the full.NET framework is installed," Allen said. "It's as easy to find as csc.exe. It's not a language you have to ask the IT department to install separately. It's not a language that requires you to jump out of Visual Studio to edit or run."
Moreover, said Allen:
" "Consider this...??Ã IronPython got underway in July of 2004. Five years later it appears IronPython is still not a candidate to be a first class language in the.NET framework and tools. You can vote on this issue.??Ã Microsoft first released IronRuby at Mix in 2007. Nearly three years later it appears IronRuby is still not a candidate to be a first class language in the.NET framework and tools. You can vote on this issue." "
Allen's post does make one wonder about a bunch of things, such as what is going on with Jim Hugunin, the creator of IronPython, who has been really quiet of late other than making this post.
And John Lam, who Microsoft hired to head up the project that became IronRuby, announced in a recent blog post that he was passing the IronRuby torch to Jimmy Schemeti and is in the midst of building a new team to pursue "a fantastic new project." Not that this move means there will be any diminution of interest in the IronRuby project at Microsoft. Indeed, Lam said he is leaving the project in Schementi's "capable hands" and that the "IronRuby project is still going strong."
Meanwhile, Allen said:
" "I was depressed when I read the session list from Microsoft's recent Professional Developers Conference. If you browse the session list you'll find hundreds of sessions covering cloud computing, SharePoint, Silverlight, SQL Server, and modeling. There are a handful of sessions covering concurrency, and a few dedicated to C++."There is exactly one session featuring the Dynamic Language Runtime in a significant fashion. The title is Using Dynamic Languages to Build Scriptable Applications. You can learn how to augment an existing application after you've done all the real work in a first class language." "
However, in an interview with eWEEK at PDC, S. "Soma" Somasegar, senior vice president of Microsoft's Developer Division, said, "When it comes time to think about what languages are used externally, C++ is broadly used, as are C# and VB. Those are the top three that we think about in terms of usage share. But the languages that I think about that are dominant in terms of growing interest are the scripting languages, such as JavaScript or Python, for example. Or pick your favorite scripting language. You can think about them as dynamic languages or scripting languages, but I think there is a growing popularity."
Lam gave a talk on dynamic languages and.NET at Microsoft's TechEd North America conference in Los Angeles in May. Of his talk, Lam said, "I showed how you can add Ruby and Python scripting to an existing app, and spent some time building some simple REPLs. Toward the end of the talk, I showed a more realistic scenario where I embed a REPL in an existing Open Source.NET application: Witty."Turkish prosecutors launched a probe Thursday into pro-Kurdish leader Selahattin Demirtas after he condemned the detention of two mayors of the country's biggest Kurdish city.
Gultan Kisanak and Firat Anli, co-mayors of the southeastern city of Diyarbakir, were taken into custody Tuesday as part of a "terrorism" probe, accused of having links to Kurdish separatists.
The Diyarbakir prosecutor said in a statement the investigation into Demirtas, co-chairman of the pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP), will look into whether he insulted President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in a speech on Thursday.
The probe will also investigate whether he "incited people to disobey the law", "publicly humiliated the Turkish Republic and the state's judicial institutions" as well as "praised crime and criminals".
In a speech outside the Diyarbakir town hall, Demirtas called on the prosecutor to prove the mayors' "terror links".
"No one can accuse our municipalities of giving support to weapons, terror and violence... If you can prove a penny went (to the outlawed PKK), let's see it. These are all lies."
Anli and Kisanak are also accused of making speeches in support of the rebel Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), proscribed as a terrorist organisation by Turkey, the European Union and the United States.
They are also alleged to have allowed the use of municipal vehicles for the funerals of PKK members.
"Until our municipality leaders can return to work, there will be resistance, there will be a struggle," he vowed, according to a write-up of his speech by the HDP.
Demirtas said the two municipality leaders were not terrorist supporters but accused Turkey of having "supported terror" by "nourishing" the Islamic State group and the Al-Qaeda-linked Nusra Front. Ankara strongly denies such claims.
Demirtas, a former lawyer, also criticised the public prosecutor. "We are against those prosecutors acting with the palace perspective," referring indirectly to Erdogan.
"What kind of prosecutor are you? No one acts more unlawfully than you."Share this post:
IBM is a community of makers, creators and thinkers. By nature we’re a curious group of people – always asking questions about what’s next, and within my team, what else is possible with artificial intelligence. We love teaming up with others who are passionate about the possibilities of technology, whether it be inspiring a new hit song, creating the scariest movie trailer, or helping businesses make better decisions.
The idea of joining forces with other makers, creators and thinkers to explore the potential of Watson, in a fun and easy way, was the catalyst behind a new project our team is launching: TJBot.
In the spirit of the maker community, TJBot is a DIY kit that allows you to build your own programmable cardboard robot powered by Watson. It consists of a cardboard cutout (which can be 3D printed or laser cut), Raspberry Pi and a variety of add-ons – including a RGB LED light, a microphone, a servo motor, and a camera. Most excitingly – TJBot is an open-source project with instructions available on Instructables.com and GitHub. While the team at IBM has provided three starter-sets of instructions (recipes) for bringing TJBot to life, we’re asking all of you to contribute your own instructions to inspire your fellow makers.
Today, we’ve created recipes to:
TJBot is an example of ‘embodied cognition’ – the idea of embedding artificial intelligence into objects in our everyday lives. While in this case we’re putting Watson technologies into a cardboard cutout, imagine these types of capabilities in your walls, in your furniture or in objects in your home.
One of the key facets of creating cognitive objects is understanding the way in which humans will, and want to, interact with them. Interactions with these objects – like TJBot – can be more natural than with existing computing devices; instead of typing on a keyboard, you use voice commands.
Whether you spend your days coding the next “big idea”, or simply playing with code for your school project, we invite you and the global community of makers to meet TJBot and join us in building the future of AI. We look forward to seeing the videos, blogs, recipes and photos published by the Maker community to see what, and how, you create your own cognitive objects.
Want to get your own TJBot? Visit our GitHub page for more information. Be sure to use #TJBot when sharing your creations on social media!This article is about the singer. For the fictional character, see Mean Girls § Cast
Janis Ian (born Janis Eddy Fink; April 7, 1951) is an American singer-songwriter who was most commercially successful in the 1960s and 1970s; her most widely recognized song, "At Seventeen", was released as a single from her 1975 album Between the Lines which reached number 1 on the Billboard chart.
Born in 1951 in New York City, Ian entered the American folk music scene while still a teenager in the mid-1960s. Most active musically in that decade and the 1970s, she has continued recording into the 21st century. She has won two Grammy Awards, the first in 1975 for "At Seventeen" and the second in 2013 for Best Spoken Word Album, for her autobiography, Society's Child, with a total of ten nominations in eight different categories.
Ian is also a columnist and science fiction author.[1]
Early life [ edit ]
Born in New York City,[2] Janis Fink was primarily raised in New Jersey, initially on a farm, and attended East Orange High School in East Orange, New Jersey,[3] and the New York City High School of Music & Art. Her parents, Victor, a music teacher, and Pearl were Jewish-born liberals who ran a summer camp in upstate New York.
As a child, Ian admired the work of folk pioneers such as Joan Baez and Odetta. Starting with piano lessons at the age of two (at her own insistence), Ian, by the time she entered her teens, was playing the organ, harmonica, French horn and guitar.[4] At the age of 12, she wrote her first song, "Hair of Spun Gold", which was subsequently published in the folk publication Broadside and was later recorded for her debut album. In 1964, she legally changed her name to Janis Ian, taking her brother Eric's middle name as her new surname.[2]
Music career [ edit ]
At the age of 14, Ian wrote and recorded her first hit single, "Society's Child (Baby I've Been Thinking)", about an interracial romance forbidden by a girl's mother and frowned upon by her peers and teachers. Produced by George "Shadow" Morton and released three times from 1965 to 1967, "Society's Child" became a national hit upon its third release after Leonard Bernstein featured it in a CBS TV special titled Inside Pop: The Rock Revolution.[2]
The song's theme of interracial relationships was considered taboo by some radio stations, who withdrew or banned it from their playlists accordingly. In her 2008 autobiography Society's Child, Ian recalls receiving hate mail and death threats as a response to the song and mentions that a radio station in Atlanta that played it was burned down. In the summer of 1967, "Society's Child" reached number 14 on the Billboard Hot 100, the single having sold 600,000 copies and the album 350,000.[4]
At the age of 16, Ian met comedian Bill Cosby backstage at a Smothers Brothers show where she was promoting Society's Child. Since she was underage, she was accompanied by a chaperone while touring. After her set, Ian had been sleeping with her head on her chaperone's lap (an older female family friend). According to Ian in a 2015 interview, she was told by her then manager that Cosby had interpreted their interaction as "lesbian" and as a result "had made it his business" to warn other television shows that Ian wasn't "suitable family entertainment" and "shouldn't be on television" because of her sexuality, thus attempting to blacklist her.[5][6][7] Although Ian would later come out as lesbian, she states that at the time of the encounter with Cosby she had only been kissed once, in broad daylight at summer camp.
Ian relates on her website that, although the song was originally intended for Atlantic Records and the label paid for her recording session, Atlantic subsequently returned the master to her and quietly refused to release it.[8] Ian relates that years later, Atlantic's president at the time, Jerry Wexler, publicly apologized to her for this. The single and Ian's 1967 eponymous debut album (which reached number 29 on the charts) were finally released on Verve Forecast. In 2001, "Society's Child" was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame, which honors recordings considered timeless and important to music history. Her early music was compiled on a double CD entitled Society's Child: The Verve Recordings in 1995.
Ian performing at the National Stadium Dublin, Ireland on May 14, 1981
"Society's Child" stigmatized Ian as a one-hit wonder until her most successful US single, "At Seventeen", was released in 1975. "At Seventeen" is a bittersweet commentary on adolescent cruelty, the illusion of popularity and teenage angst, from the perspective of a narrator looking back on her earlier experience. The song was a major hit as it charted at number 3 on the Billboard Hot 100, hit number 1 on the Adult Contemporary chart and won the 1976 Grammy Award for Best Pop Vocal Performance - Female, beating out Linda Ronstadt, Olivia Newton-John and Helen Reddy. Ian appeared as a musical guest on the series premiere of Saturday Night Live on October 11, 1975, performing "At Seventeen" and "In the Winter".[9][10] The album, Between the Lines, was also a smash and reached number 1 on Billboard′s album chart. The album would be certified platinum for sales of over one million copies sold in the US. Another measure of her success is anecdotal: on Valentine's Day 1977, Ian received 461 valentine cards, having indicated in the lyrics to "At Seventeen" that she never received one as a teenager.[11]
"Fly Too High" (1979), produced by disco producer Giorgio Moroder, was Ian's contribution to the soundtrack of the Jodie Foster film Foxes and was also featured on Ian's 1979 album Night Rains. It also became her first international hit, reaching number 1 in many countries, including South Africa, Belgium, Australia, Israel and the Netherlands, and going gold or platinum in those countries as well as charting in the UK. Another country where Ian has achieved a high level of popularity is Japan: Ian had two Top 10 singles on the Japanese Oricon charts, "Love Is Blind" in 1976 and "You Are Love" in 1980. Ian's 1976 album Aftertones also topped Oricon's album chart in October 1976.[12] "You Are Love (Toujours Gai Mon Cher)" is the theme song of Kinji Fukasaku's 1980 movie Virus. She cut several other singles specifically for the Japanese market, including 1998's "The Last Great Place".
In the US, Ian did not chart in the Top 40 on the pop charts after "At Seventeen", though she had several songs reach the Adult Contemporary singles chart through 1980 (all failing to make the Top 20).
Ian started "Rude Girl Records, Inc. and its publishing arm, Rude Girl Pub., [on] January 2, 1992". "From 1992 to the present, RGR has steadily grown, with its current ownership of Janis Ian masters up to twenty albums and DVD's overseas, and a slightly smaller number in North America. The Rude Girl label oversees the production of Janis' newer work, and in the case of older work, its re-mastering and the re-creation of the original artwork."[13]
From 1982–92, Ian continued to write songs, often in collaboration with then-songwriting partner Kye Fleming, which have been covered by Amy Grant, Bette Midler, Marti Jones and other artists. She released Breaking Silence in 1993 and also came out as a lesbian.[14]
Other artists have recorded Ian's compositions, including Roberta Flack, who had a hit in 1973 with Ian's song "Jesse".[14] Ian's own version is included on the 1974 album Stars (the title song of which has also been oft-covered, including versions by Joan Baez, Shirley Bassey, Cher, Nina Simone and Barbara Cook). Richard Barone recorded Ian's song Sweet Misery on his album Sorrows & Promises: Greenwich Village in the 1960s in 2016. She continues to tour in both the US and the UK.[15]
In August 2018 Ian performed at the UK's Cambridge Folk Festival.[16][17]
Criticism of the RIAA [ edit ]
Ian is an outspoken critic of the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA),[18] which she sees as acting against the interests of musicians and consumers. As such, she has released several of her songs for free download from her website.[19] "I've been surprised at how few people are willing to get annoyed with me over it," she laughs. "There was a little backlash here and there. I was scheduled to appear on a panel somewhere and somebody from a record company said if I was there they would boycott it. But that's been pretty much it. In general, the entire reaction has been favorable. I hear from a lot of people in my industry who don't want to be quoted, but say 'yeah, we're aware of this and we'd like to see a change too.'"[20] Along with science fiction authors Eric Flint and Cory Doctorow, she has argued that their experience provides conclusive evidence that free downloads dramatically increased hard-copy sales, contrary to the claims of RIAA and NARAS.[21]
Writing and acting [ edit ]
Ian writes science fiction. A long-time reader of the genre, she became involved in science fiction fandom in 2001 by attending the Millennium Philcon. Her short stories have been published in anthologies and she co-edited, with Mike Resnick, the anthology Stars: Original Stories Based on the Songs of Janis Ian, published in 2003 (ISBN 978-0-7564-0177-1). She continues to occasionally attend science fiction conventions.[22]
Ian has been a regular columnist for the LGBT news magazine The Advocate[23] and contributed to Performing Songwriter magazine from 1995 to 2003.[citation needed] On July 24, 2008, Ian released her positively-received autobiography Society's Child (published by Penguin Tarcher). An accompanying double CD, The Autobiography Collection, has been released with many of Ian's best loved songs.[24][citation needed]
Ian took acting lessons from noted acting coach Stella Adler in the early 1980s to help her feel more comfortable on stage, and she and Adler remained close friends for the rest of Adler's life. In December 2015, Ian appeared in the series finale of HBO comedy series Getting On playing a patient who refused to stop singing.[25][26]
Personal life [ edit ]
Ian married Portuguese filmmaker Tino Sargo in 1978 and the two divorced in 1983. Details of Sargo's physical and emotional abuse were discussed in Ian's autobiography.[27] After moving to Nashville, she met Patricia Snyder in 1989. Ian came out as a lesbian in 1993 with the worldwide release of her album Breaking Silence.[14] Snyder and Ian married in Toronto on August 27, 2003.[28] Ian has a stepdaughter and two grandchildren with Snyder.
Ian's mother Pearl Fink was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 1975. Because of this, Ian and her brother persuaded their mother to pursue her lifelong dream of going to college. Fink eventually enrolled in Goddard College's adult education program and ultimately graduated with a master's degree. After Fink's death in 1997, Ian decided to auction off memorabilia to raise money to endow a scholarship at Goddard specifically for older continuing education students, which became the Pearl Foundation, a 501(c)(3) public charity. At the end of each year, 90% or more of funds raised from sale of merchandise, donations from fans and contributions from Ian herself are disbursed to various educational institutions to fund scholarships.[27] By 2016, it had contributed more than $900,000 in scholarship funds.[29]
On October 23, 2011, Ian performed with Ryan Adams and Neil Finn on Series 2 Episode 4 of the BBC Four series Songwriters' Circle. The night resulted in controversy, ending with an awkward exchange between the performers when there seemingly was confusion between the songwriters about who was to perform and join in on each other's songs.[30]
Discography [ edit ]
Albums [ edit ]
Janis Ian (1967), #29 US (Verve)
(1967), #29 US (Verve) For All the Seasons of Your Mind (1967), #179 US (Verve)
(1967), #179 US (Verve) The Secret Life of J. Eddy Fink (1968) (Verve)
(1968) (Verve) Who Really Cares (1969) (Verve)
(1969) (Verve) Present Company (1971), #223 US (Capitol)
(1971), #223 US (Capitol) Stars (1974), #83 US, #63 (Columbia)
(1974), #83 US, #63 (Columbia) Between the Lines (1975), #1 US, #4 Canada, #22 Japan (Columbia, Festival)
(1975), #1 US, #4 Canada, #22 Japan (Columbia, Festival) Aftertones (1976), #12 US, #81 Canada, #1 Japan (Columbia)
(1976), #12 US, #81 Canada, #1 Japan (Columbia) Miracle Row (1977), #45 US, #26 Japan (Columbia)
(1977), #45 US, #26 Japan (Columbia) Janis Ian (1978) (Columbia)
(1978) (Columbia) Night Rains (1979) (Columbia)
(1979) (Columbia) Restless Eyes (1981), #156 US (Columbia)
(1981), #156 US (Columbia) Uncle Wonderful (1983) (Rude Girl)
(1983) (Rude Girl) Breaking Silence (1992) (Morgan Creek)
(1992) (Morgan Creek) Simon Renshaw Presents: Janis Ian Shares Your Pain (1995) (Rude Girl) (not released until 12.09)
(1995) (Rude Girl) (not released until 12.09) Revenge (1995) (Rude Girl)
(1995) (Rude Girl) Hunger (1997) (Windham Hill/Rude Girl)
(1997) (Windham Hill/Rude Girl) God & the FBI (2000) (Windham Hill/Rude Girl)
(2000) (Windham Hill/Rude Girl) Lost Cuts 1 (2001) (Rude Girl)
(2001) (Rude Girl) Billie's Bones (2004) (Rude Girl)
(2004) (Rude Girl) Folk Is the New Black (2006) (Rude Girl)
(2006) (Rude Girl) Strictly Solo (2014) (Rude Girl). Available only at live shows.
Compilation albums [ edit ]
Remember (1978) (orig. JVC Japan, now Rude Girl)
(1978) (orig. JVC Japan, now Rude Girl) The Best of Janis Ian (1980) (CBS Benelux)
(1980) (CBS Benelux) My Favourites (1980) (CBS Benelux)
(1980) (CBS Benelux) At Seventeen (1990) (CBS)
(1990) (CBS) Up 'Til Now (1992) (Sony)
(1992) (Sony) Society's Child: The Verve Recordings (1995) (Polydor/UMG)
(1995) (Polydor/UMG) Live on the Test 1976 (1995) (BBC World Wide)
(1995) (BBC World Wide) Unreleased 1: Mary's Eyes (1998) (Rude Girl)
(1998) (Rude Girl) The Bottom Line Encore Collection (1999) (Bottom Line Records)
(1999) (Bottom Line Records) The Best of Janis Ian (2002) (Festival Australia)
(2002) (Festival Australia) Live: Working Without a Net (2003) (Rude Girl)
(2003) (Rude Girl) Souvenirs: Best of 1972–1981 (2004) (Rude Girl)
(2004) (Rude Girl) Unreleased 2: Take No Prisoners (2006) (Rude Girl)
(2006) (Rude Girl) Unreleased 3: Society's Child (2006) (Rude Girl)
(2006) (Rude Girl) Ultimate Best (2007) (JVC Victory)
(2007) (JVC Victory) Best of Janis Ian: Autobiography Collection (2008) (Rude Girl)
(2008) (Rude Girl) The Essential Janis Ian (Sony worldwide)
Singles [ edit ]
DVDs
Live at Club Cafe (2005) (Rude Girl)
(2005) (Rude Girl) Janismania (2005) (Rude Girl)
(2005) (Rude Girl) Through the Years: A Retrospective (2007) (Rude Girl)
(2007) (Rude Girl) Janis Ian '79: Live in Japan & Australia (2008) (Rude Girl)
Bibliography [ edit ]Situated on the banks of river Kaveri, Ranganthittu is a small village that hosts close to 170 species of birds. Naturally created islets are covered with lush green forests.
Social media is a powerful tool if used in a productive way. Karnataka Eco-toursim shared a wonderful post on their facebook wall, "Karnataka Bird Festival--2015". I enrolled to this event, the stage was set at Ranganthittu Bird Sanctuary, one of the best bird sanctuary in the world. Dr.Salim Ali, renowned ornithologist studied the habitat and pressed upon the local government to declare this wonderful place as a bird sanctuary.
I had visited this place several times. But this one was special because of two reasons, I could interact with eminent naturalists turned conservationists who are instrumental in bringing several changes in wildlife society. Secondly, I could spend extra bit of time in exploring both wood-land and wet-land birds as the workshop was for 2 days.
Ranganthittu bird sanctuary is well maintained by Forest department. It has all basic amenities required for tourism and bird watching. As days passed I have seen nice improvement inside the park. Good number of dedicated forest department employees start their day at 6.30 AM by cleaning the park area.
Boating is the main attraction of this sanctuary. Watch towers are constructed at necessary places. I checked into a boat and opted for an extended boating session. The boatman had immense experience in boating and birding. He was passionate about sharing the knowledge which he gained from so many years of service.
The sanctuary will be crowded by several species of resident and migratory birds between January to May, that is when nesting starts. I was fortunate to witness bird activities as I had ample time. Many people who are keen in bird watching visit this place to study the behavior of birds.
There will be less amount of bird activity during monsoons due to increase in water level. Water released from Krishna Raja Sagara dam submerges most of the islets. Boating will be suspended.
Our boat slowly crossed small islets which had many nestlings. I saw huge congregation of painted storks, Eurasian spoonbills, egrets, spot billed pelicans, asian openbill storks. It was amazing to see juveniles basking under the sun without any fear.
I started documenting the birds we came across, number of lifers started increasing. Eurasian Thick Knee was one of them. There were about 10 thick knees on a boulder. Apparently they are common in this season. Their eyes seemed bigger than their body.
After a wonderful boating experience, I took a stroll inside the park to check out wood-land birds. Flycatchers, warblers, wagtails, kingfishers and many more were friendly.
With a loud call, Stork Billed Kingfisher flew from direction to another. It evaded human interaction. With great difficulty I managed to get a glimpse of it within a thick canopy.
Karnataka Bird Festival was an outstanding gesture by Eco-toursim board to educate people about birds and their habitat. In times of heavy habitat destruction such kind of workshops would create awareness in the community. The two day workshop included talks by eminent wildlife photographers and conservationists which focused only on birds.
I was able to identify and record 84 species of birds in two days. With many lifers and fond memories, I departed Ranganthittu with plans to come back for more birding.
Venue: Ranganthittu Bird Sanctuary.
Location: 5 kms from Srirangapatna, Mysore Road, Karnataka.
Distance from Bangalore: 120kms.
Park & Boating Timings: 8:30 AM to 5:30 PM.
Entry Fee: 50rs per adult (Indian).
Extended Boating session: INR 1000 per boat for 45mins.
Food and Water available inside the park.
Best time to visit: January to May.
Ebird ChecklistEvery year around this time, there’s a flurry of activity in the world’s major meteorological agencies as they prepare to release official global temperature figures for the previous year.
This year, there’s particular interest as it looks likely 2014 will be the hottest year on record.
First out the blocks with the official data was the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA). Earlier this month, |
the football program broadly.”
Cordy said he couldn’t be happier to extend his time at Victoria University Whitten Oval.
“I’ve had some really good support from senior players and coaches, and I’d like to repay the faith, particularly for the effort they’ve put into developing me.”
“It’s an exciting time to be at the Club and I’m just really glad to be on board until 2018.”
Cordy’s father Brian played 124 for the Bulldogs between 1981 and 1988 — the 19-year-old is one of four father-son recruits on the Western Bulldogs’ senior list.HOUSTON – Philippe Senderos’ goals when he signed with the Houston Dynamo in late August were “to play as many matches as possible and to win as much as possible.”
So far, so good.
He only made two starts in as many appearances during the regular season. But now the three-time Swiss World Cup veteran is playing, having started all three playoff matches for Houston. And as far as winning “as much as possible,” his team is one of four left in the hunt for the 2017 MLS Cup.
Senderos, whose resumé consists of clubs most players could only dream of playing at, is no stranger to helping his side to a final. He was part of the Arsenal squad that made the club’s only UEFA Champions League final appearance in 2006, and also won a Community Shield and FA Cup with the Gunners.
He’s also faced a who’s who of legendary forwards, including Ronaldo, Sergio Agüero, Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi. Now he will be tasked with facing one of American soccer’s icons when Houston match up against Clint Dempsey and Seattle Sounders FC in the MLS Western Conference Championship, which opens at BBVA Compass Stadium on Tuesday, Nov. 21 (9:30 pm ET | FS1, FOX Deportes in US, TSN, TVAS in Canada).
“We played together for a few years [at Fulham],” said Senderos of Dempsey. “A dangerous player, very good, and it’s going to be a great match.”
Senderos won’t be the only Swiss making an impact in this series, with 2017 MLS Cup MVP Stefan Frei in goal for the Sounders.
“I don’t know him personally, he’s only played here in the United States, he didn’t play in Switzerland or with the national team,” said Senderos of Frei. “I’ve seen that he’s done a great job here – I'm happy for all the Swiss who do well abroad.”
Another of Senderos’ countrymen thriving in MLS is Montreal Impact midfielder Blerim Dzemaili – who featured in Switzerland’s hard-won victory over Northern Ireland in their UEFA qualifying playoff for a spot at the 2018 FIFA World Cup.
The last time La Nati needed a playoff to qualify, Senderos started in both matches and scored in the first leg against Turkey as Switzerland used the away-goal tiebreaker to advance to Germany 2006 after a 4-4 aggregate goals draw.
“They have a team with a lot of talent, maybe the strongest they’ve had up 'til now,” he said of his national team. “[Dzemaili] is a very good player and has done things very well this year with Montreal, and continues to do so with the national team.”
In the meantime, Senderos is making the most of the international break, having played 300 minutes so far in the Audi 2017 MLS Cup Playoffs. The team captain in the last match, Senderos will look to help keep the Dynamo’s record of zero goals against at home during this postseason intact.
“We had a common goal, and everyone stuck to it; we did a great job,” he said of Houston’s underdog postseason run. “To see that every single person is involved, wants to be involved and helps the other teammates is the best thing we can do. We know that the only way we are going to do something special is if we stick together and work hard.”Apple is said to be introducing high definition audio playback in iOS 8 alongside new versions of its In-Ear Headphones and Lightning connector, according to a report from Mac Otakara Google Translate ).Building off of a report last month which claimed that Apple will announce high-fidelity iTunes music downloads at this year's Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC), the post notes that Apple will enable high-quality audio files to be played on iOS 8 compatible devices.Currently, iOS 7's stock Music app cannot play high quality 24-bit audio files that contain a sampling frequency beyond 48 kHz. Additionally, while third-party apps such as Onkyo's HF Player and FLAC Player are able to play said audio files, users are still limited to onboard playback at a 16-bit rate. Apple is also said to be preparing an upgraded Lightning cable to accommodate high-definition playback on Made For iPhone (MFi) audio accessories, although it isn't clear when the company would introduce the updated wire.Finally, the report notes that Apple is working on a new version of its In-Ear Headphones to accommodate high-quality audio playback. The premium in-ear headphones have not been updated since 2008, however the product is still officially sold by Apple at its retail locations and in its Online Store for $79.Apple is expected to introduce iOS 8 at WWDC 2014, which will kick off on June 2. In addition to potentially enabling high-definition audio playback, the new mobile operating system is expected to include major improvements to Siri and Maps along with a rumored "Healthbook" app that displays various fitness and health-related information.Apple will also likely debut OS X 10.10 at the event, and may introduce Beats Electronics co-founders Jimmy Iovine and Dr. Dre as new senior advisers following a likely forthcoming announcement regarding its acquisition of the audio company.An officer arrests a man, accusing him of pointing a gun at him twice outside a gas station convenience store. But in this case, the man arrested is glad it was all caught on camera. He’s now fighting assault charges, saying surveillance video shows it never happened that way.
"I've never cried so much in my life. It hurts. It hurts," Julian Carmona said.
“There are two sides to every story, and in this case,” Carmona’s attorney Jed Silverman says, "it's night and day."
Carmona is charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon after an off-duty HPD officer accused Carmona of pointing a gun at him twice.
"I said, ‘Sir, I never pointed a gun at you. I promise, I never pointed a gun, check the videos," Carmona said.
The store’s surveillance video shows Carmona pull in quickly behind off-duty Officer William Wright. Carmona says he was hurrying to the bathroom, but when he got out of his truck, his gun dropped out of the car's side pocket.
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Julian Carmona disputes an off-duty HPD officer’s claims that he twice pointed a gun at the officer while in a convenience store parking lot.
"I don't know if I hit it when I opened the door, or hit it with my foot—everything just happened so fast," said Carmona.
In court documents, the officer says Carmona got out of the car holding a gun and pointed it directly at him, then dropped it, picked it up and pointed it again—all in the moment where he's seen turning around.
Wright said he feared for his life and drew his own gun.
"I put my hands up like, ‘Sir,’ I apologized right away,” Carmona said. “’Sir, I apologize,’ because the first thing that come to my mind, I dropped a gun in front of an officer, without even knowing."
At one point, Carmona reached for his concealed carry license, then quickly put his hands back up.
The whole time, his two young kids were sitting in the car.
"He comes behind me, he starts handcuffing me and my son comes out of the truck. That was the last thing I wanted," Carmona said.
Now he's facing a very serious charge for something he says the officer got very wrong.
"But for this video, my client could be one of those that's sitting in prison and is taken away from their family, based on what appears to be a false allegation," Silverman said.
Carmona does have a past record, including a 2007 felony drug possession charge. Investigators are questioning if that invalidates his CHL but his lawyer showed said that he got the charge dismissed through deferred adjudication and cleared a background check for the gun license after that.
Surveillance video from inside the store shows the officer was in the convenience store buying beer, which is against department policy when an officer is still in uniform. HPD is looking into that and the rest of this case.Congratulations, you made it! The glitz and glamour of E3 are behind you, its time to look ahead towards the future, incorporating the promises that have been made in the past. What Im sure most people are still raving about is the Ubisoft press conference and, for the most part, they have good reason to. In my opinion, they were the only presenters to actually talk about video games, at least games anyone cared about. Most notably, as Im sure youre all aware, the biggest announcement of the best press event was, unquestionably, Watch Dogs, and thats what were here to discuss. Though I was not so fortunate as to attend E3 myself this year, I sat on my sofa, watching a livestream like most while a certain sense of jaded anxiety hung overhead. Rayman, woo! I mumbled in a half sarcastic tone while Ubisoft continued to try, with little success, and convince me I wanted a Wii U, but my eyes shot wide when that logo appeared on the big screen. Ubisoft had me in the palm of their hands, I leaned in closer to my computer screen and felt some of that old E3 magic welling up in my chest. The graphics, the concept, the incredibly smooth CQC, by the time the gameplay demo showed Aiden hacking a traffic light to tangle an oncoming target in an accident, Id already hurled all of my money at the screen. Watch Dogs was sexy, new, interesting, on its own, for me, itd already made this years E3 worth watching but then he pulled out that gun.After stuffing all of my money back into my pockets, because thats where I keep all of my money, I began tending to my newly broken heart. Id gone from jaded, to enthralled, to broken, all over the course of fifteen minutes, but despite my emotional exhaustion, I found the strength just hours later to be angry. While trying to avoid the usual video games are too easy rant Im sure youve all heard before, that single moment in the Watch Dogs gameplay trailer summed up what I find wrong with games these days. Ubisoft had a slick and interesting thing on its hands with the hack anything concept they demonstrated during their press conference, why add a gun? Sure, there is something about holding a gun to a groveling mans face that quenches a certain need to dominate that Im sure most have been faced with at least once in their lifetime, but is there no other way? When was the last time a video game you played challenged you to hone some thought process more complex than the best way to level a crosshair at a distant enemys skull? Games like Portal should serve as an example to the mainstream crowd heading into this new generation: if you have something new and interesting put it on the main stage and run with it, do not be afraid to travel off of the beaten path. For now, the gaming industry has reached an awkward place in terms of taking risks. We're at the end of the longest console cycle in history and no one wants to put down money on a "proof of concept" this late in the game, but the injustice done to Watch Dogs is pretty grave. Instead of turning combat into a challenge where players would have to use Aiden's hacking skills in order to gain the upper hand in battle, we are once more pointing cursors at heads. Not to say that another linear point and shoot game wouldn't be fun, but doesn't Watch Dogs and Ubisoft have so much more to offer? In my memory, at least, it's hard to recall any previous title to give players so much control over their environment while maintaining a personal relationship with the main character, Watch Dogs has pulled off a pretty impressive trick. Instead of shooting, why not make gameplay more vertical? Think about it, tapping into phone signals to get an idea of what the enemies up to, manipulating the electrics in a buildings to create distractions and lessen the effectiveness of the enemy even with their guns. It's the type of thing Ubisoft has worked very hard to convey in Assassin's Creed III, and with the more futuristic tools at Aiden's disposal in Watch Dogs, the same thing could be pulled off. That way, combat would be something to really think about before getting into, no more praying and spraying while hitting the X button now and then to switch between cover objects. Combat would challenging, not just another way for the protagonist to show off his ungodly ability to slaughter hordes of enemies without so much as a scraped knee. The next generation is coming, in fact it should be here around this time next year (unless you believe Nintendo is a part of the future in which case the next generation will be here in just a few months), and instead of just making games more visually enticing, why not genuinely make them better? Publishers and developers will get a completely clean slate to work with, and personally, I wouldn't mind a few creative flops while they sketched on said slate in an effort to create something new and amazing. Watch Dogs has, so far, been rumored for a release on the current generation of consoles, and I think Ubisoft has a chance to really make a statement before moving forward. Although I'm excited for games like The Last of Us, and Beyond: Two Souls, Watch Dogs is what I see as having what it takes to create a definitive next generation standard for gameplay, not just visuals or narrative -- though I expect it will have the latter two in spades. What ever it turns out to be, Watch Dogs will, no doubt, be amazing, but if Ubisoft presents this exquisite dish in the same wrappings as every other game on the market, it will be the greatest injustice done in gaming to date.Freedom Wars Will Have A Simultaneous Release In Japan And Asia Regions
By Cheng Kai. January 23, 2014. 2:49pm
At the Taipei Game Show today, SCE Worldwide Studios producer Junichi Yoshizawa announced that Freedom Wars for the PlayStation Vita will launch in Japan and Asian territories simultaneously sometime in 2014.
Not only that, but since Freedom Wars takes place in the not-so-far-flung future of 102013, where nations are replaced by prison cities called Panopticons, at launch players in Asia can also pick to play for their own country in real-life, for the purpose of the online metagame. After the stage presentation, a brief group interview session with Yoshizawa and game designer Toshiyuki Yasui was held for media representatives in attendance.
Siliconera attended the presentation and the very first question we asked was about something we think many of you reading this would be quite anxious about localization plans.
At the stage presentation, you announced that Freedom Wars will launch simultaneously in Japan and Asia. Is that just in Japanese?
Junichi Yoshizawa: The game will be released in Japanese and Chinese.
What about an English version? Will there be one?
JY: At the moment, we’re currently focusing our production efforts on the Asian release, which will come first. As for the game’s release in Western territories, please look forward to hearing the details on that in a future announcement.
What I meant to ask was when the game launches in Asia, will there be an English version?
JY: At the moment, the simultaneous Japan and Asia launch for Freedom Wars planned is for the Japanese and localized Traditional Chinese versions.
Also at the presentation, you talked about the war being waged between different Panopticons to "recapture" from one another, and shared that players in Asia will be able to experience that online. Can you provide more details on that?
JY: Well, at the beginning of the game, players can choose which Panopticon city they belong to. And these cities that they can pick from are the ones we showed you on a map image at the presentation — there’s Taiwan, Malaysia, Singapore, etc.
And then what happens is, to help their city develop, what players can do is log-in and embark on Volunteer missions on a daily basis to recapture from other cities (note: in the game’s universe, every time you embark on a mission, you are considered a Volunteer).
We’ll have more on Freedom Wars soon.The head of Russia's Nuclear Risk Reduction Center said that Russian inspectors will conduct an aerial surveillance flight over Denmark in a Tu-154M-LK-1 surveillance aircraft within the scope of the Treaty on Open Skies.
MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Russian inspectors will conduct an aerial surveillance flight over Denmark in a Tu-154M-LK-1 surveillance aircraft within the scope of the Treaty on Open Skies, the head of Russia's Nuclear Risk Reduction Center said Monday.
"The surveillance flight over Denmark will be carried out between September 12-17, 2016, taking off from the open skies Aalborg Airport and using the Sondre Stremfjord airfield in Greenland to refuel. The maximum flight range will be 5,600 kilometers [3,500 miles]," Sergei Ryzhkov said.
Danish experts will be on board the plane to oversee the observance of treaty clauses, he added, noting that route details have been agreed on.
The Treaty on Open Skies entered into force from 2002, providing for unarmed aerial surveillance flights between member states. With 34 states ratifying the agreement, 27 states are Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) members. Russia ratified the agreement in 2001.Recently by Thomas E. Woods, Jr.: Greenbackers Smear Ron Paul
The past several years have seen a revival of interest in the Austrian School of economics. (For some background on the Austrian School, read this essay and this essay.) I’ve assembled this resource list to help beginners embark on a program of self-education in the Austrian School. I have marked a few titles with ** to indicate their importance.
Many of the books and audiobooks, in addition to all of the articles, that appear on the list below are available to read or listen to online.
An Introduction to Economic Reasoning These books, all relatively short and available online or for purchase, are an excellent starting point for an education in sound economics.
**Economics in One Lesson by Henry Hazlitt; online here and here (.pdf) Essentials of Economics by Faustino Ballve; online here (.pdf) An Introduction to Austrian Economics by Thomas C. Taylor; online here and here (.pdf) Lessons for the Young Economist (for younger readers) by Robert P. Murphy; online here, here (.pdf) and here (ebook)
Another easy-to-understand introduction to economic reasoning is Peter Schiff’s book How an Economy Grows and Why It Crashes.
A useful companion to Hazlitt’s Economics in One Lesson is this series of videos, recorded in July-August 2008, in which various professors comment on each of the book’s chapters — explaining the argument, elaborating on it, and applying it to present conditions. (Need Windows Media Player.)
Video 1: The Lesson Video 2: The Broken Window Video 3: Public Works Mean Taxes Video 4: Credit Diverts Production Video 5: The Curse of Machinery Video 6: Disbanding Troops and Bureaucrats Video 7: Who’s Protected by Tariffs? Video 8: “Parity” Prices Video 9: How the Price System Works Video 10: Minimum Wage Laws Video 11: The Function of Profits Video 12: The Assault on Saving
Here’s an even easier way to watch these videos.
Additional Introductory Reading in Economics The Concise Guide to Economics by Jim Cox; online here and here (.pdf) Making Economic Sense by Murray N. Rothbard Free Market Economics: A Reader by Bettina Bien Greaves Free Market Economics: A Syllabus by Bettina Bien Greaves The Politically Incorrect Guide to Capitalism by Robert P. Murphy The Church and the Market: A Catholic Defense of the Free Economy by Thomas E. Woods, Jr. Whatever Happened to Penny Candy? by Richard J. Maybury (great for homeschoolers) The Revolution: A Manifesto by Ron Paul, ch. 4
Money **What Has Government Done to Our Money? and The Case for a 100 Percent Gold Dollar by Murray N. Rothbard; mp3 audio **The Ethics of Money Production by Jrg Guido Hlsmann (should be read after the title above);.pdf here Gold, Peace, and Prosperity (.pdf) by Ron Paul; mp3 audio “Money, Banking, and the Federal Reserve” (documentary, via Google Video) The Case for Gold by Ron Paul and Lewis Lehrman Money: Sound and Unsound (advanced) by Joseph T. Salerno; online here (.pdf) and here (ebook) The Case Against the Fed by Murray N. Rothbard (.pdf here; audiobook) End the Fed by Ron Paul The Revolution: A Manifesto by Ron Paul, ch. 6 (audiobook) The Gold Standard: Perspectives in the Austrian School, ed. Llewellyn H. Rockwell, Jr.;.pdf here A History of Money and Banking in the United States by Murray N. Rothbard;.pdf here “The Myth of the ‘Independent’ Fed” by Thomas J. DiLorenzo Did Greenspan Deserve Support for Another Term? (.pdf) by Joseph T. Salerno (mp3 audio) “The Path to Sound Money” (mp3 audio) by George Reisman “The Economics of Inflation” (mp3 audio) by George Reisman
The Business Cycle **The Austrian Theory of the Trade Cycle and Other Essays (online here; audiobook here). Meltdown by Thomas E. Woods, Jr. America’s Great Depression, 5th ed. (html here,.pdf here) by Murray N. Rothbard Time and Money: The Macroeconomics of Capital Structure by Roger W. Garrison “Business Cycle Primer” by Llewellyn H. Rockwell, Jr. “My Reply to Krugman on Austrian Business Cycle Theory” by Robert P. Murphy “Sound Money and the Business Cycle” by John P. Cochran “Who Predicted the Bubble? Who Predicted the Crash?” (.pdf) by Mark Thornton “Mises vs. Fisher on Money, Method, and Prediction: The Case of the Great Depression” (.pdf) by Mark Thornton “Predicting Booms and Busts” (mp3 audio) by Mark Thornton “Banking and the Business Cycle” (mp3 audio) by Joseph T. Salerno
Deflation Articles and Monograph: “Deflation and Depression: Where’s the Link?” by Joseph T. Salerno “Apoplithorismosphobia” (.pdf) by Mark Thornton. (Thornton coined the term to refer to the fear of deflation.) “An Austrian Taxonomy of Deflation — With Applications to the U.S. by Joseph T. Salerno Deflation and Liberty by Jrg Guido Hlsmann; audiobook
Audio (in mp3 audio): “On Deflation” by Joseph T. Salerno “The Economics of Deflation” by Jrg Guido Hlsmann “The Gold Standard in Theory and Myth” by Joseph T. Salerno
Advanced Texts in Austrian Economics Man, Economy, and State: A Treatise on Economic Principles by Murray N. Rothbard This version also contains the book Power and Market, which had originally been intended as the concluding section of Man, Economy, and State but was released in 1970 as a separate title. The entire text is also available online here. A study guide is available for purchase and online (.pdf).
Human Action: A Treatise on Economics (read online) by Ludwig von Mises Mises’ magnum opus. A study guide is available for purchase and online (.pdf). I recommend reading Man, Economy, and State first, though some disagree with me.
Money, Bank Credit, and Economic Cycles (.pdf) by Jess Huerta de Soto A sweeping and historic contribution to the literature of the Austrian School, showing how monetary freedom avoids the disadvantages of fiat money, including inflation, business cycles, and financial bubbles.
Foreign Aid and Development Economics Equality, the Third World, and Economic Delusion by Peter Bauer From Subsistence to Exchange and Other Essays by Peter Bauer “The Marshall Plan: Myths and Realities” (.pdf) by Tyler Cowen The Elusive Quest for Growth: Economists’ Adventures and Misadventures in the Tropics by William Easterly “The History of Foreign Aid Programs” (mp3) by Thomas E. Woods, Jr. (These critiques of development aid are not specifically Austrian, but may be of use to those interested in Austrian economics.)
Additional Readings in Austrian Economics The Economics and Ethics of Private Property by Hans-Hermann Hoppe A Theory of Socialism and Capitalism (read online) by Hans-Hermann Hoppe Economic Science and the Austrian Method (read online) by Hans-Hermann Hoppe Praxeology and Understanding: An Analysis of the Controversy in Austrian Economics (read online) by George Selgin
Introduction to Austrian Economic Analysis: A Ten-Lecture Course This course with Professor Joseph Salerno of Pace University, courtesy of the Ludwig von Mises Institute, is available in both video and mp3 audio at the links below. Recommended supplemental reading follows each lecture.
Lecture 1: Scarcity, Choice, and Value — Audio and Video Percy L. Greaves, Jr., Understanding the Dollar Crisis, pp. 1-20, 27-54 Milton M. Shapiro, Foundations of the Market-Price System, pp. 81-113 Thomas C. Taylor, An Introduction to Austrian Economics, pp. 40-51 (ch. 4)
Lecture 2: Exchange and Demand — Audio and Video Shapiro, pp. 31-58, 115-78 Taylor, pp. 12-39 (chs. 2-3) Leonard Read, “I, Pencil”
Lecture 3: The Determination of Prices — Audio and Video Greaves, pp. 65-91 Shapiro, pp. 179-233 Taylor, pp. 52-62 (ch. 5) Murray N. Rothbard, The Mystery of Banking, pp. 15-27 (online pp. 14-23)
Lecture 4: Price Controls: Case Studies — Audio and Video
Lecture 5: Profit, Loss, and the Entrepreneur — Audio and Video Taylor, pp. 74-89 (ch. 7) Ludwig von Mises, “Profit and Loss,” in Mises, Planning for Freedom and Sixteen Other Essays and Addresses, pp. 108-30
Lecture 6: Pricing of the Factors of Production and the Labor Market — Audio Henry N. Sanborn, What, How, For Whom: The Decisions of Economic Organization, pp. 112-85 Taylor, pp. 63-73 (ch. 6) Greaves, pp. 105-32 Murray N. Rothbard, “Restrictionist Pricing of Labor,” in Rothbard, The Logic of Action Two
Lecture 7: Capital, Interest and the Structure of Production — Audio Shapiro, pp. 235-60 Mark Skousen, The Structure of Production, pp. 133-49 Richard Fink, “Economic Growth and Market Processes,” in Fink, ed., Supply-Side Economics: A Critical Appraisal, pp. 372-94
Lecture 8: Competition and Monopoly — Audio Shapiro, pp. 319-72 Sanborn, pp. 62-65 Hans Sennholz, “The Phantom Called ‘Monopoly,'” in Bettina B. Greaves, ed., Free Market Economics: A Basic Reader, pp. 162-69 Sudha R. Shenoy, “The Sources of Monopoly,” in New Individualist Review, pp. 793-96
Lecture 9: Money and Prices — Audio Greaves, pp. 141-67 Rothbard, What Has Government Done to Our Money? pp. 1-96 (online, chs. I-III; online.pdf, pp. 7-48). Rothbard, The Case Against the Fed, pp. 29-69 (or Rothbard, The Mystery of Banking, pp. 77-177; online, pp. 52-108)
Lecture 10: Banking and the Business Cycle — Audio Ludwig von Mises, et al., The Austrian Theory of the Trade Cycle and Other Essays, Read: Garrison, Introduction and Summary; Mises’s essay and Rothbard’s essay. Taylor, ch. 8 (pp. 90-95)
Additional Introductory Lectures in Austrian Economics The Mises University, the Ludwig von Mises Institute’s week-long summer instructional program in Austrian economics, amounts to a crash course on the subject. Consult the Mises University audio archive for many additional lectures.
Reprinted with permission from TomWoods.com.
The Best of Tom Woods(OrganicJar) In earlier days of aviation, flying around the world was the ultimate test of pilots and new aircraft and now in the days of alternative-fueled aviation, it seems that test remains the ultimate challenge. Bertran Piccard, the pilot of the first nonstop, round-the-world balloon flight, hopes to achieve that goal in a solar-powered airplane called the Solar Impulse. The Solar Impulse design was first unveiled in late 2007, but now a working prototype has been developed (with a budget of $94 million). The plane will get a chance to take its first test flight at the end of 2009. The test flight will consist of flight sequences over two days and one night. If successful, the team will start preparing for the round-the-world flight.
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The Impulse is made of carbon fiber, has a wingspan of 63 meters and is covered in 12,000 solar PV cells. The power generated by the solar cells is stored in over 400 kg of batteries, which allow for flying at night. The plane is propelled by four ten-horsepower electric motors. It can't reach great speeds, meaning circling the globe will take a long time, but if it accomplishes such a feat, we'll know that solar-powered air travel (as well as other types of transportation) could have a real future. Source: inhabitat.comBreaking News Emails Get breaking news alerts and special reports. The news and stories that matter, delivered weekday mornings.
Jan. 11, 2017, 10:35 PM GMT / Updated Jan. 12, 2017, 2:13 AM GMT By Tracy Connor and Anna Schecter
When Dubai developer Hussain Sajwani recently told NBC News that he was hoping to enhance his business relationship with the Trump Organization, he wasn't kidding.
President-elect Donald Trump revealed at his press conference Wednesday that Sajwani tried to make a $2 billion deal with him just last weekend.
"And I turned it down," Trump said.
"I didn’t have to turn it down, because as you know, I have a no-conflict situation because I’m president," he added. "It's a nice thing to have, but I don't want to take advantage of something."
Trump has claimed before that presidents cannot have a conflict of interest. That's technically true, since Congress did exempt the president and vice president from conflict of interest laws.
Sajwani's company, DAMAC, confirmed to NBC News that there were discussions in recent days about "a variety of different property deals," but the proposals were rejected.
Sajwani is already a Trump business partner; they collaborated on the Trump International Golf Club, where luxury villas have racked up almost $2 billion in sales, according to Sajwani. At Trump's New Year's Eve party at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida, he gave Sajwani and his family, who were in the audience, a shout-out — calling them "beautiful people."
Related: Dubai Billionaire Ready to Do More Deals With Trumps
After Trump's election, the desert-kingdom developer gave NBC News a tour of the resort and talked about his interest in doing more deals, even as ethics experts were raising concerns about the financial ties Trump family already has to overseas businesses that sometimes have strong links to foreign political leaders.
"I would love to enhance the relation with the Trump Organization," said Sajwani.
Donald and Ivanka Trump with Dubai developer Hussein Sajwani. Masala.com
Sajwani, who is close to the emir of Dubai, spoke in particular about his dealings with Trump's children.
"All his three children are very much involved, and I think under their leadership we will have no issue in expanding and growing and maintaining our business relation," Sajwani said in the interview.
"My wife and Ivanka are very good friends," he added. "They send emails. She's been here to my house. We've been in New York having lunch and dinners with them regularly. And, you know, you enjoy working with somebody — it's not only cold business relation."
Ethics experts have expressed concern about potential conflicts of interest in sensitive areas like the Middle East. Sajwani brushes off those concerns.
He says there's no reason to be worried about the nexus of his close relationship with the emir of Dubai and his financial links to the next occupant of the Oval Office.
"I am not involved in any political issues or positions," Sajwani said. "My relation with my highness is purely as a citizen of this country."
But Danielle Brian, executive director of the Project for Government Oversight, a nonprofit accountability organization, said that, such assurances aside, Trump's international money-makers and his family's continued involvement in the company mean the new president "is going to have divided loyalties."
"He's now going to be pursuing U.S. foreign policy, with an eye to the fact that it may be impacting his family's financial interests," Brian said. "And this is not only a case of what we perceive. It's going to be what the rest of the world is perceiving."
Trump announced at Wednesday's press conference that his sons, Eric and Donald Jr., will run his business while he is in office. His daughter, Ivanka, whose husband has been named a senior advisor to the president, will remove herself from management of the business, it was announced.
Trump also pledged that his company will no longer make any foreign deals.
"We’re in many, many countries, and I’m very proud of it," he said.WebGL is a new web technology that brings hardware-accelerated 3D graphics to the browser without installing additional software. As WebGL is based on OpenGL and brings in a new concept of 3D graphics programming to web development, it may seem unfamiliar to even experienced Web developers.
Packed with many examples, this book shows how WebGL can be easy to learn despite its unfriendly appearance. Each chapter addresses one of the important aspects of 3D graphics programming and presents different alternatives for its implementation. The topics are always associated with exercises that will allow the reader to put the concepts to the test in an immediate manner.
WebGL Beginner's Guide presents a clear road map to learning WebGL. Each chapter starts with a summary of the learning goals for the chapter, followed by a detailed description of each topic. The book offers example-rich, up-to-date introductions to a wide range of essential WebGL topics, including drawing, color, texture, transformations, framebuffers, light, surfaces, geometry, and more. With each chapter, you will “level up” your 3D graphics programming skills. This book will become your trustworthy companion filled with the information required to develop cool-looking 3D web applications with WebGL and JavaScript.Untold Stories and the Maternity Portrait
As a birth and family photographer I can say that I have never really put myself out there to my clients as I will today. I photograph birth, I photograph families. I have never captured maternity until now.
Here is why;
I have always felt my body is broken and wrong since I can remember. I was born with a cleft lip, which was provided me a constant reminder when I looked in the mirror that I was not born ‘normal’. Later in my life, long after the scars from the surgeries healed, I was in a constant war with my body. Countless surgeries; knees, tonsils, gallbladder … my stomach was sending me to the Emergency Room all through college.
I got through it all with the belief that there was just something seriously broken about my body. When I was in a place in my life to conceive, it was no surprise to me that after another surgery to clean out my endometriosis, I found out I had a bicornuate uterus. A bicornuate uterus or bicornate uterus, commonly referred to as a “heart-shaped” uterus, is a type of uterine malformation where two “horns” form at the upper part of the uterus. I was then force fed terms like; recurrent pregnancy loss, preterm birth, malpresentation and deformity. I thought it was a sign from the universe that I was the last person who should be procreating. I hated my body even more. Doctors had already told me that with my endometriosis, it would be hard to conceive.
The war with my body waged. I started looking at adopting, considering my options with my husband.
I was later surprised by a pregnancy when we for all intense and purposes were not even trying yet. I spent the first 12 weeks sure we would lose the baby. I begged my husband not to tell anyone – even his own parents. I rejected the idea my body would make me happy.
At our first ultrasound I sat with my legs in the air and goose bumps all over my body. I even told the nurse I was terrified of a loss and expected it. I was half excited and half trying to be ‘realistic’. The nurse moved the “wand” around and around… then looked up at me and asked me to go empty my bladder – “maybe it would help her see better.” I awkwardly got off the table and my husband helped me get my clothes back on. I walked down the |
."
Then he understood. "Garan, you sly Muaka! You didn't remind me of our match today!"
"I'd hoped you'd remember. But your brain is getting fuller and fuller of dust these days. Or should I say, Earth?"
"Indeed it is."
"Are you still willing to go ahead?"
"I would not miss this chance for the world."
The event had actually been anticipated for quite some time now. Turaga versus Toa, the match of the century (at least, it was in this town). The sparring of the Glatorian age lived on, only with slightly modified rules to prevent unnecessary deaths.
"Everybody LISTEN UP!" An outspoken Glatorian, who strongly emphasized certain words, acted as the commentator. "The combantants are limited to the CIRCLE of VILLAGERS!"
Onua took off his Turaga's cloak and flexed his body. To his surprise, it felt young and vibrant.
"The WINNER is the first PERSON to KNOCK OUT their OPPONENT, or FORCE a CONCESSION! FIGHTERS may use any tool at their disposal, but the moment ONE uses it, the OTHER can, TOO! This includes WEAPONS, or MASK POWERS, or ELEMENTAL POWERS!"
The Turaga stood as tall as he could, but he was still only half Garan's height.
"FIIIIIIIGHT!" The commentator stopped here, gasping for breath from his exuberant display.
The combantants circled the ring, opposite each other, fists raised defensively. Garan threw a punch at Onua's head; he ducked and an Agori leaped back to avoid being hit. He threw a few more punches, all of which were dodged, and Garan looked perplexed that he could not score a hit.
Quick as a wink, Onua grabbed the Toa's right leg and yanked it from under him. Garan fell to the ground, and appeared to have had the wind knocked out of him. The village cheered.
Garan got to his feet. "Turaga! Is that your Mask of Strength I feel in use?"
"Indeed it is," chuckled Onua. "I'm surprised you keep that Ruru."
"It comes in handy sometimes," answered Garan. He shouted behind him, "Weapons!" Someone threw his Pulse Bolt Generators into the ring. At the same time, someone threw Onua his adaptive weapon, which was at present a simple black sword. Onua was encouraged when it reformed into the multi-resistant shield he had possessed in Karda Nui.
Garan fired a few test shots. The shield dissipated them nicely. He drew farther away from Onua, so the bolts would be larger, and fired a ring of them such that Onua could not hope to dodge or block them all.
Onua jumped into the air overtop of the pulses and threw his shield at Garan's head. The power of his noble Kanohi Pakari knocked Garan to the ground once more. The great mask would probably have taken off the head.
The Toa of Earth got to his feet once more. "You're tougher than you look," Garan said, sounding a touch fatigued.
"Even after all these years?" Onua allowed himself to feel a bit of cavalier attitude. "I haven't—"
Suddenly Garan was upon him, striking blow after blow with the Generators. Onua defended well, but a mighty blow came, and the shield fell away. Onua simply tore the generators from Garan's hands and threw them out of the ring.
Then he pushed the Toa back to the other side, so once again they were on the sides on which they had stood at the beginning.
"Ready to give up yet, Turaga?" asked Garan.
"On the contrary," said Onua. "I'd won from the beginning of the fight."
The ground cracked underneath Garan's feet. The villagers, not knowing what was about to happen, stepped back in precaution.
The Toa of Earth tried to run to the safe side of the ring, but he made it only two steps before the entire side of the ring crumbled. He fell into a very deep hole.
From the beginning of the fight, Onua had been subtly using his elemental powers to weaken that ground. Only now had he pulled the trigger.
"Will he live?" someone in the crowd asked.
"Of course. That fall's not deep enough to kill him."
Then everything went wrong.
Garan burst out of the ground, arms extended at his sides, standing on a swirling column of earth. Onua pulled at it with all the elemental might he could muster, but he did not have very much as a Turaga.
Garan pointed his arms forward, and the column sped towards his unfortunate foe. It lowered quickly as he approached, so that he struck an uppercut that threw Onua two bios into the air.
Onua landed, and got to his feet very unsteadily. But Garan raised his arms once more, and a dust storm enveloped the ring. There were coughs from the spectators. Onua shielded his eyes and shouted, "Where are you?"
He was answered with a punch to the back of his head. He swiped at where he thought it had come from and received a blow in his side. Then a rain of blows came from all directions, such that he could not defend even with the mask. In a last, desperate attempt, he made a random leap into the air to escape, aided by the mask.
Something caught him by the throat, and slammed him into the ground.
The storm cleared, and there stood Garan, with a grand smirk on his face.
"I told you the Ruru comes in handy." He released his foe's throat.
Onua did not get up. He lay there panting, eyes darting from side to side.
"Turaga?"
All the villagers, looking at him with concern, like he needed to be cared for...
"Are you alright?"
Onua jumped to his feet, feeling weak even with the Mask of Strength aiding him. He picked up his cloak from the ground, put it back on, and ran. Was this even running? It felt more like waddling...oh, dear...how old he was...
The sky above, the sea below,
A search all of this through
The task complete they celebrate
When horrors unfold anew
For most of the afternoon, the Turaga sat in silence in his chambers.
After about three hours, the door creaked open behind him. "Turaga Onua?" said Garan.
Onua looked up from the ground, but said nothing.
"Turaga, I lost control. I forgot to see you as a friend and not an enemy in the fight. I—"
"Garan," interrupted Onua. "I want you to end Gali's torment."
"I'm sorry for—"
"Do it now!" Onua said, raising his voice a little. Then he sighed a deflated sigh. "No, that's not right. Send a bunch of messengers. Or find a Kakama, or something. Just send the word as far as you can across Spherus Magna. Let anyone who wishes to see her come here by nightfall. You were right, Garan. I will not have her suffer any longer."
Garan thought for a minute. "If they object, as you once did?"
"Tell them that I was appointed as Gali's guardian, so it is my decision in her incompetence."
"Understood." Garan left.
Onua now bowed his head and did something almost no one ever did. He prayed to Mata Nui. He did not know if they heard, or if it was all in his head, but in his desperation it did not matter.
"Long ago, Great Spirit, you descended from the heavens to watch over us. You were always there. You protected us, you gave your life for us, but then you left us alone in fear of your own power.
"I was once one of your protectors, intended to save your life and awaken you. Now I am an old fool, a fraction of my former self even with this mask to give me strength. Yet I am warden of one who could be far more powerful than I, my dearest sister Gali.
"Many years ago, fate saw it fit to cut her enjoyable existence short. What remained of her was pain, a pain that seeped into my heart as much as it seeped into hers. Her suffering is mine, Great Spirit. I want both to end.
"I ask that my life be taken in place of hers, and that she recover. For I am slowly losing my will to fight, yet she has been fighting death for millenia.
"And if nothing else, I ask for the strength to make it through this day."
Onua opened his eyes. Garan had left his door partially open, and light shone through it.
The prize and goal have made themselves
A life to take a stand.
In conflict great a world reborn
Peace speaks from fire's hand.
Onua stood at the entrance to the town, watching the sun slip below the horizon. Garan had not returned. In fairness, he had had very little time...but the deadline had been clear.
He was about to cease his watch and attend to Gali a little longer when he saw something on the horizon. A glint of black that was not usually there. Was it Garan? He yelled for a telescope, and someone brought him a noble Mask of Vision.
No, it wasn't Garan—it was an Onu-Matoran Onua had never seen before. Then three Glatorian came striding into view—two of them were Gresh and Kiina! Then Garan appeared, and then...could it be...
Pohatu Nuva, and Tahu Mata. The last of his team had come.
A crowd of about thirty new beings descended upon the small town to say goodbye to one of the most famous Toa of all time. Almost the entire population of the town had roused themselves as well. Other turnouts included Toa Hahli, Turaga Matau and Nokama, at least ten Ga-Matoran, and most incredibly of all, Artakha. Onua had to bow on seeing him arrive, but his creator refused to accept this and told him to rise.
"I brought Gali into existence, and I would like to see her out of it. With your permission, Turaga, I will accompany Garan for the deed."
"Granted. Have you contacted Kopaka?"
"I have. He was silent for a long time when I told him, and then expressed his disapproval."
"I understand that it will be hard for some to let go." Garan tapped Onua on the shoulder. "Excuse me.
"Did anyone object to my decision?" asked the Turaga.
"Surprisingly, no. Her condition is well-known, as you might imagine, so it seems that they all think you're making a good decision." Onua nodded. "You should know that there were many others who wanted to make the trip, but had other obligations."
There were many other greeting and reunions, but they are not part of this story.
Onua stood at the front of the Grand Court and addressed the assembly. "Attention, everyone. If you would all line up, single file, at Gali's hut, you will each be allowed thirty seconds to pay your respects to her."
The process took about half an hour. Onua stood on one side of the bed; Garan stood at the door. Each new mourner stood opposite Onua on the bed.
"You saved my life in the war," said the Onu-Matoran. "I know you saved so many lives and were never repaid."
Pohatu took the Toa of Water's hand in his. "Once, I almost killed Takanuva and you prevented me. You were always so trusting...we were all so trusting in those days." He seemed lost in memory, and for just a moment, his face brightened into the Pohatu of old. Then his time expired, and it was gone.
"You were more than just a fighter. You were a friend," sobbed Hahli, laying a wreath of flowers around the Toa's head.
"Here's to the protection, the great protection, you gave us all," said Matau. He had chosen to go together with Nokama, who sang a haunting song in another language that still moved Onua.
When Tahu's turn came, he entered the hut, looked down at Gali, and laid his hand on her. He stayed like that, expressionless, until his time was up.
Artakha did not participate.
When the time finally came, Onua left the hut. He could not bear to be inside; he was too weak for that. Instead he waited outside with the rest of the crowd. The sun was fully set by now, so many carried lightstones, which cast many shadows all across the town.
"Quick and painless, that's all I asked him," Onua muttered to himself. "Quick and painless."
The crowd suddenly seemed pressing, and too much for him. He elbowed his way between Tahu and Kiina, and sat on the steps of his chambers, unwilling to see even the hut.
A prolonged silence followed. Onua wanted the tension to break, and then...
The entire crowd vanished. Disappeared into thin air.
Onua wanted to get up, to confirm that he was seeing what he thought he was seeing, but his muscles failed him.
Then, striding out of the hut, came Gali.
"Sister!" he exclaimed. "Are you—"
She saw no sign of hearing him and continued walking halfway across the town's main street before she shouted, "ONUA!"
"I..see you, Gali?" he said, taken aback.
She seemed not to hear him. "Onua! Hear me! Though you cannot know it, I am fully aware. I heard all that was said to me, and whatever Garan chooses will cause only more pain. I cannot die!"
"No." Onua was too shocked to move.
"You must stop them! You must stop them before it is too—AAAAAHHHH!" As she screamed, her body became tainted, as if with earth, until she dissolved to the ground, a mud puddle.
This was enough for the Turaga. He leapt from his seat and raced forward, shouting "STOP!"
"Turaga!" Someone grabbed his arm, pulling him to a halt.
The spell was broken. It was Gali's caretaker who held him now.
"I...what...where did everyone go?"
"Some started the journey back to Bara Magna, some took up residence in the town's inn, some are camping outside the town, and the residents went back home."
Onua was not physically exhausted, but he had a strange feeling that he should be. "What...what happened after I sat on the steps?"
"Garan came out and said it was done"—here Onua exhaled a sigh of both relief and guilt—"and the crowd had a moment of silence, then everybody went their separate ways. But when they tried to talk to you, you seemed to be in a trance. We didn't have a Suletu handy, so we just let you be. It's been almost four hours."
Onua broke free of the Agori's grip and raced to where Gali may or may not have stood moments ago. The ground was slightly damp.
"Turaga, it's as hard for me as it was for you. I took care of her for thousands of years. I...I actually wonder if I'll be able to find employment elsewhere."
"Yes, that's right. You're still in my employ, aren't you? Very well. As my second last order to you, I want you to sleep in my chambers tonight. No sense in staying with Gali now, is there? I have a spare bed somewhere, if you'll help me haul it out."
The former caretaker looked a little quizzical, but said, "As you wish, Turaga."
"I'll be needing you in the morning."
-------------------------------
Onua sat in a chair in front of a roaring fire, covered by a blanket. What an eventful day it had been. And there were a million more like it to come.
Yes, I am weak, he thought to himself. I am a silly old Turaga indeed. But if it is weakness that destiny demands of me, than I accept that. My prayers were answered. And I had the strength to make it through today.
Today. The word echoed in his mind as he dozed off. Today.
Many images flashed rapidly through the Turaga's mind as he faded: his hands on Lewa's shoulders, six evil beings and a clod of earth, an explosion in a swamp. When they finally stopped, he was in a world that lacked form and boundaries, but retained colour. And the first thing he saw was two welcoming masses, one green, one blue.
Author's Commentary
I spent, like, four days working on this.
It's a commentary on the process of Toa-Turaga, and how it affects Toa. Like, becoming a Turaga doesn't suddenly make you wise.
At least it's part that. The point is that Onua is grieving himself as well as Gali. He goes through the five stages in the day: depression (the beginning), bargaining (Trefanus and Kupma, and his prayer), denial (the sparring match), anger (his vision of Gali, sort of), and acceptance (the end), which explains the title.
Yes, that's Lewa and Gali at the end.
I am aware that Matoran Universe beings who die on Spherus Magna may still be teleported to the Red Star. Onua just chose not to; his spirit lacked the will to carry on.
I am aware that I might not have been faithful to Garan's canonical character, but I needed a Matoran of Earth for the story and I've always thought Garan would make a good Toa.A man gestures as he walks past a billboard-sized photo of the Tesla Model S car, outside the boarded-up Tesla's first China flagship showroom in Beijing. Reuters
Electric car maker Tesla Motors’s new Chinese-language website has been creating buzz online—but not because of the merchandise.
The recently launched site has the same look and feel as the company’s American site, apart perhaps from the preponderance of red cars. The color is auspicious in China.
What’s feeding the chatter is the URL for the Chinese site—tuosule.cn.
Because the site doesn’t give a Chinese-character equivalent, Tesla has left it largely up to website users to conjure up what the characters in Chinese might be.
One possibility is 拓速乐,with its positive connotations of “expanded speed and happiness.” That’s the official Chinese name of Tesla’s China sales unit.
But some wags online have devised other Chinese character combinations for tuosule, including 脱俗了. That is commonly translated as “refined” but literally means “shedding vulgarity” to “leaving vulgarity behind”—a name that suggests new money or commoners putting on airs.
Tesla’s URL has elicited some ribbing on popular microblogging websites such as Sina’s Weibo.
“A high-end, gracious, classy car is positioned as diaosi,” wrote one blogger, using a puerile term that roughly translate into “loser.”
“The name is improper. It makes a premium car with prices starting from 500,000 yuan sound like a luggage rack worth a few thousand yuan,” wrote another.
Tesla still hasn’t revealed its Chinese-character name for its car. That could partly be because Chinese businessman Zhan Baosheng already registered the transliteration of Tesla (特斯拉), which doesn’t have any obvious meaning or connotation. Tesla does use the characters on its Weibo account.
A Tesla spokeswoman declined to answer questions, saying only that the company began taking reservations from customers in August via email and said it had plans to open a store in Beijing this year.
Mr. Zhan also registered the domain names tesla.cn, tesla.com.cn and teslamotors.com.cn.
Chinese buyers can order Model S and Model X versions of the Tesla by placing a down payment of 250,000 yuan (around $41,000). Delivery is scheduled for next year.
--Colum Murphy and Fanfan Wang, with contributions from Rose Yu. Follow Colum on Twitter @Colum_M.
Follow @ChinaRealTime on Twitter for the latest updates.November 16, 2017 | 1:53pm
WICHITA, Kan. — A Muslim student-athlete who refused to observe the national anthem for religious reasons at a basketball game at a western Kansas college has been kicked off the team.
That has ignited concerns over whether Garden City Community College violated the civil rights of 19-year-old Rasool Samir, who continued shooting balls during the anthem Nov. 1, leading to a confrontation with a fan who accused him of disrespecting the flag.
The college says Samir was dismissed for a team rules violation, because he did not leave the court with his teammates when the anthem was played. Samir said he was not protesting, according to the the Garden City Telegram, which obtained a letter from the American Civil Liberties Union saying, “he refrained from participating in the anthem because he is a Muslim and his faith prohibits acts of reverence to anything but God.”
During the Garden City Community College opener, Samir kept shooting as fans stood, honoring the flag. According to the Telegram, a fan came out of the stands after “The Star-Spangled Banner” and confronted him, leading to an argument and a campus police officer separating them. Samir was escorted off the court and the fan, Jim Howard, went back to his seat with applause from some in the stands.
“I’ve had enough of disrespecting our flag,” Howard told the newspaper. “I’ve been raising money for 32 years for this college, trying to help pay for scholarships for these kids. If they’re not going to respect our flag, then they need to get off of our campus and out of Garden City.”
The ACLU has voiced concern that Samir may have been disciplined for exercising his First Amendment rights. It’s still gathering information and hasn’t decided whether to sue.Imagine if people from Kansas and California were as genetically distinct from each other as someone from Germany is from someone from Japan. That’s the kind of remarkable genetic variation that scientists have now found within Mexico, thanks to the first fine-scale study of human genetic variation in that country. This local diversity could help researchers trace the history of the country’s different indigenous populations and help them develop better diagnostic tools and medical treatments for people of Mexican descent living all over the world.
The team has done a “tremendous job” of creating a “blueprint of all the genetic diversity in Mexico,” says Bogdan Pasaniuc, a population geneticist at the University of California (UC), Los Angeles, who was not involved in the research.
Mexico contains 65 different indigenous ethnic groups, 20 of which are represented in the study, says Andrés Moreno-Estrada, a population geneticist at Stanford University in Palo Alto, California, and the study’s lead author. Working with Carlos Bustamante, another Stanford population geneticist, the team sampled the genomes of indigenous populations all over Mexico, from the northern desert of Sonora to the jungles of Chiapas in the south. Over centuries of living so far apart—and often in isolation because of mountain ranges, vast deserts, or other geographic barriers—these populations developed genetic differences from one another, Bustamante explains. Many of these variants are what he calls “globally rare but locally common.” That is, a genetic variant that’s widespread in one ethnic group, like the Maya, may hardly ever show up in people of different ancestry, like people of European descent. If you study the genomes of only the Europeans, you’d never catch the Maya variant. And that’s a big problem for people with Maya ancestry if that variant increases their risk of disease or changes the way they react to different kinds of medication. “All politics is local, right? What we’re starting to find is that lots of genetics is local, too,” Bustamante says.
When the team analyzed the genomes of 511 indigenous individuals from all over Mexico, they found a striking amount of genetic diversity. The most divergent indigenous groups in Mexico are as different from each other as Europeans are from East Asians, they report online today in Science. This diversity maps onto the geography of Mexico itself. The farther away ethnic groups live from each other, the more different their genomes turn out to be.
But most people in Mexico or of Mexican descent these days are not indigenous but rather mestizo, meaning they have a mixture of indigenous, European, and African ancestry. Do their genomes also vary by what region of Mexico they come from, or has all that local variation been smoothed out by centuries of different groups meeting, mixing, and having babies?
To answer that question, the team collaborated with Mexico’s National Institute of Genomic Medicine, which has been collecting genetic data from mestizos for many years. Somewhat surprisingly, they found that mestizos in a given part of Mexico tended to have the same “rare” genetic variants as their indigenous neighbors. The mestizo genomes “track so well with the indigenous groups that we could use the genetic diversity in mestizos to make inferences about [their native] ancestors,” Pasaniuc says. Strong genetic markers of Maya ancestry, for example, show up in the genomes of modern people living in the Yucatán Peninsula and the northern part of Mexico’s Gulf Coast in the modern state of Veracruz, which likely reflects a pre-Columbian Maya trade or migration route. “It gives us a historical understanding of what these populations have been up to,” says Christopher Gignoux, a postdoc in Bustamante’s group at Stanford.
Even more important are the study’s clinical implications. To determine whether the genetic variation in Mexico could influence disease risk and the accuracy of diagnostic tools, Esteban Burchard, a pulmonologist at UC San Francisco, analyzed how a common measure of lung function tracks with Mexico’s genetic variation. He found that people with genetic variants common in the east of the country had different results on the lung function test than did people with variants from the west. That means doctors probably shouldn’t be using the same criteria to diagnose lung disease in both populations, he says. “What we demonstrated is that depending upon the type of Native American ancestry you have, it can dramatically influence the diagnosis of lung disease, in a good or a bad way,” Burchard explains.
Lung function is just one example of the ways in which Mexico’s fine-scale genetic variation could be affecting disease and diagnosis, the team says. For Bustamante, this wealth of potential clinical applications made the study particularly exciting to be a part of. “Let’s move beyond the questions we tend to focus on in population genetics and really try to tackle how we’re going to think about translating this” in ways that modern people can benefit from.
*Correction, 13 June, 11:28 a.m.: Mexico contains 65 different indigenous ethnic groups, not 55, as was previously reported. This has been corrected.Official data are starting to reveal what close observers have suspected for some time. Layoffs are increasing. Unemployment is on the rise. It now stands at a four-year high of 5.7 percent, which is not high by historical standards, but it stings when you consider that the rate dipped below 4 percent in the late 1990s.
What worries people is the trend line. This is the seventh straight month of reported job declines.
Job instability is the number one factor that leads to public panic. It is more pressing than stock-price declines, general price increases, and a host of other bad trends, because it hits people in the most direct way by threatening to end the flow of money that puts bread on the table.
Don't blame the employers. They are faced with making cutbacks wherever possible. They have to worry about surviving in the downturn. It is not only labor costs that must be cut. Cutbacks must occur in every area.
In the past, we've seen policy intervention designed to do exactly the opposite of what needs to be done. The most typical is an expansion of unemployment benefits, and both parties have already agreed to this regrettable step. Such benefits amount to telling a lie to people, that they can continue to hold out for higher wages when the most important step workers can make is to lower their offering prices for labor on the market.
But, you say, it is unrealistic to expect people to devalue their work by lowering their wage expectations. If so, there is another way to go about the same thing: lower the costs of hiring on the market. The costs of employment to the employer go way beyond the wages and salaries they pay.
Among them are payroll taxes, of which the employer must absorb half, at least in an accounting sense. Once you add Social Security with Medicare with unemployment with workmen's comp, the employer ends up paying about 10% of labor costs in taxes. The laborer also pays 6.2 percent. But these accounting divisions are purely formal. In an economic sense, the laborer ultimately pays the full tax. But the point is that there is no choice about this. If someone is hired, there must be a tax premium built into the cost of hiring this person, and this is before the worker has added any value at all to the work of the enterprise in question.
The payroll tax is a tax on employment because it is a forced price increase in the wage that everyone hopes to gain. If we eliminated this, we would see the costs of hiring plummet, and the benefit would be experienced directly and immediately by the worker. The worker would not have to lower wage and salary expectations. Instead of paying the government, the worker would be able to add that money to his or her own remunerative calculus.
Another tax on employment comes in the form of mandatory provisions of health insurance for firms of a certain size and employment of a certain time. With the costs of health care having risen beyond belief, this is a serious impediment to hiring. Employees tend to think of health insurance as a free benefit or even a right, but this is an illusion. The money paid comes out of the paycheck. Almost all employees would be better off arranging for their own private medical insurance or taking the risk upon themselves. The new demand for individual provision would make the market for health insurance more competitive and bring down prices. It would also increase the incentive of people to take better care of themselves, since the perception of "free" health care creates a moral hazard.
Another great step would be to eliminate the minimum wage. What this would do is decontrol the prices of labor in general. It would permit workers the freedom to offer their services at any rate privately negotiated between the employee and the employer. The minimum wage merely puts a floor on wages that reduces their flexibility on the market. It acts like any price control: in this case, it creates a surplus of labor services that go unpurchased. It outlaws some jobs.
There are other costs of hiring that are very high but ultimately incalculable. Discrimination law has gone from being a relatively clear (though ultimately wrongheaded) rule against racial and sexual discrimination to become a legal minefield that just boggles the mind. Once you consider the entire panoply of restricted "grounds" of discriminating, every single employee becomes a walking lawsuit.
The risks to hiring anyone are huge. It is no longer possible to imagine hiring full-time employees without feeling as if you are likely to be stuck with these people no matter how they perform and no matter what turn economic conditions take. On the margin, this makes employers far more risk averse to hiring anyone, especially in risky times. If regulators, bureaucrats, judges, and juries would back off here, we would see a great increase in employee mobility and new willingness on the part of every firm to take on new employees.
Now, the problem immediately presents itself. What will the poor government do if it is denied all this revenue? What will become of workers' rights if government ceases to protect victimized workers from nasty employers? Well, here is the problem. The choice right now is not between a high-paying job with lots of benefits and a low-paying job with no benefits. The choice for many is coming down to having a job or not having one. As for government revenue to sustain transfer programs, I say tough: let the public sector suffer for a change.
A dramatic initiative to lower the costs of hiring could end up having great effects. It could wean us from the World War II–era mistake of pushing the costs of health care onto employers. It could force a desperately needed reform of Medicare and Social Security. It would shift the locus of control over employment contracts from government to those affected most directly by those contracts: namely, the individual workers and the firms for which they work.
Of course what you read here is roughly the opposite of current policy trends, which are to increase rather than reduce the costs of hiring. This is how government ends up taking a bad situation and making it worse, which is what it has done consistently throughout history. This won't change until the public makes its demands known to the elites.
The best anti-recession slogan right now would be: Lower Labor Costs Now!A Look at Copyright Enforcement Agreements
For close to 20 years, online copyright enforcement has taken place under a predictable set of legal rules, based around taking down allegedly infringing material in response to complaints from rights holders. In the United States, these rules are in Section 512 of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), and in Europe they are part of the E-Commerce Directive. In a nutshell, both sets of rules protect web platforms from liability for copyright infringement for material that they host, until they receive a formal notice about the claimed infringement from the copyright holder. This system is imperfect, and has resulted in many mistaken or bad faith takedowns. But as imperfect as the rules are, the fact that they are established by law at least means that they are pretty clear and well understood. That may be about to change.
Around the world, big media lobbyists are pushing for changes to the way copyright is enforced online, and they're focusing on new codes of conduct or industry agreements, rather than new laws. In particular, we have written in depth about Europe's plans to force platforms to enter into private agreements with copyright holders to filter files that users upload to the web, something that copyright holders would also like to see done in the United States. They're pushing this new upload filtering mandate through private agreements to avoid the long and divisive process of developing such requirements through laws debated in parliaments, regulations made on public record, or a balanced multi-stakeholder process.
The problem with this approach is that the more that we rely on private agreements to create a regime of content regulation, the less transparent and accountable that regime becomes. That's why EFF is highly skeptical of this backdoor approach to regulating, which we call Shadow Regulation. Copyright enforcement measures through Shadow Regulation are taking shape around the world. Here are a few examples:
Tracking peer to peer downloads
The United Kingdom is about to launch a new industry program that requires participating ISPs to deliver educational emails to users who are accused of using their connection to share copyright infringing files. This program is the UK's equivalent of the United States' Copyright Alert System, and just like that system, it subjects users to intrusive tracking of their online behavior by the private agents of copyright holders. Unlike the U.S. system, the educational emails to users will not result in any action to slow or suspend the accounts of accused users.
The United Kingdom is about to launch a new industry program that requires participating ISPs to deliver educational emails to users who are accused of using their connection to share copyright infringing files. This program is the UK's equivalent of the United States' Copyright Alert System, and just like that system, it subjects users to intrusive tracking of their online behavior by the private agents of copyright holders. Unlike the U.S. system, the educational emails to users will not result in any action to slow or suspend the accounts of accused users. DNS blocking
Since 2015, Portugal has had a code of voluntary enforcement for copyright infringement that requires ISPs to institute DNS-level blocking of allegedly copyright-infringing websites. No court order is required to verify the websites put forward for blocking, which are identified by copyright associations and rubber-stamped by Portugal's General Inspection of Cultural Activities (IGAC). If this sounds a little like SOPA, you'd be right—and it's even worse because it wasn't passed by elected Portuguese lawmakers, but by a shadowy private agreement.
Since 2015, Portugal has had a code of voluntary enforcement for copyright infringement that requires ISPs to institute DNS-level blocking of allegedly copyright-infringing websites. No court order is required to verify the websites put forward for blocking, which are identified by copyright associations and rubber-stamped by Portugal's General Inspection of Cultural Activities (IGAC). If this sounds a little like SOPA, you'd be right—and it's even worse because it wasn't passed by elected Portuguese lawmakers, but by a shadowy private agreement. Privatized notice and takedown
Numerous other countries including Belgium [PDF, French], Malaysia, and South Africa, have industry codes of conduct detailing procedures for the removal of allegedly unlawful content by Internet content hosts. In some cases this includes copyrighted material, and in other cases it's reserved only for other types of unlawful content (for example, Europol’s Internet Referral Unit focuses on the voluntary removal of terrorist material). Because these removals are negotiated under a private and notionally "voluntary" agreement, they are not subject to judicial review as removals ordered by a court would be.
These agreements, and others like them, have established a bad precedent, giving a veneer of respectability to the movement in Europe to establish upload filtering system through similar "voluntary" agreements. Indeed, the more we rely on such private agreements to construct our copyright enforcement system, the more difficult it becomes to push back against further such agreements and to demand that copyright enforcement take place within a predictable, balanced, and accountable legal framework.
Copyright enforcement online is already plenty tough already, and the level of infringement that remains poses no real threat to the record profits of the movie and music industries. Therefore, there's no need for new copyright enforcement measures at all—indeed, dealing with the problems of the enforcement measures that we already have is keeping EFF busy enough.
But, the reality is that proposals for more copyright enforcement measures are already on the table in Europe, and looming in the United States. If we have to face such new copyright enforcement proposals, we would much rather do this in a forum that is inclusive, balanced and accountable than by having these proposals emerge fully-formed from an impenetrable black box, negotiated by industry insiders and lobbyists. Shadow Regulation is never an appropriate mechanism for crafting new copyright enforcement rules. If new rules ever become necessary, their only legitimacy can come from the inclusion of user representatives and other affected stakeholders at every step of the process.Canadians use far too much energy and water, and they |
the US keep making apparently unconditional commitments to a country that generates so much anti-American sentiment? Why would it so effusively praise a right-wing government that is openly working against the two-state solution favored by most of the rest of the world? Isn’t this bad strategy? John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt have tried to answer this question by suggesting that a powerful “Israel Lobby” operating in the US has successfully pressured the US government into acting against its true interests. Though Bacevich doesn’t specifically endorse the Mearsheimer-Walt thesis, his emphasis on the bad effects of big money and an unchecked executive place him in a similar position of blaming distorting influences for the strategic contradiction.
As a political conservative looking to criticize the kind of military excesses that are usually identified with the right, Bacevich employs the rhetoric of a moderate Republican governor campaigning for President. America needs to put its own house in order by “restoring effectiveness to self-government” and finding “something to hold in common of greater moment than shallow digital enthusiasms and the worship of celebrity.” The long war is something that the US “can ill afford.” That sort of thing. But because this kind of temperamental centrism likes to congratulate itself on being reality-based, on paying attention to details and facts on the ground, it can undersell the role that ideology plays in determining what a country chooses to do with its soldiers and guns and planes. Bacevich shows that the United States really does overestimate the depth of its historical insight and the power of its military to pave the way for future peace, but he does not quite identify the assumption that makes these ideas possible, which is that the US should and can lead and shape the rest of the world. Despite recent setbacks, this idea remains a core component of American national identity. Although a 2014 poll found that the country’s self-regard had deteriorated slightly over the previous three years, it also found that only 12 percent of Americans believed that any country in the world was better than the US.
Some might say that, whether one likes it or not, the US simply has become an “indispensable nation,” that it has no choice but to play its starring role in world affairs. In many of his public pronouncements and especially in his long, revealing interview with Jeffrey Goldberg in the Atlantic, Obama has given voice to this ostensibly tragic view, lacing it with Niebuhrian wistfulness. But even on the narrow terms of maintaining an “American way of life,” American policy abroad has been disastrous, and Bacevich’s is now one of many volumes arguing that the US would have been better off had it abandoned its quest for world hegemony long ago. The paradox of American power is its luxury. The US enjoys, geographically as well as militarily, a form of superiority and safety that has never been truly threatened. Hegemony is now a choice, and the US has indulged that choice extravagantly. Trillions have been spent on mishaps and catastrophes: even Dwight Eisenhower acknowledged that “every gun that is made... signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed.”
What would happen if the US were to abandon this rationale — if, for a moment, the dissident counterestablishment occupied the halls of power and began setting policy? The essential prescriptions have been set out by Christopher Layne in his book The Peace of Illusions (2006). Like Bacevich, Layne is a conservative — he is the Robert M. Gates Chair in National Security at the Bush School of Government and Public Service at Texas A&M University — and a descendant of the Wisconsin School. For Layne, the US’s indispensability is a big problem for the world, and a big problem for the US. Abandoning it begins to set more sensible terms for the world order. Under Layne’s more or less realist rubric, the US could begin by leaving NATO and allowing the European Union to take responsibility for its own interests. It would then terminate its security treaty with Japan and withdraw from South Korea, similarly allowing those countries the ability to set the terms of their own foreign policy.
It was always folly for the US to attempt to secure Middle East oil — even an embargo by a single country would simply mean increased production by another, and in any case the US hegemony over Saudi Arabia has increased, not diminished, the possibility of instability there. But now that the US no longer depends on that oil, its continuing military presence in the region is not only indefensible but dangerous, increasing the threat of Islamist terrorism that it exists to tamp down. It should withdraw entirely, as it should encourage the withdrawal of Israel’s forces and citizens from the settlements, to help foster the creation of a Palestinian state.
The fact that these sensible prescriptions strike the foreign policy establishment as totally insane stems from a persistent belief in America’s exclusive prerogative to reorganize and remake the world, which the members of that establishment euphemistically refer to as the country’s “credibility.” Politicians defend this prerogative just in case someone comes up with a new and better idea for remaking the world somewhere down the line. Solving this problem can’t just be a matter of the US realizing its “true” interests. The country would have to learn to give up the colonial mandate that it took up decades ago, well after the colonial era was already passing into history.State troopers surprised the 10-year-old with an impromptu birthday celebration.
No-one from 10-year-old Toxey Andrew's class showed up for his birthday.
So, a group of state troopers in Arkansas in the United States turned up at his front door after his mum posted a heartbroken message on Facebook.
His mother, Angela Andrews, said she didn't know where to start because thank you did not seem enough.
Facebook Troopers brought a cake and gifts for Toxey in Arkansas.
"After I made a post about Toxey being disappointed that noone came to his birthday, an Arkansas State Trooper heard about the post. What ensues is the stuff dreams are made of."
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Facebook Two of the troopers who surprised the 10-year-old with an impromptu birthday celebration.
The troopers arrived, with presents, a police dog and a a birthday cake.
"Not only did they bring him a birthday cookie cake, but they also brought him all kinds of presents, let him play with Rino, the dog, and play with the sirens in their cars.
"They ate his cake with him and played basketball with him.
"All out of the goodness of their hearts.
"They made this sweet baby's day, his year!! Thank you from the bottom of my heart. I will never be able to repay the kindness you showed my family today!!
"Come on friends, let's make these guys famous!"
Facebook Toxey, 10, was given gifts including a basketball and a Razor board.
The 10-year-old told KTHV the troopers brought him a lot of stuff and made their own birthday party for him.
"I cried a little bit because they did that for me."
Sign up to receive our new evening newsletter Two Minutes of Stuff - the news, but different.Monographs, biographies, keynotes, and entire exhibitions have focused on Dieter Rams, the renowned German designer whose clean, functional aesthetic made Braun a household name in the 20th century, and paved the way for design-focused companies like Apple and Muji.
And now Rams is getting a movie.
Documentarian Gary Hustwit is just the person to make it. Remember Helvetica, the breakout indie success of 2007? Remember how great it was? That was Hustwit's doing. He followed it up with Objectified in 2009 and Urbanized in 2011—two equally beloved documentaries about urban design and the objects with which we surround ourselves. The films are undeniably languid—"my films are slow," Hustwit says, "but I like that"—but their pace is purposeful. By taking the time to unravel what many non-designers regard as esoteric subject matter, Hustwit tells audiences why they should care about the designs they take for granted every day.
Now Hustwit is at work on a documentary about Rams, for which he's currently raising money on Kickstarter. In some ways, the film, which he's already spent one year shooting, represents a departure; it's about a person, not a thing (thought it'll spend time with a sizable chunk of Rams' private archives). But Hustwit says the same principles apply. “If I see a situation I question it," he says. "Not in a bad way, but in a curious way."
Rams is notoriously private, but he and Hustwit hit it off in 2008 while shooting a scene from Objectified, in which Rams dispenses design wisdom while pruning a Bonsai from his garden. “There’s this aura around Dieter of, you know, very iron-willed, dictatorial. Then when you meet him he’s completely the opposite," Hustwit says. "He's an 84 year old German man, so he’s still a little bit cantankerous.”
Hustwit plans to spend another year filming Rams, in interviews and at work. He's already started shooting in London, where Rams still works with Vitsoe, the producer of his famous 606 shelving unit, and at Rams’ home in Frankfurt. “He’s living in his designs,” Hustwit says. “Everything is very ordered and unobtrusive.” If that sounds like a familiar approach, it's because Rams' design ethos has shaped the way entire generations think about making and consuming. "That's a big part of why he and I wanted to do the film," Hustwit says. "There's still so much that designers can learn from what he’s done."
Gary Hustwit
Even Hustwit himself feels that design influence. “I had a Braun alarm clock, and there was Braun mixer in our kitchen” he says. “All of these things that were part of my life as a little surfer kid growing up in California were somehow made by this German guy in Frankfurt." Like most children—like most people, really—he didn't give much thought to who designed these objects. He just used them. Now he's giving them, and their creator, a closer look.The talk is of a general election without precedent: the first to take place in a new era of six-party politics; the first to follow a Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition; the first that even Britain’s most forensic psephologists are unwilling to call.
Yet it is familiarity, not novelty, that marks the attack lines deployed by Labour and the Tories. The Conservatives have charged Labour with planning to destroy the economy through tax rises and borrowing. Labour, in turn, has charged its opponents with planning to destroy the NHS through harsh cuts and privatisation. Much the same has been said at every election in the past 30 years. As Karl Marx observed in The 18th Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte, his essay on the 1851 French coup, "The beginner who has learned a new language always translates it back into his mother tongue".
The Tories are unashamed of such self-plagiarism. Their explicit template for 2015 is 1992: the last time that they won a majority and overcame a Labour opposition. As long ago as November 2013, David Cameron spoke of his plan to “dust down” the “tax bombshell” posters credited with delivering John Major victory over Neil Kinnock. The Prime Minister has reminded restive Conservative MPs that the party entered that campaign, the first in which he was involved as a young strategist, similarly trailing Labour in the polls. The hope is that voters’ doubts over Ed Miliband and Labour’s economic competence, combined with a press blitzkrieg against the party, will produce a comparable recovery.
For Labour, the great fear is that the Tories are right. Party veterans remember regretfully how a winnable election was lost under Kinnock. Many pessimists inside the party give Miliband credit for seeking to address long-standing vulnerabilities on leadership, the deficit and immigration in recent speeches but believe he has done so too late to neutralise them.
Yet if it is plausible for the Conservatives to hope that 2015 conforms to the script of 1992, it would be neglectful for them to assume as much. Their preoccupation with this previous triumph is a mark of weakness, not strength, indicative of a desire to fight past rather than present battles. It also elides the ways in which the 2015 election differs from that of 1992. The Conservatives entered that campaign with a leader who had been in place for just 16 months. The election of John Major and the associated move to greater pragmatism after the extremities of the late Thatcher period allowed the Tories to renew themselves in office, sufficiently, at least, to win an election. Although Cameron remains one of his party’s greatest electoral assets, he will not have a similarly transformative effect on its fortunes. Rather than embodying Major’s One Nation pragmatism, the Tories are presently fighting a rearguard action against the charge that they are intent on an ideological shrinking of the state.
The common belief is that Labour’s 1992 poll lead was squandered through a combination of self-inflicted wounds and Conservative bombardment. But the reality is that the opposition’s advantage never existed to begin with. Labour’s lead was an illusion produced by the phenomenon of “shy Tories”: voters unwilling to confess their private support for the unfashionable right. As a result of the methodological adjustments made since then, the Conservatives cannot assume a late wave of support in their favour.
Few who have studied the events of the 1992 election believe that it was the Sun “wot won it” (as the newspaper’s post-election headline proclaimed). But even if this were once true, it isn’t any longer. After peaking at 4,783,359 in 1996, the Sun’s daily circulation now stands at less than two million, the lowest level since 1971.
Labour’s belief that Miliband’s presentational weakness can be alchemised into a political strength is not necessarily mere wishful thinking. Some of the opposition leader’s best moments have come precisely when he has been most bold and has grappled with, rather than sought to appease, his press nemeses.
The final point from which the Tories draw strategic comfort is the belief that Miliband, in common with Kinnock, has vacated the centre ground. Few moments gave them greater pleasure during the Christmas recess than when “the master” – Tony Blair – warned that 2015 could be an election in which “a traditional left-wing party competes with a traditional right-wing party, with the traditional result”. Their political equivalents in the US and France advanced similar arguments against Barack Obama, Bill de Blasio, the New York mayor, and François Hollande. Yet all three of them won convincing victories on a programme of higher taxes and greater market intervention. Twenty-three years after the end of the cold war, the charge of “socialism” has lost much of its capacity to wound.
No senior figure in Labour is so rash as to dismiss the possibility of defeat. But if Miliband loses, it will not follow that he did so through an excess of radicalism. Indeed, it will be plausibly argued that it was an excess of caution that doomed Labour as the left-wing coalition of voters assembled after 2010 fractured. Blairite continuists believe that the apparent lack of demand for centrist moderation reflects the lack of supply. But few of those behind the Green and SNP surges look at Miliband and see a leader who is too left-wing for them to support.
Tory MPs hope to supplant Labour in a close contest, yet few believe the party will secure a majority, let alone match Major’s achievement of recording the highest number of votes ever cast for a winning party. As they deride Labour’s and Miliband’s “weaknesses”, they should ponder why the “natural party of government” has been left so limited in its ambitions. If the Tories persist in believing that the “bombshells” of the past represent the best armoury for the future, they will continue to stagnate. Triumphant or defeated, they need to relinquish the distorting prism of 1992.Stories about rumors are tricky and easily misconstrued. A Nov. 29 story and headline that explored Barack Obama's "connections to the Muslim world" and rumors that he is Muslim were met with a swift Internet reaction that left some staffers stunned at its ferocity. Even Post editorial cartoonist Tom Toles was "so upset" that he took the unusual step of taking potshots at the story in an editorial page cartoon.
My problems with the story by National Desk political reporter Perry Bacon Jr. and the headline ("Foes Use Obama's Muslim Ties to Fuel Rumors About Him") were that Obama's connections to Islam are slender at best; that the rumors were old; and that convincing evidence of their falsity wasn't included in the story.
But there was no deliberate "smear job," as some readers charged. The story said clearly in the second paragraph that Obama is a member of a United Church of Christ congregation in Chicago.
That did not satisfy many readers, liberal Web sites and the Obama campaign. Robert Gibbs, Obama's communications director, said the story was "egregious. I thought the story was a great way to perpetuate a rumor or innuendo without the simple act of saying it was wrong." Gibbs said the story should have said flatly that Obama is a Christian. "This is an ascertainable, knowable and irrefutable fact." Gibbs said that "one half of the story was a billboard for the rumors."
"This was a legitimate subject for journalism explored by one of our most sophisticated political reporters," said Managing Editor Philip Bennett. "We should have been clearer about what it did and didn't say -- in the headline, through the display and in the body of the piece."
Bacon referred a request for comment to Bill Hamilton, assistant managing editor for politics. Hamilton edited the story, which several top editors saw before it was published. "I'm sorry it was misunderstood," he said. "It obviously makes me think about how I edited it. It seemed to me the story made clear that Obama was not a Muslim but that the campaign was having trouble contending with people spreading that rumor. I thought that in this context saying it was a rumor meant it wasn't true, but clearly some people didn't see it the same way. The Post has a responsibility to confront seemingly credible rumors and that was one of the reasons for the story."
To make the story worth Page 1, there needed to be new, credible information. No one from Iowa or New Hampshire, where Obama has been campaigning heavily, was quoted. More reporting or waiting for a news peg for the story would have helped. A perfect peg would have been the Hillary Clinton campaign's dismissal of a volunteer last week in Iowa for forwarding an e-mail saying Obama is a Muslim. Hamilton said, "I don't think rumors like this will die. Obama is going to have a problem with them as long as he's a candidate."
According to Obama's book, "Dreams From My Father," and to Gibbs, Obama's Kenyan father was an atheist. His Kenyan grandfather, whom he never met, was Muslim. His stepfather was a "skeptic" but occasionally went to a mosque while living with Obama and his mother in Indonesia, the world's largest Muslim country. Obama has mentioned his time in Indonesia as well as his Kenyan forbears on the campaign trail. But he also touts his Christianity.
Bacon's story said that the rumors "echoed on Internet message boards and chain e-mails" and that talk-show hosts "occasionally" repeated the rumors. The story also brought up a discredited Jan. 16 story in Insight magazine, which is owned by the Rev. Sun Myung Moon, founder of the Unification Church and owner of the Washington Times. The Insight story said that Obama had gone to a madrassa, an Islamic religious school, as a child. CNN, ABC-TV and the Associated Press went to the school and reported that it was not a religious school but a public school. Bacon's story should have noted that information, which was also reported at the time by Post media writer Howard Kurtz. The Insight story was criticized in a Jan. 28 Post editorial.
Another problem: Bacon's story also picked up a quote labeling Obama a Muslim from the Snopes.com Web site, which knocks down Internet rumors, but it didn't mention the investigation that found the rumor to be false.
Bacon got the idea for the story last month after hearing an Iowa voter, wrongly and insistently, say that Obama was a Muslim, learning that Obama had a letter from Christian leaders attesting to his faith and hearing Obama cite living in the "largest Muslim country on Earth" as a foreign policy credential.
Hundreds of negative comments, e-mails and phone calls about the story came to The Post; only one e-mail to me was positive. Gregory Hays of Charlottesville was typical, though more civil than many: "When a newspaper's articles are providing fodder for its own editorial cartoonist, something is seriously wrong.... The article, which I read thoroughly, seemed to give some credence to the campaign to smear Senator Obama as a closeted Muslim, if only by the fact that it was given a place on the front page instead of being buried on page 70 or so as an utterly baseless rumor being put out."
Hamilton said, "Reasonable people can disagree on this. But the people I have heard from are not reasonable. What I find especially disheartening is the idea that our motives are simply assumed to have been malicious."
This is the new world mainstream journalists live in, one that will continue to be explored in this column.
Deborah Howell can be reached at 202-334-7582 or [email protected] photograph on the front page of the Washington Post showed an Afghanistan veteran with two internally powered prosthetic legs besting his friend — an Army sergeant who works with amputees at the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center — in a playful wrestling match on the floor.
So common are these images today – virile young ex-soldiers and Marines running marathons, prevailing in tests of endurance and strength despite their robotic extremities – that we’ve started to see past their horrific injuries and how they got them.
But how do we replace the spirit of a soldier who lost the will to live somewhere on the road between Ramadi and Fallujah or in the hills of southeastern Afghanistan? Can a damaged brain be reinvented? For every advance the government has made in achieving renewed physical independence for our wounded veterans, it has continued to struggle with ways to restore their mental fitness. The wars overseas might be winding down, but they are coming home with a quiet vengeance.
The more we learned last year about the complexity of mild traumatic brain injury (TBI) in military veterans — and its association with declining cognitive skills, personality changes, memory loss — Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), and the emerging suicide epidemic, the more challenging proper diagnosis and treatment have become.
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Researchers are now connecting the devastating long-term effects typically associated with boxing injuries — known as chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), a progressive degenerative disease that attacks brain tissue — with repetitive mild concussions experienced by football players and soldiers with blast injuries. CTE might begin with mild symptoms like headaches and memory loss but can lead to depression, angry outbursts, and full-blown dementia. The issue came to a head in the news with the third in a string of NFL concussion-related suicides in May and a massive class action suit alleging that the NFL has known much more about the dangers of play than it has let on.
The most comprehensive study on concussions and CTE to date found that military veterans are experiencing similar rates of CTE similar to those of athletes, probably due to traumatic brain injuries. Published in the December issue of the scientific journal Brain (.pdf), the study found that “for some athletes and war fighters, there may be severe and devastating long-term consequences of repetitive brain trauma that has traditionally been considered only mild.”
This a significant development, but it’s only one piece of the puzzle. In 2009, the Pentagon estimated that up to 360,000 Iraq and Afghanistan War veterans may have suffered brain injury, mostly from blasts caused by improvised explosive devices (IED’s). Not all of these troops suffered repetitive injuries, nor were they necessarily knocked unconscious. Many were instead left feeling “dazed and confused.” Some were comprehensively treated for their concussions, others with less obvious symptoms were sent right back into battle. Countless veterans slipped through a feeble screening process and are now dealing with symptoms that often lead to self-medication and alienation from friends and family.
And the 360,000 figure was provided by the Pentagon three years ago, before IED attacks against U.S. forces in Afghanistan spiked in consecutive summers. While military officials say the number of TBI cases dropped by nearly half in Afghanistan in 2012, it is not clear whether that’s due to the declining number of troops in the country, better screening and treatment of concussions in the field, or both.
The military has certainly made strides in attempting to understand the impact of TBI, but there’s still much we don’t know, says Paul Rieckhoff, founder and president of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America (IAVA).
“I think we’re really at the tip of the iceberg when it comes to traumatic brain injury,” he said in an interview with TAC. Rieckhoff noted the hundreds of millions of dollars that have been earmarked for TBI research and educational efforts for Veterans Administration physicians. But diagnosis and treatment remain elusive.
“A lot of the veterans don’t know the symptoms themselves,” he added. “This is something we will be dealing with for decades.”
Making it more difficult, the extent of the damage from mild TBI can’t always be discerned with a ordinary MRI or CAT scans. Some of its symptoms are indistinguishable from those related to PTSD, with which approximately 4,000 new Iraq and Afghanistan veterans are diagnosed each month. Research continues to probe the association of more serious TBI incidents (for instance, when a solider temporarily loses consciousness) with long-term physical and mental problems. A 2008 study found that vets with concussions who had been knocked out suffered from higher rates of poor health afterward but concluded that, according to one synopsis, “one must use caution when attributing health problems to mild traumatic brain injury, because associated PTSD and depression may be the primary problem.”
Suffering an IED blast on the battlefield is most certainly a traumatic event, especially when accompanied by witnessing the death or injury of other service members or civilians. Untangling the physical from the mental damage is never easy.
But doctors and veterans’ advocates feel that they are running out of time, given the skyrocketing rates of suicide among active-duty soldiers and veterans. According to the most recent statistics, Army and Navy suicides are at a record high: 2012 was the worst year for self-inflicted deaths since the military began tracking them in 2001. Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta last summer called the situation an “epidemic” — with approximately 3,000 military suicides on record since 9/11.
The numbers are even worse for veterans — an estimated 18 veterans kill themselves each day, 6,570 a year. That’s comparable, advocates point out, to the approximately 6,600 men and women we’ve lost in Iraq and Afghanistan since 2001.
“We’re a decade behind where we should be,” says Rieckhoff. “If I had to say, it is the most urgent issue we face. The suicide problem is out of control.”
IAVA has counselors on staff who work one-on-one with veterans every day. “It’s not only one thing that leads to suicide, it’s a culmination of a couple of things,” says Rieckhoff. “What you’ve got is a generation of veterans who have shouldered the weight of combat through unprecedented long tours, repeated tours, compounded by a bad economic situation and a really bad bureaucratic situation with the VA” when they finally get home. “There’s a lot of issues piling up.”
Add that to TBI, drug and alcohol abuse, and PTSD, and the brew is toxic. “The suicide numbers have been bad for a long time,” says Rieckhoff. “This is not new.”
“We were not planning for it,” he added, just like the VA hadn’t planned on the influx of nearly 840,000 Iraq and Afghanistan veterans into its healthcare system over the last decade. In addition, the VA remains buried under a backlog of 900,000 pending disability claims and 250,000 additional appeals.
On the other hand, officials say the VA’s national suicide hotline has answered 650,000 calls since its launch in 2007 and has made 23,000 “life-saving rescues.” It’s been a “tremendous success,” said Reickhoff, but more veterans need to be aware of it, and long-term problems connected to suicide, like TBI and PTSD, are much bigger than the VA. “From a public health standpoint, the VA can’t do this alone, the Pentagon can’t do this alone.”
“It’s a real challenge, but hopefully the tone is changing … It’s going to be a generational fight,” he said. “We’re going to keep plugging away.”
Kelley Beaucar Vlahos is a Washington, D.C.-based freelance reporter and TAC contributing editor. Follow her on Twitter.Than Phu Ying Srirasmi Suwadee (Thai: ศรีรัศมิ์ สุวะดี;[2] RTGS: Sirat Suwadi; born 9 December 1971), formerly Princess Srirasmi, Royal Consort to the Crown Prince of Thailand,[3] is a former member of the royal family of Thailand. She was the third consort of then-Crown Prince Maha Vajiralongkorn (now Rama X) from February 2001 to December 2014.[4]
Early life [ edit ]
Srirasmi Suwadee was born in Samut Songkhram Province[5] to a family of modest means. She was the third of four children born to Aphirut and Wanthanee Suwadee,[6] and has Mon descent from her mother side.[7]
She attended college at Bangkok Business College and in 1993, at age 22, entered the service of Vajiralongkorn as a "lady-in-waiting". Srirasmi enrolled in Sukhothai Thammathirat Open University in 1997 and graduated in 2002 with a bachelor’s degree in management science. Vajiralongkorn personally bestowed her with her diploma. In 2007 she received a Master of Science degree in Family and Child's Development from Kasetsart University.
Marriage and family [ edit ]
Srirasmi married the Crown Prince of Thailand on 10 February 2001 in a private ceremony at the prince's Nonthaburi Palace. The public was informed of the event some time afterwards. The prince, who had married twice before and has children with his previous wives, stated it was his intention to settle down: "I am now 50 years old and think I should have a complete family."[5] After the wedding, Srirasmi was styled Mom Srirasmi Mahidol na Ayudhya (Mahidol is the surname of King Bhumibol Adulyadej and King Ananda Mahidol, and the na Ayudhya designation signifies non-titled descendants of the Chakri Dynasty and their spouses.
On 14 February 2005, it was announced that Srirasmi was pregnant. On 29 April 2005, a son named Dipangkorn Rasmijoti was born via caesarean section at Siriraj Hospital. Because of the birth, she was granted by King Bhumibol Adulyadej the title "princess of Thailand" and style "Her Royal Highness" as the royal consort of Crown Prince Maha Vajiralongkorn. A royal ceremony, called "Phra Ratchaphithi Somphot Duean Lae Khuen Phra U," to celebrate the first month of the baby was held on 17 June 2005 at the Ananta Samakhom Throne Hall in Bangkok.[8]
Srirasmi initiated and launched the "Sai Yai Rak Chak Mae Su Luk" (Love and care from mother to children) campaign which promoted breast feeding.[9][10] The campaign features images of her son.
In November 2009, a home video was released showing Vajiralongkorn and a topless Srirasmi celebrating the birthday of the prince's poodle dog. The media reported that this was indicative of the couple's decadent lifestyle.[11]
Divorce and loss of title [ edit ]
A letter asking for Srirasmi's family to be stripped of their royal name was sent to the interior ministry in November 2014. The letter was sent by her husband, Crown Prince Vajiralongkorn, after allegations of corruption against seven of her relatives.[12] On 11 December 2014, the Royal Thai Government Gazette announced that Srirasmi relinquished her royal title, presumably due to the corruption affairs that involved her family.[13] Srirasmi was granted a payment of 200 million baht (US$6 million) by Maha Vajiralongkorn in exchange for her relinquishment.[14] The money was paid out of the Crown Property Bureau, as confirmed by the Ministry of Finance.[15]
Since Srirasmi's divorce, her parents, father Apiruj Suwadee and mother Wanthanee, were arrested for Lèse-majesté. The two later admitted to misusing their royal connection 12 years prior, which led to a former neighbor being jailed on a bogus fraud charges. Both were sentenced to five years in prison, which was reduced to two and a half years.[16][17]
Titles [ edit ]
Royal cypher of Princess Srirasmi
Royal cypher of Princess Srirasmi
Styles of
Princess Srirasmi of Thailand
Reference style Her Royal Highness Spoken style Your Royal Highness Alternative style Madam
9 December 1971 – 10 February 2001: Srirasmi Suwadee.
Srirasmi Suwadee. 10 February 2001 – 15 June 2005: Mom Srirasmi Mahidol na Ayudhya.
Srirasmi Mahidol na Ayudhya. 15 June 2005 – 11 December 2014: Her Royal Highness Princess Srirasmi, Consort to the Crown Prince.
Princess Srirasmi, Consort to the Crown Prince. 11 December 2014 – present: Than Phu Ying Srirasmi Suwadee.
Royal decorations [ edit ]Washington prepares to send up to 5,000 more troops into Afghanistan
By Bill Van Auken
10 May 2017
The cabal of recently retired and active duty US generals who control virtually all of the national security posts within the Trump administration has given its approval to a plan that would deploy as many as 5,000 additional US troops to Afghanistan.
According to the Washington Post, which first reported the plan, it would “effectively put the United States back on a war footing with the Taliban.” The report added that the proposal followed an extensive review of US policy in Afghanistan driven by President Donald Trump’s “desire to reverse worsening security in Afghanistan and ‘start winning’ again.”
Whatever Trump’s illusions, the reality is that the nearly 16-year-old war, the longest in US history, has failed to achieve Washington’s aims of stabilizing a puppet regime in Kabul and securing for US imperialism a stable base of operations in a geo-strategically critical region, bounded by the energy-rich former Soviet Central Asian republics, Iran, China and Pakistan.
Just as in 2001, when the US invaded Afghanistan barely a month after the September 11 attacks on New York City and Washington, the pretext given for the planned escalation is the phony “war on terrorism.” In reality, after pouring an estimated $1 trillion into the war, Washington has proven unable to quell the Taliban and other insurgent groups that now control an estimated 50 percent of the Afghan countryside, more territory than at any time since the US invasion more than 15 years ago.
US commanders, including the chief of American military operations in Afghanistan, Gen. John Nicholson, have described the situation in the country as a military “stalemate.” The real situation was described more frankly early this year by the US Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction: “The numbers of the Afghan security forces are decreasing, while both casualties and the number of districts under insurgent control or influence are increasing.”
According to CNN, Trump will likely receive the final plans for the escalation in Afghanistan sometime this week. He is expected to issue a decision before going to the NATO summit in Brussels on May 25. Washington reportedly intends to ask the other member governments of NATO to make a corresponding increase in their own forces on the ground in Afghanistan.
At present there are at least 8,400 US troops deployed in the country, including both “trainers and advisers” as well as special forces units that carry out search and kill missions. Other NATO countries have approximately 5,000 soldiers in Afghanistan. These uniformed forces are supported by an estimated 26,000 military “contractors.”
The report of the new plans for escalating the US intervention came amid renewed fighting around the northern city of Kunduz, which the Taliban came close to capturing in October 2015. The Islamist insurgent forces have captured surrounding districts, including last week the Qala-i-Zal’s district, which borders on Tajikistan, where Afghan government troops reportedly fled without a fight.
To counter the Taliban offensive, the Pentagon is clearly planning a major escalation of the violence that has been unleashed on the Afghan people over the past decade and a half.
The proposed change in strategy in Afghanistan, according to the Post report, “would authorize the Pentagon, not the White House, to set troop numbers in Afghanistan and give the military far broader authority to use airstrikes to target Taliban militants. It would also lift Obama-era restrictions that limited the mobility of US military advisers on the battlefield.”
Trump campaigned on a platform of right-wing nationalist demagogy promoting “America First.” He incoherently criticized previous US military interventions as a waste of money, while at the same time promising a massive increase in military spending and the use of overwhelming force against ISIS. Since taking office, he has effectively ceded not only military strategy but essential elements of US foreign policy to a small group of current and former generals, including James Mattis, the recently retired Marine general who heads the Defense Department, and Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster, his national security advisor.
The result has been a steady escalation of US militarism across the globe. |
moving away, denying the opponent a static target to strike. Against Faber, Cruz used this to the fullest potential.
Note Cruz pivots his rear leg laterally first and follows up with the lead foot afterwards, actively adjusting his position to never be directly in front of Faber. As a result, he ends up adjusting his hips laterally far off to the side.
Give me a moment to dissect this technique to look at a few layers of defense in this simple execution.
Cruz has his Jab high, with the shoulder protecting the chin from shots from his left side (circled in green). Cruz is moving laterally which will cause linear strikes to pass by as he moves to the side. His hips are no longer positioned directly in front of Faber for extra defensive positioning. His guard is down on his right side, but he’s moving away from Faber’s left hand. Even if it were to land, the force would be mitigated due to Cruz already moving in the same direction that hook’s trajectory would follow. See that the green arrows moves in the same circular trajectory of the red arrow. If you want a physics explanation why it reduces the impact force, see my little physics breakdown or just skip it.
He used the lateral jab several times to effectively tag Faber throughout the fight. His lateral jab is further accentuated by the use of his long reach, making it even more difficult for Faber to penetrate the execution of his movement.
Cruz slides the rear foot over laterally during the execution to hop over even further to a new position. An opponent looking to shoot forward or throw strikes down his center-line will surely have trouble.
You may not see this in boxing as often because of limited space and the fact that the needs to re-position yourself from takedowns/grappling threats aren’t present in the boxing or kickboxing landscape.
Understanding The Slide Step
I’ve talked about this particular technique extensively in the past breakdowns. In case you’re a new reader or need a reminder, Dominick Cruz uses a “slide” (a term Dominick Cruz calls it) to hit advantageous angles and to measure the opponent. Here’s a brief description below.
The slide step is used as a tool against the opponent to gauge their reaction. It lets him hit an angle laterally from the pocket where he hits a distance that lets him react to shots better. The lateral movement also lets him hit a more defensive position since he’ll no longer be directly in the pocket where it’s easier to get hit. Sometimes he’ll reach his arm out to intercept shots.
Here’s his personal tutorial on the slide step if you’re looking for more information (I covered the basic concept of it if you wish to skip the video for now).
Cruz will regularly use the slide step to feint the opponent and works off of what they give him. Look at these two possible strategies Cruz will implement if they react or if they don’t react to the slide step.
If they don’t react to the slide step
If the opponent does not react to your feint, it’s a good indication to attack. This allows you to exploit an opponent who has become complacent in a stationary and inactive mindset. You see, after a while, the threat of feints start to lose their appeal if nothing follows them. As a result, opponent’s stop reacting to them. Cruz exploits this by attacking the very moment they become complacent. See this next example:
Also note that Cruz’s usage of slide stepping onto both sides starts to funnel Faber in a linear direction back towards the cage. See the image below, indicated in red are the areas Cruz cuts off by slide stepping as Faber is forced back in the direction indicated in the green arrow.
If they do react to the slide step
If Cruz reads that they’ll try to time a counter on his advancement, Cruz will retreat. He effectively uses the slide step to bait out the opponent’s offense, and then punishes them with his own counters.
Note Cruz slide steps and retreats back, effectively avoiding a dangerous range, while switching his stance to deny them any use of advantageous angles (more on this soon).
Now that I have you acquainted with the slide step and lateral jab, you can see how he combines the two techniques into a masterful display of bait/trap and punish, all while maintaining defensively sound positioning.
Cruz has a variety of other offensive transitions out of the slide step which I’ve already covered a few breakdowns ago, so you’re welcomed to go back and check it out in my earlier writings about it.
Weight on the Back Foot
One of the most important aspects of the slide step is his weight distribution. A notable habit from Cruz is that he constantly keeps his weight on the back foot and his lead foot ready to push away throughout various uses of different footwork. By doing this, he’s able to move in the direction away from the opponent more effectively while pushing off the posted lead leg. He’s rarely over-committed with his weight on his lead leg, allowing him to make quick last-minute adjustments to escape.
Even after a failed strike, Cruz is always ready to retreat by putting the weight on the back foot.
It’s a bit faster to move the head first instead of the body and head as a whole because you’re moving the body in smaller increments (the upper body first, then the lower body), so it’s common to see his head move as the body follows afterwards.
On to part 2, we take a look at the advantages of Dominick Cruz’s stance switching and other offensive tactics. Go Here:Senator Barbara A. Mikulski, a former social worker from Baltimore who became a leading liberal voice in Washington and the longest-serving woman in Congress, announced in an emotional press conference on Monday that she would not seek a sixth term in 2016.
Mikulski, who rose to become the top Democrat on the Senate Appropriations Committee and the dean of Maryland's congressional delegation, told reporters gathered in Fells Point that she wanted to spend the next two years helping to groom the next generation of Democratic leaders in the state.
"Do I spend my time raising money or raising hell to meet your day-to-day needs? Do I spend time focusing on my election or the next generation?" Mikulski said. "The more I thought about it, the more the answer became really clear."
The announcement came as a shock to many Democrats — particularly those in Maryland — who thought Mikulski would remain in the post for another term in hopes that Democrats would reclaim the Senate in a presidential election year.
Polls have widely shown Mikulski to be the most popular elected official in the state.
"Senator Mikulski is more than just a legendary senator for the people of Maryland, she's an institution in the United States Senate," President Barack Obama said in a statement. "Barbara's service to the people of Maryland spans decades, but her legacy will span generations."
The retirement of longtime Sen. Barbara Mikulski sets off a heated competition among politicians who may be vying for the Senate seat long held by the popular Democrat.
The decision set off a flurry of speculation about her possible replacement in a state with a small, but powerful congressional delegation. Several leading names were floated, including former Gov. Martin O'Malley, who has been considering a run for president but who has performed poorly in polls compared with Hillary Clinton.
O'Malley's former lieutenant governor, Anthony Brown, is seriously considering the seat, according to aides who spoke on the condition that they not be named. Rep. John Delaney, a Western Maryland Democrat, announced on Twitter that he, too, is considering a run for Senate.
"There could be a huge number of Democrats in the primary," said Don Norris, director of the school of public policy at UMBC.
Mikulski declined to say whether there were any particular potential candidates she thought might be good for the job.
"Maryland has a lot of talent," she quipped. "They'll be telling you about it in the next 10 minutes."
And although the state has historically elected Democrats statewide — particularly in federal races and especially in a presidential election year — a handful of Republicans may also look at the seat, including former Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich. Dan Bongino, who secured the Republican nomination for Senate in Maryland in 2012, said he is also weighing whether to run.
"After winning the governor's race in 2014, there's no question that an open Senate seat in Maryland instantly becomes a top pickup opportunity for Republicans," said Andrea Bozek, a spokeswoman for the campaign arm of Senate Republicans. "While Democrats get ready for a bloody primary, we will have a top recruit waiting for whoever emerges."
Mikulski, often described as "tough as nails," became emotional as she recalled her years growing up in Baltimore and thanked Maryland voters for honoring her "with your confidence and trust."
Mikulski, 78, is a Highlandtown native and Maryland's senior senator. A former member of the Baltimore city council, she was first elected in Washington in 1976 to the House of Representatives. She has served in the Senate since 1987.
"It's going to be a donnybrook," Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller said of the campaign for Mikulski's replacement.
"It creates turmoil down the entire chain. I've had three would-be congressmen call me already and tell me not to make any decisions. … There is no unity. There is no party boss. There is no party discipline. It's a free-for-all."
Senator Jon Tester, Chair of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, said he is confident another Democrat would emerge "and make Barbara Mikulski proud."
[email protected]
Twitter.com/jfritze
Baltimore Sun reporters Yvonne Wenger, Erin Cox, Liz Bowie and Sean Welsh contributed to this story.The new Honda Insight has a lot of elements that make it look like the small Toyota Prius and Mugen decided to eliminate any semblance with the tiny hybrid from Toyota and they changed the car’s design and tweaked the its performances to create a sporty Insight. The designers from Mugen made an aerodynamic body kit that makes the car really aggressive and no one would think that this Honda is actually a hybrid. They installed a new front grille and front spoiler lip, fog lambs, wide side skits, ventilated visors, a rear spoiler skirt with integrated difuser and a new rear wing. The car’s design is completed with a set of 15″ or 16″ aluminum XJ or NR 8 spoke wheels. Mugen claims that their new body kit creates zero lift so this kit is perfect when it comes to judge aerodynamics.
Even though they changed the car’s look almost completely the most exciting improvement to this new hybrid from Honda is in the handling department. Mugen installed a sport suspension package which includes new springs and dampers that lower the car’s height with 20mm. They also offer a unique system called iTCMS which will monitor the tire condition and this Honda Insight gained a lot in handling and stability.
The interior of this ride got a new set of Mugen sports mats, aluminum pedals and other elements that make it look like a race car but probably the most unique element installed by the car tuner is the sport silencer exhaust with a triangular exhaust tip that looks a bit odd.Hoover Dam
The Story of Hoover Dam - Essays
Fatalities at Hoover Dam
Many people who visit Hoover Dam ask: 1) How many people died building the dam?; and 2) How many of those are buried in the concrete? The second question is the easiest to answer -- none! No one is buried in Hoover Dam.
The dam was built in interlocking blocks. Each block was five feet high. The smallest blocks were about 25 feet by 25 feet square, and the largest blocks were about 25 feet by 60 feet. Concrete was delivered to each block in buckets, eight cubic yards at a time. After each bucket was delivered, five or six men called "puddlers" would stamp and vibrate the concrete into place, packing it down to ensure there were no air pockets in it. Each time a bucket was emptied, the level of concrete would raise from two inches up to six inches, depending on the size of the block. With only a slight increase in the level at any one time, and the presence of several men watching the placement, it would have been virtually impossible for anyone to be buried in the concrete. So, there are no bodies buried in Hoover Dam.
The question about fatalities is more difficult to answer, because it depends in a large part on who is included as having "died on the project."
For example, some sources cite the number of deaths as 112. But this incorporates incidents that occurred before the dam was authorized, and well in advance of construction. This figure includes the first fatalities from 1922, when Reclamation employees J.G. Tierney and Harold Connelly -- who were conducting geological surveys from barges in the Colorado River -- fell into the river and drowned. That was 6 years before the dam was authorized, and 8 years before construction began!
Some references also include in the fatality count those who died from non-construction related causes. For example, men, women, and children who lived in Boulder City, but did not die at the dam site or as a result of working there, were included in these statistics because they were, technically, part of the Boulder Canyon Project effort, and worked for Reclamation, Six Companies Inc., or one of the many subcontractors involved in the project, or resided in Boulder City during the construction years.
In addition, some references include those who may have been injured at the dam site while working there, but did not die there, while others do not. Perhaps these individuals were being transported to a hospital, were in a hospital, or had been discharged from a hospital when they died. But since they were not on the job site at the time, they were not included in the "official" number.
The "official" number of fatalities involved in building Hoover Dam is 96. These were men who died at the dam site (classified as "industrial fatalities") from such causes as drowning, blasting, falling rocks or slides, falls from the canyon walls, being struck by heavy equipment, truck accidents, etc. Industrial fatalities do not include deaths from heat, pneumonia, heart trouble, etc.
The record regarding the number of fatalities that occurred at Hoover Dam during its construction is just not that clear. However, the following information comes from the Hoover Dam Project History, volumes 1 through 5, 1931 to 1935, and provides the best information Reclamation has available on this subject.
The information is presented in the same format as it is printed, with a separate web page for each year. Some of the information in the Project History was found to be inaccurate; in those instances, we have noted corrections in this on-line version.
Use the navigation bar located at the bottom of each page to move from page to page.Instagram finally came clean about its arbitrary and often-targeted policy of banning female nipples — and it's throwing its hands up in the air and blaming someone else.
That someone else? Apple.
Speaking during a Dazed Media event in London on Wednesday, Instagram CEO Kevin Systrom explained that Apple's App Store, which houses Instagram, has stringent policies when it comes to inappropriate content. According to Systrom, if Instagram runs up against these rules in any way — like allowing the posting of nipples — the app runs the risk of being banned from the store.
As it stands, the app store only allows explicit nudity if the app is rated 17+; Instagram is currently rated 12+. Systrom argued that if the app were to increase its age bracket, it would end up keeping out many younger users who only want to see nonexplicit content.
Despite the censorship, the company is "committed to artistic freedom," Systrom said, according to Business Insider. He did admit, however, that "in order to scale effectively, there are [some] tough calls" — banning the nipple included.
But is it fair to blame Apple? Instagram, by pointing the finger at Apple, is effectively shirking responsibility for the policy, but the logic doesn't hold up.
Twitter, for example, is rated 4+, but peruse the platform for a few minutes and you'll notice something — it's full of naked bodies, nipples included. There are porn accounts galore, as well as videos and photos of nudity. Yet Apple hasn't brought down the hammer on CEO Jack Dorsey and company.
Instagram and Twitter are different companies with different philosophies and policies, but Apple's treatment of both should ostensibly follow the same rules. Their attitude toward the latter is telling — and something the former should take note of.
Countless celebrities have come out in opposition to Instagram's policies, which ban images of nipples except in cases of breastfeeding and mastectomy scars. Chrissy Teigen took up the cause in June, and Chelsea Handler, Miley Cyrus, Rihanna and Scout Willis have all joined the chorus of women (and men) who believe the ban represents a double standard. (Instagram is currently cool with photos featuring men's nipples.)
For now, however, it looks as though Instagram is standing firm on its decision to cage the nipple, artistic freedom be damned.Resolving Azure ARM REST API Versions Conflict In ARM Templates
Pam
This post is from Premier Developer consultant Adel Ghabboun.
Usually if you use the Azure Portal Automation Script feature to generate an ARM template and copy that to a new Visual Studio Azure Resource Group project, Visual Studio editor will complain about the API version that is used in the template and suggest a new version. It looks like this:
If you click Ctrl + Space, Visual Studio will show you all the possible values:
Now, if you change the value and try to deploy this template to your Azure resource group, the result will come back failed with a deployment error:
“error”: {
“code”: “NoRegisteredProviderFound”,
“message”: “No registered resource provider found for location ‘eastus’ and API version ‘2016-08-01’ for type ‘components’. The supported api-versions are ‘2014-04-01, 2014-08-01, 2015-05-01, 2014-12-01-preview’.
Now, which one should we use?
Let’s look at the PowerShell Azure SDK command Get-AzureRMResourceProvider to retrieve the API version information by following the below steps (Note that Azure SDK must be installed on your machine prior to running the Azure commands below, See Install and Configure Azure PowerShell ):
Open Windows PowerShell ISE in Admin Mode Run this command to login to your Azure Account
Login-AzureRmAccount 1 Login - AzureRmAccount Login to your account using your Azure credentials Run the following command (Assuming Application Insights is the resource we want to create)
(Get-AzureRmResourceProvider -ProviderNamespace Microsoft.Insights).ResourceTypes | Where {$_.ResourceTypeName -eq 'components'} | Select -ExpandProperty ApiVersions<br>2015-05-01<br>2014-12-01-preview<br>2014-08-01<br>2014-04-01 1 ( Get - AzureRmResourceProvider - ProviderNamespace Microsoft. Insights ). ResourceTypes | Where { $ _. ResourceTypeName - eq 'components' } | Select - ExpandProperty ApiVersions < br > 2015 - 05 - 01 < br > 2014 - 12 - 01 - preview < br > 2014 - 08 - 01 < br > 2014 - 04 - 01
Now, using the API version that is provided by the PowerShell command will solve the issue.
Conclusion:
As a best practice and to avoid any deployment issue regardless if you are using Visual Studio or other tools to deploy your Azure templates, always run the PowerShell command mentioned above to retrieve the API versions information and use the latest one.Highlights from TRU’s 1986 Summer Catalog!
I was separating a stack of papers into “keep” and “toss” piles, and buried underneath so many hotel receipts and menus for dead restaurants, there it was…
Yeah, this one went into the “keep” pile. It’s the Toys “R” Us Summer Fun Book, from 1986! Lightweight and only around a dozen pages, I’m guessing they came packed with Sunday newspapers. The contents aren’t nearly as voluminous as what we used to see in Sears Wish Books, but there was certainly enough to make me a remember a time when toys were my everything. Here are the highlights:
Wuzzles!
This remains one of my favorite doll concepts ever. Each creature blended two animals into a new one, and it was exactly that kind of perverse mutation that made dolls okay for boys to squish.
For example, the fellow on the lower-left was Eleroo, a kangaroo/elephant hybrid. More adorably, Tycoon mixed a tiger with a racoon. The Wuzzles had a cartoon series and the full complement of awareness-raising kiddy nonsense, but I’m not sure it needed it. “Two animals in one” was awesome enough. Just look at Syfy’s Friday night lineup.
Garfield Phone!
I haven’t seen one of these in person, but judging by the description, I assume Garfield opened his eyes when you picked up the phone, and closed them when you hung up. Despite the collectible value, novelty phone prices were so ridiculous in the ‘80s that you could buy this same electro-cat for a fraction of the price today.
(And yes, I checked. They’re selling for as low as 8 bucks. I also noticed that this is just one of several hundred Garfield phones. I wouldn’t have thought that “Garfield phones” could be such a hot commodity, but the proof is in the 240+ matches on eBay.)
AWA Figures!
Even people who were never fans of pro-wrestling remember LJN’s collection of large, rubber WWF figures. It was perhaps the popularity of those toys that inspired other wrestling organizations to go for their slice of the pie.
Made by Remco, these AWA figures shared their scale with He-Man and Skeletor. TRU didn’t identify them, but I recognize this trio as the Fabulous Freebirds. They were sold together in a single package, and even by 1986 standards, $10 for an action figure three-pack was a great deal. (Since wrestling fans can be ravenous collectors, that same three-pack fetches $250 today.)
Of course, the premiere item in the collection was the Road Warriors two-pack. If you’re unfamiliar with that tag team, the Road Warriors were basically face-painted Terminators who wore spiky alien football gear. You didn’t have to know what an “AWA” was to want those figures.
Pound Puppies & Pound Purries!
I’ll never forget the month I spent treating my Pound Puppy like a real dog, but this catalog reminded me that there were also Pound Purries. Whereas the “dumpy” look of the pooches only made them more endearing, the technology wasn’t nearly as successful with cats. Depending on the angle, Pound Purries either looked wildly injured or like cheap piñatas.
Super Spin Car Wash!
Oh, I totally owned Matchbox’s Super Spin Car Wash. Many action features were packed into this inexpensive playset! You could spray your Matchbox cars with water, wash them with twirling sponges, and finish them off in the hilarious “Spin Dry” chamber, which heroically established that this was never meant to resemble a real life car wash.
The playset also came with a plastic mat, which cheaply doubled its size and gave kids the “Matchbox parking lot” they always dreamed about.
Speak & Spell / Math / Read!
If you’re my age, these were your first iPads. Speak & Spell, Speak & Read and Speak & Math were battery-operated handhelds that taught kids spelling, reading and, uh, mathing. I haven’t played with them in decades, but I can still remember their crude sound effects and weird robot voices.
Blessed by no less than E.T. himself, they were the coolest “learning toys” I ever had. Many people didn’t own computers back then, and even fewer had anything resembling laptops. In 1986, these devices felt so hoity-toity that kids didn’t care one bit about them having educational purposes.
(And if they did, hell, it was easy to pretend that your Speak & Spell was actually a magic microcomputer, capable of storing abstract thoughts with the push of a single button.)
Popples!
I’ve always had a soft spot for Popples, but I could never figure out why until trying to describe them in a single sentence: “Alien circus animals that transform into giant, neon Mogwai balls.” What’s not to love?
Though not shown here, my favorites were the extra small Popples. While retaining all of the larger versions’ cuteness, those dolls were tiny enough to carry in your pocket. In a world without Puckmarin from Flight of the Navigator, miniature Popples were as close as kids got to adorable pets from outer space.
The Animal!
I wrote about The Animal many years ago, but I’ll never pass on an opportunity to champion one of the greatest toy commercials ever made. Using what could only roughly be described as an ad jingle, that commercial seemed to play ten thousand times a day.
I know few people who actually owned this crazy truck with the retractable claw tires, but everyone remembers the commercial.
Rambo Electronic Uzi!
I feel like it’d be hard to get away with a realistic toy Uzi in today’s world, if it’s even still legal to try.
I love how the description refers to it as a “mighty” Uzi, if only because that encouraged kids to make “Mighty Uzi” its official, canonical title.
He-Man Junk!
Last and best, a spread of old Masters of the Universe toys, including the sneakily kinky Slime Pit playset. Holy shit, the Slime Pit was only ten bucks?! Read my review to find out why that was such a bargain.
He-Man and Skeletor already had a few figures under their belts by 1986, so these new ones needed an extra something to stand out. He-Man got “flying fists” and a spinning weapon, while Skeletor — never one to be topped — came with giant monster claws that you’d slip over the figure’s normal hands.
I’m also thrilled to see Stonedar and Rokkon represented. Those were the Comet Warriors figures, which could transform into… rocks. Some argue that Mattel made them in response to Hasbro’s Transformers, which may explain why these supposed rock people looked so much like robots.
PS: Can I just mention how much I love the way toy stores used to photograph Masters of the Universe stuff? The spreads were always so inspired. Here, a distant planet’s battlefield was represented by all of the same shit kids would’ve found in their backyards. It looks like a tank for a turtle/bunny hybrid.
Thank you for reading about old toys.Nearly 20 months after Maryland abolished capital punishment, Gov. Martin O’Malley said Wednesday that he would empty the state’s death row by commuting the sentences of four inmates who were awaiting execution.
“In my judgment, leaving these death sentences in place does not serve the public good of the people of Maryland — present or future,” Mr. O’Malley, a Democrat who will leave office in January and may seek the presidency in 2016, said in a statement. “Gubernatorial inaction at this point in the legal process would, in my judgment, needlessly and callously subject survivors, and the people of Maryland, to the ordeal of an endless appeals process, with unpredictable twists and turns, and without any hope of finality or closure.”
Under Mr. O’Malley’s order, four men who had been sentenced to death — Heath Burch, Vernon Evans Jr., Anthony Grandison and Jody Lee Miles — will instead be imprisoned for life without the possibility of parole.
Scott D. Shellenberger, the Baltimore County state’s attorney, criticized Mr. O’Malley’s decision, which he described as “not unexpected.”Boltman is part of a group of Chargers fans considering a lawsuit against the NFL if the Chargers try to move to the Los Angeles market. (Photo by Stephen Dunn/Getty Images)
For quite some time now, the Chargers have been laying the ground work for a move to Los Angeles if the team and the San Diego government cannot come to an agreement on a new stadium in either Mission Valley or Downtown.
Carson is calling. Inglewood could be, too. But one major issue could prove to be an obstacle too large to overcome: Moving a football team from San Diego to L.A. might not be legal.
Chargers fans are dedicated to keeping their beloved team in America’s Finest City, even if it means they have to sue the NFL to do it, and they have found someone willing to help them if necessary.
“The Chargers and the NFL are basically saying give us what we want or we’re going to move the team,” says former City Attorney Mike Aguirre. “That really is a violation of the anti-trust laws.”
San Diegans who have followed the last decade and a half of stadium wrangling may have memories of Aguirre being a thorn in the Chargers’ side. He says he’s always been pro-Chargers, that he’s learned from those days and sees a constructive way of moving forward.
“It’s easy to come across as being anti-Chargers,” says Aguirre. “That’s where you have to be super, super cautious to say this is not anti-Chargers, this is pro-keeping the Chargers here in San Diego.”
The meat of the idea comes from a few different places. One is the Sherman Act. Another is the anti-trust lawsuit a group of NFL players brought against the NFL during the 2011 Lockout. Another is Boltman.
“What we would like to do here is get support and feedback from the fans that this is the best option if the Chargers turn their backs on us,” said Dan Jauregui, better known to many by his alter-ego Boltman. “The beauty of all this is it is not coming from the Mayor’s office or the city or CSAG. It’s coming from the Charger fans. No political issues from the city.”
In a written statement entitled, Desperate Times Call For Desperate Measures, Jauregui outlines the idea of bringing a lawsuit against the NFL:
“We strongly feel that if the Chargers continue to threaten our city and hold fans hostage after a fair and reasonable finance plan has been submitted, we will have no choice but to prepare to make our case in court under the laws that prohibit unfair competition. I have also prepared a “demand” letter to the city of San Diego, requesting they file an injunction against the NFL to protect the rights of San Diego fans by asserting the city’s rights under anti-trust law. This demand letter has not yet been served to the city. We have arrived at this point very reluctantly, but we believe as Americans we have the duty to assert our rights under the laws that require our markets to be kept open and free. The NFL cannot be allowed to use unlawful monopoly power to deprive us of what the fans have worked and sacrificed to make possible: a very successfully NFL team.”
It is extremely difficult to win an anti-trust case in America. If any current business knows that, it’s the National Football League.
“What’s great about this issue is the NFL has already lost,” says Aguirre. “So if the city were the raise it as a serious issue and really get behind it the hope would be the NFL would see the city is serious and force everybody in to a position of, Let’s try to work this thing out.”
The case most germane to the idea came about in 2011. A group of NFL players led by Tom Brady, Peyton Manning, Drew Brees and a few others filed a class action suit against the NFL and its 32 member teams on anti-trust grounds. Their complaint read, in part:
“The NFL Defendants comprise the only major professional football league in the United States. Together, they monopolize and/or restrain trade in, and/or have combined and conspired to monopolize and/or restrain trade in the United State market for the services of major league professional football players.”
That phrase, restrain trade in, is one of the keys here. Section 1 of the Sherman Anti-Trust Act says, in part:
“Every contract … or conspiracy, in restraint of trade or commerce among the several States, or with foreign nations, is declared to be illegal …”
That’s the verbiage that could cause serious problems for the Chargers and the NFL if an attempt is made to move the team to the Los Angeles market. The NFL lost its case in 2011 (a decision “overwhelmingly” upheld by the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals) and would face a similar argument in San Diego.
According to Aguirre, restraining trade is legal if it’s done under reasonable circumstances such as a financial hardship.
“Normally what you would say is, look we can’t make money there. We can’t make a go of it. We’re not making as much as we need to keep the team going,” says Aguirre. “None of that argument can be made. (The Chargers are) making plenty of money. They’re making more money than they’ve ever made.”
According to numbers from the statistical website www.statista.com the Chargers have seen an increase in revenue every season for the last 15 years. In fact, the team’s revenues reportedly doubled from $131 million in 2001 to $262 million in 2013.
NFL Executive Vice President Eric Grubman has even said, “We have a healthy business. We are not losing money. We have never said that.” As a fun side note, Grubman’s Twitter handle is @EricNFLMoney.
Another reason for relocating the Chargers, says Aguirre, is the possibility of giving the San Diego market another NFL franchise.
“There’s no way for them to leave under the circumstances of the NFL saying we won’t give you another team. If the NFL were to say well we’ll give you another them, that’s a different story. They’re basically exploiting the fact that the NFL controls the number of teams. If you restrain trade it’s OK if it’s reasonable. If a monopoly restrains trade, then that’s a much more difficult case to make.”
Once again, Grubman’s response to whether or not San Diego would get an expansion team was less than favorable. He told the San Diego Union-Tribune it’s a “low probability.”
So if the groundwork for the lawsuit is there, another big question is money. Attorney fees are not cheap so who pays for it? Although it could be a taxpayer lawsuit, the taxpayers could avoid footing the bill.
“The taxpayers would not pay the legal fees unless the city council decided to invest in it and do it themselves,” says Aguirre. “Then it would be a combination of the city attorney and outside counsel. It could be structured in a lot of different ways.”
Taking this approach could get messy, and would likely be used only in a worst-case scenario to help level the playing field against the financial superiority in Los Angeles.
“It would not be requiring the city of San Diego to try to match the economic abilities of a much larger market like Los Angeles,” says Aguirre. “That’s the idea, to use all the arsenal if necessary.”
Aguirre would likely not be involved in the actual litigation. He suggests the same attorneys who helped the NFL players in 2011 take the lead on a lawsuit.
So what would be the underlying motivation of such a drastic course of action? To force the Chargers and local government to work together and truly pull out all the stops to make a stadium deal in San Diego.
“We are only trying,” says Jauregui, ”to help keep the Chargers in San Diego.”
Boltman is simply to make sure the Chargers don’t bolt, man.Because correlation does not equal causation, we present the following with no comment other than to note that according to Goldman's estimates (shown below), Alpha Bank, which has announced that web banking will "operate with limited functionality" over the weekend, happens to have the smallest ELA buffer of the four major Greek banks.
And of course, Greek PM Alexis Tsipras has just called for a referendum on euro membership to be held next Sunday.
Draw your own conclusions.
From Kathimerini:
Notice decreased function of the service Alpha Web Banking for the weekend issued by the bank, tufting scenarios in view of the Eurogroup Saturday. Specifically, the communication states: From Saturday 06.27.2015 at 11:30 am to Monday 29/06/2015 at 8:00 am through the Alpha Web Banking there will be possibilities: Information on the balances and accounts and cards movements. Registration of orders on transfer of funds at a later date (will not be direct transfers executed). Registration of orders on payments dated 29/6 or higher. Enter orders for transfers to other banks dated 30/6 or later. The transfer orders will be registered for Sunday 28/06/2015, will be performed on Monday 29/06/2015.
And meanwhile, at the ATMs (via Protothema):
Photo: Long cues at #Greek ATM's after announcement of referendum - @MakridisAkis pic.twitter.com/InrhjHt1Vr
— Conflict News (@rConflictNews) June 26, 2015So far in this series, I’ve touched on optical performance, ergonomics, and reticle options. This post looks at advanced features like illumination, focal plane, locking turrets, zero stop, and other features like anodizing, and whether it uses a one-piece tube.
First Focal Plan (FFP) or Second Focal Plane (SFP)
Basically, on FFP scopes the mil/MOA marks are valid at all magnifications, which means the shooter can use the magnification level most appropriate for the situation and still have effective holdover and windage reference marks. While the proportions of the reticle will appear to change when adjusting the magnification, in reality the reticles values are remaining in proportion to the target.
On SFP scopes the mil/MOA marks are only valid at a specific magnification, typically the highest magnification, which may not be ideal for some shots … but if you want to hold for elevation or wind, you need to shoot at that magnification. Here is a video that demos FFP vs SFP.
Most long-range shooters prefer First Focal Plane reticles, because of their flexibility (work at any magnification). One downside is that you need to have a good reticle that can be easily seen at low magnification, and not too thick at high magnification. Trying to strike this balance has really pushed reticle design.
Here is the breakdown of which scopes use which:
First Focal Plane Scopes (FFP) Second Focal Plane Scopes (SFP) Bushnell Elite Tactical 3.5-21×50
Bushnell Elite Tactical 4.5-30×50
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didn't know what it was, that's going to be a bit challenging to say the least. People were starting to get a little nervous. Trane seemed pretty happy, just reciting into the mike "Om Mani Padme Hum" joined by the horns kind of droning out. Then Trane picked up the soprano and played the melody to "My Favorite Things." As soon as he played the melody, all of the audience went crazy. After all that was his hit tune. "Yeah... that's John Coltrane, that's what we want. That's great! Okay."Well, after the melody for the next hour it was complete pandemonium. Trane started soloing and next was maybe Archie Shepp... I don't know who followed who. All I know is that in general everyone played at the same time. I would say in the next hour or so it appeared that half the audience split. The review the next day was pretty scathing. Nobody really understood what was going on. In a sense this event was an announcement that this stage of Coltrane had arrived. And if you couldn't keep up with it... that was the way it went. Nobody knew he was going to die within another year. This was a big unveiling of the final stage of Coltrane to the general jazz public along with the Ascension recording which captured this energy we are talking about.I was absolutely speechless. My friend and I couldn't talk. I just sat there. It appeared that a lot of the audience had left. There was a tepid applause at the end. The band walked off like they walked on. We went somewhere to eat something, then back to Brooklyn on the subway. I will never forget that night. I couldn't even talk the next day. There was so much energy in Lincoln Center during that Trane set. And of course the actual sound in a hall like that, bouncing all over the place (not a solo violin after all)... was incredible.As a sidebar, that did set a way of playing for me and many of my contemporaries in the late '60s. We remembered, if not that concert, the record "Ascension. That way of playing became a kind of modus operandi of a good part of my generation that came up in the late '60s centered around the loft scene. Basically the way they played at Lincoln Center and on Ascension, Kulu Se Mama, Cosmic Music, Expression the duo with Rashied Interstellar Space and Stellar Regions... those records that came out in '66 and '67 really set a way of playing for a lot of us. In the end that kind of "free" jazz was short-lived though aspects of it are still played today. By 1970, you had Bitches Brew and that started a new thing.Within that span '65 and '66, there is sometimes a stretch of time known as the mid-late period. Meditations for example...Meditations is a bit more focused than some of the ones I mentioned. I play the suite a lot and will this year in New York commemorating the 50th anniversary of Trane's passing. There are real melodies, but it's still basically a free recording. That was the first record of the real free stuff to be released and it kind of announced the new way of playing for those who were listening. After Meditations that's pretty much the end of the classic quartet. By November, they are recording Live in Seattle and that's when Elvin and McCoy left the band. Then the new group started and that's the core of the group I saw in Lincoln Center. The recording The John Coltrane Quartet Plays featured some groundbreaking tunes: "Nature Boy" "Chim Chim Chiree" and in particular, the track "Brazilia." The old was gone and a new set of understandings was taking place at this time in '66 to '67. To further complicate matters, there were recordings which were posthumously released, particularly Sun Ship and Transition. They really show the quartet in transition. You can hear musically that it was going in a new direction often featuring two drummers with Alice on piano along with Sanders who could really scream on the tenor. Elvin was not happy about having to share the bandstand with another drummer. Meanwhile, it appeared that McCoy couldn't hear himself with the two drummers bashing away. In summary, obviously, what I am saying may or may not be true, but for those of us fortunate enough to have seen John and the group frequently, it felt like there never was and never will be such a group... truly a happening unmatched before or since.Vote for Benny’s Blackburn bombshell in the FIFA Puskás award
Posted on November 15th, 2012 | |
You may have heard already that Newcastle United’s Hatem Ben Arfa is one of ten candidates for the FIFA “Puskás Award” for the best goal of the year.
However, this competition is also up for a public vote on FIFA’s official website, and I wouldn’t be doing my duty if I didn’t encourage all you Toon fans out there to get on the site and vote!
To crib unashamedly from the Wikipedia, it is described thusly:
“The FIFA Puskás Award is an award established on 20 October 2009 by FIFA at the behest of FIFA (Fédération Internationale de Football Association) President Sepp Blatter in order to award the player, male or female, judged to have scored the most aesthetically significant and “most beautiful” goal of the year. Ferenc Puskás’s name is in commemoration of the newly-created FIFA Goal of the Year award.”
Named after the Magical Magyar goal machine who averaged a goal every game for Honvéd, Real Madrid and Hungary, the award is part of the famous Ballon d’Or ceremony to find the World’s player of the year, and this competition is open to two public votes, so get voting for the goal you honestly and impartially think is the best wor Benny!
This stage of the competition has 10 entries, and the three with the highest votes from this stage will go on to a final competition, which is also open to a public vote. You can find out more about this year’s competition, view videos of all of the ten entries, and of course, actually vote by following the link at the bottom of this piece.
You don’t even have to be biased anyway as despite some stiff competition from nine other remarkable goals from the likes of Lionel Messi, Falcao, last year’s winner Neymar and others, it really was probably the best goal on the planet in the last twelve months, showing a degree of finely tuned close control which only the very finest dribblers in world football can ever hope to muster. The closest one in the same vein is probably Neymar’s exceptional goal for Brazilian side Santos against Internacional back in March, with most of the rest being massive shots and bicycle kicked efforts, selected by a panel of experts for this public vote. On the subject of “massive shots,” Cisse’s legendary goal against Chelsea would also have stood up VERY well against the ones that are in there too, especially so as it was against last season’s eventual Champion’s League winners.
Finally, below are the criteria on which the best goals should be selected (once again, shamelessly lifted from Wikipedia).
“It should be a beautiful goal (subjective — the spread of goals should include long-range shots, team goals, overhead kicks, individual plays, etc.).
“The importance of the match should be taken into account (objective — limited to “A” international teams, confederation championships and national top-division club matches: the more important the goal, the better).
“The goal should not be the result of luck, mistakes or a deflection by a teammate or the other team.
“The goal should support fair play, i.e. the player should not have behaved badly in the game or have been charged with doping, for example.”
So gan’n vote for Benny! :-)
The FIFA Puskás Award vote.
Poll
NUFCBlog Author: workyticket workyticket has written 1057 articles on this blog.
Related Posts:BRUNSWICK, Georgia — An Environmental Protection Agency proposal to clean up an 801-acre Superfund site in Brunswick, Georgia has come under scrutiny, with activists saying it is insufficient to protect locals already exposed to pollution — including a small Geechee community of Creole-speaking descendants of slaves on Sapelo Island, 25 miles from the site.
Honeywell International, which purchased the site in 1998 after LCP Chemical filed for bankruptcy, reports that 225,000 tons of contaminated soil and material and 13 acres of contaminated marshland have been removed from the area. However, unsafe levels of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), mercury, lead and polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) remain present.
The EPA’s 1994 target action for total PCB levels on the site was 25 parts per million (ppm). A 2014 public health assessment of the site by federal public health organization the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) found that six half-acre grids exceeded this concentration and 36 half-acre grids had PCB concentrations of 1 to 24 ppm.
The EPA presented its proposed plan (PDF) at a public meeting in Brunswick on Dec. 4. The plan calls for three remedies: removing sediment from 7 acres, capping 6 acres “with layers of sand, silt, gravel and rock,” and covering 11 acres with a layer of sand. In all, roughly 24 acres will be remedied.
Daniel Parshley, executive director of environmental watchdog Glynn Environmental Coalition, said, “There is a long history of ignoring how big the site is and lowballing the acres.” The coalition recommends removal of 81 of the most contaminated acres.
The EPA holds that the contamination levels do not justify dredging and removing additional acreage because of concerns about disturbing the marshland. However, Parshley and Peter DeFur of consulting firm Environmental Stewardship Concepts were quick to point out that marshland restoration has become a common practice.
According to the ATSDR, exposure to PCB concentration levels exceeding 1 to 5 ppm for children and 10 to 25 ppm for adults may cause harmful effects, including altered hormone levels, impaired neurological development, low birth weight and damage to skin, liver, pancreas and cardiovascular systems. It has also been linked to Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases.
The ATSDR reports that PCBs persist in the environment and find their way into humans through the consumption of small organisms and fish, which take contaminated sediment into their bodies. PCBs will continue to accumulate in fish and wildlife regardless of efforts to cap or cover them unless the contaminated material is removed. The EPA reports that PCBs in fish, “can reach levels hundreds of thousand[s] of times higher than the levels in water.”
The ATSDR tested nine of the 47 Geechees on Sapelo Island and found that the median person had higher blood levels of PCBs, including Aroclor 1268 — a chemical released specifically at the LCP site, according to the ATSDR — than 95 percent of the general population. It determined that the levels were caused by the LCP Superfund site, primarily through consumption of contaminated fish, and said that the contamination from the site may be spreading and fish consumption guidelines may need to be expanded. The island is well outside the area governed by such guidelines.
DeFur said the particular type of PCB found in the subjects’ bloodstreams, Aroclor 1268, is so distinctive, it’s like a fingerprint.
None of the EPA reports on the site reveal the source of Aroclor 1268. Brunswick attorney Robert Killian, who represented property owners, Glynn County (which encompasses Brunswick) and employees of LCP in suits against Allied Chemical — now Honeywell — beginning in the mid-1990s, said it came from Honeywell, which produces products and technologies for a variety of industries, including chemical, automotive, transportation and aerospace.
Killian said the suits ultimately settled for $50 million split evenly between homeowners and the county.
John Morris, project manager for Honeywell, said by email, “The specific PCB [Aroclor] 1268 was only used by Allied for approximately seven years in Brunswick. PCB 1268 was used in many different applications, and it is found in the environment throughout the world.”
Jim Brown, program manager for the Georgia Environmental Protection Division’s hazardous waste corrective action program, pointed out that Aroclor 1268 was used in marine paint. DeFur said, however, that Aroclor 1268 was not widely used in marine paint and its use was confined to military and some merchant marine applications. Chapter 5 of the ATSDR toxicological profile for PCBs states that Monsanto, which produced 99 percent of the PCBs used by U.S. industry, ceased production of Aroclor 1268 in 1971.
Morris said the allocation of cleanup costs among “potentially responsible parties” has not been determined.
Killian, who attended the Dec. 4 meeting, said residents became hostile after learning what the plan entailed. He said that there hadn’t been a cost-benefit analysis of the plan and was concerned about the transparency of the drafting process. “The hearing was the first time that the public had the chance to speak,” he said, adding that he believed negotiations over the past 20 years have favored Allied and Honeywell rather than locals potentially affected by the site.
The proposed plan is one of six remedies the EPA considered, ranging from taking no action to removing 48 acres at an estimated cost of $64.8 million. With an estimated cost of $28.6 million, the plan is the second-cheapest option that involved taking any action to clean up the site.
Asked to explain its reasoning for choosing this cleanup plan, the EPA did not mention whether or to what extent cost factored in its decision.
Brown said the proposed cleanup is sufficient and pointed out that the site will continue to be monitored and further cleanup may be required if the contamination persists.
But many believe the plan doesn’t go far enough to protect the local population.
J.R. Grovner, a father of two and a native and current resident of Sapelo Island, said that while the island’s inhabitants became aware of the fish contamination after the ATSDR testing, there has been little to no change in their consumption habits.
The residents of the Geechee community, often called the Gullah-Geechee, who remain on the island and try to keep up the traditions passed down for over 200 years. Hunting, fishing, faith and family make up the cornerstones of their community.
Grovner said most residents consume at least one meal, at times as many as several, of local seafood per week. It’s the way of life on the tiny island, which is accessible only by boat. “A situation like that, I guess we get the end of the stick,” he said.
A multiagency 2009 study of dolphins around Brunswick and Sapelo Island found that they had as much as 10 times the levels of PCBs, including Aroclor 1268, than dolphins from any location previously tested. PCBs, which are found in the sediment on the site, tend to accumulate in top-level predators like dolphins — and humans — because they are stored in fat and persist up the food chain.
ATSDR researchers revealed their study on the high PCB levels of nine islanders at a Sept. 3 meeting at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) campus in Chamblee, Georgia, that was attended by representatives from several Georgia and federal government agencies but was not open to the public.
Brown, who was in attendance, said the ATSDR conclusions regarding the spread of PCBs from the site, the sufficiency of fish consumption advisories and the source of the contamination of the residents of Sapelo were not supported by the data presented.
A fact sheet added in January to a website Honeywell maintains about the LCP site states, “The [ATSDR] study concluded that there is no demonstrated link between Sapelo Island and any contaminants discharged at the LCP site.” However, the presentation from the Sept. 3 meeting, where the interim results of that study, which has not yet been issued in its entirety, were discussed, states, “Residents of Sapelo Island have been exposed to specific PCB also found at the LCP site.”
The fact sheet also alleges that a Monsanto plant in Anniston, Alabama, “released thousands of pounds of PCB 1268 into the air over a 40 year period,” noting that the plant is “upwind from Brunswick.” Anniston is approximately 340 miles northwest of Brunswick.
A representative from Monsanto responded to the allegation, “We are confident that no significant or even detectable amounts of PCBs could have blown from Anniston, Alabama, more than 300 miles away, to Brunswick, Georgia.”
Additionally, there is debate over whether the current fish consumption guidelines protect residents of the Brunswick area.
In 1999 the Glynn County Health Department, in cooperation with the ATSDR, tested 316 individuals through interviews, food diaries and urine to determine the local residents’ rates of consumption of fish and wild game and develop the consumption guidelines. Results from target group of 211 people who reported consuming local seafood and wild game from affected areas were compared with those of a control group of 105 who reported that they did not consume seafood and wild game from affected waters. Only 4 percent of the target group were African-American.
African-Americans account for 26 percent of the population of Glynn County and 40 percent of the population within 4 miles of the site. In its 2014 public health assessment for the site, the ATSDR stated that “African-Americans are underrepresented in the Brunswick fish study” and because of that and the likely frequency and amounts of their consumption of fish, the “results of the Brunswick fish study should not be applied to African-Americans in the Brunswick area.”
In the target group, 101 people reported the kind of fisher they were; just one was a subsistence fisher, and only three were commercial fishers. Accordingly, the health assessment states that the fish consumption guidelines do not necessarily apply to subsistence or commercial fishers.
The public has until Feb. 2, 2015, to submit comments to the EPA regarding the proposed plan. After that, the EPA will make a final decision and “negotiate a cleanup agreement with parties responsible for the pollution, which will then design and implement the cleanup, with EPA oversight.”Breaking News Emails Get breaking news alerts and special reports. The news and stories that matter, delivered weekday mornings.
Oct. 12, 2017, 3:50 PM GMT / Updated Oct. 12, 2017, 4:24 PM GMT By Claire Atkinson
Sheryl Sandberg, Facebook's chief operating officer, said Thursday that the social network would reveal how Russia-linked groups targeted Americans with ads that were designed to disrupt the 2016 presidential election and tip it to Donald Trump.
The action means that Facebook may be able to help explain to Congress which groups of people and geographic areas were the targets of the Russian ads, and who precisely paid for them. The company has already turned over about 3,000 ads that ran on its platform to congressional investigators, but they have not yet been made public.
Sandberg, in a live-streamed conversation with Mike Allen, the executive editor of Axios, at the Newseum in Washington, was pointedly asked if there was an overlap between Trump’s campaign and the Russia accounts.
Sandberg responded by explaining how businesses target customers and didn’t specifically address the question, forcing Allen to ask again, “You don’t know or you won’t tell me?”
She said that she supports the public release of the ads — though she said Congress would have to do so — and when they are released, Facebook would explain to Congress the other details.
“When the ads get released, we will release the targeting for those ads,” Sandberg said. “Again, we are going to be fully transparent.”
Sandberg began the discussion by acknowledging that "things happened on our platform in this election that should not have happened — especially very troubling, foreign interference into a Democratic election."
"We have a responsibility to do everything we can to prevent this kind of abuse," she said.
A key question for three separate investigations into how Russia influenced the last election is how the ad buyers knew with such specificity where to place their ad buys, and whether they worked with any political campaigns to do the targeting.
Trump won by a thin margin in Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania, putting him over the top in the Electoral College. Russia-linked ads targeted all three states, as well as others, according to a CNN report.
In response to another question, Sandberg refused to describe Facebook as a media company, a designation that would require it to submit to a different kind of legal framework that governs the identification of political ads on TV or the general expectation that content is fact-based and free from hoaxes.
While Facebook is a distributor of both video and text to some 2 billion people around the world, Sandberg reiterated: “We are a tech company. We don’t hire reporters. But we’re not saying we don’t have a responsibility.”
On Sunday, the Trump campaign's digital director, Brad Parscale, bragged to CBS News about how he used Facebook.
“I understood early that Facebook was how Donald Trump was going to win,” he told "60 Minutes." He revealed that Facebook had embedded staff in the Trump campaign to help them use the targeting.
Parscale revealed the campaign made hundreds of thousands of ads, changing language and colors to best appeal to individuals.
The Trump campaign used Cambridge Analytica, a firm backed by Trump supporter Robert Mercer, which blended its own database of information on American voters with Facebook to find swing voters or discourage people from voting at all.The Latest on the killing of a Denver transit guard (all times local):
12:20 p.m.
A 37-year-old man accused of killing a Denver transit guard has been charged with first-degree murder.
Joshua Cummings was advised of the charge filed against him in the death of Scott Von Lanken during a brief court appearance on Friday.
He wore a red jail jumpsuit and had his arms and legs shackled as he faced Judge Martin Egelhoff.
He answered "Yes sir" when the judge asked him if he understood his rights. He hasn't been asked to enter a plea yet.
Before he was led away he asked his lawyer for help getting a Quran, saying jail officials had been "dragging their feet."
Denver District Attorney Beth McCann declined to say whether investigators had uncovered a motive for the shooting.
She says the case is still being investigated.
_____
10 a.m.
A 37-year-old man accused of killing a Denver transit guard appeared briefly in court Friday under heavy security.
Joshua Cummings wore a red jail jumpsuit and had his arms and legs shackled as he faced Judge Martin Egelhoff.
He answered "Yes sir" when the judge asked him if he understood his rights. He struggled a bit to sign a document on an electronic tablet because of the restraints.
Before he was led out of the courtroom he asked his lawyer for help getting a Quran, saying jail officials had been "dragging their feet."
When asked after the hearing for a motive, Denver District Attorney Beth McCann said the shooting is still being investigated.
Scott Von Lanken, of Loveland, was shot Tuesday night near Union Station.It seems to me like the players that were at the 778 minute mark or above typically turned out just fine. It also seems to me like the players that had higher points per game in the year before they made the jump to the NHL usually turned out better as well. I’d imagine a big part of that is players with higher points per game are generally higher quality, so they’re naturally going to get more ice-time as a result. In any event, that’s good for Mitch Marner and his 2.04 points per game this year.
I guess we could argue two things here: that if Marner can just get 800 minutes of ice-time next year, we probably don’t have to worry too much about his development (for reference, that’d be less than 10 minutes a game over 82 games).
We could also argue that, by nature of his junior production, Marner automatically has a higher chance of turning out good anyways if we’re using history.
So, would Marner be hurt by playing a limited role? As long as it’s not an extremely limited role, the best guess we can make is no. But again, there are exceptions to the rule. And obviously, the sample we have to draw from is very small.
WHAT DO THE PROJECTION TOOLS SAY?
Last year, the PCS projection tool gave Mitch Marner an 80% chance of reaching 200 NHL games played (second only to Dylan Strome’s 100%).
Now, we don’t know what PCS would give him anymore because the tool is offline now (its creators were hired by the Florida Panthers). But we do have a new tool called pGPS, and Marner’s D+1 was so good that the tool didn’t even give him a score – his production was so off the charts that nobody, in the history of the OHL, even compared to him.
(By the way, the only players that were so good that they broke PCS last year were Connor McDavid and Evgeni Svechnikov).
This definitely gives credence to the idea that Marner is NHL ready.
BUT WHAT DO OUR EYES TELL US?
Numbers are nice, but my experience using projection tools and predictive numbers with prospects is that, perhaps more-so in prospect evaluation than any other realm of hockey, the eye test is still paramount.
So what do our eyes tell us about Mitch Marner? Does he look like someone ready to play in the NHL?
My personal opinion on this is that Marner looks like he fits the role that lots of people are pegging him for next year: a limited NHL role. The skating, the puckhandling, the goalscoring, the passing, the two-way play, his physical maturity – all look to me like they have enough polish to play in the NHL, but he doesn’t look like a full-time top-six forward just yet.
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WHAT DO THE LEAFS THINK?
I think if he plays in the NHL next year that’s what we’ll see: a young player playing up and down the lineup, getting sheltered minutes, but not minutes that are so sheltered that he doesn’t have an opportunity to grow. He’s someone that looks ready to contribute, but not in a key role like a McDavid or Panarin.
Having a pulse on what the organization thinks is important too and gives us a rough idea of their line of thinking on the matter.
GM Lou Lamoriello said back in March he didn’t feel Marner was ready at that point in time, but that things could change by the end of the summer.
Mike Babcock reiterated that point this past weekend, saying that Marner’s commitment to “eating right, living right, and lifting right” this summer would play a large part in determining if he’ll be NHL-ready come the fall. Babcock added that the team doesn’t want to hurt him or see him get injured, which goes back to our points about physical maturity being a key for Marner if he’s going to make the jump.
We can’t be conclusive based on the veiled comments the organization has sparingly made on Marner’s status moving forward, but it definitely seems the organization is fully prepared to send him back to junior if need be. But again, ultimately for the organization, it seems a lot of it is going to come down to whether they feel Marner is physically ready to play in the NHL next season. As we can guess from our look at Marner’s weight, it’s going to very close on whether or not Marner makes the grade.
SO, IS HE NHL READY OR NOT?
The boring answer is we don’t know for sure. I think that when you combine all the various factors – his physical maturity, the sort of role he might play in, his elite level of production in junior, what our eyes tell us, what the organization tells us – you get an optimistic lean – but only slightly.
My personal opinion? Marner will probably be in the NHL next year as long as he makes the most of his summer, but there’s still a real chance that he won’t be.
Gun-to-my-head, no-more-political-waffling answer? Marner will almost definitely be in the NHL just given his level of productivity alone, and it’s safe to pencil him into the lineup. Have your erasers ready, though.(BIVN) – The Hawaii County Council granted $3,000 in Contingency Relief account funds in support of a Mass Violence Training Symposium set be held on the Big Island in a few weeks.
The agenda items were scheduled to go before the council before the Route 91 Harvest Music Festival massacre in Las Vegas occurred. 59 people were killed and over 500 hundred injured in the incident, which is being called the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history.
On Wednesday in Hilo, the council passed Resolution 296-17, which transfers $2,000 from the contingency relief account of Councilwoman Maile David to the Office of the Prosecuting Attorney. The funds will be used to provide a grant to the YWCA of Hawaii Island for the Mass Violence Training Symposium to be held on October 26 and 27 at the Kilauea Military Camp in Volcano.
In Res. 297-17, Councilman Tim Richards put forward $1,000 in contingency relief funds for the same cause.
The objective of the event is to coordinate efforts and protocols in Hawai`i to prepare for and respond to terrorism and mass-violence crimes at the local, state, and federal levels, according to the council resolution.
The YWCA will use the funds to assist with the food, drinks and snacks for the two day event. The YWCA “will be working with the Office of the Prosecuting Attorney to provide services for victims and their families such as counseling, crisis intervention, and education,” the document states.
“Its sad to report that this is probably an appropriate time to address (the issue), considering what happened in Vegas this weekend,” said Deborah Chai, a victim-witness counselor with the Hawaii County Prosecutor’s office, during the council meeting. “Our thoughts and prayers go out to them. When events like that happen, we think not only of the families and what they’re going through, but we often look at what are we going to do if it happens here.”
Chai said there will also be two days of training on Oahu. Chai suggested the gathering will be looking at mass casualty events that could occur as a result of a catastrophic natural disaster.from Derek Thomas Category: Articles
“He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?” (Rom. 8:32)
The love of the Father expressed in the sacrifice of the Son achieves “all things” for those God loves. What exactly does the phrase “all things” mean?
The answer lies in the previous verses: God in His providence is working “all things” together in order to achieve a specific goal—our glorification (Rom. 8:28, 30). Everything that happens to us is designed to ensure that God’s plan—foreknowledge-predestination-calling-justification-glorification—is brought about. “All things” refers to the final, complete fruition of our redemption in glory.
The gospel guarantees that we will be brought home to glory. It is by grace that we are saved from the consequences of our sin; the same grace of God in the gospel brings us home. Better, Jesus brings us home. Our salvation is bound up not in something intangible and impersonal, but in a person—in Jesus Christ. The grace that ensures our final glorification is the grace of God in Jesus Christ.
Our salvation is bound up not in something intangible and impersonal, but in a person—in Jesus Christ
The gospel—the good news (Greek, euangelion)—is that God has provided for sinners like me a Substitute, One who takes my place and bears the consequences of my sin. At the cross, the wrath that my sins deserve was poured out on the Substitute. Justice was satisfied and atonement was given. My sins were imputed to the Substitute; His righteousness (obedi”ence) was imputed to my account. I received the benefits of the cross by faith alone.
Who is the Substitute? He is Jesus, my Savior. Because Paul saw the cross as central to the gospel, he could say, “We preach Christ crucified” (1 Cor. 1:23). And again, “I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified” (1 Cor. 2:2). And again, “I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures” (1 Cor. 15:3). The cross was of “first importance.”
This excerpt is adapted from Derek Thomas’ How the Gospel Brings Us All the Way Home.An eight-year project at Teotihuacán, once the western hemisphere’s largest city, failed to locate its rulers’ tomb but findings offered tantalising clues to its origins
For decades, the hunt for a royal tomb at the ancient Mexican city of Teotihuacán has gripped archaeologists trying to unravel the secrets of the kingdom’s extraordinary political power.
It is a mystery investigators thought they were on the verge of solving in 2015, when large quantities of liquid mercury were found amid a treasure trove of precious artefacts in a secret tunnel.
Liquid mercury found under Mexican pyramid could lead to king's tomb Read more
Tiny troughs containing mercury were discovered along the 103-metre (338ft) corridor under the Pyramid of the Feathered Serpent, the third-biggest temple of the ruined city 35 miles (56km) north of Mexico’s present-day capital.
It was the first time the toxic substance had been found at an ancient site in Mexico, and the discovery fuelled expectations that the search for the tomb was almost over.
But after almost eight years of painstaking excavations inside the pyramid, hopes of finding the buried remains of Teotihuacán’s enigmatic rulers are fading.
Facebook Twitter Pinterest A robot camera explores the 103-metre tunnel under the Pyramid of the Feathered Snake. Photograph: Courtsey of INAH/Project Tlalocan.
“At the beginning of this investigation we thought the tunnel was a metaphoric representation of the underworld, the place of creation and transmission of power, and that we would find a tomb of Teotihuacán’s leaders in this very scared place,” lead archaeologist Sergio Gómez told the Guardian.
“It would have been a transcendent discovery which would help us understand Teotihuacán’s power structure and system of government, but we have almost finished the excavation – and there is no tomb,” said Gómez.
Construction at Teotihuacán began around 150BC, and continued until 250AD. At its height, the city covered 21 square miles and was home to as many as 200,000 people, making it the largest city in the western hemisphere.
It was abandoned around 550AD.
Much of its history remains unknown. Archaeologists had hoped that the discovery of a royal tomb would help resolve whether the city was governed by family dynasties – as was the case with the contemporary Mayan civilization – or ruled by leaders who shared powers.
The 20-metre tunnel was discovered accidentally in 2003 when torrential rains exposed the entrance.
In 2009, scientists from the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) became the first people to enter the tunnel in almost 1,500 years.
In 2014, archaeologists found three large chambers at the end of the tunnel, almost 20 metres beneath the temple. Excitement mounted with the discovery the following year that the earth appeared to have been sculpted into elegant miniature landscapes depicting mountains and valleys, with drops of mercury deposited to symbolize sacred rivers or lakes.
But the tomb was never found.
Facebook Twitter Pinterest Dr Sergio Gómez, lead archaeologist on the Teotihuacán project. Photograph: Courtsey of INAH/Project Tlalocan.
The absence of a tomb could mean the chambers were never used for burial – or that it was removed at some point. The tunnel was sealed with debris around 250AD, but there are signs that it was re-entered about 530AD.
“We have evidence that something very large and heavy was dragged out of the tunnel at some point. It could have been a tomb, but we just don’t know,” said Gómez.
More than 100,000 objects have been recovered, which contributed to new understandings of the origins and status of the city.
Among the most significant artefacts are four almost perfectly preserved greenstone statutes – three women and one man – found near the entrances of the chambers.
The women were adorned with necklaces and earrings, and carried backpacks full of symbolic objects including tiny mirrors believed to help communication with the future and past. The mirrors and eyes are made from pyrite – or fool’s gold.
One female and the male were still standing when discovered at the end of the tunnel.
Facebook Twitter Pinterest Two of the statues found standing in the tunnel. Photograph: Courtsey of INAH/Project Tlalocan.
“My hypothesis is that these sculptures represent the founders of Teotihuacán, those who had the power to decide the ideal place to establish a new city. They were standing because they were alive at the time,” said Gomez, a former psychologist.
The three female statues could mean women played a fundamental role in the power structure in the early phases of Teotihuacán, postulates Gómez.
Conquistadors sacrificed and eaten by Aztec-era people, archaeologists say Read more
“During the first period of Teotihuacán, its economic system and riches were linked to agriculture and women were heavily associated with the cult of fertility. But this changed and the smaller naked man probably represents this process of change.
“To me, these statues are even more exciting than finding a tomb as they tell us about the origins of Teotihuacán,” he said.
An array of gigantic conch shells from the Caribbean, Pacific and Gulf coasts were also found in the tunnel. Some are engraved with distinctive Mayan hieroglyphics, confirming strong ties between the elites of Teotihuacán and Mayan communities as far south as Guatemala and Belize.
Other relics include exquisite jade ornaments imported from Guatemala, woven straw mats probably reserved for the elites, rubber balls used in an ancient ball game, striking ceramics pots from neighbouring states, and animal bones from migratory birds, jaguars and even a bear.
Facebook Twitter Pinterest The tunnel beneath the pyramid at Teotihuacán. Photograph: Courtsey of INAH/Project T |
of the season.
Of course, the pitching has been a disaster, but it’s not like Shelby Miller was obviously going to turn into a pumpkin overnight, or that Patrick Corbin was going to obviously regress after pitching well in his return from Tommy John surgery in the second half of last year. If Greinke, Miller, and Corbin were pitching to the level that our forecasts projected before the season instead of combining for a 5.15 ERA over 178 innings, the D’Backs would be north of.500, and right in the middle of the wild card race. It wouldn’t be fair for us to proclaim that we saw this coming when the D’Backs season has gone wrong for reasons that have nothing to do with why we thought the team would struggle.
But, regardless of what people thought of the preseason projections or our credibility at the time, the reality is that the D’Backs 2016 season is in trouble. With about 60 days to go before the trade deadline, the team is one more cold stretch away from likely admitting that they aren’t going to be in the playoff hunt this year, and their schedule to begin June is brutal: they play road games against the Astros the next two days, then go to Chicago for a weekend series against the Cubs before coming home to play the Rays, Marlins, and Dodgers.
Given that they also just lost Rubby de la Rosa to the DL at the same time they gave Shelby Miller a break from pitching, the team’s rotation is thin heading into a stretch that could easily put a nail in the team’s coffin. Given the quality of competition and the state of their pitching staff at the moment, the team shouldn’t be expected to win more than six or seven of these upcoming games, and a 4-11 or 5-10 stretch can’t be ruled out. If they lose twice as many as they win, they’d enter mid-June something like 28-40, and would very likely be double-digit games out of both the NL West and Wild Card races.
At that point, it would almost certainly be time for the D’Backs to admit that 2016 wasn’t their year, and begin to look to the future. But with Miller pitching himself into question mark status, Corbin looking less reliable than hoped for, and de la Rosa a health concern after another elbow problem, it’s not so clear that the D’Backs should just count on a return from a healthy Pollock to lead them back to the postseason in 2017. The team isn’t losing any huge free agents this winter — Brad Ziegler’s contract is up, but that’s about it — so they could return most of this roster and make another run next year, but the lack of expiring contracts means that they probably won’t have a ton of money to spend either; the savings from not having to pay Aaron Hill, for instance, could get eaten up by raises for guys like Pollock, Yasmany Tomas, and Paul Goldschmidt.
Clearly, the Diamondbacks aren’t going to just give up and start trading veterans for prospects; they’ve invested too much into their win-soon plan to pivot after two bad months. But it’s also not clear how they’re going to take their current roster and turn it into a winner without some improvements, and with the farm system weakened by the winter’s big trade, there isn’t a clear path forward just from promoting prospects either. Getting this team into contention is going to take some creativity.
So, here’s one very off-the-wall suggestion; make Zack Greinke available in trade talks. The pitching market is thin at best this summer, and there are no real quality starters set to hit the free agent market this winter, so putting a high-quality starter on the trade block could put the D’Backs in an advantageous position. In a market devoid of rent-an-ace options, Greinke could have real appeal for a team looking to win in the short-term.
The contract, of course, would be a problem; no other team in baseball wanted to give Greinke $200 million just a few months back, of course, and he hasn’t exactly helped his stock by running a 4.71 ERA through the first two months of the season. But the remaining portion of the contract isn’t as onerous as the overall dollar figure; the D’Backs would remain responsible for the $18 million signing bonus, and because of the deferred salary, the calculated value of his future salaries is more like $160 million.
5/$160M is reportedly where the Dodgers and Giants were both willing to go in free agency, and roughly what he has left on his deal after accounting for the deferrals and keeping the signing bonus on the D’Backs books. Toss in the small-but-not-insignificant fact that trading for him now doesn’t come with the draft pick compensation that signing him over the winter would have cost, and I think there would be a few teams interested in at least exploring a Greinke deal.
The Red Sox would probably be the first team to call, with Clay Buchholz demoted to the bullpen, Joe Kelly remaining maddeningly inconsistent, and Eduardo Rodriguez raising some concerns with mediocre performances during his rehab. The Sox could certainly use another quality starter, and have the financial capability to take on most of Greinke’s remaining contract; adding Greinke to David Price would give the team the best chance to send David Ortiz off in style this October. With Buchholz wanting to start, a deal centered around swapping him and Greinke — with Boston sending other pieces as well, depending on how much of the contract Arizona wanted to keep on their books — could potentially benefit both sides.
For Arizona, moving Greinke a few months into a six year deal would bring instant criticism, but this is an organization that has been marching to the beat of their own drum for a while now. The negative public relations associated with trading a guy right after signing him to a long-term contract could be diminished if Greinke was on board with the move, which he’d probably have to be anyway, given he has some no-trade protection in his contract.
But if they made a deal where they got some major league players back and moved Greinke’s 2017 salary off the books, they could pitch it as a rational response to changing dynamics; they didn’t know they’d be without Pollock when they signed Greinke, so now they’re trying to put the best team they can on the field next year, and so acquiring a pitcher they could potentially control for 2017 at a lower cost could give them the ability to add some necessary depth. Especially if they’re going to be without de la Rosa and aren’t sure what Miller will give them, turning Greinke into a couple of pitchers and some available budget room could give them more flexibility for retooling their roster.
It’s probably too far out there even for Arizona, and Greinke could nuke the entire idea simply by invoking his no-trade clause, assuming he and his agents put all the teams that would take the contract on their list of teams to block deals to. But with the D’Backs 2016 season potentially a few weeks away from being all but over, the D’Backs should probably start at least thinking about whether they’d be better off moving Greinke now. Even if the answer is no, it’s going to take some out-of-the-box moves to get this team back on track, and they probably can’t just rely on guys playing like they expected.
The D’Backs have spent the last year doing exactly the opposite of the consensus. The normal path, at this point, would be to stand pat and hope things get better, but Arizona might be best served taking the unconventional road once again.However, U.S. intelligence has a good idea of the kind of engine North Korea is using in its new long-range missiles.
The first stage of North Korea’s new intercontinental-range ballistic missile (ICBM), the Hwasong-14 (KN20), and intermediate range ballistic missile (IRBM), the Hwasong-12 (KN17), both use a variant of a Soviet-origin engine.
Specifically, both missiles, based on their observed flight tests, use a single-chambered variant of the Soviet-origin RD-250 family of liquid-propellant engines with 48 tons of thrust, according to current U.S. intelligence assessments. The engines make use of high-energy, storable hypergolic liquid propellants.
U.S. government sources with knowledge of the latest intelligence on North Korea’s ballistic missile and nuclear programs confirmed the assessment to The Diplomat, which supports part of an open-source finding released this week by Michael Elleman of the International Institute for Strategic Studies.
Elleman published a report outlining the RD-250-variant finding on Monday, in which he calculated a 48 ton thrust engine in both tests off publicly released imagery and video footage of North Korea’s recent launches. He additionally assessed that engines in both the new ICBM and IRBM belonged the RD-250 family.
North Korea first tested this liquid propulsion engine on March 18 this year; the engine was dubbed the “March 18 revolution” by Kim Jong-un. North Korean state media included an ominous warning that the “whole world will soon witness what eventful significance the great victory won today carries.” Weeks later, the first flight test attempts of the Hwasong-12 began out of Sinpo, culminating in the first successful flight-test of that system in May 2017.
While U.S. intelligence has assessed the design origins of the engine as belonging to the Soviet-origin RD-250 family, sources who spoke to The Diplomat said there is no confident U.S. assessment of the specific provenance of the engines in North Korea’s inventory today.
Notably, in contradiction with Elleman’s conclusions about the origins of these engines, which were covered in the New York Times earlier this week and in the Washington Post in July, the U.S. intelligence community does not currently assess that North Korea procured engines from the former Soviet Union. Neither Ukrainian nor Russian entities are currently assessed to have sold or transferred engines from the RD-250 family to North Korea.
To the contrary, The Diplomat has independently confirmed an assessment first reported by Reuters that parts of the U.S. intelligence community assess that North Korea likely has the capability to manufacture a liquid propulsion engine like the “March 18 revolution” indigenously.
While U.S. intelligence assesses that North Korea has the indigenous capability to manufacture engines like these, it has not assessed either way if it is already doing so or doing so independently. One source told The Diplomat that North Korea, if it did develop and manufacture this RD-250-variant engine indigenously, likely “codeveloped” the system with Iran.
Some evidence of Iranian involvement in North Korean ballistic missile engine development was apparent in 2016. In January that year, the U.S. Treasury Department sanctioned “11 individuals and entities” for their involvement in broader ballistic missile procurement for Iran.
The Treasury Department also noted in that announcement that “[w]ithin the past several years, Iranian missile technicians from SHIG (Shahid Hemmat Industrial Group) traveled to North Korea to work on an 80-ton rocket booster being developed by the North Korean government.”
In September 2016, North Korea carried out a static test of an engine that it claimed precisely exhibited an 80 ton force thrust. That engine has yet to be used in a North Korean ballistic missile, but was likely the engine built with Iranian assistance the January 2016 U.S. Treasury release referred to.
Whatever the origins of these new RD-250-variant liquid propulsion engines at the heart of the Hwasong-12 and the first stage of the Hwasong-14, according to sources who spoke to The Diplomat, there is currently no serious belief in the U.S. intelligence community that North Korea imported RD-250 units from either Ukraine or Russia.Authorities in Montgomery left a home early Tuesday where they believed the man charged with fatally shooting three people near Auburn University might have been hiding.
Law enforcement swarmed the scene Monday afternoon and spent hours firing tear gas, using thermal imaging and sending tactical teams on forays inside the house as they searched for Desmonte Leonard. They hadn't brought anyone out of the home by the time they held a briefing just after midnight.
And around 2:25 a.m. Tuesday, an Associated Press photographer on the scene saw all law enforcement agents that had been there leave without comment. It wasn't immediately clear why they left. There was no activity around the house.
Leonard is charged with three counts of capital murder in a shooting Saturday night during a pool party at University Heights apartments. He's also accused of wounding three others. The dead included two former Auburn football players.
While authorities were at the home Monday, Montgomery Mayor Todd Strange said they were going to scour the attic, air conditioning ducts and "every crevice" of the house until they were satisfied. They were drilling holes and tearing through pieces of the house. They vowed to repay the house's owner or rebuild the structure.
Investigators said thermal imaging and other technology showed a person was in the attic area of the house and that they'd heard coughing and movement. But after midnight, they acknowledged that they hadn't heard those noises for several hours.
Dozens of police cruisers, trucks, fire vehicles and vans surrounded the house, located in a middle-class area a few miles from Alabama's Capitol. Authorities had received two 911 calls that someone who looked like Leonard was in or near the house, Strange told reporters. One of the calls came from the owner of the home.
Also on Monday, police said they had arrested two men accused of hindering the search.
Auburn police said Jeremy S. Thomas, 18, of Montgomery was charged with hindering prosecution after he fled the scene of the shooting with Leonard. Records show Thomas was free on bond at the time of the Auburn shootings while awaiting a manslaughter trial set to begin June 18 in last year's shooting death of a teenager.
Montgomery police said Gabriel Thomas, 41, was also charged with hindering prosecution after having contact with Leonard after the shooting and providing false information to officers.
Police said it wasn't known whether Jeremy Thomas and Gabriel Thomas are related. Officers also were looking for a third man described as a person of interest in the case, but it wasn't clear why.
The three killed in the weekend shooting included former Auburn players Edward Christian, who had to quit the team because of a lingering back injury; and Ladarious Phillips, who was transferring from Auburn to Jacksonville State University to play football. The other person killed was Demario Pitts, 20.
Of the three people who were wounded, current Auburn football player Eric Mack and Xavier Moss were both treated and released from a hospital. The third, John Robertson, remained in critical condition after being shot in the head.
A witness who identified himself as a friend of Pitts said he didn't know the man who pulled out a gun and began firing into the crowd following a dispute over a woman.
"I ain't never seen him a day of my life," said Turquorius Vines, 23, who wasn't injured in the melee.
Police have arrested Leonard on two previous charges involving guns.
Court records show Montgomery police arrested Leonard in 2008 on a charge of carrying a pistol without a license after stopping a suspected stolen vehicle and finding him inside. Documents available online didn't show whether the case was ever resolved, but Leonard was freed on bond within days.
Leonard was charged in 2009 with assault after a man was shot in the groin, but prosecutors dropped the case after the victim told authorities Leonard wasn't the shooter.
A Montgomery woman filed a paternity suit against Leonard on Friday that identified him as the father of a girl who turned 1 last month.
Another woman sued him in 2009 seeking unpaid child support for a girl who is now 4. A court ordered monthly payments of $305 by Leonard, who records show was working at a Walmart store at the time.
Auburn police said the shootings did not appear to have anything to do with some of the victims being former or current players on the football team, which won the national championship in 2010. The swimming pool at the apartment complex frequently is the site of parties.Eileen Herlie (March 8, 1918[1] – October 8, 2008) was a Scottish-American actress.
Personal life [ edit ]
Eileen Herlie was born Eileen Isobel Herlihy to an Irish Catholic father, Patrick Herlihy, and a Scottish Protestant mother, Isobel Cowden, in Glasgow, Scotland, and was one of five children. She attended Shawlands Academy, on the city's southside.[2] Herlie was trained as a theatre actress. Among her West End London theatre successes were The Eagle Has Two Heads by Jean Cocteau. She was married twice, to Philip Barrett (m 1942) and Witold Kuncewicz (m 1951), both marriages ending in divorce. She had no children.[1] In 1955 she moved permanently to the United State, where she lived and worked for the last fifty-three years of her life.
Career [ edit ]
Against the wishes of her parents, she chose to become an actress when she joined the non-professional touring company Scottish National Players in 1938. She subsequently toured with the semi-professional Rutherglen Repertory Company. In 1942 she moved to England to work as a professional actress.[1][3]
Her first role in the London theatre in 1942 was as the second Mrs de Winter in Daphne du Maurier's stage adaptation of her own novel Rebecca.[1][3]
In 1945, at the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon she played the role of Gertrude for the first of three times, opposite the Hamlet of Peter Glenville, who also directed the production. At 27 she was four years younger than her 31-year-old stage son.
In 1946 she made her first her first film appearance, playing the supporting role of Katherine in an adaptation by Daphne du Maurier of her own novel Hungry Hill.[4]
Around this time, Sir Alexander Korda placed her under contract to his London Films company. However, she would make only two films for him: The Angel with the Trumpet in 1949 and The Story of Gilbert and Sullivan in 1952. Her remaining three British films - Isn't Life Wonderful!, shot in 1952, For Better, for Worse, shot in 1954, and She Didn't Say No, shot in 1957 - were made for the Associated British Picture Corporation (ABPC).[4]
Herlie's first big film break was being cast by Laurence Olivier in his 1948 film adaptation of William Shakespeare's Hamlet. She played Hamlet's mother, Gertrude, for the second time. On this occasion, at 29, she was eleven years younger than her 40-year-old son (Olivier).[1][3][4]
Herlie played Gertrude again, for the third and final time, in the 1964 Broadway production starring Richard Burton[5], and also in the 1964 film version of the production.[4] At 46 she was now older than her son (Burton), who was 38 - but only by eight years.
Herlie's other American film appearances in the 1960s were roles in Freud: The Secret Passion (1962), and The Sea Gull (1968), the first major film version in English of Anton Chekhov's celebrated play. (The second was her last feature film.)[4]
In 1955, Herlie made her Broadway debut as Irene Molloy in The Matchmaker (which was later made into the musical Hello, Dolly!). In 1960, she was nominated for a Tony Award as 'Best Actress in a Musical' for Take Me Along, an adaptation of Eugene O'Neill's Ah, Wilderness!, in which she played opposite Jackie Gleason. In 1962, she co-starred with Ray Bolger in All American, where they sang "Once Upon a Time". Also on Broadway, she appeared in Photo Finish (1963) and Halfway Up the Tree (1967), both written by Peter Ustinov, and Crown Matrimonial, in which she played Queen Mary (1973).[5] She had previously played Queen Mary in the 1972 made-for-television film The Woman I Love, starring Richard Chamberlain as Edward VIII and Faye Dunaway as Wallis Simpson. When Crown Matrimonial was telecast on the Hallmark Hall of Fame in 1974, however, the role of Queen Mary went to film actress Greer Garson.
In 1976, Herlie made the move to television soap operas in the role of Myrtle Fargate on All My Children, playing the role for virtually the rest of her life. In the 1980s, Herlie was nominated for three consecutive Daytime Emmy Awards (1984, 1985 and 1986). She became close friends with fellow cast member Louis Edmonds, and spoke at his funeral in 2001. Until the late 1990s, Herlie was one of the few actresses to portray the same character on three different soaps. In 1993, she portrayed Myrtle on the All My Children sister-soap Loving. In December 2000, she began portraying Myrtle in crossover appearances on the soap opera One Life to Live, where a 'Who's the Daddy?' storyline was playing out on all four ABC soaps (All My Children, One Life to Live, General Hospital and the now-cancelled Port Charles).
Death [ edit ]
On October 8, 2008, Herlie died of complications from pneumonia.[6]
On December 19, 2008, All My Children dedicated the episode to Herlie and her character Myrtle by having the characters closest to Myrtle celebrate her life in a room named after her. Toward the end, Agnes Nixon, All My Children's creator, entered and blew a kiss toward Myrtle's portrait.
Award nominations [ edit ]
Daytime Emmy Award nominations
(1986) Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series for All My Children
(1985) Outstanding Actress in a Supporting Role in a Daytime Drama Series for All My Children
(1984) Outstanding Actress in a Supporting Role in a Daytime Drama Series for All My Children
Tony Award nominations
(1960) Best Actress in a Musical for Take Me AlongHaving only turned 18 this past week, Tyler Adams (aka AmeriKante) is the second-youngest player on Under-20 head coach Tab Ramos' team for the upcoming CONCACAF U-20 Championship tournament, which begins for the U.S. on Saturday against Panama. However, if Ramos' recent statements are any indication, Adams won't be merely sitting on the sidelines.
In a Thursday teleconference transcribed on USSoccer.com, Ramos stated that age would not be a factor when deciding on which group of players would take the field. He added that Adams and Monterrey MF Jonathan Gonzalez - the two youngest members of the team - are both "ready to contribute" and believes they will both "be a big part of the tournament."
Ramos: "As far as Tyler and Jonathan at midfield, they're both players capable of helping this group. As you've know, age has never really mattered to me. I try to pick the best group I can pick. Those two guys happen to be two years younger, but I think they're ready to contribute just like anybody else. I think they will and will be a big part of this tournament."
Since earning his first caps with the U-20 team several months ago, Adams has skyrocketed up the team's midfield depth chart, earning a call-up to the January and February training camps and beating out over half-a-dozen older players to secure a spot on the final roster for the CONCACAF U-20 Championship.Combined Communities of Essex, Hertfordshire and London
Timeline: Timeline: 1983: Doomsday
equivalent: Essex, Hertfordshire, East London, Luton OTL equivalent: Essex, Hertfordshire, East London, Luton Essex Essex
Essex
Capital Chelmsford Largest city Chelmsford Other cities Luton, Canterbury, Southend-on-Sea Language
official
English others None Demonym Essexian, Essexite, Essaxon Government Democracy Area 1,800 sq. miles Population 786,912 Established 1984 (Interim Nation of Essex), 1991 (Combined Communities of Essex) Currency New Pound Organizations Organisation of British Nations
The Combined Communities of Essex, Hertfordshire and London (previously Interim Nation of Essex; also known as the Combine or Essex) is a state in south east England, claiming the territories of Essex, Hertfordshire, northern Kent, and parts of East London. It is located south of Woodbridge, with which it jointly administers the Condominion of West Suffolk, and north of Southern England.
Contents show]
History
View main article here.
Pre-Doomsday
The county was the site of the New Towns of Basildon and Harlow. Following the Second World War RAF Debden and RAF Wethersfield were used as sites for the USAF; also within the county were the airports of Southend and Stansted, which grew in size and significance at the end of the 1970s. However – and importantly – the county was home to a nuclear bunker in proximity to the village Kelvedon Hatch, which by the 1980s was intended for use by the British Government in case of nuclear war.
Doomsday
The county was struck hard by the events of September 26th. Nine nuclear weapons fell on the county:
London Southend Airport – 20kt
London Stansted Airport – 20kt
RAF Wethersfield – 20kt
RAF Debden – 20kt
Tilbury Port – 20kt
Bradwell Nuclear Power Station – 20kt
Colchester Barracks - 20kt
Coryton Oil Refinery – 100kt
Harwich and Felixstowe Ports – 100kt
Post-Doomsday
As with the rest of the former First World, life immediately following Doomsday was grim. Though casualties from the blasts themselves were low, due to key targets being located away from the major areas in the county (save Colchester and Southend), the days and weeks afterwards brought disaster. Being located right next to London, both fallout and panicked refugees fell upon the area, overwhelming services. However, because of the existence of the Kelvedon Hatch Bunker, a centralised government was quickly in place and able to respond with a number of drastic and draconian measures. Despite a population drop of roughly half to some 600,000 people (and still dropping by March).
Under the emergency government, which declared itself the Interim Nation of Essex, death rates began to slow and, gradually, the population started to grow again, but only after the population slumped to roughly two hundred thousand. A combination of refugees and military round-ups of populations managed to bring in enough labourers to work the farms. However, consistent mistreatment of various sectors of society, especially refugees forced to live in tent cities, meant that the tired, overworked, and abused population finally snapped. With surprising speed the urban populations rose up and rioted, slaughtering any military officials that decided not to join their side. Thousands of deaths resulting from civil violence and troops firing on civilians ensued, but within weeks the revolution had succeeded in stamping out most of the government's influence.
Essex briefly retreated into a number of townships. However, it soon became clear that cooperation would be vital to maintain integrity - the government, for all its shortcomings, had managed to re-establish basic food supply and, in some places, electricity. It only made sense to continue with this cooperation, only under democratic control, and try to rebuild a semblance of the old Britain. Creating a number of councils working on various levels the state managed to put itself back under functioning democratic control, and under its first High Minister, new socialist policies mixed with a limited barter system managed to bring efficiency to new highs and lead to towns flourishing again. By the late 1990s Essex was in the position where it could comfortably begin exercising its power on expeditions and serious border protection measures. This led it to making disastrous first contact with its northern neighbour, Woodbridge, in a brief skirmish in Ipswich. Fortunately diplomacy prevailed and the two nations became strong trading partners; through Woodbridge, Essex learned of the wider world.
The early 2000s saw Essex's economic power continue to grow; being the most populous in the region, it outperformed both of its East Anglian neighbours in terms of productivity of goods - though found itself reliant on grain imports, as its burgeoning population was starting to outstrip supply. This situation set the stage for the latter years of the decade; Essex's desire for expansion brought it into conflict with the xenophobic True British Army in 2008. A short and brutal war followed, but Essex was armed well enough to crushingly defeat the True British Army over a few months, destroying the key town of Luton and their base of operations, Milton Keynes. The True British Army and its patron state, the English National Republic, were briefly destabilised by this, allowing Essex's population to swell with immigrants. The war also created the impetus for the state to make serious progress in a local association with its neighbour states of Woodbridge and East Britain, to form the Organisation of British Nations. Energised by a new sense of national pride Essex's military and political strength became set in stone. As the British identity spread across the OBN states of the time, Essex found itself one the key members of the East Anglian triumvirate, allowing it to contribute heavily - and suffer heavily - in the 2010 Invasions (also known as the Great Anglian War). However, national pride was only inflamed by the sense of sacrifice and martyrdom.
This swelling British identity infused itself into a broad swath of the Essaxon citizenry, leading to a change in the political scene. More zealous and confident politicians - for example, Jim Barker-McCardle - stepped up to challenge High Minister Lee Evans' slow-changing regime. Barker-McCardle and politicians who shared his views proved instrumental in forcing the partial annexation of Hertfordshire. They played to the growing British nostalgia to secure votes in the 2011 elections.
Geography
Essex is a mostly rural and low-lying country. The highest point in the entire nation is Botley Hill, located just inside the southern stretch of the M25 and is 269m. The North Downs, which run through Kent and Surrey, contain most of the highest points in Essex. Outside of Kent the highest point is 245m, at a point near the village of Tring on Essex's far-western border.
For the most part Essex is a rural country, and the vast majority of land is intensively farmed and cultivated. Indeed, the pressure for farmland is what drove the expansions in Hertfordshire and Kent. Some forests exist, mostly Epping Forest in northern London, and Farningham Forest, north of Sevenoaks. These are both managed to provide firewood for the nation. The majority of Essex's urbanisation is located in the south of the county of Essex (Southend) and the north of Kent (Chatham), around the Thames Estuary. The largest town by area is Milton Keynes, though it is thinly-populated after the War of 2008; the largest town by population is Essex's capital, Chelmsford. Other major towns are North Colchester, Luton, and Canterbury.
Essex claims the entirety of London though the area is almost entirely abandoned and mostly unexplored. The city is known to be extensively flooded with estimates of up to a dozen nuclear strikes creating long-lasting irradiation issues. These contribute to Essex's absurdly high cancer rates and the nation's lack of any efforts to cultivate inside of the M25.
Much of Essex sits on the London Basin, and as such is particularly rich in chalk and clay, as well and sand and gravel for quarrying. Chalk mining is one of the few industries in the otherwise ruralised Hertfordshire, where the majority of industry has been moved to the economic heartlands of the Chelmsford-Brentwood-Southend triangle, which is the most urbanised and densely populated portion of Essex.
Politics
See Politics of Essex
Essex's politics are unusually divergent from the other nations of the former United Kingdom. An unusually high level of importance is placed on working in communes and direct democracy. In order to accommodate several thousand communes of varying size across the nation, the governing system is multi-tiered. The result of this is to make some simple processes quite slow as they filter up and down the correct levels of government, but also builds strong, independent and productive communities.The current High Minister of Essex is Jim Barker-McCardle, a Southend policeman who was isolated in Kent for a while after Doomsday. Barker-McCardle tends towards a protectionist and mercantilist economic policy and his work tends towards supporting the urban population from which the majority of his votes are drawn. He describes his political moves as thewhich supports urban growth, establishment of chartered companies, and cancelling many schemes introduced by his predecessor, Lee Evans. His current term began on June 21st 2011 and will end on June 21st 2014.
Essex remains a vocal member of the Organisation of British Nations, and represents the largest power of the member states both in terms of population. Despite this it is still very dependent on its neighbours, particularly Woodbridge for the supply of military equipment, and Newolland which is one of the main buyers of Essex-produced agricultural equipment.
Culture
See Culture of Essex
Essex's cultural life is similar to other nations in Britain, appealing to the overwhelmingly young population with a 'live fast die young' attitude. Due to the high number of refugees and deliberately displaced populations - Essex has a policy of concentrating its urban growth - there is a proliferation of the 'Little London' phenomenon. These are places where populations from various urban areas have been shifted and the gathered communities have assumed names such as 'Little Upminster', 'Little Stratford', 'Little Luton' and so forth.
Economy
See Economy of Essex
On June 1st 2010 converted to the New Pound (N£). The New Pound was adopted because of long-standing misgivings around the stability of a bartering economy.
Essex's economy is centred on agriculture and recently its foreign policy has been dedicated to seizing enough territory to provide the food supply for the population. As available land runs out the government has encouraged growth in other parts of the economy to increase buying power for food.
Industry is limited to the heart of Chelmsford and along the Southend Arterial Road, with most other manufacturing equipment from Kent and Hertfordshire being transported to these hubs. Essex trades primarily with other members of the OBN and British survivor states, as well as with the Celtic Alliance. Beyond Britain it also trades with the Nordic Union, Kingdom of Prussia, and Lille-et-Terres-Flamande. Trade deals with North Germany are also being considered.
Military
See Military of Essex.
Essex operates one of the largest militaries in England, owing to its significant population. Historically the army was primarily involved in defence and manning frontiers, but following a large war with the True British Army in 2008 the army saw itself adopt a more aggressive stance. This culminated in the 2010 Invasions and the 2011 conquests of Kent and Hertfordshire, along with combat in Rutland. Under the Resolution Policy the army is being returned to defensive posture with final annexations planned for 2012, with an increased emphasis on engineering.
Essex's navy was no more than a scattered handful of armed yachts until the formation of a more formal system in the 2000s. Between 2009 and 2011 this was supplemented by a number of refitted freighters bought from the Nordic Union which form the new core of the navy. These freighters are more armoured cargo carriers than actual warships; the majority of dedicated combat vessels in the Essaxon navy are littoral gunships or skiffs deployed to defend Kent.
Essex's air force is composed of three airships and a number of hot air balloons for scouting purposes. The oldest of these is the EAS Cavalier, which has seen action in a number of fields. Under the Resolution Policy plans exist to continue construction of a variety of smaller airships.
International relations
Essex first made contact with Woodbridge in 2000, and following a minor diplomatic incident the two nations opened their arms to each other, becoming close partners in trade and local militia suppression. From Woodbridge Essex has also learned of the other survivor nations in Britain and the wider world. It is considering requesting access to the League of Nations, mostly to capitalise on foreign trade. Essex is a founding member of the Organisation of British Nations and has played a major part in its expansion and administration since then.
Essex is careful to place its loyalties in foreign countries. For example, it has amicable relationships with both New Britain and the Celtic Alliance, but opposes both on cultural grounds. Essaxon citizens generally stereotype British citizens in New Britain as cowards who couldn't stand up on their own two feet, and whilst they appreciate the economic and political strength represented by the Celtic Alliance many are nervous that the country is trying to replace the old British culture with a Celtic one, and is therefore a threat (a view common throughout nations in the OBN).
Attempting to expand its military Essex has purchased airships from the New Zeppelin Company, based in Prussia, and (following a joint bid with Woodbridge) purchased five old freighters from Sweden and received two as gestures of goodwill from Norway, the same number going to Woodbridge. This caused some concern as the Nordic Union and Prussia have been at odds for several years, but Essex assures that it is not out to make grudges. Essex is currently searching to produce market objects that will hold real value, as the majority of its goods are agrarian in nature and its manufactured goods are of poor quality in comparison to the competition. Because the majority of Essex's usable land has been converted to crop growth it has very little in the way livestock-based products, as these offer insufficient returns on the space invested (a field put over to producing crops will give more food in total than one used for rearing livestock). As such, Essex trades intensely with Woodbridge for livestock-based goods, which the latter country can afford given its smaller population density and subsequently reduced need to maximise the efficiency of every acre of land. However, some steps to self-sufficiency have been taken with the establishment of the Chartered Company of Sheppey
On June 1st 2010 a ceremony took place to mark the adoption of the New Pound as the official currency of Essex. On the stroke of 1pm Woodbridge's ambassador to Essex walked into a shop in Chelmsford and bought |
he said he didn’t believe in “political correctness.” Yet Sanders, when asked, said that “political correctness” means that “you have a set of talking points which have been poll-tested and focus-group-tested and that’s what you say rather than what’s really going on. And often what you are not allowed to say are things which offend very powerful people.”
This is certainly a different definition of “political correctness” than what is usually meant by the users of the term. But there may be an element of political savvy here. By defining himself as against political correctness, and defining political correctness as “not being focus-group-tested,” Sanders may position himself as an outsider and truth-teller without ever having to legitimize racist sentiments. Perhaps, just perhaps, someone can convince people that you can shun “political correctness” by being honest, forthright, and not afraid to speak uncomfortable truths about powerful people.
Sanders may care about the concerns of Trump’s voters, but he has made clear that he has zero tolerance for Trump’s appeal to bigotry. He frequently condemns the way Trump ran “a campaign based on racism, based on sexism, based on dividing us up.” Sanders’ effort to get Keith Ellison, a black Muslim congressman, to head the DNC, was the right kind of move in this respect. It showed precisely what Sanders means by “identity politics is not enough”: it’s not that he doesn’t want diversity, it’s that he wants ass-kicking black progressives rather than centrist technocrats of any race.
One should also point out that the idea of the white “BernieBro” as Sanders’ core supporter was always wrong, and demeaning to Sanders’ supporters of color. In fact, among young people there was wide support for Sanders across racial lines. The story of demographic differences in Sanders’ support was far more about age and wealth (older, richer Democrats preferred Clinton) than about race.
“Sanders offers an eloquent antidote to Trumpism…”
Did the Sanders campaign, as some Clinton supporters have alleged, damage Clinton and thereby weaken her in the general election campaign? Well, possibly, but note the implicit premise. If Sanders undermined Clinton, it was because he pointed out various ways (such as her ties to Wall Street and Henry Kissinger, as well as her vote for the Iraq War) in which Clinton did not share the values of progressives. If the things Sanders had said about Clinton were spurious or false, one could tenably make this claim. But Sanders notably did not dwell on the “damn emails,” focusing instead on the policy differences between his own more leftist stance and Clinton’s centrism. This was a healthy debate. It forced Clinton to move to the left, adopting far more liberal positions on economic policy and education than she was previously running on.
For progressives, then, Sanders’ run energized the left of the party. It showed how they can achieve extraordinary amounts of political success without cozying up to rich donors. It encouraged people who had been extremely cynical about politics to get involved. Nobody who attended one of Sanders’ 20,000-plus person rallies could go away uninspired. Bernie Sanders was the main redeeming aspect of an otherwise-dismal election cycle. He had a genuine vision, genuine hope, and genuine decency.
But now the campaign is over. What should we take from it? First, Bernie showed that disillusionment from the political process is not inevitable. If you give people something to believe in, many of them will indeed get up off the sofa. Second, by building a serious progressive message and refusing to depart from it or sink toward gutter politics, you can help persuade people of progressive ideas. Sanders did not start with wide support. He started with statistically negligible poll results. He built support over the course of the primary, by offering both a personality and a set of political values that a lot of people began to find extremely appealing.
Our Revolution is an encouraging book. Bernie is not dispirited, despite having lost. (Although as he wrote the book he did not know Trump would be the President.) He has a good set of blueprints for what an ambitious yet plausible social democratic platform could stand for. He offers an eloquent antidote to Trumpism, and displays a sincere concern for the suffering and disenfranchised of all races. If the Democratic Party wants to get back into power (and it is not clear, from its response to the election so far, that it does), it would do well to hand out copies of this book to every party official.Police say the man involved in a triple homicide in Forrest City has turned himself in. (KATV)
FORREST CITY, Ark. (AP/KATV) -- Police say a suspect is in custody in the fatal shooting of a woman and her two children in eastern Arkansas.
Forrest City Police Lt. Eric Varner says the 30-year-old man wanted in the fatal shootings surrendered to police Thursday and is jailed pending formal charges.
Varner says the man is suspected in the Wednesday night shooting deaths of 38-year-old Nashae Williams, 9-year-old Malayya Williams Issah and 6-year-old Zanashia Williams.
Varner says the victims were found in their apartment by officers investigating reports of gunfire and that each victim had been shot several times.
The Forrest City School District posted the following on their Facebook page:The platforms at Flinders Street Station were heaving with stranded commuters on Wednesday night. Credit:Leonie Wood The viaduct is the railway bridge over Flinders Street near the Melbourne Aquarium, which connects Flinders Street and Southern Cross stations. Made up of six tracks of varying ages, the viaduct forms the main link between the eastern and western parts of Victoria's rail network. "We could not access the City Loop and we were forced to run services direct from Flinders Street," Metro said. "This affected 240 services and meant long delays for many of our customers. "When we have an issue in the centre of our network it can be very disruptive and that's what our customers experienced last night.
Thousands of commuters were stranded on overcrowded platforms on Wednesday night. Credit:Courtesy of @Andrew_Lund, via Twitter "We know it was a long and frustrating journey home for many people and we sincerely apologise for their experience. "While there is never a good time for a network fault, the middle of a peak is the worst possible timing." It threw the entire network into turmoil, with major delays across all but the Stony Point line. Thousands of commuters were left stranded on overcrowded platforms, and overcrowded trains. The signal fault was not fixed until 9pm. Trains leaving the CBD were still packed at 9.30pm.
Frustrated commuters vented their anger on social media, criticising Metro's handling of the meltdown, and calling for the train network's ageing signalling system to be upgraded. Signal failures are one of the biggest sources of delay on the Metro system. Some signals, called interlockings, are 100 years old, but have a design life of 35 years. "Much of the signalling equipment on the network is antiquated and presents significant impact potential on the network's performance," Metro told Fairfax Media last year. The age of the signals makes them increasingly prone to failure and expensive to maintain, due to "the diminishing number of technicians with the relevant maintenance experience" to fix them.
Public Transport Users Association spokesman Daniel Bowen said an upgrade of the signalling system was long overdue. "Once again we're reminded that when the train system has major problems, Melbourne comes to a halt," Mr Bowen said. He said both Metro and the state government needed to identify precisely what went wrong and what could be done to prevent it happening again. "If systems need replacing, or need to have more redundancy to protect against faults, or need to have better maintenance, then the government needs to make the investment to stop shut downs like this occurring again," he said. The overcrowded platforms at Flinders Street also had commuters calling for better safety measures, after the chaotic scene was compared with a clip in Metro's own 2012 Dumb Ways to Die ad campaign.
Premier Daniel Andrews apologised to commuters for the train meltdown. "It's a great disappointment and a great disruption for many people. I want to apologise to them," Mr Andrews said. "It's very regrettable what happened last night, I apologise to everybody impacted by it, but be in no doubt, we're going to give this world class city a world class public transport system, but that does take some time." Shadow public transport minister David Hodgett said preparations for such an event should have been better, as well as communication from Metro.
"There is no plan by the government, or no plan by Metro to try and get information quickly out to people [about] exactly what the problem is and the best way to navigate their way home," he told radio station 3AW. Rail, Tram and Bus Union spokesman Amedeo D'Aprano echoed Mr Bowen's sentiments. "Metro needs to be making sure that all the money they are given goes into maintaining the network to ensure service delivery and the safety of the travelling public, not their private shareholders," the spokesman said. "As Melbourne's monopoly train operator it's imperative they put the needs of travelling Victorians first and foremost." - with Adam CareyWho wouldn’t enjoy an elaborate lunch, but to cook and carry a feast to work or school is next to impossible. Alright, even if you cook the hearty meal, how will you carry it? Spills, space, boxes…oh such a pain! Fret not; the new superhero of lunch service is here. Sunch! The lunchbox that does a transformer stunt and converts into a tray with an array of dishes to feast from. Impromptu picnic during lunch hour at work? Sunch will take care of the lack of picnic tables in the vicinity. Just open it up and arrange the tray across your lap and enjoy your meal!
When each side of the outer box is opened, they flatten out to become a table. Ring shaped slots at the bottom of each dish, container and bottle ensure they don’t topple over the table.
Basically a very Stable Table!
Designer: Soo Kang LeeSome of these Satellites are used for various different things. From television broadcasts to studying the stars. Losing the signal of my TV would never happen again.
10. The Dish, USA
Diameter: 150 feet (46 meters)
Ensconced in the foothills of Stanford, CA, the radio telescope known simply as The Dish is a landmark visited by around 1,500 people every day. Yet, while undoubtedly a popular site for hikers and joggers, The Dish is also actually still operational today, used by both academics and other researchers. Built by the Stanford Research Institute in 1966, this 150-foot-diameter (46m) behemoth was initially intended for study into the chemical make-up of our atmosphere but, with its powerful radar antenna, was later used for communication with satellites and spacecraft — notably the Voyager probes sent forth to explore the outer solar system.
9. Algonquin Radio Observatory, Canada
Diameter: 150 feet (46 meters)
The Algonquin Radio Observatory is to be found in the verdant Algonquin Provincial Park in Ontario, Canada. The centerpiece of the observatory is its 150-foot (46m) parabolic dish (“parabolic” refers to the curved surface that directs the radio waves), which became famous in the 1960s for its participation in the earliest successful tests of a technique known as “very long baseline interferometry” (VLBI). VLBI allows for the simultaneous observations of an object by many telescopes to be combined — leading to far more powerful results. Nowadays, the Algonquin site is active as a control point for GPS and is operated by Thoth Technology. With a dish this big, we bet they could also pick up some interesting TV shows!
8. Large Millimeter Telescope, Mexico
Diameter: 164 feet (50 meters)
Mexico’s Large Millimeter Telescope (LMT) is a relatively recent addition to the list of largest single-dish radio telescopes. Inaugurated in 2006, this 164-foot (50m) instrument constitutes the biggest and most responsive single-aperture telescope for observing radio waves in its own frequency range (approximately 0.85 to 4 mm, in case you were wondering!). Providing astronomers with valuable information regarding star formation, the LMT is located in the state of Puebla and sits atop the Sierra Negra — the fifth highest mountain in Mexico. A joint Mexican and American project, it cost $116 million and took ten years to be built.
7. Parkes Observatory, Australia
Diameter: 210 feet (64 meters)
Completed in 1961, Australia’s Parkes Observatory was one of several radio receivers used to pick up live TV transmissions of the lunar landing in 1969. As well as being part of this auspicious moment in history, the Observatory continued to provide NASA with valuable information during their other moon missions, relaying signals and providing coverage when our only natural satellite was on the Australian side of the Earth. More recently, between 1997 and 2002, it undertook the largest blind survey in search of neutral atomic hydrogen galaxies. Also on the CV: more than 50 percent of presently known pulsars — rotating neutron stars — were discovered at Parkes. Not a bad record for this beautiful-looking — and movable — 210-foot (64m) radio dish telescope.
6. Goldstone Deep Space Communications Complex, USA
Diameter: 230 feet (70 meters)
Commonly known as the Goldstone Observatory, this next astronomical site is situated in the expanse of California’s Mojave Desert. One of three similarly constructed complexes, the other two are located in Madrid, Spain and Canberra, Australia — Goldstone is home to a dish, known as the Mars antenna, which is 230 feet (70m) in diameter. This highly sensitive radio telescope — which was actually modeled on, and later upgraded to be bigger than, that of Australia’s Parkes Observatory — provides scientists with information that helps in the mapping of quasars, comets, planets, asteroids and more. The Goldstone complex has also proven its worth in the search for high-energy neutrino transmissions on the moon. Reckon it can pick up 3rd Rock From the Sun, as well?
5. Yevpatoria RT-70 Radio Telescope, Ukraine
Diameter: 230 feet (70 meters)
The group of three RT-70 radio telescopes that were developed by the Soviet Union is made up of the Yevpatoria planetary radar in the Ukraine together with those of Suffa — on the Suffa plateau in Uzbekistan — and Galenki (Ussuriysk) in Russia. They all share similar specifications, notably their 230-foot (70m) diameter dishes. The Yevpatoria telescope, in particular, has been used to observe asteroids and space debris. It is also known for the A Message From Earth (AMFE) project, in which, on 9 October 2008, a high-powered digital radio signal was beamed out towards Gliese 581c — a so-called “Super-Earth” (a planet whose mass is much higher than Earth’s but less than that of our solar system’s gas giants). If Gliese 581c supports life, perhaps the inhabitants will send us back some of their own TV! However, we’ll have to wait until the message reaches the planet in 2029.
The United Kingdom’s Lovell Telescope — a radio telescope whose dish measures an impressive 250 feet (76m) in diameter — is located at Jodrell Bank Observatory in the north-west of England. Built in 1955, it was originally known simply as the “250ft telescope,” but was renamed after one of its creators, Bernard Lovell, in 1987. Among the telescope’s most notable achievements was the confirmation of the existence of the pulsar — then only recently discovered — in 1968 (with investigation into pulsars still very much ongoing at the observatory). The Lovell Telescope was also instrumental in the discovery of quasars — extremely luminous celestial bodies thought to be among the most distant object in the universe.
3. Effelsberg 100-m Radio Telescope, Germany
Diameter: 250 feet (76 meters)
The Effelsberg Radio Telescope is situated just outside of Effelsburg, a village in the southeastern potion of Bad Münstereifel, a town in western Germany. Built between 1968 and 1971, the telescope is operated by the Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy in Bonn. Equipped to observe pulsars, star formations and the nuclei of distant galaxies, Effelsberg is one of the most important instruments in the world’s network of super-powerful telescopes. Since it began its work in the early 1970s, ongoing improvements have been made — including low-noise electronics and a new surface for the dish — which have helped keep it among the elite of astronomical research institutions.
2. Green Bank Telescope, USA
Diameter: 328 feet (100 meters)
The Robert C. Byrd Green Bank Telescope is located in the state of West Virginia, nestled in the middle of the United States National Radio Quiet Zone — an area of limited or banned radio transmissions, which greatly helps the telescope in operating to its highest potential. The telescope, which was completed in 2002, took eleven years to construct. Equipped with its massive 328-foot (100 m) dish, this fully steerable telescope has made several notable discoveries, including the discovery of the hydrogen gas-based Ophiuchus “superbubble,” which is located 23,000 light years distant.
1. Arecibo Observatory, Puerto Rico
Diameter: 1,001 feet (305 meters)
The largest curved focusing dish on Earth by far is to be found in the Arecibo Observatory near the city of the same name in Puerto Rico. Operated by SRI International — a research institute born out of Stanford University — and with supervision from the National Science Foundation, the Observatory engages in radio astronomy, radar observations of the solar system and the study of the atmospheres of other planets. The enormous dish was built in 1963 inside the depression caused by a naturally occurring sinkhole. This somehow seems apt, as data about naturally occurring phenomena — albeit millions of miles away — interacts with man-made technology in the most wondrous of ways at Arecibo.
Via: factspy.netBefore we get into the preview, let us briefly go through last season and the goals going into this year for the New Orleans Pelicans.
The Pelicans had an injury ridden season leading to a 34-48 record and without a draft pick. To put the “injury ridden” into perspective, starting point guard Jrue Holiday, starting center Jason Smith and sixth man Ryan Anderson missed a combined 159 games. Also to add to that, only four players on the roster played over 70 games (Tyreke Evans, Anthony Morrow, Brian Roberts and Al-Farouq Aminu), and three of which left in costless agency.
The goals going into the season for the New Orleans Pelicans were to acquire a starting caliber, defensive center who can crash the boards on both ends. Also, the Pels, more than anything, wanted everyone to become fully healthy going into the year and said that last year was hard to evaluate since the main core only played 13 games together. So health is the main goal coming into the season from an improvement standpoint.
The ultimate goal for this year is making it to the playoffs; everyone from GM to role players has all said playoffs are the minimum they expect from this year. After giving away their pick for the third year in a row, the Pelicans are definitely aiming for the playoffs and expect nothing less. You can argue the Pelicans would have been as close as the Suns last year if everyone was healthy, but that’s for another day.
Omer Asik was brought in for some non-guaranteed deals and a first-round pick. Asik sums up the first goal in what the Pelicans want to achieve coming into this year - a starting caliber defensive center who can rebound and protect the rim without fouling (which was something Pelicans centers couldn’t do last year). The Pelicans were a bottom 10 team in defensive rebounds, 17th in offensive rebounds and second to last in opponent's field goal attempts. Asik will help in all 3 of these categories and in all honesty, was worth whatever that pick could give the Pelicans.
Pairing Omer Asik with either Anthony Davis or Ryan Anderson makes for a terrific frontcourt which will present match up nightmares for teams. Both Davis and Anderson can shoot the ball from mid-range with Anderson extending that to beyond the three-point arc, proving no spacing problems on offense. The partnership of Davis and Asik will hopefully terrify players when attacking the rim.
The Pelicans also came into the off-season looking to solve their small forward issue they had. After gaining no real production from the position, the Pelicans wanted to acquire a starting caliber small forward, nothing too fancy, just a solid role player. Here is where the Pelicans shot blanks. After only being able to sign John Salmons to a one-year, $2 million deal and re-signing Darius Miller, the Pelicans didn’t acquire there ideal small forward. Both are solid role players but both inconsistent and not starting caliber for a playoff team.
Coach Monty Williams recently came out saying that, after neither small forward performed well in the preseason, the starting role will go to Tyreke Evans. This isn’t a surprise to be honest, as Tyreke plays the same offensively at the 1, 2, or 3. It’s defensively where Coach Williams worried last year. After Tyreke proved he could guard 3’s, he got the green light to start games.
The thing with the Pelicans depth is that it has the potential to be a very solid bench since most of these players had to start and play significant minutes last year. Standouts in that time were Austin Rivers and Darius Miller who both played excellent last two months of the year. Ryan Anderson has sixth man of the year potential if he can maintain his play from last year, where in 22 games, he was averaging close to 20 and 6 a game. Jimmer Fredette has been playing out of his mind, currently second in points per game for the Pelicans this preseason. Yet, he has to prove himself when it counts. Also, adding scrappy guard in Russ Smith and tenacious big man in Patric Young, who both lay it all out every night, could be huge some nights. The bench has the potential to be one of the best in the league but also could underperform with only Anderson proving he can play at a high level in the league.
Predicting the team record and seeding is fairly difficult for the Pelicans this season, especially because of their injury luck last year and how close the West was. Now, considering the Pelicans are fully healthy this season, they can go 50-32 throughout the year. This squad, at full health, is dangerous and will surprise some people, with lots of offense and the potential to be a very good defensive team behind Jrue Holiday, Anthony Davis, and Omer Asik. The way the bench has been playing is very encouraging and if Austin Rivers, Jimmer Fredette, and Alexis Ajinca can play as well as they have in the preseason throughout the year in limited minutes, that bench will be just fine.
Some other predictions about the Pelicans players for individual awards and accolades:
Anthony Davis – All-Star, All-NBA 2/3rd team, DPOY, either defensive team (last two years the winner of DPOY didn’t make the defensive 1st team), 5-10 MVP voting rank, blocks leader again.
Ryan Anderson – Sixth Man of the Year Candidate (Top 3 in voting)
Jrue Holiday – Top 5 in assists per game
Depth Chart:
PG: Jrue Holiday/Austin Rivers/Russ Smith
SG: Eric Gordon/Tyreke Evans(He Will start at SF but he will spend lots of time with the second unit too)/Jimmer Fredette
SF: John Salmons/Darius Miller
PF: Anthony Davis/Ryan Anderson/Patric Young
C: Omer Asik/Alexis Ajinca/Jeff WitheyRookie is an online magazine and book series for teenagers. Each month, a different editorial theme drives the writing, photography, and artwork that we publish. Learn more about us here, and find out how to submit your work here!
Rookie is no longer publishing new content, but we hope you'll continue to enjoy the archives, or books, and the community you've helped to create. Thank you for seven very special years! ✴
The first time I saw Mitski in concert, I spent the day after walking around Toronto calling all my friends, my mom, and my sister, telling them how unbelievable the show was. I had been moved by shows before–mostly huge, performative ones, like Kanye West in a stadium, or Broken Social Scene at a so-carefully curated music festival. I went to see Mitski with people I hardly knew, and these people got a glimpse into my personality’s bedrock—my layers were removed by Mitski’s incomparably moving music. On the walk home with these four near-strangers, I was glad that I was with people who didn’t have any expectations for our conversation. I was free to be speechless. The next morning, practically working as a telemarketer for Mitski’s music, I was far from it.
Over the course of her career, Mitski has released four expansive studio albums. Each of her songs feels precisely assembled thanks to touches such as the distinct pace of notes played on the bass guitar, or the skillful use of unlikely metaphors like, “I want a love that falls as fast as a body from a balcony.” Puberty 2, her most recent album, coming up on its first birthday, is filled with songs as emotionally forthcoming as their predecessors, but with instrumentation more adventurous than ever.
This week, I called Mitski while she was on a short break from tour. We talked about pop-music appreciation, trusting your collaborators, and saying exactly what you mean.
RACHEL DAVIES: You’ve talked and tweeted about how intimate your songwriting is–that, for example, the lyric “Texas is a landlocked state” from your song “Texas Reznikoff” isn’t literal but it makes sense to the person it was written for. Has this changed as you’ve gained a larger audience?
MITSKI: Regardless of audience, my songwriting has just evolved as I continue to do it. As an artist, I don’t want to keep talking about the same things. I change as a person, I grow up, I experience more things, and so my songwriting has become less about very specific details. Like “Texas is a landlocked state.” That doesn’t make sense in the context of the song. It just makes sense to me. I’ve started to do less of that, only because I’m branching out into storytelling. With “Dan the Dancer,” there is no Dan. I’m not Dan. It’s a story, but it expresses an emotion I had. So as I evolve as a songwriter, I’m starting to create narratives that serve the emotion that I’m trying to deliver without including those weird details. But it’s not really about an expanding audience. It’s about me as a songwriter finding that I’m growing and learning new things about how to write songs.
Do you write songs while on tour?
Whenever I have an idea or a glimpse of a song, I write it down, or record it on my phone, but I’m not really able to write whole songs on tour. I don’t have the amount of time and space to finish songs, so if I get an idea I’ll quickly jot it down and save it for when I’m off tour. When I go off tour, I’ll go through all of my ideas and organize them.
You originally trained as a classical musician but then, if what I’ve read is correct, picked up a bass quickly later on and made Bury Me at Makeout Creek. You also play some of your songs interchangeably, like “Class of 2013,” which sounds just as good on guitar as it does on the original piano. How do you decide on instrument choice with a song?
You know instruments, no offense to all of the instrumentalists out there, are not as important to me as the core composition, which is to me the words and the main vocal melody. I grew up moving around, where I didn’t know what I would have. I’d be in one place and have a piano, but then I would move to another place and I wouldn’t have a piano. I learned not to rely on the instruments in order to make music. It’s secondary to me. They’re interchangeable. A song could be played on the piano, or the guitar. I want the songs to be able to stand on their own. But it depends on the artist. That’s the way I work, but for a lot of people the instrument is the integral part of the composition.
Do you have any advice on acclimating to different places or feeling comfortable with moving around?
The hardest thing about moving around is that you only have your friends for [awhile]. Then you move. There is social media, so you can stay in touch, but it’s realistically really hard to maintain long-distance friendships, not just romantic relationships. I’ve learned that just because you won’t be able to see someone next year, doesn’t mean that your friendship with them doesn’t count. Every single year of your life counts. Every single relationship can be deep and meaningful, no matter how short or long they are. I used to close myself off because I didn’t want to develop relationships that were going to end anyway, but I learned that right now is what matters most. If you have a great friend right now, then there’s no need for you to close yourself off. You can always think about the goodbyes later. Right now you can just enjoy your friendship.
You’ve worked with a lot of great visual artists on merch and tour posters, as well as great directors for your music videos. I could be wrong, but it seems like you give visual artists just enough room to interpret your music as they will, while still staying true to your music’s message. How do you go about picking artists to work with?
I just find an artist who I think is good, and say, “Here’s the budget, do what you want.” I tend to gravitate toward artists who already know what they want and know what they like, so they’re able to handle that kind of pressure. It is a kind of pressure to be told, “Do whatever you want.” But with really good artists, I find that they work best when you trust in them, and when you let them make what they want to make. Then they actually put in the work to try to make something they like, and it ends up being a really good piece of work. Also, I think of the music video not as a representation of the music, but just a different aspect of it. I don’t really expect it to represent me. I more want it to represent that artist who made it. Same with a shirt. It might have my name on it, but I want it to represent the artist who made it. Just because it has my name, doesn’t mean that it’s what I’m all about. With artists, what’s best is when they’re given freedom and space. At the end of the day, I just want something good.
Do you feel the same way when working with someone more closely, like with Patrick Hyland who you’ve collaborated with on your albums?
Well, with that it gets a little more complicated. I’ve had to teach myself to let go. When it comes to the actual creation of my music, I get a little more neurotic, and a little more controlling. But again, I’ve taught myself to trust in Patrick, and trust in the people I’ve worked with. It’s important in that process to make clear what your intentions are and what you want so there’s no confusion about it. For example, in the studio, if I don’t make clear what I want, and let Patrick do whatever he wants, if I don’t like the result, I can’t tell whether it’s because it’s not what I wanted, or because it’s not good work—you know what I’m saying? But if I’m decisive and make my intentions clear in the beginning, and the result is not good or not what I wanted, then I can say, “Oh, this isn’t what I like, and this isn’t what I want, because these are my intentions.” It’s just another example of giving someone space to make good work. People don’t really make good work when they’re smothered, but you also have to make clear what your intentions are and what you want.
You’ve covered pop songs, performed pop covers live, and just reviewed Harry Styles’s album for Talkhouse. Could you talk a bit about your relationship to pop music?
I’m passionate about pop because that’s what I grew up on. I didn’t have any idea about a DIY scene. I didn’t know anything about independent music at all until I got to college and I saw other people my age performing rock music. I was like, Oh, there’s this whole other aspect to music that’s not pop. I was very much a pop child. It has to do with being abroad, and you know, I grew up without the internet, for a while anyway. What I had access to was what was on MTV, or what was on the one English-speaking channel, and that was usually the Top 40 stuff. The reality is, all that most people in the world have access to is the major label stuff. We can discount it all we want, but the reality is that it affects many people’s lives. It’s important to look at it, and talk about it, and listen to it.
Since you now have listeners abroad who may not speak English as a first language, and you grew up abroad, too, do you feel that language affects your songwriting?
The thing is my music is so heavily lyrics based. So much of my intention in the songs are expressed in the lyrics. It does make me feel good that people who don’t speak English still like my music because, to me anyway, it would probably mean that they genuinely enjoy the music itself, and that’s an area that I’m still not very confident about. I’m more confident about my lyrics, and my actual songwriting, than my actual music. When people who don’t speak English tell me they like my music, I’m like, “Oh, wow! You really do like the music!” But it is a different dynamic, especially when we’re playing shows. You can sense that people are getting something different out of it.
When I spoke with Ellen Kempner of Palehound, she said that guitar has always been a vehicle for songwriting for her. When you were first making music, was that also the case for you?
Yeah! Well, first of all, Ellen shreds but I feel the same way. I just needed a way to get the lyrics and my songs out there, and it takes a lot of guts to go out and sing your songs without an accompanying instrument. Most people don’t listen, so I quickly learned that I needed something to play in the background. For me, it started with piano, and I found the guitar later on.
What did you study exactly at SUNY Purchase?
I studied studio composition. I went to SUNY Purchase not because it’s an incredibly great school, I hate to say, but they had a specific program called studio composition that not only taught you music composition, but also taught you how to work in studios.
Had you ever worked in a studio prior to going there?
Not really! My senior year of high school, I sort of got into a studio, but that was because my part-time job was to do English language text books. It was a great gig, to be honest. I went in, they gave me a script, and I read it for people who were learning English and needed an audio guide. So that was my experience in a studio, but I hadn’t really worked behind the board in one before.
Are there any lyricists, poets, or writers in particular who inspire you?
There’s a Japanese [musician], but the lyrics are Japanese so it might not make much of a difference to Rookie readers. Her name is Shiina Ringo. What I get from her lyrics is that sometimes being specific and descriptive is really important. Describing a scene is really important in describing a universal emotion, so it’s more effective to be descriptive rather than saying platitudes. That’s what I learned from her. I also like people like Johnny Cash and Iggy Pop, people who have very, very simple–almost stupidly simple—lyrics. It’s actually very hard to express everything you want to express in five words or 10 words. I look up to them for that because it’s actually very difficult to be simple and effective. I don’t know who said it, but someone said that truly intelligent people, people who truly understand their subject, can describe and explain it to a five-year-old, or a six-year-old. That’s important for me to keep in mind. I want to take really complex ideas and describe them in simple enough terms for everyone listening to understand.
Do you have any advice for young songwriters?
There’s so much that goes into writing a song, it’s hard to think about just one thing. This is more abstract, but it’s important to think about…I know this sounds very obvious, but you have to think about what you’re saying means. For example, you can describe a scene that happened in your life word for word as it happened, but you need to understand why you’re describing it, and why it’ll be important to the listener. What is significant to you might not be significant to the listener. What I’m trying to say is, if you’re trying to express something through a scene or through a description of how things happen, you need to get to the point of the matter. I know I’m being long-winded for someone who’s talking about getting to the point, but when you think about the scene you’re describing you have to think about why it’s important to you, and why you want to express it to someone. Otherwise, unfortunately, everything that matters to you may not matter to the listener. That may sound really discouraging, but I’m trying to stress how important it is to be a good communicator. It’s not prose. It’s not like you have pages and pages of space to grab someone’s attention. You have to make sure that everything you say matters and has a point. That’s a more succinct way of saying what I’m trying to say. ♦Student loan debt isn't just hurting college grads financially, it's also having a negative impact on their overall well-being.
College graduates without any student loan debt were seven times more likely to be happy and thriving in most areas of their lives compared to those with more than $40,000 in debt, according to a Gallup-Purdue University study.
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value ranges.
C Family
Sometimes we want a different base or radix of our constants besides base 10. Base 8 and base 16 are useful for storage addresses. The C family allows us to indicate octal constants by preceding the number with a zero. So 012 is octal 12, not decimal twelve. For octal values the range of digits is 0-7.
So putting this together with what we learned in the previous section we can use the terminating L to make the constant Long and the U to make it unsigned. Thus 012UL is the unsigned long octal value 12 or the equivalent of the decimal value 10.
For hexadecimal values we need to precede the number with an 0x or 0X. Thus 0x12 is hexadecimal 12, not decimal 12. Now the range of acceptable "digits" is 0 1 2 3... 9 A B … E F. We can use upper or lower case letters a-f. Again we can use long integer indicator "L" on these too. Thus 07L is a long octal seven, and 0x7L is a long hexadecimal seven. We can also use the terminating U to make it unsigned. Thus 0XFUL is the unsigned long hexadecimal value F, which is equivalent to the decimal value 15.
Ruby does the same for octal and hexadecimal literals as C does, but Ruby has added 0b for binary numbers. So in Ruby we can have hexadecimal values like 0x12, octal values like 012, and binary values like 0b1001.
FORTRAN 90
FORTRAN 90 does this a little differently. They allow radix (number base) 2, 8, or 16. They start the value with letter B for binary or radix 2, letter O (oh) for octal, and letter Z for hexadecimal. Then the number follows by a string of digits enclosed in double or single quotes. The range of digits must be acceptable for the desired base (no 8 or 9 in octals). The integer value 200 would be B"11001000" for base two, O"310" for base eight, and Z"C8" for base 16. I try very hard not to be chauvinistic, but I sure like the C method better in this case.
This FORTRAN 90 solution illustrates the problem of adding a feature to an existing language. They cannot just decide to use the C solution, that all numbers starting with a zero are octal values. Millions of old FORTRAN programs would no longer work correctly when compiled on new FORTRAN 90 compilers, since 012 would be octal 12 instead of decimal 12. On the positive side of this change, thousands of old FORTRAN programmers would suddenly have employment.
Ada
Ada, being a language with always a little more, does what C and FORTRAN do, but has added more bases and uses a different syntax. An integer can be expressed in any base from 2 to 16 by prefixing the number by its base and then bracketing the number within # symbols. Thus the decimal value 35 can be expressed in various bases as follows:
2#100011# 4#203# 8#43# 10#35# 16#23#
While this is kind of interesting, I do not see much use for base 7 or 11, but obviously someone did. In addition, C and FORTRAN 90 can only use octal or hexadecimal integer constants; Ada allows floating point constants in these different bases. Thus 23.45 could be expressed in base 16 or another base from 2 to 16
1. Suppose you wanted to add more bases to Java or C++. Presently, those languages can only handle decimal, octal, and hexadecimal. The Ada people designed their methods in at the beginning, but the FORTRAN had to add it to an existing language. Try to figure out how you could add more bases to C++ or Java without breaking millions of old programs.
Reals are numbers with a decimal point, thus 4.3 is a real literal. Real numbers are called floats or floating point in some languages. Another descriptions of reals is a number with a decimal point or an exponent (or both), thus 2e2 would be a real literal using this definition. Like integer literals, a positive or negative sign can precede the number and no commas are allowed. Thus some real literals are:
0.0 -4.302 7. 3.2e-4 4.9678E+3 4e-3
If the language accepts both lower and upper case, the "e" for exponent can be lower case or upper case. It may vary by language if 4e-3 is acceptable, or we may need 4.0e-3 (with a decimal point). The "e" stands for exponent and means multiply by 10 the value that follows. Thus
4.3e2 = 4.3 x 10^2 = 4.3 x 100 = 430.0
Scientific notation is useful for expressing very small numbers or very large values (such as your chances to win the lottery or the national debt).
There are a few design issues for floating point constants. Here are some:
What sizes of floating point constants is available? For example, do we have float, double, and long double?
How do we indicate the particular type of floating point constant we want?
What bases of floating point are available? Examples that may be available besides decimal could be octal, hexadecimal, and maybe others.
Is there any separator available like the comma used for thousands?
There are interesting answers to all the above questions in some language, and different languages have different answers.
Early in this chapter when we discussed integer literals, we noted that integer literals can also have exponents. So for Ada, real literals must have a decimal point. Another Ada rule is real literals must have a digit on each side of the decimal point. Thus 4. (or.05) are not a legal Ada real literal, but 4.0 is acceptable. COBOL has similar but different restrictions on floating point literals. In COBOL the literal.25 is OK, but 25. is not OK, and must be changed to 25.0 since the period terminates statements when followed by a space. In Pascal.04 is not legal, since we need a digit before the decimal point, such as 0.04.
Precision of Reals
C Family
The C family has three types of reals: float, double, and long double. And they allow us to indicate the type of the real literal. Real constants such as 3.4, 2.0, and 4.564e-2 are all stored as double by default. If we want 4.3 to be stored as a float (instead of a double) we can add an f or F after the constant like this 3.4F or 3.4f. If we want 3.4 to be stored as a long double, then we use l (lower case L) or L like we do with integers. Thus 3.4 as a long double would be 3.4L or 3.4l, but the last one looks a lot like three point forty one, instead of 3.4L. All these suffixes are useful to control the amount of storage used and the precision of the result.
1.0/3.0 // uses double precision.
1.0F/3.0F // uses float precision.
1.0L/3.0L // uses long double precision.
For the float example, we need both constants float, otherwise the arithmetic would be done in the higher type, that is double. For the long precision, just one of the constants in long double would force the arithmetic to use long double. This is explained more in the section on Coercion in the Arithmetic chapter.
FORTRAN
In FORTRAN the default type is single precision (like float in C). We may type 4.3 which is a single precision real but we may want it stored as a double precision real. FORTRAN uses the suffix D or d to indicate double precision. Thus we can write 4.3D0 or.43d1 to indicate this is a double precision real value. This is an easy way to force arithmetic into double precision. For example:
x = 1/3d0
will get us a double precision division because 3d0 is double precision.
FORTRAN IV has complex numbers. Data of complex type is represented by two numbers in parenthesis separated by a comma. The number left of the comma is the real part, while the number to the right of the comma represents the imaginary part of the complex number. Thus the complex constant 3 + 2i can be assigned to the complex variable x as follows:
x = (3, 2)
Fortran has all the necessary operations and functions to handle complex values. It is interesting how early in computing history complex values were handled by Fortran.. Ruby uses a similar syntax for their complex constants.
In Python, complex numbers are composed of two floating-point numbers – the real part and the imaginary part – and are coded by adding a J or j to the imaginary part. Thus we can write 3.0 + 4.3J for a complex number. A few other languages have built in complex numbers and the necessary arithmetic operators and functions.
When we talk about single or double precision of integers and reals we need to figure out what is doubled. Integers are the easiest to understand since we do not have to worry about an exponent or decimal point. The smallest integer can be stored in one byte, 8 bits, with one bit for a sign. Thus there is room for a positive or negative sign and then 7 bits, or 2^7, which gives us a range of –32768 to +32767. The next size of integer may use two bytes, which allow for a range of 2^15, or –2147483648 to +2147483647. Finally, the next largest integer would be 2^31. As you have seen the largest, smallest, and number of integer types is language and machine dependent. But this is fairly true across many languages.
language integers size
The situation gets much more machine and language dependent for floating point values. For reals, there are two parts besides the sign, the exponent and mantissa. Thus for 3.45e-2, 3.45 is the mantissa and -2 is the exponent. The mantissa is commonly 7 places for the smallest float, 15 places for next largest float, and finally 31 places for the largest float. Not all languages have three sizes. Early languages only had one size. Newer languages tend to have three sizes, especially when the language is used for scientific programming.
There are two ways available for programs to get the precision of integers and floating-point values. The way covered so far and the most common, is programmers get what the language or hardware gives us. For example, smaller floating-point values have 7 place accuracy and larger floating point values have 15 place accuracy. These defaults are based on the size of words in the hardware. This loss of control is mostly accepted without question. But when we expand the variety of machines available and the size of machines, the defaults change. So both FORTRAN and Ada have means for us programmers to select the exact precision needed.
FORTRAN 90 has a method similar to how C marks precision of their real numbers, but the FORTRAN method is more powerful and flexible. But first we need to discuss the need for FORTRAN variations for default number precision. FORTRAN has been around for decades and is available on very small computers and very large computers. A single-precision real number might have seven significant digits and a double-precision number might have 15 places on many computers. But a small computer may not have that range and a large super computer may have twice the range. So if a FORTRAN program is written on one computer a means is needed to indicate the needed precision when the program is taken to a new computer.
So FORTRAN 90 provides a kind number that is used to indicate the kind of precision needed for real and integer values. For real numbers there are at least two default kind numbers and for integer values there are 3 or 4 kind numbers.
For real numbers they use the kind number 1 to indicate single (7 significant digits) or the kind number 2 to indicate double (15 significant digits). Some FORTRAN compilers may have larger significant digits and another kind number. To specify a kind of constant, an underscore followed by a kind number is appended to the constant. Thus 3.14159_1 has a single precision kind and 3.14159_2 has a double precision kind, because it has a "_2" after it. (Notice the underscore in FORTRAN has a different meaning than it has in Perl or Ada.)
Integer values have a kind 1 for values in the range of 2^7, kind 2 for values in the range of 2^15, kind 3 for 2^31, and maybe kind 4 for 2^63. Thus 123456789_3 has an integer kind number 3. If a kind value is not supported by a compiler it generates a syntax error when compiling the program.
There is a great deal more to this in FORTRAN. We can use the operator :: (two colons) to indicate exact minimum precision needed for both integer and real values. Named constants can be used for kind values. Here are a couple of brief examples:
INTEGER, PARAMETER :: Range18 = SELECTED_INT_KIND(18)
REAL, PARAMETER :: Prec20 = SELECTED_REAL_KIND(20, 40)
First, we need to set up kind indicators. In the above two lines, Range18 can be used to indicate integer kind range of 18 digits, and Prec20 indicates real numbers with at least 20 significant digits with exponents range up to 40. Now we can use these like we did the kind constants 1, 2, or 3.
12345_Range18
3.14159_Prec20
This was a very brief description of FORTRAN kind numbers. If you want more information you will need to find a FORTRAN 90 textbook. These kind numbers are also available for variables.
1. Your PhD thesis is to indicate how to expand C++ or Java so these languages can indicate desired precision for constants or variables. Read the previous section on FORTRAN 90 kind numbers. If your method breaks all previous C++ programs you will not obtain your PhD.
2. Perl and early BASIC does not distinguish between integers and floats. These two languages just have numbers. Do you think this is a good approach? Should we do this in OPL? Why or why not?
1. We have seen several types of numeric literals or constants. What numeric constants do you think we should have in OPL?
2. Do we want to allow for different integer literals? For example, short or long integers? Do we need one, two, three, or more types of integers? And how shall we indicate what is desired when we type an integer?
3. Do we want to allow for different real literals? For example, float, double, or long double. Do we need one, two, three or more types of real literals? How shall we write these different forms in OPL?
4. What base or radix of integers will we allow: binary, octal, hexadecimal, others? The C family has one way, FORTRAN 90 has another way, and Ada has a third method. And how shall we write the different numbers in OPL?
5. Most or all languages do not allow commas in numeric literals, like 1,234. Is this restriction still necessary? Do you think we should allow commas in number for OPL? Notice how Ada handles this.
We need or want a literal for true and false. These are called Booleans or logicals, depending on the language. Some languages have a reserved or keyword for these values. Booleans are ordinal values and usually false is less than true. The normal operations are and, or, and not.
There are a few decisions and differences for Boolean values. Here are some questions:
Are there special reserved or keywords for the Boolean values?
Are the Boolean values ordered? That is, is false < true or vice versus?
< or vice versus? Are Booleans ordinal values? Can they be used for choices in a switch statement?
statement? When talking about booleans do we use the capitalized Booleans or the lower case booleans? Both versions are common in books. This is probably the most difficult problem, since the difficulty of a problem is often inversely related to its importance.
FORTRAN
All versions of FORTRAN use.TRUE. and.FALSE. for their logical constants. And in FORTRAN they are called logicals instead of Booleans. Since FORTRAN does not have reserved words, FORTRAN uses a period before and after these logical literals to differentiate them from the variables TRUE and FALSE. If we print a FORTRAN Boolean variable, it will print either T or F, and those are what we need for input if reading Boolean data into a program.
Ada, Pascal, ALGOL, and Java use true and false for their Boolean literals.
The inputting and outputting of logical values is messy in most languages. If we want to use the integer 123, we can use it exactly that way as a literal constant in the program, read in the integer, or print the integer and it is all the same. It is not as simple with logical literals.
Some languages do not have a nice way to input or output Boolean values. For example, in FORTRAN, logicals print as an F or T. But when we want to read in a value for true, we can use the letter t, or period and t (i.e.,.t), or period and the word true (i.e.,.true), or any string that starts with the letter t, or a period, letter t, then anything. So input, output, and inside the program are all potentially different for FORTRAN logicals.
C Family
The C family of languages does not use named constants for logical values. Instead they use 0 (zero) for false and 1 (one) for true as the result of relational or logical expressions. Thus if we tried to print 4< 3 we would get a zero, and 4< 3 would get us a 1.
cout << "true=" << 3<4 << endl;
cout << "false=" << 4<3 << endl;
While this works in C++, something similar could be done in other languages to see if and what it prints. The situation is a little more complicated since a value of zero is equivalent to false, and any other value is equivalent to true. So
if (x)...
will be false, when x is equal to zero and false otherwise. While this can be a blessing when we know what we are doing, it is also a common source of bad program errors when we are not careful. Java broke away from its C background and does not allow this.
Character strings are the next type of literal. A character string is a group of characters glued together. An example is our now famous:
"Hello world."
But things did not start out this easily. In fact, there was little availability of any type of character use on very early computers. FORTRAN introduced the Hollerith string, which was named after Herman Hollerith who invented the punched card equipment for the U.S. Bureau of the Census. Now we would use it as follows
13H HELLO WORLD.
The 13H indicates thirteen characters follow. These were used in output format statements. Thus we could have something like the following:
WRITE (5, 10)
10 FORMAT(13H HELLO WORLD.)
There were no character variables or any way to manipulate character strings.
There are a few design issues for character string constants. They are:
How are character strings delimitated? Examples of ways are using double or single quotes.
How do we use the delimiter inside the character string?
Do character strings have escape sequences and variable interpolation?
Thus character strings are a sequence of symbols enclosed in matched single or double quotes. Character strings are also called just strings, character constants, or non-numeric literals. Each character uses one byte of storage.
One interesting consideration is how to delimit strings, that is, indicate the start and end of the string. Next, we need to know how to use the delimiter inside the string itself. For example, if we use quotes to enclose a string, then how do we put a quote in the string? Also, can we have strings that extend over one line, or are we restricted to one line only? Finally, we need string operators and functions to search, compare, and construct strings. There are almost as many ways to concatenate character strings as there are language groups.
Quotations marks or apostrophes are the common delimiter or demarcating mark for character strings. Quotation marks are often called double quotes, while apostrophes are often called single quotes. Some languages such as the Java or C use only quotation (") marks. Other languages such as Pascal and FORTRAN use only {‘) apostrophes. And still other languages such as HTML, xxx allow either quotations or apostrophes as long as both of the same are used for a particular string. Thus we can use "Hello world." (quotations) or ‘Hello world.’ (apostrophes ) but we can not use "Hello World’ (quotation mark to start and apostrophe to end). I don’t know of any language that allows that, but I will watch my e-mail for someone that knows of one.
If we use quotes (single or double) to enclose strings, then we need some way to insert the same quote inside the string without upsetting the character string. An escape character is used to void the special meaning of the next character. There are two common solutions to this problem. One solution is to use two characters (quotes) to indicate one. Another method is to use an escape character to protect the quote.
FORTRAN uses apostrophes for strings and uses the first solution. So in FORTRAN if we want DON’T DO IT, then we would do something similar to this
PRINT *, ‘DON’’T DO IT’! uses two apostrophes
which modifies the DON’’T to DON’T when processing it. COBOL, Pascal, Ada, and BASIC use this doubling method. The repetition of the enclosed quote is sometimes called quote stuffing.
Ada is unusual since it does not require quote stuffing or escape character to protect the quotation character when it is a single character. Ada has character literals that enclosed within single quotes, and any character can be enclosed, including the single quote. Thus ‘x’ is fine, but also ‘’’ is fine. Most languages would require ‘’’’ or ‘\’’ to protect the enclosed single quote. If you think about this, it seems quite feasible to do it the Ada way, but no other languages seem to do this way.
Java and C use the escape characters. The backslash is used to "escape" the special meaning of the next character. Thus we could print a similar phrase as follows:
cout << "Use \" for strings." << endl;
Here we have a quote mark inside a character string using quotation marks. This use of an escape character allows us to enclose other characters that would normally cause problems inside a character string such as
for new line. And the escape character can be followed by a hexadecimal or octal value to generate any character, even non-printable characters. C languages and other UNIX programs use this last method extensively. Table x.x includes a list of escape characters that work with the C family languages, and UNIX programs. C# mostly uses the same escape characters as C.
Escape sequence Description Dec Hex Oct \a Alarm/bell (BEL) 7 \x07 \007 \b Backspace (BS) 8 \x08 \010 \f Form feed (FF) 12 \x0C \014
New line (LF) 10 \x0A \012 \r Carriage return (CR) 13 \x0D \015 \t Horizontal tab (TAB) 9 \x09 \011 \v Vertical tab (VT) 11 \x0B \013 \" " double quote 34 \x22 \042 \''single quote 39 \x27 \047 \\ \ backslash 92 \x5C \134 \032 Octal character \xff Hexadecimal character \ (Enter key) Newline continuation
Short Table of Escape Characters
Table x.1
HTML and XML use angle brackets, "<html>", for their commands. Then they need a way to insert angle brackets. XML uses character references that start with the & symbol and end with a semicolon. Then the necessary named reference or character reference number. Thus we can get < by using either < (which stands for less than) or < which is the character reference number for <. Not only can we get characters that otherwise would cause problems such as <, <, and &, but we can get characters from other languages not on our keyboard.
A third partial solution to the need for a quote inside a character string is allow either type of quotation. This method is used in versions of BASIC, SQL, COBOL, and HTML. This allows us to do the following:
"Don’t" ç apostrophe inside quotation marks
‘Use " for quotes’ ç quotation mark inside apostrophes
We still have the problem of what to do when we really need or want the same quote mark inside a quoted string, and one of the two above methods is used. Such as "Use " or ‘ for quotes."
From this previous discussion, you can see there are levels of activity within character strings and it varies by language. At the lowest level there is the problem of using the quotation delimiter inside the character string. Two methods were used, either ‘don’’t’ or ‘don\’t’. As we move along from mostly dead character strings (no activity inside the string), we will find language that have long or short list of escape characters like the above table, and variable interpretation in the UNIX languages and their friends. These latter character strings, I will label live character strings, since a lot of activity can happen within the character string.
Both Perl and UNIX shell programming languages handle character strings, but there are a few important differences from other languages. Strings can be delimited by either matching quotation marks or apostrophes. When character strings are enclosed in apostrophes, all characters are treated as literals. When character strings are enclosed in quotation marks, almost all characters are treated as literals, with the exception of variable substitution and special escape sequences. For example, in Perl variables are interpreted:
$x = 45;
print 'x = $x' # printed output x = $x
print "x = $x" # printed output x = 45
So $x is a Perl variable, and it is interpreted when enclosed in double quotes, but not interpreted when enclosed in single quotes. Likewise, escape sequences are processed within quotation marks but not apostrophes:
print 'hi
bye'; # printed output hi
bye
print "hi
bye"; # interprets newline
# and prints two lines.
There are many named control characters and any character can be processed by decimal, octal, or hexadecimal value. See xxx in zzzz.
==== check all this out in Perl ====
If the UNIX methods of quoting prove inadequate or too messy, Perl provides an alternate form of quoting as follows:
q represents single quotes.
qq represents double quotes.
represents double quotes. qx represents back quotes.
The string to be quoted needs to be enclosed in matching delimiters. We use a forward slash here, but other matching characters could be used:
print 'He said, "Don\'t do it."',"
"; # very complicated
print qq/He said, "Don't do it."
/; # less complicated
The dollar sign is a special symbol in Perl and needs to be quoted with single quotes.
print 'Give me $10.00.',"
"
print q/Give me $10.00.
/
Any character can be used for the quote deliminator. The above examples have used a slash but other characters can be used. Perl has added a little more magic. If the opening quote character is an opening bracket – angle, square, curly, or round – the closing quote is the next matching bracket, so we can nest them:
qq<Use <br> for break line.>
gets converted to:
Use <br> for break line.
leaving the internal < > alone. This removes the possibility of the dangling bracket problem. And remember you saw the first dangling bracket in my book.
Besides all the escape sequences used by C and UNIX, Perl has additional escape sequences. Here are some more Perl escape sequences :
Escape sequence Description \c[ Control character \l Next character is converted to lower case. \u Next character is converted to upper case. \L Next characters are converted to lower case until \E is found. \U Next characters are converted to upper case until \E is found.
Additional Perl Escape Sequences
Table x.2
These escape sequences come in useful for character matching, which Perl is used for a lot.
UNIX Backquotes
UNIX, Perl, but not C/C++ uses a backquote to indicate a command to execute. The output is assigned to a variable or used in a output statement.
FIND WHAT?? should be
$today = `date+%??`; # places the date in variable today
$today = qx/date+%??/; # Alternating quoting method.
print "The hour is `date+%H`"; # prints the hour.
This method works with a variety of UNIX shells and commands.
Many languages have their own special literals. Examples are eof or null in C, ZERO and SPACE in COBOL, and __LINE__ and __FILE__ in Perl. These special literals are discussed in the Named Constant section of the Variables chapter.
Character string literals that do not use escape sequences are useful for file addresses, inserting special characters such as line feeds and tabs, and other messy situations. For example, we would normally have something similar to this:
string strFileName = "c:\\Mydocs\\Graphics\\dennie.gif";
to point to a great picture of me. But we need to escape all the backslashes. With a C# verbatim string literal, we can avoid the double backslashes as follows:
string strFileName = @"c:\Mydocs\Graphics\dennie.gif";
Verbatim string literals start with an @ character, followed by a double-quoted character string.
In a verbatim string literal, the characters between the delimiters are interpreted verbatim, the only exception being a quote-escape-sequence. If we need a quotation mark in a verbatim string literal, we need to do the familiar doubled quotation marks.
string a = "She said \"Hello\" to me. "; //regular string
string a = @"She said ""Hello"" to me. "; //verbatim string
Most any quotation method used, requires an exception.
Python has two new types of strings. First is a triple-quoted strings where everything between the matching groups of three single or double quotes is included, including other quotes and line returns. This is similar to the Perl qq/ method. This is an easy way to define a string with both single and double quotes, like qq /.../ in Perl.
""""A quote is used to start a string,
either ‘ or " can be used."""
In this example, unescaped newlines and quotes are allowed (and are retained). The backslash (\) character is used to escape characters that otherwise have a special meaning, such as newline, backslash itself, or the quote character. Either triple double or triple single quotes can be used.
The second Python string type is raw strings. These strings start with an r or R and use different rules for processing escape sequences. Backslashes are left in the string. Thus r"
" gets stored as
and not the newline character. Otherwise, the C family of languages will process escape sequences as
(newline), and \t (tab) in character strings. There are situations (Web addresses or regular expressions) where you don’t want escape sequences interpolated. For example:
path=’c:
owhere’
gets processed as:
c:
owhere’
since the
is turned into a new line.
Raw strings prevent this. We can change the above to:
...path= r ’c:
owhere’
The "r" before the apostrophe indicates a raw sting.
If you are interested in how character strings can be handled, Python is one of the languages to look at.
UNIX, PHP, and Perl have here documents (or heredoc), which are similar to Python triple-quoted or raw strings. The name here document comes from the fact that the document is right here. We could do the previous Python example in Perl as follows:
print<<EOF ; # semicolon here.
A quote is used to start a string,
either ‘ or " can be used.
EOF
The << symbols are used to indicate the start of the here document. The word immediately following (in this case EOF) are used to indicate what to look for at the end of the here document. The closing indicator (e.g. EOF) must be on a line by itself with no spaces before it. A here document is similar to a double quoted string since normal escape sequences will be interpolated. Notice the semicolon at the end of the first line in the Perl example above. In the PHP example below, there is a semicolon on the last line but not the first line.
There is quite a bit more to here document and the different languages process the document differently depending if the terminator string is enclosed in double quotes ("EOF"), single quotes (‘EOF’), or back quotes. If you are interested you need to look at how Perl and UNIX shells handle these. PHP also does here documents but they differ a little. Here is the same example in PHP:
print<< < EOF
A quote is used to start a string,
either ‘ or " can be used.
EOF ; # semicolon here.
PHP uses three left angle brackets instead of two and the last line ends with a semicolon. The different UNIX shells also use here documents and that is where they came from.
A few languages have date literals. The first problem is how do we type a date so it is recognized as a date. Visual Basic.NET uses # signs to enclose the date as follows:
#07/04/1776#
A date literal can then be used in an assignment statement much like other literals:
Dim objMyBirthday As Date = #12/15/1981#
C# date variables always assume a time too, even if not given one, so the above value stored would be
12/15/1981 12:00:00 AM
VB provides a wide variety of functions for manipulating dates, such as adding an interval to a date, subtracting two dates, and formatting date output. If you are interesting in what operations can be done with dates, you might look at VB or look at applications such as spreadsheets or database programs to see what is possible.
Several languages have special literals for initializing arrays. These will be briefly covered here and covered in more detail in the Array Chapter. Perl has list literals which are used for arrays. Examples are:
(1, 2, 3, 4) # array of four values 1, 2, 3, and 4.
(1.. 4) # array of four values 1, 2, 3, and 4.
(1.5.. 4.5) # array of four values 1.5, 2.5, etc.
Perl has lot more available so skip to the Array chapter if interested. FORTRAN and Ada also has extensive array methods.
When comparing character strings, what constitutes equality is of interest. The main question is what do extra blanks on the right side do to the comparison? If we compare the strings "hi" and "hi ", are they equal? There are no spaces after the first "hi", but are blank spaces after the second string.
In QBASIC two string expressions are considered equal if they are the same length and contain identical sequence of characters. In COBOL strings are equal if all the characters are equal and any longer field has just blank spaces on the right. Thus in COBOL for the purpose of comparison, blank spaces are padded on the right side of the shorter field. So in QBasic the character strings "Hi " and "Hi" would be not equal, but in COBOL they would be evaluated as equal. We may be able to find a pattern where business programming languages will ignore extra right-most blank spaces, but non-business languages do not.
Some languages have an operator to repeat string constants. For example, PL/I has the following method:
(2)’Walla ‘ /* Walla Walla */
(35)’'/* 35 spaces */
repeat('Walla ', 2)
which will get you the city ‘Walla Walla ‘ which you probably type a lot. (Quick, name other cities with identical words.) This repetition could be used to assign a value to a PL/I character string as follows:
DECLARE CITY CHAR(20);
CITY = (2)’Walla ‘;
Perl uses the "x" operator to repeat strings, and Python and Ruby use the "*" operator to repeat strings. If we wanted to generate the string hahaha, we could do it as follows:
PL/I Perl Python/Ruby (3)’ha’ ‘ha’ x 3 ‘ha’ * 3
Few languages, besides these languages have any way to do this. But I suspect someone will e-mail about another language I missed.
I went over literals in many languages in this chapter. At the simplest level literals are very similar in many languages, but when we look in more detail we find a lot of interesting differences. Some languages allow an underscore in numbers, like a comma is used to indicate thousands and millions. And when we get to character strings there are a lot of difference. Quoting and interpreting character strings varies a lot, especially in the scripting languages. And there are several ways to handle long character strings and special characters in them including newlines.
Two ways of handling booleans have been discussed. One method was where we use reserved words like true and false in FORTRAN and Pascal. The second way was using zero for false and one (or anything not zero) for true in C. What should we do in OPL? An interesting problem with booleans is how do we print and input boolean values. No present solution seems very elegant. Can you come up with an elegant solution as your PhD thesis? Well maybe your A.S. thesis? How should we delimit our character strings in OPL? Shall we use apostrophes or quotation marks or either, or do you have a better idea?
4. What method do you think we should use in OPL to use the string delimiter within the character string? Two present methods were presented |
the phenomenon of IP spoofing, it can trigger severe consequences as it appears that the hacker sends data from a trustworthy source and then the IP of the target is reached. Fake Wireless Access Points: As its name suggests, this is a threat that can harm people who try to take advantage of a Wi-Fi hotspot somewhere. By creating fake wireless access points, the hackers can enter your computer as soon as you try to connect. From then on, it is easy for them to reach out to your sensitive pieces of information – and most importantly, without you ever knowing about it.
As its name suggests, this is a threat that can harm people who try to take advantage of a Wi-Fi hotspot somewhere. By creating fake wireless access points, the hackers can enter your computer as soon as you try to connect. From then on, it is easy for them to reach out to your sensitive pieces of information – and most importantly, without you ever knowing about it. File Name Tricks: By naming some files with malware, hackers attempt to trick you and mislead you towards clicking on the specific file. Once this is done, the malware will be installed into your computer and the hacking experts will gain the opportunity to explore your system in depth. So, it is imperative that you do not give them such a chance easily.
By naming some files with malware, hackers attempt to trick you and mislead you towards clicking on the specific file. Once this is done, the malware will be installed into your computer and the hacking experts will gain the opportunity to explore your system in depth. So, it is imperative that you do not give them such a chance easily. Hosts File Redirect: Hackers have learnt and mastered the art of redirecting the traffic of a website to another website promptly and efficiently. By using this tool, they can do it without any delay and you might not even have the slightest idea that this is happening.
Hackers have learnt and mastered the art of redirecting the traffic of a website to another website promptly and efficiently. By using this tool, they can do it without any delay and you might not even have the slightest idea that this is happening. Smurf: Smurf is made to combine IP spoofing and with this pretty plain attack the hackers can gain access to your computer’s details in no time. The attack is initiated and the traffic is sent to the desired IP address that has been spoofed. This can lead to the flooding of a specific computer. Such attacks are similar to Denial of Service (DOS), ultimately though.
Smurf is made to combine IP spoofing and with this pretty plain attack the hackers can gain access to your computer’s details in no time. The attack is initiated and the traffic is sent to the desired IP address that has been spoofed. This can lead to the flooding of a specific computer. Such attacks are similar to Denial of Service (DOS), ultimately though. Server Spoofing: In this case, data is sent to a server cache and the traffic gets redirected to a computer that the hacker has chosen. This is yet another hacking option that has been increasing rapidly in popularity.
Now that we have outlined the major types of hacking in use nowadays, it is time for us to continue on our article as to how you can identify that you have been hacked.
How will you know that you are hacked?
Many people get hacked and do not even have a clue about it, till it is too late. This is why it is crucial that you know exactly what you are dealing with beforehand. These are the signs that will offer you the certainty that something is wrong and you ought to take some action about it:
Your credit cards have been compromised: This is of course a serious outcome that can be related to hacking, especially if you engage in financial transactions online.
This is of course a serious outcome that can be related to hacking, especially if you engage in financial transactions online. Your email account has been compromised: If you receive emails from friends worrying that what they got from you is not genuine or when you notice a lot of strange emails sent by your account, you should look no further. The chances are you’ve been hacked!
If you receive emails from friends worrying that what they got from you is not genuine or when you notice a lot of strange emails sent by your account, you should look no further. The chances are you’ve been hacked! New programs are installed: You may notice that there are new programs in use on your computer, even though you have not authorized their installation and activation.
You may notice that there are new programs in use on your computer, even though you have not authorized their installation and activation. Computer passwords change: It is common for hackers to change the passwords that you use. This is definite proof that somebody else has got access to your computer.
It is common for hackers to change the passwords that you use. This is definite proof that somebody else has got access to your computer. Fake antivirus notifications: In case you have been hacked, perhaps there are fake antivirus notifications either informing you that everything is OK or alarming you and luring you to take action.
In case you have been hacked, perhaps there are fake antivirus notifications either informing you that everything is OK or alarming you and luring you to take action. Unwanted browser searches: There are some solid steps one can take to strengthen the security of browser, but when you’ve been hacked – taking such cautions into consideration won’t do much (you need to nip the evil in the bud, righ?). You might check your browser searches and find that there are multiple searches that you have not completed yourself. This is another detail that should alert you that there is something going on with your computer.
There are some solid steps one can take to strengthen the security of browser, but when you’ve been hacked – taking such cautions into consideration won’t do much (you need to nip the evil in the bud, righ?). You might check your browser searches and find that there are multiple searches that you have not completed yourself. This is another detail that should alert you that there is something going on with your computer. Redirected Internet searches: Similarly to the previous sign, a hacked computer will most likely engage in redirected Internet searches; so, this is another thing that should alarm you.
Similarly to the previous sign, a hacked computer will most likely engage in redirected Internet searches; so, this is another thing that should alarm you. Random pop-ups: It is certainly not cool for you to experience sudden pop-up windows getting on your screen. Although there is a chance that these pop-ups have to do with some sort of adware, they can also be proof of hacking.
I am hacked, then now what? How should I respond?
If you believe you have been hacked, SG (Security Gladiators) recommends you to make a move immediately. You should not shut your computer down, or even try to fix it by yourself as it could do more harm than good. Another reason you shouldn’t play with it by yourself is, you might destroy the evidence that might prove valuable for the investigation. If the hacked machine has been given by your employer to you, report the attack to your company instantly (either via supervisor, security team or help desk).
In case you can’t get in touch with your company, or are concerned your contact to them won’t be a success sooner – disconnect your device from the Internet, put it on suspend, hibernation or sleep mode. The reason why we recommend reporting to your organization is, they more likely would have dedicated team members to handle such situations or some effective procedures to follow – so, it’s better to let them handle it for you. Still, if you want to do it by yourself or simply have a personal computer hacked, below are the essentials steps you need to take.
Backups: Preparing the backups ahead of time definitely is the most valuable step anyone can take. As if you want to be in a good position always for restoring your files, backing you data up on a regular bases is essential. Once you’ve been hacked the available options for you include wiping your hard drive and reinstalling your OS (operating system), or simply purchasing a new computer for you. Either way you need your backups to recover your personal data. So, either way you’d look for your backups if you want to recover your personal data – and of course, always keep backups!
Preparing the backups ahead of time definitely is the most valuable step anyone can take. As if you want to be in a good position always for restoring your files, backing you data up on a regular bases is essential. Once you’ve been hacked the available options for you include wiping your hard drive and reinstalling your OS (operating system), or simply purchasing a new computer for you. Either way you need your backups to recover your personal data. So, either way you’d look for your backups if you want to recover your personal data – and of course, always keep backups! Change password: It’s simply the common sense that you should immediately change your password, as soon as you get to know you’ve been hacked. Please make sure you change all of your online passwords as well, and not just the password of your computer or mobile devices. And of course, you need to change your accounts’ passwords from another computer or mobile that you’re confident is safe and secure.
It’s simply the common sense that you should immediately change your password, as soon as you get to know you’ve been hacked. Please make sure you change all of your online passwords as well, and not just the password of your computer or mobile devices. And of course, you need to change your accounts’ passwords from another computer or mobile that you’re confident is safe and secure. Antivirus: If you’re among the lucky ones, your Antivirus is going to alert you about the infection somehow. In case an infected file has been reported to you by Antivirus, continue with the suggested actions there. The steps you need to take in such cases include quarantining the suspected file, cleaning or deleting the file completely. Most of the anti-virus programs will have links that you can visit to discover about the infection further. Make it your rule to quarantine any suspected file, if that’s not possible for you – delete it!
If you’re among the lucky ones, your Antivirus is going to alert you about the infection somehow. In case an infected file has been reported to you by Antivirus, continue with the suggested actions there. The steps you need to take in such cases include quarantining the suspected file, cleaning or deleting the file completely. Most of the anti-virus programs will have links that you can visit to discover about the infection further. Make it your rule to quarantine any suspected file, if that’s not possible for you – delete it! OS re-installation: If you are not been able to restore your computer by getting help from your Antivirus, the safest alternate option would be rebuilding your PC from scratch. Before moving forward, you need to disconnect the machine from Internet completely – yes completely, make sure that even the LAN cable is disconnected from PC (in case you’re connected with Internet via Ethernet).The first priority to install a new window would be to go with built-in re-installation partition provided by your system’s manufacturer – and of course, you should carefully follow the instructions provided by them. If you find your recovery partition infected, corrupted or missing, request your system manufacturer to send in a new recovery DVD on your way. If manufacturer’s recovery partition isn’t the option for you, you can go with installing operating system by purchasing the windows from market. Genuine copy of the Windows software is what you should always look for, never fall in pray of a pirated software.
If you are not been able to restore your computer by getting help from your Antivirus, the safest alternate option would be rebuilding your PC from scratch. Before moving forward, you need to disconnect the machine from Internet completely – yes completely, make sure that even the LAN cable is disconnected from PC (in case you’re connected with Internet via Ethernet).The first priority to install a new window would be to go with built-in re-installation partition provided by your system’s manufacturer – and of course, you should carefully follow the instructions provided by them. If you find your recovery partition infected, corrupted or missing, request your system manufacturer to send in a new recovery DVD on your way. If manufacturer’s recovery partition isn’t the option for you, you can go with installing operating system by purchasing the windows from market. Genuine copy of the Windows software is what you should always look for, never fall in pray of a pirated software. Seek help from a professional: Lastly, if you feel like you don’t have the necessary skills set or knowledge, better take your PC to a certified computer expert. As proper cyber security training is very crucial to deal with such a messy stuff, the chances are if you try to transfer your personal data from infected machine to the new one, you might end up transferring the malware alongside it. So, it’s far safer to seek help from an expert technician rather than spreading the bad all over.
How to prevent yourself from hacking?
Finally, it is high time we take a look at what we need to do for avoiding being hacked in the first place. Below, we have gathered some really simple and at the same time useful pieces of information that can act as guidelines to you. So, off we go!
Beware of phishing scams: Hackers have become a lot more sophisticated than they used to be some years ago. This means that phishing scams have become much harder to track now, as well. So, you need to keep your eyes open and make sure that you only visit legitimate sites and click on trustworthy links.
Hackers have become a lot more sophisticated than they used to be some years ago. This means that phishing scams have become much harder to track now, as well. So, you need to keep your eyes open and make sure that you only visit legitimate sites and click on trustworthy links. Enable two-factor authentication: With this tool, you will get the opportunity to enhance the overall security layering of your computer. You will have set an additional padlock to the front door of your private property. At least, double the time will be required prior to the hackers penetrating the system of yours.
With this tool, you will get the opportunity to enhance the overall security layering of your computer. You will have set an additional padlock to the front door of your private property. At least, double the time will be required prior to the hackers penetrating the system of yours. Use strong passwords: It goes without even questioning that the strong and solid passwords can keep all hackers at bay. It is certain that you have to ensure that your passwords are next to impossible to crack. So, the hackers will need to spend a lot of valuable time trying to figure out what you have selected as your password credentials.
It goes without even questioning that the strong and solid passwords can keep all hackers at bay. It is certain that you have to ensure that your passwords are next to impossible to crack. So, the hackers will need to spend a lot of valuable time trying to figure out what you have selected as your password credentials. Change your behavior: Above anything else, it is vital that you change your behavior as to how to deal with the security of your computer. A hacked computer can cause a lot of trouble and therefore it is crucial that you pay the attention needed, in avoidance of disastrous consequences.
Above anything else, it is vital that you change your behavior as to how to deal with the security of your computer. A hacked computer can cause a lot of trouble and therefore it is crucial that you pay the attention needed, in avoidance of disastrous consequences. Backup your files: In case you do not prevent a hacking attempt and further damage becomes reality, you ought to have a backup of all your files. So, you will be protected and you will not need to waste valuable time (and effort and precious files).
In case you do not prevent a hacking attempt and further damage becomes reality, you ought to have a backup of all your files. So, you will be protected and you will not need to waste valuable time (and effort and precious files). Install antivirus: If you are serious about hacking and preventive measures, you need to have the latest antivirus software installed and activated. In this way, your computer will be up to the challenge of identifying any threats promptly and effectively.
If you are serious about hacking and preventive measures, you need to have the latest antivirus software installed and activated. In this way, your computer will be up to the challenge of identifying any threats promptly and effectively. Update all software: This is similar to the previous measure, which stresses out the importance of updating all the programs and the software that you use on your computer.
This is similar to the previous measure, which stresses out the importance of updating all the programs and the software that you use on your computer. Install only trustworthy software: Besides updated, the software that you make use of needs to come from a trusted source. This is the only way of being sure that you are not downloading a virus that can lead to hacking effects.
Besides updated, the software that you make use of needs to come from a trusted source. This is the only way of being sure that you are not downloading a virus that can lead to hacking effects. Delete unknown emails: Should an email come from somebody that you do not know and you have never heard of, you had better delete it and move on. It is not worth taking the risk of compromising the security of your computer.
Should an email come from somebody that you do not know and you have never heard of, you had better delete it and move on. It is not worth taking the risk of compromising the security of your computer. P2P should be avoided: It is no secret that P2P downloading can be dangerous. This is one of the reasons why you should not engage in file sharing out in the open, while you are better off getting content from copyrighted places. In case, you must need to take advantage of Torrents – aim at making your torrents secure and private with the use of VPN and other security tools.
It is no secret that P2P downloading can be dangerous. This is one of the reasons why you should not engage in file sharing out in the open, while you are better off getting content from copyrighted places. In case, you must need to take advantage of Torrents – aim at making your torrents secure and private with the use of VPN and other security tools. Avoid suspicious websites: Some websites can be filled with spyware and other viruses that seek to take advantage of your lack of guard. You should make sure that you only visit trusted websites that do not threaten your privacy and anonymity online.
Some websites can be filled with spyware and other viruses that seek to take advantage of your lack of guard. You should make sure that you only visit trusted websites that do not threaten your privacy and anonymity online. Regular scans for viruses: Besides having installed antivirus software on your computer, you need to run regular scans as well. This is how you will determine the threats that emerge on the spot and avoid them once and for all.
Besides having installed antivirus software on your computer, you need to run regular scans as well. This is how you will determine the threats that emerge on the spot and avoid them once and for all. Install a firewall: Last but not least, you should not underestimate the power of a firewall. As far as security from hacking is concerned, a firewall can be a strong tool. Added to the other guidelines displayed above, you can rest assured that the firewall is going to keep hackers off.
Conclusion
If you do not want to have your computer hacked and not even understand what has happened, you ought to be on alert and always remain vigilant as to the threats that are lurking in the dark.
We hope that we have provided substantial food for thought, in order to evaluate the security layering of your own computer. It is in your hands to keep hackers at bay and we are certain that this is what you are going to do!Mayor Mike Savage has a weighty decision on his hands and it could get messy.
City council ordered staff in October to analyse the question. This week staff came back with a report saying they didn't make a recommendation because it would have few financial or environmental effects.
At Tuesday's council meeting, it will be up to the mayor to decide whether to proclaim the donair as Halifax's official food — since staff won't help.
"In the absence of detailed staff analysis, including consideration of supporting processes to identify and evaluate other official foods or other official features, staff would not put forward a recommendation for a proclamation," the report said.
And even if Savage says yes, that decision won't carry as much weight as when the province gives official status to something.
43-page report, no decision
That's because at the provincial level, official statuses for things must be done through pieces of legislation, according to the 43-page city staff report that didn't make any recommendation.
The provincial government has used its powers to create the Provincial Horse Act — which names the Sable Island horse as the provincial horse, and the Provincial Dog Act — which declares the duck tolling retriever as Nova Scotia's provincial dog.
In Halifax, only the mayor can make proclamations, as he did for Purple Day and Turkish Heritage and Children's Day.
Halifax's own, says councillor
The question of whether to proclaim the donair as Halifax's official food came as a result of a request by Councillor Linda Mosher in mid-October.
"It's something that you can't find anywhere else," Mosher told CBC News in at the time.
"We're known for good lobsters and other things, but lots of places have lobster, and this is something that's very unique to Halifax."
Mosher worried Edmonton would beat Halifax to it
Mosher worried Edmonton would try to take credit for the donair.
"The recipe was formed here and many have tried to duplicate it. It originated here on Quinpool Road," she told CBC News.
A shop on Ochterloney Street in Dartmouth tried out a donair soup in September. (CBC)
A staple of the downtown scene and late nights, the donair is spiced beef cooked on a spit. The meat is then shaved from the pole, placed on a piece of pita bread, topped with onions and tomatoes, as well as the irresistible sauce made of evaporated milk, sugar, vinegar and garlic.
The donair was adapted from the gyro, lamb wrapped in pita with the yogurt-based tzatziki sauce, but Nova Scotians weren't used to the taste of lamb, according to the owner of King of Donair.Turkish provocations against the helicopter carrying Greek President of the Republic Prokopis Pavlopoulos were repeated on Wednesday, as Turkish warplane pilots warned the Greek pilot that he had entered Turkish FIR when in fact the helicopter was flying over Greek territory.
The helicopter carrying Pavlopoulos and the accompanying helicopter were flying over the island of Panagia, when at 9:35 am and 9:37 am the Turkish pilots informed, via radio, that the Greek pilots were flying in Turkish airspace and they had to leave.
The Greek pilots, knowing that they were in Greek airspace, did not respond to the Turkish provocation and continued their course.
Shortly afterwards, the helicopter carrying the President of the Republic landed on the island of Panagia and watched the briefing at the island’s military outpost.
This was the second incident of the sort, as the same happened on Tuesday. The army helicopter carrying the Greek President on a tour in the Aegean received a radio message from a Turkish airforce saying that it was flying inside a demilitarized zone and such flights are forbidden.
Pavlopoulos is visiting Hellenic Army outposts on islands of the Aegean, such as Farmakonisi and Agathonisi.
Shortly after the incident with the helicopter carrying the Greek President, at 10 am, a pair of Turkish F4 fighters violated Greek airspace by entering the Athens FIR between Lesvos and Lemnos and flew over the Makronissi and Anthropophagi (in the Fourni complex) at an altitude of 8,900 feet. The two Turkish fighters left the Athens FIR at 10:27 between Samos and Kos.DW: You received the prestigious Aga Khan Award for Architecture for building an environment-friendly mosque in the Bangladeshi capital. What is so unique about your mosque?
Marina Tabassum: I focused on spirituality, which, I believe, is essential to prayers. The design of the Bait ur Rouf Mosque is such that it allows natural light and fresh air into the prayer hall that evokes a sense of communion and spirituality. At the same time, it reduces the dependence on the artificial means of comfort.
Marina Tabassum: 'I focused on spirituality, which, I believe, is essential to prayers'
In a country where women are rarely allowed to enter a mosque, you actually constructed one. What kind of challenges did you face?
Actually, I did not face any challenge. In Bangladesh, mosques are rarely designed by professional architects. So, people were happy to see a mosque that was designed by a real architect. Besides, I also raised funds to build that mosque, so the people appreciated that as well.
A mosque usually has a minaret, a dome, and a platform for sermons. But your building has none of these. How did the worshippers react to your innovative design?
Historically, the dome was used as a roof to cover a large space, which was the only available technology at that time. Now there are other structural techniques available. Also, domes became popular during the Ottoman era. I believe that these symbols tend to distract us from the spiritual essence of Islam, and that's why my design rejected them and focused on the contemplative and spiritual aspects of the religion.
'By allowing light and air into the prayer hall, we reduced the use of electricity'
We must not forget that mosques are also used for social interaction. That is why I wanted to give people a place where they can interact freely.
What makes the Bait ur Rouf Mosque eco-friendly?
We used local material and construction techniques to build this mosque. By allowing light and air into the prayer hall, we reduced the use of electricity. The money spent on the mosque's maintenance is not more than 50 dollars per month, so it is pretty sustainable and the community that uses this mosque can save money.
Marina Tabassum is an award-winning Bangladeshi architect.THE GREAT OUTDOORS — After receiving public feedback earlier this year, the Utah Wildlife Board has approved several fishing changes for 2017.
Beginning Jan. 1, 2017, anglers will be able to use corn as bait at eight waters throughout Utah, according to the Division of Wildlife Resources. The DWR proposed the change and opened it to public feedback, and 3,210 people responded, 70 percent of whom favored the proposal. Before the change, Utah was the only state in the West that didn’t allow using corn as bait.
The proposal was approved by the Utah Wildlife Board at a meeting on Sept. 29 and the two-year pilot program will run until the end of 2018, when it will be re-evaluated. The eight Utah waters selected for the pilot program of using corn as bait are Cutler Reservoir, Deer Creek Reservoir, Electric Lake, Fish Lake, Flaming Gorge Reservoir, Lake Powell, Stateline Reservoir and Utah Lake.
These bodies of water have kokanee salmon or common carp in them and corn is an effective bait for both species, according to DWR cold water sport fisheries coordinator Randy Oplinger.
Oplinger said corn is also a cheap and easy bait to use.
“I think that’s one of the main reasons anglers wanted a chance to use it as bait in Utah,” he said in a statement.
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Should corn be legal fishing bait in Utah? DWR wants feedback The Division of Wildlife Resources is proposing several new changes for Utah fishing laws in 2017 and would like feedback from the public.
It has often been believed that corn harms fish, but Oplinger said that isn’t true.
“Study after study has shown that isn’t the case. Corn doesn’t harm fish,” he said.
However, with the approval of using corn as bait, some of the state’s anglers are concerned about an increase in chumming (tossing bait in the water to attract fish) and littering. Both activities are illegal in Utah and will remain illegal during the pilot study. During the two-year study, biologists will work closely with DWR conservation officers to determine if allowing the use of corn has led to any negative results.
“If we find that it has, we can recommend not allowing corn as bait in 2019,” Oplinger said.
Along with corn being used as bait, the Utah Wildlife Board also approved a proposal to allow tributaries of Utah Lake to remain open to fishing year-round. In the past, the tributaries were closed to fishing from March 1 to the first Saturday in May to help protect walleye that spawn there during that time, DWR said. However, northern pike spawn in the tributaries at the same time and pose a threat to other species in the lake.
“Northern pike were placed in Utah Lake illegally,” Oplinger said. “They pose a threat to other fish in the lake — those fish include June sucker. June sucker are an endangered fish that are not found anywhere else in the world.”
The change will take place in January 2017, but includes some stipulations to fishing at the Utah Lake tributaries year-round. Anglers must release any walleye they catch and are required to keep and kill any northern pike caught in the tributaries. A catch-and-kill regulation for northern pike is already in place for Utah Lake.
Another change for 2017 includes allowing anglers to keep larger smallmouth bass at Jordanelle Reservoir. Currently, anglers can keep up to six smallmouth bass caught at Jordanelle, but only one of the bass could be longer than 12 inches. In 2017, the six-fish limit will remain, but the size restriction will be gone.
The board also approved a recommendation that will require anglers to keep and kill any walleye caught in Echo Reservoir in northern Utah. DWR recently discovered that walleye were illegally placed in the reservoir and biologists are concerned about the effect it will have on other fish species there.
What do you think about the new fishing changes? Let us know in the comments.SCOTT Johnson will begin a new period of talent exposure in Durban this weekend which he hopes will send Scotland to the Rugby World Cup in 2015 with the strongest squad it has ever taken to the tournament.
After the embarrassment of suffering a pool exit for the first time, in New Zealand in 2011, Johnson’s desire as the interim head coach is to widen the depth of talent. So, he, and assistant coaches Jonathan Humphreys, Matt Taylor, Duncan Hodge and Massimo Cuttitta, have placed their faith in six uncapped players – Greig Tonks, Alex Dunbar and Pat MacArthur in the starting line-up and Stevie Lawrie, Peter Horne and Duncan Taylor on the bench – to face Samoa in Saturday’s opening match in the Castle Lager Test Series. Stand-off Tom Heathcote and Grant Gilchrist, the Edinburgh lock, also have only one cap each.
The squad features a relatively experienced spine with Sean Lamont, Matt Scott, Greig Laidlaw, Euan Murray, Al Kellock and a back row of Alasdair Strokosch, Johnnie Beattie and skipper Kelly Brown, but Johnson is eager to see the new faces perform in a way that suggests they have a future at Test level.
“If you want to discover new lands you’ve got to be prepared to leave the shore,” he said, “and we’re leaving the shore. We have 25 Test matches [before RWC 2015] and I need to broaden the base. I make no excuses for it.
“I’ve done a lot of these tours in my time at the end of the year and you’ve got to use them to start searching. Test footy is a funny thing and the brain works in funny ways; how players handle Test footy, going from heaven into hell and turning hell into heaven.
“I can’t buy or coach what these opportunities give and I intend to give some kids a run to find out.”
He classed Heathcote as a newcomer too, the Bath youngster’s sole Test involvement to date coming in the final quarter of Andy Robinson’s demoralising finale against Tonga in November. But, as with the new pivot, Johnson believes there are few risks as he sees genuine potential in all of the uncapped players.
He said: “Tom showed loyalty to us at a young age and has real talent in a position that we’re not overly strong in. I think his skill-set is made for Test footy so it’s a perfect opportunity away for him to explore and demonstrate that for us.
“Alex’s form has been wonderful with Glasgow. He possesses something and his development from last year’s tour to now has been exceptional, both physically and in terms of his rugby. He had a bit of a lull in the year and a disappointing six or seven weeks and then all of a sudden came out of it, and that showed a nice maturity, and he has the athletic prowess to play at Test level.
“I’m liking what I see and I’m liking the midfield. We left a couple at home [Nick de Luca and Max Evans] because I wanted a chance to explore different positions and give people the opportunity without having a senior player standing next to him, to see if they can grow.
“With Tonksy, we wanted to have a look at the balance in the team. One of the things that came out of our notes at the Six Nations was that our kicking options were limited when we didn’t have a left-footer in the team. His form through the years has been good. Of course he’s had some not-so-great games but his form has been constant and we’re keen to see if we can get a balance there, which is also one of the reasons why Peter Horne is on the bench. We’re wanting to see how different people measure up and the versatility we have.
“I keep forgetting about Pat [as a debutant] because he’s been around the camp for so long and nearly got on the pitch in the Six Nations.
“I actually thought long and hard about not bringing Fordy on tour because in my heart of hearts I felt he needed a real off-season to have a crack, and sometimes we’re going to have to fill the tank in him because he plays a lot of rugby. But because we had a few senior boys that couldn’t come, and hookers not fit [Dougie Hall is injured], I thought it was probably best for the team to bring Fordy.
“So someone’s looking down and saying ‘it’s not the right thing’. It’s a good time for Pat to get a chance. His form has been really good for Glasgow, he’s been on the cusp and he’s a good rugby player.
“From what I’ve seen the skills can come up a level and so it’s a good tour for Pat, and it’s an area we’re not strong in depth wise, so we need to get a few caps under our belts there.”
After Vern Cotter’s confirmation that he would remain at Clermont Auvergne until next June, Johnson re-iterated that it was no surprise and he is comfortable with his new dual role as national coach and SRU director of rugby. There is little doubt the two roles go hand-in-hand, if he can also cope with the demands of the wider game in Scotland.
For now, however, his focus is solely on this weekend’s starting point in an unusual quadrangular tournament, and he warned against the Samoans who were thumped by South African province the Golden Lions 74-14 on Saturday in a warm-up.
“I’m committed here to do the job. We found our man and it means waiting, and we’re happy to wait. But, the focus here is on this team and preparing for a Test match and the [Samoan] artillery is arriving. They finished up at the weekend with some of the opposition on their side – it was just a hit-out, a hard training session from their point of view.
“It’s a completely different beast that we’re up against this weekend and we know that. They’re not ranked where they are in the world [seventh; Scotland are tenth] through luck, but because they have good players, and people forget the fact that a large contingent of their team play abroad now so they are professional people.
“They have come off a wonderful autumn series. Though the performance when they beat Wales was stunning I thought the performance against the French was equally as good; a charge-down probably cost them the game. So we’re talking a quality international side now and we’re under no illusions about what lies in front of us.
“Our team will be different [to the 2012 meeting in Samoa] and their team will be slightly different. The relevance of that game is that we know what we’re up against and that it’s not insurmountable. If you analyse the two sides they’ll be vastly different probably, but whatever side they put out they will be similar in skill.”
Johnson added: “I think this is going to be a great tournament. It’s something I think that rugby needs. With professionalism coming into the game I think we’ve lost a bit of the old values, like sitting with the opposition and chatting, and I’m hoping to take the opportunity to let our guys sit with the opposition and opponents on the flights and enjoy each other’s company.
“For some of our younger guys that’s really important because for me, speaking as an old rugby player, some of my greatest friends come from the era I played rugby in, and I think that’s somewhat lacking now.
“So I really like the energy this tournament brings. It’s a nice blend of the old and new.”
Scotland (v Samoa in the Castle Lager Test Series at King’s Park, Durban on Saturday 8 June; kick-off 2.15pm local time, 1.15pm BST)
15 Greig Tonks (Edinburgh Rugby) uncapped
14 Sean Lamont (Glasgow Warriors) 76 caps, 9 tries, 45 points
13 Alex Dunbar (Glasgow Warriors) uncapped
12 Matt Scott (Edinburgh Rugby) 12 caps, 1 try, 5 points
11 Tim Visser (Edinburgh Rugby) 10 caps, 6 tries, 30 points
10 Tom Heathcote (Bath Rugby) 1 cap
9 Greig Laidlaw (Edinburgh Rugby) 18 caps, 2 tries, 16 conversions, 39 penalties, 159 points
1 Ryan Grant (Glasgow Warriors) 10 caps
2 Pat MacArthur (Glasgow Warriors) uncapped
3 Euan Murray (Worcester Warriors) 53 caps, 2 tries, 10 points
4 Grant Gilchrist (Edinburgh Rugby) 1 cap
5 Alastair Kellock (Glasgow Warriors) 52 caps, 1 try, 5 points
6 Alasdair Strokosch (Perpignan) 32 caps, 1 try, 5 points
7 Kelly Brown (Saracens) capt, 57 caps, 4 tries, 20 points
8 Johnnie Beattie (Mont |
terms of efficiency and high-growth in the engineering and construction industry, our new headquarter location ensures access to top talent and positions Jacobs for convenient access to our clients," Jacobs Chairman and CEO Steven Demetriou said in statement. "In Dallas, we will also benefit from a business-friendly economic and cultural environment.
"Jacobs has had a long and successful history in Pasadena and will continue to employ more than 1,500 people in Southern California," he said. "Although our headquarters is relocating, we will maintain a strong workforce and office footprint across the state of California where we see ongoing expansion opportunities."
Jacobs — which has 230 offices around the globe — is moving the headquarters staff to the Harwood Center office on Bryan Street.
Landing the Jacobs headquarters is another win for downtown.
The 69-year-old company, which started in Pasadena and has almost 64,000 employees, does work in everything from architecture to aerospace, mining and transportation.
A Texas Enterprise Fund grant of $1.3 million will be given to Jacobs to help pay for the move.Updated – 2/4/2015
Fixed backwards compatibility with 10.1
Added exception handling for custom/undefined coordinate system, and Layout view.
Select your version of ArcMap:
Download the Google Street View Python Add-in for ArcMap 10.1
Download the Google Street View Python Add-in for ArcMap 10.2
Download the Google Street View Python Add-in for ArcMap 10.3
Download the Google Street View Python Add-in for ArcMap 10.4
(any donations go towards hosting costs)
I work for an electric utility, and Google Street View is a very handy tool to do a quick “field check” to verify, for example, equipment or pole specifications. It can save a lot of time, and gas! Of course, the Street View data may not always accurately depict what’s in the real world since things change, but it’s still a very good source to have available.
To use this Google Street View Python Add-in, first download the add-in by clicking the link at the top of this page. Next, install the add-in. This should add the following toolbar to ArcMap.
If it didn’t automatically add the toolbar, in ArcMap go to Customize –> Toolbars –> and click on Street View.
Once the toolbar is visible, click on the Street View icon, and then using either satellite imagery, or some other landbase data click on a road. Once a road is clicked, your browser will open and show that location within Google Street View. If the screen that loads is black, then there is no Street View data available for that location.
I’ve recently found out the add-in will not work in Layout view, so I’ve added a warning message to alert the user. I’ve also added a warning message when the Data Frame coordinate system is either undefined, or uses a custom coordinate system.
Check out the following guide to add or remove a button, or add a keyboard shortcut for a button:
Tutorial On Customizing ArcMap Toolbars and Keyboard Shortcuts
I hope you find this tool useful. Please leave a comment if you have any questions or problems, and be sure to check out the other tools I’ve created!In the tiny town of Cuba, Kansas, there were no cars parked Monday along downtown’s Main Street.
The goodwill ambassador of Cuba — Dale Huncovsky, owner of the Cuba Cash Store, Two Doors Down Cafe and mayor of the Republic County town of 200 residents — died late Sunday night. He was 61 years old.
Funeral services will be at 10:30 a.m. Thursday at the Cuba Community Hall.
“This is just the biggest blow for Cuba — the school is gone and now Dale goes,” said Marci Penner, director of the Kansas Sampler Foundation in Inman. “He is the essence of small town Americana. He was just a common man that made all the difference in the world for Cuba.”
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Mr. Huncovsky was born July 9, 1953. He grew up on a nearby Republic County farm and in the mid-1980s bought the Cuba Cash Store along with his wife, LaVerna, right after he had suffered his first heart attack at the grain elevator.
Life in the north-central Kansas town often revolved around the Cuba Cash store — a more than century-old-grocery with the original warped wood floors, lockers with forged hinges and thick wood doors. It had a fresh meat case featuring Czech ring bologna, smoked briskets, ribs and custom meat packages.
His store would blast polka music through outdoor speakers along Main Street, and he was an avid supporter of Cuba’s Rock-a-Thon, where residents and alumni return to the tiny town and raise typically more than $25,000 annually for community projects by rocking in chairs.
About 10 years before the Huncovskys bought the grocery store, National Geographic photographer Jim Richardson began documenting the town. His photographs brought the town fame and it was featured twice on “CBS News Sunday Morning.” Richardson has continued through the years taking photos of the town.
On Monday, Richardson — who lives in Lindsborg — posted on his Facebook page:
“If you ever need a lesson on leadership in this world you can do no better than look at the example of Dale Huncovsky in Cuba, Kansas. Rest in peace.”
While Mr. Huncovsky was an avid community booster — serving as president of the town’s Booster Club and keeping the grocery store open — the community also supported him.
When he had major heart surgery, people stepped up and ran the store while he was in the hospital. And, when he no longer could unload the semi-truck each week filled with groceries, residents volunteered, sometimes meeting at 5 a.m. to help unload the truck’s contents.
“I’m thinking about the man who would drop everything to help someone in need, and who had a line of folks ready to do the same for him every week when the delivery truck pulled up to the store,” Nick Levendofsky wrote on his Facebook page. “I’m thinking about the man who always had a cold beer ready for you, and whose famous brisket could make a vegetarian switch sides.”
Last year, Mr. Huncovsky stepped down from his position as the president of the Booster Club so he could run for mayor.
“He has been under a lot of stress,” said Joan Holmberg, who often volunteered at Mr. Huncovsky’s Two Doors Down restaurant, unlocking the doors and making coffee. “There are a lot of problems in this small community, and he just was working too hard. We all knew it. But he was determined to keep going until he couldn’t.”
Cuba needs a new water system, she said, and much of his attention lately had been focused on helping his hometown work out the details.
Sunday morning, Mr. Huncovsky opened the grocery store and restaurant, Holmberg said. Later in the day, he worked on a cooler in the grocery store that was causing problems. Then, went home.
“We lost our bank, our school and elevator,” Holmberg said. “I’ve known for years that if something happens to Dale, that’s going to be the end of Cuba.
“I don’t see any young people people able to take over our grocery store and cafe. In a small town, I’m not sure one exists without the other. It’s too soon to know.”
Levendofsky, respectfully, disagreed.
“Cuba is a very strong community,” he said. “This will leave a huge gap. Everybody kind of revolved around Dale. He made things happen, and it will be a difficult void to fill.
“But I know the people of Cuba, they will get through this. It might be a pretty rough patch for awhile but they are resilient and in the end will be OK.”
Mr. Huncovsky is survived by his wife, LaVerna; daughters, Kelly Melton, of Cuba, and Kassi Huncovsky of Concordia; and son, Quint Huncovsky of Manhattan.Image copyright AFP
London's benchmark FTSE 100 index reached its highest level to date on the last day of trading for 2016.
The move upwards was tiny - 22.5 points or 0.32% - but it left the FTSE at an unprecedented 7,142.83.
The last trading day of the calendar year in London is a short one, with dealings ending at 12:30 GMT.
Among the top 100 companies, there were no major daily moves. Rolls-Royce was the biggest faller, notching up a decline of 1.47%.
Oil ended in London flat, with Brent at $56.67 a barrel. The commodity has almost doubled from this year's low of $30 a barrel.
Oil has gained 53% since the start of the year, the biggest annual rise since 2009, with the promise of production curbs from major oil-producing countries giving a late surge to the price.
Sterling influence
Mining companies have largely been winning investments, in sterling terms, with many gaining about 30% over the year.
The FTSE 100 has benefited from the fall in the pound since the Leave vote, because the many international companies whose shares are traded in the UK tend to benefit from it.
Profits earned abroad by multinationals such as drugs giant GlaxoSmithKline and major mining companies are worth more when converted into sterling.
That makes a company's shares appear better value when compared with the higher profits it will make, prompting a revaluation of the stock.
Top five FTSE gainers 2016 Company Percentage gain on year Anglo American 284% Glencore 208% Fresnillo 72% BHP Billiton 71% Rio Tinto 61%
Source: Bloomberg
Top five FTSE losers 2016 Company Percentage loss on year Capita 56% Easyjet 42% Next 31% DixonsCarphone 29% IAG (BA owner) 27%
Source: Bloomberg
In currencies, the pound was up 0.48% against the dollar at $1.2310, but was flat against the euro at €1.1681.
The Brexit vote dramatically weakened the worth of the pound against the dollar. At the start of the year - and in June on the eve of the Brexit vote - the pound was worth just short of $1.50.
Analysis: Andrew Walker, economics correspondent
It has certainly been a good year for a British investor with stakes in the top 100 companies traded on the London stock exchange. If you held a portfolio made up of the same stocks in the same proportions as go into the index, you would have made a very healthy gain of about 14%.
But a foreign investor buying the same selection of assets would not have done so well, because sterling has fallen so sharply.
If the dollar were your home currency, you would have seen the value of your holding of London stocks decline by 4%. That partly reflects the fact that the pound has moved especially sharply against a strengthening US currency.
If what you cared about was the performance of your investment measured in euros, then you would have seen the value of your portfolio ending 2016 very close to the level at which it started the year.
Michael Hewson, chief market analyst at CMC Markets, said 2017 could be a rocky one: "It's all about political risk, there's the French and German elections and potentially another election in Italy. There's also Greece, Italy's banks and Article 50.
"We could be in for another year of surprises."A teenager who has been in an induced coma for weeks can be given medicinal marijuana, Associate Health Minister Peter Dunne has decided.
Photo: RNZ / Alexander Robertson
Nineteen-year-old Alex Renton, from Nelson, is in Wellington Hospital suffering from refractory status epilepticus, which causes him to suffer from repeated seizures.
It is not known what is causing them but it is believed his body's immune system is turning against itself.
Capital and Coast District Health Board applied to the Ministry of Health and Mr Dunne to use Elixinol, a cannabis-based product from the US which had been shown to relieve some forms of epilepsy.
Mr Dunne today said he was approving its use for Mr Renton on compassionate grounds.
"Despite the absence of clinical evidence supporting the efficacy of [the drug] in patients with Mr Renton's condition, status epilepticus, my decision relies on the dire circumstances and extreme severity of Mr Renton's individual case," Mr Dunne said.
"I have considerable sympathy for the family of Mr Renton, who face an incredibly difficult situation. Understandably they want to do the best for their son, and they believe that this option is worth trying."
Mr Dunne said he had also considered the absence of any other treatment options, the low risk of significant adverse effects, and the hospital ethics committee's recommendation.
"Ministerial approval in this case does not extend beyond Mr Renton's application and should in no way be construed as setting a wider precedent."
Mr Dunne said he was satisfied with the way the DHB and the Ministry of Health had handled the matter, and that he hoped for a good outcome for Mr Renton and his family.
Alex Renton's mother Rose told Checkpoint she was informed of the decision this afternoon just before the news was made public.
She called Mr Dunne's decision fantastic.
"Each day's a new day and today's a great day for Alex and the family," she said. "It's exciting that the minister is prepared to accept it on compassionate grounds, and that's what we were hoping for."
Ms Renton said it would take just less than a week to get the medication to Alex.Two proposed medical-marijuana issues potentially headed for Ohio's Nov. 6 ballot seem similar at first glance but are quite different in terms of specifics and supporters.
Two proposed medical-marijuana issues potentially headed for Ohio�s Nov. 6 ballot seem similar at first glance but are quite different in terms of specifics and supporters.
The Ohio Medical Cannabis Amendment of 2012 was approved yesterday by the Ohio Ballot Board, clearing the way for supporters to begin gathering the 385,245 signatures of registered voters needed to qualify the issue for the ballot. The group has until July 6 to submit names.
Mary Jane Borden of Westerville, a committee member for the Cannabis Amendment, said medical marijuana can be an effective, natural way to ease chronic pain without relying on addictive narcotic medications.
�We have a plant that�s been in existence for 10,000 years, and it�s never killed anyone,� she said.
Sixteen states and the District of Columbia have some form of medical-marijuana law.
In October, Ohio�s five-member ballot board, led by Secretary of State Jon Husted, approved a similar proposed constitutional amendment, the Ohio Alternative Treatment Amendment.
The general goal of both issues is the same: to persuade voters to amend the Ohio Constitution to legalize the use of marijuana to treat chronic pain associated with many diseases and conditions, including Alzheimer�s, cancer, HIV/AIDS, Parkinson�s, spinal-cord injuries and rheumatoid arthritis.
But the two proposals differ in their implementation. The Cannabis Amendment includes no limits on how much marijuana someone could buy, possess or grow, leaving that decision and many others to a commission to be established later.
The Alternative Treatment Amendment, by comparison, would embed voluminous detail in the Ohio Constitution, including the amount of marijuana (3.5?ounces) an individual could possess; where sellers could not locate (within 1,000 feet of schools, churches, recreation centers and drug-and-alcohol treatment facilities); and fees related to buying and selling.
Backers of the issues come from different points of view.
The Cannabis Amendment is supported primarily by patients, advocates and business people, said Theresa Daniello of Cleveland, who suffers from long-term thoracic back spasms. �My pain is forever,� she said, but it could be eased by marijuana.
The Alternative Treatment Amendment�s most high-profile backer is the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, a group that has long advocated complete legalization.
Geoff Korff, a Salem, Ohio, lawyer and businessman on the Alternative Treatment team, said he is uncomfortable with leaving specifics to a commission. He said his group is organizing and gathering signatures, targeting specific events statewide.
Korff thinks only one issue will make it to November: �I honestly believe there will have to be some reconciliation that takes place.�
The Columbus-based Drug Free Action Alliance doesn�t like either proposal.
�We don�t do any medication through the ballot box or legislative initiative. We do it through the Food and Drug Administration,� said Marcie Seidel, executive director. �We don�t think this is the proper way to do it. It should go through the proper channels so that when a person takes a medication, they know what to expect from a certain dosage, the side effects and interaction with other drugs.�
[email protected] Korora project has released version 23 (code name "Coral") which is now available for download. Existing 23 beta users do not need to re-install, just keep installing regular updates. For the last three months we have been waiting for the RPMFusion repositories to be declared stable before releasing Korora 23. These community packages provide support for things that Fedora doesn't normally ship, like multi-media codecs and proprietary kernel drivers. Normally, the stable RPMFusion repositories are available a few weeks after a Fedora release, however the community has moved to new infrastructure and this has caused some delays. Features: Cinnamon 2.8, GNOME 3.18, KDE Plasma 5.5.4, MATE 1.12, Xfce 4.12....
Recent Related News and Releases
Distribution Release: Korora 26 Jim Dean has announced the release of Korora 26, a brand-new version of the project's desktop-oriented Linux distribution based on Fedora, but with many user-friendly enhancements: " The Korora project is pleased to announce the release of version 26 (code name 'Bloat') which is now available for download. Korora 26 continues the tradition of having code names based on characters from 'Finding Nemo'. Existing Korora users can upgrade to 26 'Bloat', see our upgrade guide. Features: Cinnamon 3.4 - this new release of Cinnamon includes lots of refinements to the popular desktop environment; GNOME 3.24 brings a number of new features to the GNOME desktop including the new Night Light setting which reduces eye strain; KDE Plasma 5.10 gains a new default desktop view and improvements to the Task Manager among a long list of improvements; MATE 1.18 - this release completes the migration to GTK+ 3 but also includes many new features; Xfce 4.12 - this release mainly focused on polishing the desktop and improving the user experience in various ways. release announcement for more details. Download (SHA256, signature, pkglist): korora-live-cinnamon-26-x86_64.iso (2,474MB), korora-live-gnome-26-x86_64.iso (2,402MB), korora-live-kde-26-x86_64.iso (2,710MB), korora-live-mate-26-x86_64.iso (2,653MB), korora-live-xfce-26-x86_64.iso (2,332MB).
Distribution Release: Korora 25 Jim Dean has announced the release of Korora 25, a new version of the Fedora-based distribution with various user-friendly enhancements and a choice of five desktop environments - Cinnamon, GNOME, KDE Plasma, MATE and Xfce: " The Korora project has released version 25 (code name 'Gurgle') which is now available for download. Due to popular demand there is a KDE Plasma release. While it has the usual Korora extras, in order to reduce the workload in bringing this back we have made the look more vanilla. Features: Cinnamon 3.2 includes lots of refinements; GNOME 3.22 has improved support for the Wayland compositor, Wayland is now the default for the GNOME edition; Mate 1.16 focused on bug fixes; Xfce 4.12 focused on polishing the desktop and improving the user experience; derived from Fedora 25, Korora benefits from Fedora's long tradition of bringing the latest technologies to open-source software users; 64-bit only. " Here is the complete release announcement. Download (SHA256, signature, pkglist): korora-live-cinnamon-25-x86_64.iso (2,092MB), korora-live-gnome-25-x86_64.iso (2,188MB), korora-live-kde-25-x86_64.iso (2,442MB), korora-live-mate-25-x86_64.iso (2,201MB), korora-live-xfce-25-x86_64.iso (2,124MB).
Distribution Release: Korora 24 The Korora distribution is a desktop oriented operating system built on Fedora. The Korora project has announced the availability of Korora 24 which is based on Fedora 24. The new version of Korora is available in four editions: Cinnamon, GNOME, MATE and Xfce. " Changes in Korora 24: Images are 64-bit only, 32-bit users can still upgrade. Over the last few versions the demand for 32-bit ISOs has markedly decreased to the point where we feel it's no-longer necessary to provide install images for the platform. Starting with Korora 24, images will be 64-bit (x86_64) only, however those who have 32-bit systems already are still able to upgrade to Korora 24. If you have been running 32-bit Korora on 64 bit hardware we strongly encourage you to install the 64-bit version instead. No KDE Plasma release yet. We would dearly love to have a KDE iso ready to go, but we ran into a number of issues and decided to not let this hold up the release of Korora 24. It is possible to upgrade a Korora 23 install of KDE to Korora 24 however there are some settings such as themes may need to be manually set up again. " Additional details can be found in the project's release announcement. Download (SHA256) (pkglist): korora-24-x86_64-cinnamon.iso (1,990MB), korora-24-x86_64-gnome.iso (2,068MB), korora-24-x86_64-mate.iso (2,052MB), korora-24-x86_64-xfce.iso (2,086MB)
Development Release: Korora 23 Beta The Korora development team has announced the availability of the beta release of Korora 23, a set of user-friendly, Fedora-based distributions available in Cinnamon, GNOME, KDE, MATE and Xfce flavours: " The Korora project is very pleased to announce that the beta release of version 23 (code name 'Coral') is now available for download. Although this is a beta release of Korora, it is derived from Fedora 23 stable and should be ready for every day use. Features: Cinnamon 2.6 - this new release of Cinnamon targets a smoother experience, improved settings and updates to the file manager, Nemo; GNOME 3.18 brings Google Drive integration in Files, automatic screen brightness and Touchpad gestures; KDE Plasma 5.4.2 - a modern, stable desktop environment, KDE Plasma 5.4.2 sees a large number of improvements including better dpi support and improved memory use plus many bug fixes; MATE 1.10.... " Continue to the release announcement for more details. Download (MD5) (pkglist): korora-23-beta-x86_64-cinnamon-live.iso (1,936MB), korora-23-beta-x86_64-gnome-live.iso (2,059MB), korora-23-beta-x86_64-kde-live.iso (2,132MB), korora-23-beta-x86_64-mate-live.iso (1,928MB), korora-23-beta-x86_64-xfce-live.iso (1,957MB).
Distribution Release: Korora 22 Chris Smart has announced the release of Korora 22, a set of user-friendly, Fedora-based desktop Linux distributions with a choice of Cinnamon, GNOME, KDE 5, MATE and Xfce desktops: " It has been a long road to the Korora 22 (code name 'Selina') release and we're sorry that it has taken so long. However, it is now finally available for download. KDE 4 is no longer supported in Korora 22. If you do not wish to upgrade to KDE 5 then please stick with Korora 21. With this release we've decided to no-longer include Adobe Flash out of the box, due to the continued high number of security flaws. The repository is still enabled, however, and if you wish to use Flash you can install it using the package manager, or command line'sudo dnf install flash-plugin' - or install and use Google Chrome which has the current up-to-date version of Flash. " Continue to the release announcement for a full list of new features. Download (MD5, pkglist): korora-22-x86_64-cinnamon-live.iso (1,865MB, torrent), korora-22-x86_64-gnome-live.iso (2,027MB, torrent), korora-22-x86_64-kde-live.iso (2,589MB, torrent), korora-22-x86_64-mate-live.iso (1,948MB, torrent), korora-22-x86_64-xfce-live.iso (1,842MB, torrent).
Distribution Release: Korora 21 Chris Smart has announced the release of Korora 21, a set of user-friendly desktop Linux distributions, based on Fedora 21, with a choice of Cinnamon, GNOME, KDE and Xfce desktops: " It has taken a few weeks longer than we had hoped, but we're finally happy to announce that the final release of version 21 (code name 'Darla') is now available for download (we strongly recommend using BitTorrent). The 21 beta was quite successful and we were able to make some minor changes to help improve the overall experience. Users who are currently on the beta need not re-install, updates are provided via the package manager. Users who are on 20 may consider upgrading, however this is not necessary as version 20 is supported for another 6 months or so. " Read the rest of the release announcement for a detailed introduction to the new release. Download (SHA256, pkglist): korora-21-x86_64-cinnamon-live.iso (1,753MB, torrent), korora-21-x86_64-gnome-live.iso (1,859MB, torrent), korora-21-x86_64-kde-live.iso (2,547MB, torrent), korora-21-x86_64-xfce-live.iso (1,716MB, torrent).
Development Release: Korora 21 Beta Ian Firns has announced the availability of the beta release of Korora 21, a set of Fedora-based distributions in Cinnamon, GNOME, KDE and Xfce editions: " The Korora project is very pleased to announce that the first beta release of version 21 (code name 'Darla') is now available for download. Although this is a beta release of Korora, it is derived from Fedora 21 stable and should be ready for everyday use. It has been almost a year since our last release and we have spent a lot of time developing some new core technologies which lay the groundwork for some exciting features in the future. Korora 21 sees the debut of 'Lens' which we'll explain in detail over the coming weeks. Features: Cinnamon 2.4, GNOME 3.14, KDE Software Compilation 4.14.3, Xfce 4.10.1.... " Read the release announcement for further information. Download (MD5) (pkglist): korora-21-beta-x86_64-cinnamon-live.iso (1,787MB), korora-21-beta-x86_64-gnome-live.iso (1,845MB), korora-21-beta-x86_64-kde-live.iso (2,698MB), korora-21-beta-x86_64-xfce-live.iso (1,703MB).Please enable Javascript to watch this video
WOODHAVEN, N.Y. — A couple renovating their kitchen in Florida found a wedding album commemorating the nuptials of newlyweds who tied the knot in New York more than 50 years ago.
Megan Kapsidis posted to Facebook on June 2 in an attempt to find the album’s rightful owners.
She and her husband have been living in their Florida home since 2009 and are undergoing kitchen renovations. When they opened a portion of their kitchen’s ceiling, a bound book with yellowed, aged edges fell out.
That book, hidden among the insulation with "Our Children's Wedding" written in script on the cover, turned out to a be a photo album five decades old celebrating the marriage of Joseph and Marguerite Garguilo.
Kapsidis suspects that part of her kitchen was once connected to a crawl space that housed these personal treasures.
Below is a photo gallery of Kapsidis' husband tearing down a portion of their kitchen -- and finding another family's heirlooms in the process.
The Garguilos were married on Sept. 14, 1963, at St. Thomas Apostle Church on 87th Street and 88th Avenue in Woodhaven, N.Y. A reception at the Brooklyn Navy yard followed, according to an invitation found inside the album.
PIX11 News found a phone number and Florida address for the bride, but when Megan Kapsidis went to the home on Monday, new owners were living there. And the number was disconnected.
A phone number or address hasn't been found for the groom. But if anyone recognizes the couple, the Kapsidises are still looking, empathetic to the fact that they would be heartbroken if they lost their own wedding album.
"Let us know where to send it and it will be on its way," they said.
Click through the gallery above to look through the 1963 wedding album.
As if a wedding album wasn’t strange enough, that isn’t the only surprise that fell from the couple’s ceiling, Kapsidis said.
They also found a vintage purse stamped with the words “GENUINE ALLIGATOR. MADE IN CUBA.”
"When he finally pulled away the plaster and metal grate, this purse fell down and hit him in the face," Megan Kapsidis said. "Right in the face."New Delhi, Apr 26 (PTI) Two crucial files relating to Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose will be declassified by Japan this year-end, but the country has given no assurance regarding three more such files in its custody, government said today. Minister of State for Home Kiren Rijiju told Lok Sabha that these five files, which are with Japan, could be "crucial" to resolve the mystery over the fate of Bose. "Japan has conveyed to us that they will declassify two of the five files by the end of this year but no commitment has been given to the rest of the three files. But we are hopeful that they will declassify the remaining three files too," he said during Question Hour. Rijiju said two files relating to Netaji which were with the Prime Ministers Office and the Ministry of Home Affairs continue to be missing and efforts were on to trace them. While the file, which was with the PMO, related to bringing back the ashes believed to be of Netaji from Renkoji temple in Japan to India and installation of his statue at Red Fort, the file which was with the MHA too related to the ashes, he said, adding efforts were on to find these two files. Rijiju said India has approached a number of countries to retrieve any documents related to Netaji and they have responded to the requests. While Austria, Russia and the United States have conveyed to the Indian government that they do not have any file or document relating to Netaji, the United Kingdom said that all 62 files under their possession were given to British Library and are available for public. Germany too has said that the files relating to Netaji were archived after declassifying them, he said. Rijiju said the first two inquiry commissions had suggested that Bose died in a plane crash in Taihoku (now Taipei) on August 18, 1945, but the Mukherjee commission had rejected the conclusions of the previous two inquiry commissions. "We are not in a position to say actually what had happened to Netaji," he said. The Minister said around 150 Netaji files have been declassified so far and were available online, while 25 more files each are being uploaded online every month. In October last year, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had met the family members of Netaji and announced that the government would declassify the files relating to the leader whose disappearance 70 years ago remains a mystery. While two commissions of inquiry had concluded that Netaji had died in a plane crash in Taipei on August 18, 1945, a third probe panel, headed by Justice M K Mukherjee, had contested it and suggested that no such aircrash had taken place. PTI ACB ARCFree stickers! Published July 04th Published
Ok, I have now gotten way to many mails about these stickers that we had on our Gumball cars (and a million comments after Deadmou5s post on Instagram) So instead of answering to every single e mail, I figured that I would just let you know that if you send an e mail to [email protected] with your adress we will send these stickers to you for free! This way you all get the stickers you need and I get less e mails so I have more time for this blog! Everybody wins!
I also had a little contest on Instagram to win of the Gumball bags where I got 6000 comments, so it seems like the intreats for a Gumball bag is pretty big, will get to work and see if we can produce these in a bigger scale! As soon as I know I will keep you posted!
Have had a cold for the past few days but I think its finally giving in a bit, I truly hate being sick as I want to get back to hard core training! But at least I am getting some work done as we drive down to Jannis dads place five hours a day and just work on the computers. Kind of feels like I am going to work which I think is great as it helps me relax when I am at home. So maybe I should just skip my own internet and keep doing this? Its horrible to not have internet at home, but its does has its befits as you actually life quite a different life when people are actually talking to each other instead of steering down into their phone! haha
Off to Nikki beach for lunch in an hour, stoked to see the rebuild they have done!
/JONTable of Contents:
The Hot Wire – 2:10
Listener feedback – 9:47 The Bay Area – 9:55
Adbusters and the Billion People March – 16:15
Occupations and tactics – 27:56
Australia – 35:04
SoleCast – 38:41 Political Prisoner Updates – 40:25
Introducing the Anarchist Critique of Democracy – 47:13
The Chopping Block: “Huye, Hombre, Huye” Review – 1:22:52
Next Week’s News – 1:30:30
Prisoner Birthdays – 1:32:58
Conclusion – 1:34:05
The Bay Area – 9:55
Adbusters and the Billion People March – 16:15
Occupations and tactics – 27:56
Australia – 35:04
SoleCast – 38:41
New York Anarchist Black Cross (NYC ABC) is doing a fantastic job of keeping us updated on political prisoners and prisoners of war. If you’re looking for a comprehensive overview of political prisoners in the US, you can check out their new Illustrated Guide to Political Prisoners. It’s got detailed info on all their cases including up to date mailing addresses plus tips on writing to prisoners; it’s a great overview if you want to support radical prisoners but aren’t sure where to start.
Dr. Mutulu Shakur, a longtime black liberation prisoner who helped Assata Shakur escape to freedom, was supposed to be released from prison in February… but his release was denied at the last minute. He’ll be facing the parole board later this spring. Here’s a link to a statement he wrote explaining the situation with more info on how to show support. Supporters have also launched a new website at MutuluIsWelcomeHere.com to gather stories describing his the positive impacts he has made and to organize solidarity events leading up to his parole hearing.
Former Black Panther Maliki Shakur Latine will also be heading to the parole board in April, and he’s collecting parole letters; check out justiceformaliki.org for details.
Supporters of Brandon Baxter (one of the Cleveland Four, anarchists active in the Occupy movement who were entrapped in an FBI plot) are doing a small fundraising campaign right now to help with costs to get him some visitors in his new digs at FCI Terre Haute in Indiana. Brandon hasn’t received any visitors since his sentencing, and he’s never had a in person visit since his arrest. He’s about 11 hours away from his supporters who plan to visit and they need to raise some money for a car rental. They’re only a couple of hundred bucks short, so even if you can throw in a few dollars it’ll make a difference. Any donations not used for this trip will go into the general fund to support the Cleveland Four getting visitors. To learn more about their case, check out cleveland4solidarity.org or listen to Episode 17 on Conspiracy.
Eric King, an anarchist from Kansas City accused of an alleged attack on a politician’s office, has accepted a non-cooperating plea deal for a ten year prison sentence; after time served, he’s got eight and a half years left to go. On top of this, the facility where he’s locked up CCA is now on lock-down, and Eric has been put in solitary confinement. Please take a few minutes to send Eric a postcard or letter to remind him that folks are thinking of him. Eric King 27090045
CCA Leavenworth
100 Highway Terrace
Leavenworth, KS 66048
Former earth liberation prisoner Daniel McGowan will be in court on March 15th in Washington, DC to support the Center for Constitutional Rights’ case against the Federal Bureau of Prisons’ “Communication Management Units.” The CMUs are experimental prison units that impose severe restrictions on prisoners’ communications, both within the prison and with the outside world. If you’re in the DC |
weaknesses of these films, one can always identify a kernel of that Disney magic, however small, that weaves through these pieces. Whether it is Jenny and Oliver playing Piano or Todd’s owner releasing him in the woods, there are tiny things to appreciate. With the dawning of the next age, Disney magic would be back in full force through the generation of masterpieces at a rate which is only comparable to the initial Age of Innovation.Getty Images
Mark Sanchez will no longer be ridiculed each week on SportsCenter. Well, at least not for anything he did last season.
ESPN has announced that Sanchez’s infamous “Butt Fumble” has been retired as its weekly “Worst of the Worst” highlight. ESPN allows fans to vote on the worst blunder in sports each week, and for 40 consecutive weeks, the Butt Fumble has topped the voting. But no more.
“We are retiring it this week due to the start of a new NFL season, and the feeling that it was time to start fresh,” Senior Coordinating Producer Mark Summer explained. “The ‘Butt Fumble’ has won the ‘Not Top 10′ each week since last Thanksgiving, and we’re not sure anything could top it.”
The Butt Fumble, which took place when Sanchez dropped the ball after running into the backside of guard Brandon Moore, has had a great run. But now we’ll have to find other things to laugh at Sanchez about. Like his headband. Or his mustache.(CNN) Ahead of the first meeting between US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping, North Korea fired a ballistic missile off the coast of the Korean Peninsula, US and South Korean officials said.
The missile -- which fell into the Sea of Japan, also known as the East Sea, on Wednesday morning -- is one of several the country has test-fired in recent months.
Even before the missile test, North Korea's nuclear program was expected to be an important talking point between Xi and Trump.
The United States has been pushing China to put pressure on North Korea to stop its nuclear program and missile testing, but Trump said on Sunday the United States would be prepared to act alone to stop North Korea.
In his first five years as North Korean leader, Kim Jong Un has overseen more than double the number of missile tests than his father did during his 17-year rule, according to the Center for Strategic and International Studies
A senior White House official on Tuesday said: " The clock has now run out, and all options are on the table," pointing to the failure of successive administrations' efforts to negotiate an end to the country's nuclear program.
JUST WATCHED Trump prepares for critical meeting with Xi Replay More Videos... MUST WATCH Trump prepares for critical meeting with Xi 02:58
Responses
The test elicited a terse response from the US State Department, unlike the standard diplomatic condemnations that usually follow Pyongyang's missile tests.
"North Korea launched yet another intermediate range ballistic missile. The United States has spoken enough about North Korea. We have no further comment," US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said in the statement.
Secretary Tillerson: The United States has spoken enough about North Korea. We have no further comment. https://t.co/ccVPjWTWdX — Department of State (@StateDept) April 5, 2017
Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Hua Chunying said her country opposed any violations to UN Security Council resolutions, and urged the relevant parties to exercise restraint.
The test comes as South Korea, Japan and the US wrap up trilateral naval military drills off the Korean Peninsula.
South Korea's Unification Ministry spokesman, Lee Duk-Haeng, said the launch was a "threat against peace and stability." Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe condemned the launch and convened a meeting of the National Security Council.
The primary concern surrounding North Korea's weapons program is that Pyongyang could eventually equip long-range missiles with a nuclear warhead.
North Korea has conducted five nuclear tests -- including two last year -- but experts said the country still hasn't developed nuclear warheads that can be mounted onto missiles.
"Before the end of President Trump's current term, the North Koreans will probably be able to reach Seattle with an indigenously produced nuclear weapon aboard an indigenously produced intercontinental ballistic missile," Michael Hayden, who served as the director of the CIA between 2006 to 2009, said Tuesday while speaking at Johns Hopkins University.
Hayden went on to call North Korea the intelligence community's toughest target on the planet.
Sinpo shipyard
Both the US military command in Asia Pacific and South Korean officials said the projectile was a KN-15 medium-range ballistic missile. However, a senior US defense official later told CNN that the missile was actually an extended-range Scud missile.
The missile was launched Wednesday at 6:42 a.m. Seoul time from a site in the vicinity of Sinpo, South Hamgyong province, a South Korean Defense Ministry official said.
The North Koreans use Sinpo shipyard for their submarine activity, and US satellites have observed increased activity there in recent days, another US official said.
and flew as high as 189 kilometers (117 miles), South Korean officials said. It was believed to have flown a distance of around 60 kilometers (37 miles)and flew as high as 189 kilometers (117 miles), South Korean officials said. Cmdr. Dave Benham, spokesman for US Pacific Command, said it was tracked for nine minutes and did not pose a danger to North America.
Multiple defense officials told CNN that the nine-minute flight time for the missile was accurate, but, separately, an official with the Trump administration said the missile exploded approximately 55 seconds after launch.
It's unclear why the discrepancy exists.
US Pacific Command said it doesn't revise initial assessments if it's determined the missile doesn't pose a threat.
The initial launch details also raised questions with some experts. If the tracking time and distance are accurate, North Korea would have fired "the world's slowest missile," according to Melissa Hanham of the East Asia Nonproliferation Program.
"This test compared to the last one (in February) did not go as far or as high," she said. "They may have been trying to test one stage."
Fuel type
It's also unclear what type of fuel the missile used -- that's important because it determines how quickly North Korea can prepare it for launch.
The KN-15, which the North Koreans call the Pukguksong-2, is a medium-range ballistic missile and a land variant of the KN-11, a submarine-launched ballistic missile. US officials said it was launched from a mobile launcher, powered by solid fuel.
Solid fuel is like an explosive jelly, less corrosive than liquid fuel, and it can be more easily stored in the rocket's fuel tank than the liquid alternative, which requires specially lined tanks.
That makes them difficult for those monitoring North Korea's military movements to spot, as there are fewer indicators, such as movement of trucks, for South Korean or US satellites and other surveillance to detect.
"If this is the KN-15, North Korea is refining their solid fuel capabilities," says David Schmerler, a research associate at the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies. "It should be concerning everyone because it will be improving the chance to use their offensive capabilities better."
The US defense official who identified the missile as a Scud said the projectile used liquid fuel.
North Korea's liquid fuel-powered ballistic missiles typically require a garrison, fuel storage tanks and support vehicles to launch, which can be identified with imagery, experts say.
The missile launching system used to fire the Pukguksong-2 is shown in February in an image released by North Korean state media.
The use of a mobile launcher is concerning because it's harder to detect and preemptively strike, according to Carl Schuster, a professor at Hawaii Pacific University and former director of operations at the US Pacific Command's Joint Intelligence Center.
"It can roll out of a tunnel and launch on short notice," Schuster told CNN.Nearly five years and two trials after her son was killed in a horrific car crash, Lili Wilson struggled to describe her feelings about the guilty verdict reached by jurors in the DUI manslaughter retrial of Wellington polo club founder John Goodman.
"I haven't absorbed it yet," she said, speaking softly. "I'm still grieving."
It took the three men and three women of the jury close to five hours Tuesday to find Goodman, 51, guilty of DUI manslaughter and vehicular homicide, both with failure to render aid, in the death of 23-year-old Scott Patrick Wilson, a recent University of Central Florida graduate. The reaction in the courtroom to their verdict, announced after a trial that lasted three weeks, was muted.
As he was fingerprinted and led away by deputies, Goodman's face betrayed little emotion.
Prosecutor Sherri Collins hugged a teary-eyed Lili Wilson, who later said the trial was "tough for all the families involved."
Goodman, the International Polo Club founder and heir to a Texas heating and air conditioning fortune, now faces a sentence of up to 16 years in prison. That was his punishment after his first trial in 2012, but that conviction was tossed later because of juror misconduct.
The defense soon will seek Goodman's release on bail, pending his appeal. A hearing on the request has not yet been scheduled before Chief Circuit Judge Jeffrey Colbath.
After his sentencing in May 2012, Goodman was allowed to return to his estate on house arrest under the terms of a $7 million bail, which required him to pay $2,000 a day for two Palm Beach County Sheriff's deputies to guard him.
After the verdict was read Tuesday, Wilson's father, William, declined to speak to reporters as he left the courtroom in West Palm Beach.
Chief Assistant State Attorney Alan Johnson, who turned and looked at both parents after the jury's decision was announced, said he was pleased justice was done for the victim, who died on his way home for his younger sister's birthday.
"This case is about Scott Patrick Wilson," Johnson said, standing beside prosecutor Sherri Collins and State Attorney Dave Aronberg. "And that's who achieved justice today, and that's who we all should be thinking about."
Aronberg, who was elected about seven months after the first trial, added, "Hopefully the family will reach closure."
Attorney Elizabeth Parker, speaking for the defense, also talked to reporters outside the courthouse. She kept her comments brief.
"While we are disappointed with the jury's verdict, we do respect that verdict," Parker said, standing with attorneys Douglas Duncan, Scott Richardson and Tama Kudman.
"We'll be appealing this verdict based on the substantial issues that we believe are present in this case: The release of the vehicle and the admissibility of the blood results."
The defense has repeatedly insisted Goodman was denied a right to a fair trial because prosecutors released his 2007 Bentley Continental GTC convertible from evidence a month after the first trial. Richardson told the jury the "premature" release of the car prevented extra testing to prove the $250,000 convertible malfunctioned before the crash.
Goodman's attorneys also will appeal the judge's decision to prevent the defense from presenting testimony from expert witnesses who say the blood sample taken from Goodman three hours after the crash was not scientifically reliable. The sample, which showed a.177 blood alcohol content, is "garbage" because of the likelihood that the blood was drawn with a needle used for infants, Parker said.
But Julie Carlson, a 62-year-old retired insurance agent and one of the four alternate jurors in the case, said she agreed with the jury's decision, reached in less time than the roughly six hours the first jury deliberated.
"I felt that he was guilty also, and I feel like they made a good choice," said the resident of Dover, outside Tampa. She added Colbath was "very fair."
The panel, selected Oct. 9 in Tampa due to intense media coverage of the case in Palm Beach County, was sequestered for the duration of the trial at PGA National Resort & Spa in Palm Beach Gardens. Taxpayers picked up the tab for an estimated $65,000 in jury sequestering expenses, including meals, hotel nights, laundry and entertainment.
Carlson was the juror who reported being heckled outside her hotel room a day after the trial began. She said three young people stood outside the balcony of her hotel room on two separate occasions and mentioned the name "Van Vliet."
They were referring to Travis Van Vliet, a 23-year-old prospective juror who was arrested during jury selection at the Hillsborough County Courthouse after Colbath found out he Googled the case and told another juror it was a retrial, a fact meant to be kept hidden from the jury.
Another excused juror was a man who had a prior criminal conviction from New York and during the trial violated a court order by using a laptop in his hotel room.
Carlson said the jurors were treated well while they were sequestered. The deputies who kept watch over the jury are "the most wonderful people in the world," she said.
The foreperson of the jury, sales representative Colin Sadler, of Tampa, declined to comment about the trial when reached by the Sun Sentinel.
Judge Colbath thanked the jurors for their sacrifice, calling it "a marathon for you all."
Earlier Tuesday, he said to the attorneys, "What a long, strange trip it's been."
It got a tad stranger when news leaked late Monday of an arrest in Vermont of an individual allegedly trying to tamper with the jury. The suspect allegedly sent a text message to witness Kris Kampsen, seeking cash for trying to influence a juror. But Johnson, the prosecutor, told reporters the matter "had nothing to do with our jurors" and was still under investigation.
During the trial, the jurors heard two dramatically different accounts of the night of Feb. 12, 2010, when Goodman blew through a stop sign in his speeding Bentley and slammed into Wilson's Hyundai Sonata. He drowned after his car was flipped into a murky canal following the impact.
Prosecutors told the jury Goodman spent the hours before the 1 a.m. crash drinking at three Wellington bars that cater to the polo community and had a blood-alcohol level more than double the.08 legal limit to drive. They say he knowingly walked away from the crash, leaving Wilson to die, and waited nearly an hour before calling 911.Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos.
Apple today seeded the third beta of an upcoming iOS 10.3 update to developers, two weeks after seeding the second beta of iOS 10.3 and more than a two months after the release of iOS 10.2, the last major update to the iOS 10 operating system.Registered developers can download the third iOS 10.3 beta from the Apple Developer Center or over-the-air with the proper configuration profile installed.iOS 10.3 is a major update, introducing several new features and changes to the iOS 10 operating system. The biggest new consumer-facing feature is "Find My AirPods," which is designed to help AirPods owners locate a lost earphone. Find My AirPods records the last known location of when an AirPod was connected to an iOS device via Bluetooth and can play a sound on a lost AirPod.Apple's latest update also introduces a new Apple File System (APFS), installed when an iOS device is updated to iOS 10.3. APFS is optimized for flash/SSD storage and includes features like strong encryption.Apple plans to introduce some App Store changes in iOS 10.3, allowing developers to respond to customer reviews for the first time. iOS users are also able to label reviews in the App Store as "Helpful" or "Not Helpful," which should help surface the most relevant review content.Apple also plans to limit the number of times developers can ask for a review, allow customers to leave app reviews without exiting an app, and provide a "master switch" that will let users turn off all app review request prompts (said to be included in beta 2).Also new in iOS 10.3 is a redesigned app open/close animation, an Apple ID profile in Settings, a better breakdown of iCloud storage usage, improvements to SiriKit, and more. For a full rundown of the changes introduced in the first beta, make sure to check out our dedicated "What's New" post - In the Settings app, there's a new "App Compatibility" section that lists apps that may not work with a future version of iOS. Tapping on one of the apps opens it up in the App Store so you can see when it was last updated. As has been discovered in previous betas, opening one of these apps on your iOS device pops up a warning with a similar non-compatible statement. App Compatibility can be accessed by opening the Settings app and choosing General --> About. From there, scroll down to "Applications" and tap it.CHICAGO (CBS) — Under a new plan to prepare them for life after high school, Chicago Public Schools students would have to show an acceptance letter to a university, community college, apprenticeship, trade school, internship, or the armed services.
Mayor Rahm Emanuel said the new graduation requirements are something he has been considering since he was first elected in 2011. He said he wants to make sure CPS students don’t treat high school graduation as the end goal.
The mayor spoke briefly about the plan at a town hall meeting downtown on Tuesday, and formally announced the new requirement Wednesday morning at Malcolm X College. He said part of being successful in life is having continued education after high school.
Starting with the current freshman class, in order to receive their high school diploma, all CPS students would have to show an acceptance letter to a four-year university, a community college, a trade school or apprenticeship, an internship, or a branch of the armed services.
“We already have around 62 percent of our kids are already either accepted into college or accepted into community college, and our goal is to make sure nobody spikes the ball at 12th grade. We want to make 14th grade universal. That’s the new goal line,” Emanuel told CBS This Morning on Wednesday.
CPS Chief Education Officer said the new requirement does not need approval from the Illinois State Board of Education.
“As long as we meet the state’s minimum graduation requirements, the district, the Board of Education does have the authority to have requirements on top of that, and as Mayor Emanuel just pointed out, we have several that go above and beyond the state of Illinois’ requirements,” she said.
The mayor said the need for some kind of postsecondary education or training is simply a reality for the current job market.
“The workplace today has that requirement. All we’re doing, as a school system, is catching up to the requirements of the workplace,” he said.
Chicago would be the first city to implement such a requirement, although Emanuel said it’s an idea he borrowed from charter schools.
“We need, at the public side, to help all our kids – regardless of their zip code, regardless of their background, regardless of what their family situation is – that expectation and support is provided to help kids go post-high school,” he said Tuesday evening.
Emanuel also said CPS would work with students to make sure they’re aware of available scholarships and other resources to help them after high school.Arizona Cardinals fans have it good these days at the quarterback position. Carson Palmer is coming of the best quarterbacking season in franchise history and the team won 13 games and made it to the NFC Championship Game.
But it wasn't too long ago it was quarterback hell.
An ESPN Insider article by Aaron Schatz ranked the worst QB depth charts of the last decade. The Cardinals came up on the list. Their 2012 depth chart was the second worst of the last 10 years.
We remember the days of Kevin Kolb, John Skelton and Ryan Lindley.
The Cardinals drafted John Skelton out of Fordham in the fifth round of the 2010 draft. He was forced to start four games as a rookie and was as terrible as you might imagine a fifth-round rookie with only FCS experience would be: Skelton completed just 48 percent of his passes with a miserable 22.7 QBR. So the next offseason, the Cardinals traded cornerback Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie and a second-round pick to Philadelphia for Kevin Kolb. Except, Kolb was also dismal for Arizona, finishing 31st out of 32 qualifying quarterbacks with 23.1 QBR in 2011. Skelton came back in when Kolb was injured for a few games but wasn't much better, with 33.8 QBR. However, he went 5-2 as a starter. Sure, the Arizona defense allowed less than 21 points in each game and all five wins came by less than a touchdown, but Skelton had shown he was "a winner." That made him the starter in 2012 with Kolb as the backup. Third string belonged to Ryan Lindley, a sixth-round rookie out of San Diego State. All three ended up starting games in a lackluster 5-11 season for the Cardinals.
On the season, the Cardinals threw for 12 touchdowns and 21 interceptions, and eight of those touchdowns came from Kolb in his six games.
Kolb wasn't terrible that year. He threw the eight touchdowns and only three picks and took over the starting job after winning the season opener coming in after Skelton sprained his ankle. The team started 4-0. Then things went south. The combination of Skelton, Lindley and Brian Hoyer, who started the season finale, was four scores and 18 picks. That is awful.
The only QB room worse than the Cards in 2012 was the 2011 Washington Redskins with Rex Grossman, John Beck and Jonthan Crompton.
I really can't make any argument to say the Cardinals' situation is better or worse than where they are ranked. Can you?
All I know is I am glad those days are gone.Meditation
When you soulfully meditate,
The first thing you get
Is peace,
And this peace
Marks the beginning
Of your heart’s journey
Along the path of perfection. Sri Chinmoy
When we meditate, we make the mind calm, quiet and still — without thoughts. At that time, we have to be fully aware of the arrival of thoughts and allow no idle thoughts to enter into the mind. The mind is vacant and tranquil, with neither good nor bad thoughts; nothing at all. Our whole existence becomes an empty vessel. When this vessel is absolutely empty, with our whole inner being we invoke infinite Peace, Light and Bliss so it will enter into the vessel and fill it. This is meditation.
Meditation has two things to offer us: self-mastery and self-transformation. These two go together. When we meditate, immediately we have the beginnings of self-mastery, and when we have self-mastery, we see that we cannot cherish ugly or undivine thoughts; we cannot remain inside ignorance anymore. At that time we see that our transformation is taking place. Meditation is constantly giving us the message of self-transformation.
Video
Sri Chinmoy in meditation, Stockholm, 1990
The stages of Meditation
In meditation there are three stages: concentration, meditation and contemplation. Aspiration houses both prayer and meditation. If you have aspiration, that is the most important thing you need. This aspiration can be manifested in two different ways — either through your most soulful prayer or through concentration, meditation and contemplation. If you follow either path, you can reach your goal.
Concentration
For a beginner it is better to start with concentration. Otherwise, the moment you try to make your mind calm and vacant, millions of uncomely thoughts will enter into you and you will not be able to meditate even for one second. If you concentrate, at that time you challenge the wrong thoughts that are trying to enter you. So in the beginning just practise concentration for a few minutes. Then, after a few weeks or a few months, you can try meditation.
Concentration gives us the capacity of intensity, and meditation gives us the capacity of vastness and sublimity. If you feel that you are to some extent advanced, then without concentration you can enter into meditation.
Further reading: Concentration
Meditation
Why do we meditate? We meditate precisely because we need something. And what is that something? That something is the conscious feeling of our oneness with the Supreme. This need must be spontaneous, genuine and soulful.
God may be unknown but He is not unknowable. Our prayers and meditation lead us to that unknown. Freedom we cry for. But strangely enough, we are not aware of the fact that we already have within us immense freedom. Look! Without any difficulty we can forget God. We can ignore Him and we can even deny Him. But God's Compassion says, "My children, no matter what you do or say, My Heart shall never abandon you. I want you. I need you."
The mother holds the hand of the child. But it is the child who has to walk, and he does so. Neither the one who is dragged nor the one who drags can be happy. Likewise God says, "My divine children, in your inner life, I give you inspiration. It is you who have to aspire with the purest heart to reach the Golden Beyond."
Further reading: How to start meditating
Contemplation
If we are concentrating on God, we may feel God right in front of us or beside us. When we are meditating, we are bound to feel Infinity, Eternity, Immortality within us. But when we are contemplating, we will see that we ourselves are Infinity, Eternity, Immortality. Contemplation means our conscious oneness with the Infinite, Eternal, Absolute. In contemplation we discover ourselves. When we contemplate, Creator and Creation become one. We become one with the Creator and see the whole universe at our feet, the whole universe inside us. At that time, when we look at our own existence, we don't see a human being. We see something like a dynamo of Light, Peace and Bliss.
Further reading: Contemplation
Common questions and answers
Question: How can we know whether we are meditating well or not?
Right after our meditation, if we have a good feeling for the world, then we know our meditation was good. If we see the world in a loving way in spite of its imperfections, if we can love the world even while seeing its teeming imperfections, then we know that our meditation was good. And if we have a dynamic feeling right after meditation, if we feel that we came into the world to do something, to become something, this indicates that we have done a good meditation. This feeling that we have to do something does not mean that we are feeding our human ambition. No! The moment we try to feed our ambition, it will entangle us like a serpent. What we have come into the world to do is what God wants us to do.
But the easiest way to know if we have had a good meditation is to feel whether Peace, Light, Love and Delight are coming to the fore from within. Each time Light comes forward, or Love comes forward, or Peace or Delight comes forward, the whole body will be surcharged with that divine quality. When we have this experience we know that we have done a very good meditation.My borderline peanut butter addiction spurred me to create the PBspoon, which I designed to be the perfect spoon for extracting every last bit of peanut butter from the jar. A cross between a spoon and a spatula, the PBspoon has a rounded face to function like a traditional spoon, but also a flat edge to scrape every ounce out of the peanut butter container. The tip of the spoon is pointed for getting into hard-to-reach ridges, and the back is angled for perfectly spreading peanut butter onto your bread of choice.
The PBspoon is better than other spoons and rubber scrapers because it takes the best functions of other styles and combines them into one seamless patent-pending design. The traditional round shape of a metal spoon doesn’t scrape containers efficiently since there is only one point of contact with the container. Although rubber scrapers scrape containers well, they can’t scoop, and are difficult to eat off of. The PBspoon has a flat edge to scrape jars clean and a flat backside for efficiently spreading your PB onto your bread of choice.
Where the flat and rounded edge meet there is a pointed tip, which allows you to get into every nook and cranny of the container. In addition to these functions, it also has a rounded face for the same mouth-feel as eating directly from a traditional spoon.
Although designed specifically for peanut butter, this spoon also works great with other spreads, butters, jams and any condiment in a difficult-to-scoop container. A lot of spreads can be pretty expensive, such as almond, cashew butter or a fancy jam and the PBspoon helps you save money by getting every last bit out.
The spoon head is made from a food-grade, heat-resistant silicone which means the PBspoon is:
Food Safe
BPA free
Able to handle temperature extremes
Flexible, durable and shatter resistant
Dishwasher safe
Odor and stain resistant
The hardwood handle is rounded and smoothed, and the end is shaped into a slip-free semicircle forming a durable attachment to the silicone head.
Chris Herbert, PB of Choice - Extra Chunky Jif
I have been a lifelong peanut butter addict obsessed with good design and efficiency. From ages 15-21, I worked as a line cook, giving me a great understanding of what functionality means in the commercial kitchen. I founded Herb’s Furniture Co. in 2013, an online furniture company where I design and build furniture that is flat-packed and shipped to over 700 happy customers. I spend my days eating peanut butter with two-thirds of my meals, going to yoga classes and woodworking in my studio located in Baltimore, MD.
I want to give a special thank-you to the group of people who have contributed to making this campaign a success!
Alexa Carney, Graphic Designer – Extra Chunky Jif
Jordan Black, Photo – Extra Chunky Jif
Jordan Thompson, Video – Creamy Jif
Christian Donnelly, Designer – Cookie Butter
The Foundery, Makerspace for prototyping designs
Many more friends + family!
This idea first came to me as I was camping during the recent Great American Eclipse in Asheville, NC. Like any wood-obsessed designer, I whittled spoons whenever I had downtime during my trip. I realized none of the round spoons I made efficiently scooped peanut butter from the container, and left a lot behind. I thought: “what if there was a cross between a spoon and a spatula to scoop every last bit out of the container?”
I wanted to maintain the classic feeling of eating peanut butter out of the jar, but with a utensil that could get into every nook and cranny of the container. The first model was made in my workshop, cut out on a bandsaw, and then hand whittled to its final shape.
After daily use of this spoon, I realized the wooden spoon wasn’t flexible enough to form to the shape of the jar, so I set out to design a better version. I started with the original wooden spoon shape and dimensions and created a 3D model, allowing me to quickly advance and tweak the design of the spoon.
After many rounds of modeling, 3D printing and testing prototypes, I have refined the design into a silicone-headed spoon that is ready for market.
After finishing the design process and receiving patent pending status, I have consulted with manufacturers and am ready to produce the PBspoon. I am coming to Kickstarter to fund the production tooling and first run of spoons required to launch in the marketplace. Curious about the process I will take?
First the mold makers will create the production mold from steel, allowing the silicone to be injected into it using an injection molding machine.
The handle will then be cut to size and routed to form the rounded end and handle connector that provides a non-slip connection to the silicone head.
Both the head and handle will be inspected by me personally to ensure that the finish product is made precisely to specifications.
I have also established a logistics firm to package and ship the finished PBspoon directly to each and every one of you. After the product is inspected and approved, the spoons will be shipped from our manufacturer to our logistics firm, which will then ship them directly to you.
Expect these spoons to be delivered within 5 months of campaign completion--I am a firm believer in keeping promises, and I want to deliver this product on time to you. I have also built in contingency time to this five-month window to ensure I meet the deadline, but the spoons will be shipped as soon as possible without sacrificing any quality. I will communicate all updates with shipping and delivery to ensure a clear buying process.NEW DELHI: The Modi interview wasn’t Doordarshan’s first attempt at self-censorship. The national broadcaster developed cold feet recently over a docu-drama on the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi which focused on Nathuram Godse’s trial when the Prasar Bharati board expressed concerns that it was likely to be “inflammatory’’ in nature.The 52-episode serial was eventually "withdrawn" by director-producer duo Ketan Mehta and Deepa Sahi citing time constraints. The Prasar Bharati board felt that focusing the program only on Gandhi’s assassination did not appear to be a "very good idea" for as many as 52 episodes. The docu-drama was discussed by the Prasar Bharati board in its January meeting.This little known fact comes to light soon after Prasar Bharati came under fire recently after it edited out remarks by BJP PM candidate Narendra Modi on Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and Ahmed Patel from an interview given to DD to avoid controversy. DD has maintained that there was no deliberate attempt at editing.On the Gandhi serial, the board’s observations were, "Considering the subject matter spans a relatively short period in the life of Mahatma Gandhi, the proposed number of episodes (52) appear to be on the higher side and could be judiciously pruned. Since material on the trial of Nathuram Godse is likely to be inflammatory in nature, focusing the programme on the trial is avoidable…It was felt that the theme of the proposed program could be woven around the various events that happened during the last days of Mahatma including Independence, partition, Noakhali tragedy etc."The board proposed setting up of a committee including DD director general Tripurari Sharan, part time board members Muzaffar Ali and Prema Cariappa. "The committee may co-opt any other subject expert it so required. The committee may also like to interact with Ketan Mehta on the matter while arriving at the final decision," said the minutes of the meeting accessed by TOI.When asked why the docu-drama did not get Prasar Bharati’s approval Sharan said, "There were certain concerns raised by the board. But the proposal was withdrawn by Ketan Mehta citing his inability to take it further. He later told me he thought the subject may have better prospect as a film."When contacted, Maya Movies co-founder Deepa Sahi said, "We have withdrawn from the project for the time being due to time constraints and informed DD."Godse, a former RSS member, was executed after a year-long trial for the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi. Books and plays on the assassin have been controversial. In recent times a play "Mee Nathuram Godse Boltoy” was banned.Bus Services Bill
Although sixty percent of all journeys on public transport are made by bus, passenger numbers are in long-term decline. The Bill proposes major reforms to the way services could be delivered in England, outside London.
Powers for local authorities to introduce integrated networks and ticketing; the use of open data to compare offers from providers and the standard fitting of audio-visual equipment on buses, are three proposals which would win support from passengers.
Chair's comments
Chair of the Transport Committee, Louise Ellman MP, said:
"Bus services face a number of challenges from deregulation, increasing fares and cuts to services on local routes. Yet they are a vital lifeline for communities up and down the country. A reliable service allows individuals to access employment, education and public services, and ensure that they can fully participate in society. Even non-bus users agree that a good bus network is important for their area. A recent report predicted a 55% growth in all traffic by 2040. Buses can make a real impact towards reducing congestion not only in metropolitan areas, but increasingly in smaller market towns and rural areas. In this Bill, there are possibilities for local authorities to implement new forms of partnership or franchising based on what's best for their communities. But Committee scrutiny of the franchising process was hindered by a lack of information. We expect to see all relevant draft secondary legislation and guidance when the Bill is introduced into Parliament. There is a lot to welcome in this Bill. By giving local authorities new powers and offering practical measures such as improved passenger information and services, these proposals have the potential to bring about significant improvements for both passengers and communities."
Further information
Image: iStockphotoNabaz* carefully poured the red wine into one glass, then another, set the bottle down gently and smiled.
He looked around the small living room with the wide glass windows overlooking the city, and at the small group of guests he had never met, and offered them his wine.
It was the first time Nabaz had personally introduced his homemade production.
“I was a little anxious to see the reaction,” he said later. “Obviously, this to me is a work of art, and art all depends on how people see it and evaluate it.”
As the guests started to roll the red wine in their glasses and sip it, his worries began to disappear.
“Very fruity,” said one guest, Sara. “With quite an alcohol kick,” she added.
“It’s a mellow wine, very usable,” added another guest, Stephen.
For Nabaz, the small informal wine tasting was more than just judging the wine. It was, to a certain extent, a triumph.
“I felt that this was extending a hand of friendship, of offering something unique from Kurdistan, and offering something for the very first time by Iraqi Kurdistan to the outside world,” he said.
The backstory
Nabaz had graduated as a civil engineer when Iraqi Kurdistan came under attack by then-Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein. It was during the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq war, and some Kurdish militants had sided with Iran against the dictator.
Saddam retaliated by dropping chemical weapons on Iraq’s Kurds, killing thousands in the Kurdish city of Halabja, then launched a seven-month offensive in which an estimated 50,000-100,000 Kurdish villagers were killed or disappeared.
Nabaz left everything behind and joined the Iraqi Kurdish fighters known as peshmerga in the mountains to fight against Saddam.
“Even today I believe it was a just cause to sacrifice for, I had no doubt that what was happening was wrong. What Saddam was doing was beyond comprehension,” Nabaz recalled.
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over it. Let me assure them that no such thing will happen, and we will use all means at our disposal to prevent any sort of wrongdoing.
The banks have not seemed to be up to the challenge, causing discomfort to the people. Would you agree?
As regards banks and post offices, the vast majority of staff has performed with great dedication. I thank them for their commitment and hard work. Yes, there have been a few rotten apples, who indulged in wrongdoing. Firm action will be taken against each one of them.
Many Opposition leaders have criticised the way demonetisation was implemented. They allege that rather than an economic reform, demonetisation was a political move to ensure the BJP's win in the forthcoming assembly polls, especially in Uttar Pradesh?
I pity some of our opponents, especially the Congress leadership, for the desperation they have been exhibiting. On the one hand, they say I took this decision for political dividends, and on the other, they say the people have been troubled and are deeply unhappy. How can the two go together? Maybe, as members of the Opposition, they have to conjure something up to criticise me about, however illogical it may be. I sympathise with their difficulty.
This further highlights the reality in the minds of Congress leaders-they are entirely preoccupied with just one thing, elections. This is the case while they are in Opposition, and was also the case while they were in government all these years. To illustrate my point, let me quote from former home secretary Madhav Godbole's book Unfinished Innings: Recollections and Reflections of a Civil Servant. As private secretary to then finance minister Y.B. Chavan, he described his minister's interaction regarding demonetisation with then prime minister Indira Gandhiji: "When Y.B. Chavan told her about the proposal for demonetisation and his view that it should be accepted and implemented forthwith, she asked Chavan only one question: 'Chavanji, are no more elections to be fought by the Congress party?' Chavan got the message and the recommendation was shelved." For us in the BJP, the nation is above the party. We have always lived by the principle of keeping long-term national interest over short-term political benefit. There is nothing political in the demonetisation decision. It was a tough decision taken to clean up our economy and our society. If I were guided by short-term electoral politics, I would never have done so.
Your predecessor, Manmohan Singh, even described demonetisation as "monumental mismanagement" and "organised loot", and estimated that the GDP would drop by two percentage points. What is your response?
Regarding Manmohan Singhji, it is interesting that the words'monumental mismanagement' come from a leader who has been at the helm of India's economic journey for around 45 years-from being the chief economic advisor to the DEA secretary, RBI governor, Planning Commission deputy chairman, finance minister and prime minister-all the while during which large sections of our society have continued to live in poverty and deprivation. What is even more interesting is how, over so many decades, he has managed to ensure that no one ever accused him of the same'monumental mismanagement'.
His reference to "organised loot" was perhaps a reference to the unending string of scams under his leadership, from the coal scam to the 2G and CWG scams. Demonetisation, on the other hand, is an unprecedented step to confiscate the loot of the corrupt.
As regards growth, when the huge parallel economy is brought into the mainstream, it is only bound to become stronger. As money flows into the banking system and financial trails are built by people, access to credit will become cheaper and easier, spurring economic activity and job creation across all three sectors of agriculture, manufacturing and services. The multiplier effect of introduction of money-which was till now uselessly hoarded and stocked away as cash-into the active economic system will give the economy a further boost. Additional government revenues will be pushed into priority domains, such as irrigation and rural housing, empowering the poor and needy. As corruption is minimised and transparency increased, the ease of doing business will improve, attracting investments. Further, as the economy is more formalised, it will catalyse more jobs and more and more workers will receive the protection and benefits of our labour welfare measures.
The Parliament session was a washout. Even senior leaders like L.K. Advani expressed disappointment. Could the treasury benches have handled it better and allowed a debate on such a major issue? People were expecting you to address Parliament and counter the critics...
The government tried its best to keep Parliament functioning. The finance minister appealed to the Congress on several occasions to allow the debate to proceed and assured them that I would participate. I was keen to speak in both the Houses. Yet, there was a concerted attempt by the Congress to derail the functioning of the Houses rather than have a proper debate. I am as disappointed as Advaniji about the outcome, and I hope that the Congress leaders will heed his advice, and that of the president and vice-president, and allow Parliament to function normally in the future.
While opposition in Parliament is understandable, this is the first time it is being used to support and protect the dishonest, and that too so openly. While Parliament sessions being washed out is a major concern, this blatant endorsement of dishonesty is even more disconcerting for the nation. Debate is critical in a democracy. Had they allowed a debate to take place, it would have revealed a number of dimensions of this mammoth exercise to the nation. This would have exposed the Opposition and its attempts to mislead the people. The people of India have seen through the Opposition's strategy to not let Parliament function and then level unfounded allegations in public. It seems as if some people have still not been able to come to terms with the verdict of the people.
When demonetisation was imposed, it was estimated that the total black money in circulation was Rs 3 lakh crore and this amount would be extinguished. But it appears that most of the demonetised currency will return to the banks. How much of a windfall does the government expect through taxes and penalties?
These figures floating around are estimates of various economists and experts, not the government. No one can deny that India suffers from a huge parallel economy. Demonetisation was certainly undertaken to deliver this black economy a body blow, forcing it into the mainstream. However, it was never expected that black money would forever remain hidden and not come back into the banking system. We were, in fact, clear from the beginning that high-value notes should return to the financial system. Why else would we give the banking system so much time and options for the return of the notes? Why else would we allow acceptance of such notes through a host of avenues, ranging from petrol pumps to government dues till 15 December? Hence, a large part of the notes not returning to the banking system was never an expectation or agenda of the government.
We, in fact, wanted the money, and especially the black money, to flow back into the banking system. This is for multiple reasons. It brings back a substantial portion of the Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes that the RBI estimated was hoarded and kept out of the regular transactional economy by people storing them in suitcases and cupboards or under mattresses. More importantly, this has left behind a permanent financial trail. When money returns to the bank, it loses its anonymity. Every rupee leaves a trail. This changes the game as the black money that did not have an address till now has been tagged with one. We now know who has it, where and when. Holders of black money may hide behind the bank accounts of others, but unlike cash holdings, they can be traced. In this game of hide and seek, they have a few days to hide, but the government has the time, mechanisms and, most importantly, the will to seek them out. More interestingly, with the existence of such trails, the identification of one culprit invariably leads to the unearthing of even larger sources and schemes of corruption. The media is replete with stories of how authorities on the trail of one set of bad elements have been led to the wrongdoings of many more.
How will the government use the money recovered?
You must understand we took the demonetisation decision not for some short-term windfall gain, but for a long-term structural transformation. Our objective was to clean up our economy and society of the menace of black money, purging the distrust, artificial pressures and other ills that came with it. What we did parallelly was to offer those who wished to mend their ways and join the mainstream an opportunity through the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Deposit Scheme, wherein they will have to pay sharp penalties on the undisclosed income-a tax of 30 per cent, surcharge of 33 per cent of the tax, a further penalty of 10 per cent, besides a mandatory zero-interest deposit of another 25 per cent of the undisclosed income. The revenue collected will be used for the welfare of the poor, downtrodden and marginalised.
There is concern that the recent developments may see the reversal of your promise of'maximum governance, minimum government'. Critics say the government's role is likely to increase even more after demonetisation. This move would be the return of the I-T raid raj, and you are relying too much on I-T officers, bankers and babus to deliver when they are among the most corrupt. What steps will you take to tackle this menace?
Earlier, the income tax department used to shoot in the dark. I-T officers had the discretion to pick and choose who to raid, and when, and you know what the result of that usually was. Now, people have voluntarily come forward and deposited their money in banks. This means a financial trail has been established, how much ever someone tries to manipulate and camouflage the same. This can be easily analysed and verified through technology-driven scientific, objective and transparent systems. Contrary to your question, demonetisation will, in fact, nullify the discretion of the I-T officer and remove arbitrariness from the fight against corruption.
Taking this further would be the simplification of tax procedures and minimising the officer-taxpayer interface. The revenue department is building a system where the entire process of assessment is done online without any need for the assessee to appear before the officer. We are also making increasing use of modern techniques and technologies, such as big data analysis and data mining. Through this, the selection of cases for scrutiny will be based on objective evidence rather than the whims and fancies of officers. The aim is to ensure that the honest taxpayer is not harassed or inconvenienced, while the dishonest tax-evader is efficiently caught and punished. Beyond this, any erring officer or banker will be caught and punished. My government has zero tolerance for corruption.
There are reports of black money being generated again using the new currency. What more measures do you propose to take to curb this?
I am glad you brought this up. Here again, we see the contradictions in the criticisms of some of the opponents. They have argued that black money is not in cash and is only in other forms. Yet the same people are arguing that the new notes are getting converted into black money. I am glad they are now accepting that cash plays a big role in black money. Demonetisation was not a sudden one-off move. It was but one in a series of steps we have been taking, since forming the government, to fight black money-attacking both its stock and flow. Some examples include creation of the SIT (Special Investigation Team) on black money as this government's first decision, the foreign black money act in 2015, PAN being made compulsory, 1 per cent TCS (Tax Collected at Source) for all cash purchases over Rs 2 lakh, excise duty on jewellers ensuring sale of gold is accounted for, and powerful information exchange and tax agreements with country's like Switzerland, Mauritius and Cyprus. Demonetisation was also timed before GST to clean up the stock of black money before it came into force. GST and adoption of digital payments will thus be critical elements of the network of checks and balances we have put in place over the past two years to curb future generation of black money. These steps reflect a transformative regime change, wherein the government is sending out a clear message to those engaged in malpractices.
You have been a great advocate of digital transactions and minimising the role of cash. Will the pace of digital transactions be able to fill the gap created by the lack of cash in the system? What more needs to be done to hasten the move towards electronic payments?
Digital transactions should not be viewed only as a short-term substitute to help through the period of cash shortage. That is not my objective. Many have forgotten that this push to digital has been on for quite some time. As early as February 2016, the cabinet had decided to give a major thrust to digital transactions. Over the past two years, 200 million people have been given RuPay cards under the Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana.
Digital transactions deliver multiple benefits. They facilitate proper accounting and sizing of the formal economy. They provide greater ease and security in handling of money, especially for small businesses and ordinary people. They ensure the building of financial records, which enables access to the formal financial system, including loans. They also deliver greater tax compliance, ensuring the dishonest do not escape payment of their dues. Therefore, I see digital payments as a method of cleaning up our economy in the long run.
Let me give you a few real world examples. Once informal small businesses begin to have an electronic trail of their cash flow, they will find it easier to access credit. They can expand and escape from the vicious circle of small size due to informality and lack of credit. Similarly, digital transactions will protect workers by ensuring they get their statutory benefits, which are often not paid when informal cash payment is made. Hence, digitalisation is a major reform with multiple benefits. The early evidence is very promising, with a surge in the use of digital payments by the public. For example, the use of the RuPay card has increased-in the number of transactions and value-both electronically and at the retail level by over 200 per cent and nearly 500 per cent, respectively.
Many feel that politicians and political parties are responsible for generating black money. How can political corruption be rooted out?
Let me start with a word of caution. This fashion of reducing any talk of corruption to politics is a dangerous trap. It creates a cover for the many others guilty of the same to get away with it. But, this doesn't mean I condone corruption in politics. On 8 November itself, I had said the malaise of black money and corruption has seeped deep into all parts of government, including politics. It is imperative that we figure out decisive ways of rooting out black money from politics. I have been regularly appealing for the same. I had asserted before the last Parliament session itself that the need of the hour is to comprehensively take a relook at and reform political funding. I have also repeatedly expressed concern about how our current system of multiple elections not only raises political expenditure, thereby hurting the economy, but also results in the nation perpetually remaining in election mode, stalling governance. We must think innovatively to break out of this continuous cycle of elections. I welcome the Election Commission's initiative to explore the possibility of simultaneous assembly and parliamentary elections.
At a larger level, over the past few days, people from all walks of public life have experienced how much pent-up anger the people of India have against the evil of corruption. The common man has stood resolute and committed, in spite of all the hardships he has personally faced, as well as all the possible tricks that vested interest groups have tried to play to derail this war against black money. Everyone, especially our political leaders and parties, will have to recognise and accept this groundswell. The tide is fast changing. Those who don't evolve with it and insist on sticking to their old ways will only get swept away.
At the halfway mark of your tenure, are you satisfied with the progress you have made? What is the vision of the country you have been trying to realise?
I believe India is standing at a watershed moment, on the cusp of actualising its inherent potential as a developed nation and global leader. An India where the farmer is happy, the trader is prosperous, every woman is empowered and the youth gainfully employed. An India where every family has a house and every household has access to the basic amenities of electricity, water and a toilet. An India which is Swachh from all forms of filth.
If one does an unbiased, objective evaluation of my government's programmes and priorities over the past two and a half years, the one thing that will unambiguously emerge is the centrality of the poor, downtrodden and marginalised. All our initiatives are structured to bring about transformational change in their respective domains. Progress along each dimension is visible on the ground for all to see. I am convinced that all of this is achievable if we resolve as a nation to do so-a resolution of not just the government but of 1.25 billion Indians. I am thus putting my heart and soul into building an enabling environment to spark a revolution that transforms India into a developed nation within one generation. I am confident the country can, and will.Tesla’s chief executive Elon Musk has given preview of its upcoming Model Y small SUV and a so far nameless electric truck, as it prepares to deliver its first cheaper Model 3 electric saloons.
During the company’s annual shareholders’ meeting, Musk released a teaser image of the Model Y, which will be available in the 2019-2020 time frame and follow on from its larger SUV, the Model X. Musk said the Model Y would use a new platform building on the improvements made to existing models.
One of the new models to benefit from improvements since the original release of the Model S in 2012 is the more affordable Model 3, Tesla’s attempt at mass-market electric car. The Model 3 is expected to cost from $35,000 in the US, putting it in the same bracket as the BMW 3 series.
Musk said that Model 3 production is on track to start next month, and that vehicles should be delivered to those first in line for the pre-orders soon after. Tesla is aiming to make 5,000 Model 3s per week by the end of this year and 10,000 per week in 2018. The company hasn’t said how many people have put down $1,000 refundable deposits for the Model 3, but Musk said people who put down a deposit now won’t get a car until the end of 2018, indicating it could be close to 500,000.
Facebook Twitter Pinterest Tesla’s teaser image for its prototype all-electric semi-truck. Photograph: Tesla
The biggest challenge for Tesla will be around meeting mass-market production. It has faced manufacturing delays with previous models, including the latest Model X SUV which was nearly 18 months late. Musk said it was “crazy hard” to make cars and that Tesla had learned a lesson from the complexity of previous models. The Model 3 would be much simpler to make, not least because only the colour of the car and the size of the wheels would be customisable from the beginning rather than having a plethora of customisation options that would increase the time required to make the cars.
The 14-year-old Tesla has no experience producing and selling vehicles in high volumes, making just 84,000 cars last year compared with rivals such as GM, Volkswagen and Toyota, which routinely sell more than 10m per year.
Once the Model 3 is on the road in quantity, Tesla will also face servicing and charging troubles. The company said that it would increase the number of stores and service centres by 30% this year, but at the start of 2017 it had just 250 worldwide
Musk says a new fleet of mobile service trucks will be deployed and that Tesla plans to double its global high-speed “Supercharger” power points to 10,000 by the end of this year and increase them by another 50-100% in 2018.
Tesla is also seeking to break into freight transportation with a new all-electric semi truck, which is due to be unveiled at the end of September. Musk said that Tesla was currently shopping designs around to large freight firms with positive reactions and that the firm would have more than just truck news to share later this year.A day after more than a 100 people packed a Maryland State House committee room to share their views on legalizing marijuana, advocates for easing prohibitions on the drug said they feel momentum building in their favor.
“The floodgates for change are open now,” said Sen. Jamie B. Raskin (D-Montgomery), who has sponsored a bill that would legalize marijuana and impose taxes and regulations on its distribution and use. “We have essentially vilified and criminalized our own people for doing something that our last three or four presidents have admitted to doing. That is a theme I heard yesterday.”
But Raskin also cautioned that while he thinks there is a real possibility that the legislature might agree to reduce the criminal penalties for marijuana use, the chance of legalizing marijuana remains more remote.
Lawmakers have sponsored bills in the Maryland General Assembly that would rewrite nearly a century of laws and policies outlawing marijuana. Some want to address problems in the medical-marijuana bill that was passed last year so that patients and doctors can more easily access the drug. Others seek to decriminalize marijuana by treating possession of small amounts as something like a traffic ticket. Others, such as Raskin, would prefer to legalize marijuana, classifying it in the same way as alcohol.
On Tuesday, dozens of Marylanders joined the debate, often with highly emotional testimony that drew on their own experiences with the drug.
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College students, parents, police officers and others packed the Judicial Proceedings Committee hearing while others waited in the lobby, wearing green ribbons or cannabis leaf insignias as a show of support for Raskin’s bill.
Many were supportive of legalization, and even more backed a measure — sponsored by Sens. Robert A. Zirkin (D-Baltimore County) and Allan H. Kittleman (R-Howard) — that would impose a noncriminal fine of up to $100 for possession of less than 10 grams of marijuana.
Several of those who testified admitted to having tried marijuana, though often also noting that they didn’t find it to their liking. Some told of how an arrest for having a small amounts of pot had initiated a lifelong ordeal. Others appealed to libertarian sentiments.
Gregory Reina, 59, identified himself as a “taxpaying homeowner” who had been married 33 years, raised two sons and now, as a retiree, stayed active refereeing youth sports. He covered a host of reasons for why marijuana should at least be decriminalized, including his experience with a substance that he believes is less harmful than tobacco and alcohol.
“[Yet] if I wanted to get marijuana, I was terrified I may be shot and robbed. Eighty percent of the homicides in Baltimore city are drug-related,” Reina said. He also scoffed at the notion that marijuana is a gateway to abuse of more dangerous drugs. That’s only because it’s illegal, he said: “After all, customers buying wine for dinner are not offered heroin.”
Others argued that it was time to end a policy that brings the weight of the justice system down hardest on minorities.
Some of the strongest pushback came from law enforcement officers, including David Morris, the police chief in Riverdale Park. He told the panel that decriminalizing marijuana would send the wrong message to young people.
Annapolis Police Chief Michael A. Pristoop went awry, however, in citing an online news article that said 37 people in Colorado had died due to overdosing on marijuana on the day that state legalized the drug. The article was a hoax published by a satirical Web site — which Raskin pointed out to an embarrassed Pristoop in the middle of his testimony.
Late Tuesday, the chief apologized for the mistake.
“I believed the information I obtained was accurate, but I now know the story is nothing more than an urban legend,” Pristoop said in a statement. “This does not take away from the other facts presented in opposition to legalization or the good work of the Maryland Chiefs and Maryland Sheriffs associations.”
The state Senate passed a decriminalization bill last year that died in the House Judiciary Committee, which also became the burial ground for a House bill like Raskin’s.
But marijuana advocates hope that this year will be different, especially because Speaker Michael E. Busch (D-Anne Arundel) has set up a working group to find a way forward on marijuana legislation.
Busch has said, however, that Maryland would be wise to assess the implementation of new legalization laws in Colorado and Washington state before attempting to follow their lead."Strangeway" redirects here. For strangeways or strange ways, see Strange Ways (disambiguation)
Andy Strangeway (born 1965 in Londesborough, East Riding of Yorkshire) is a councillor, decorator, adventurer and islomaniac from the Yorkshire Wolds, is the first – and so far the only – person to complete the challenge of landing and sleeping on all 162 of Scotland's islands of 40 hectares and above. One definition of an island is that used by Hamish Haswell-Smith in his book The Scottish Islands first published by Canongate in 1999. This list excludes bridged islands such as Skye and tidal islands such as Oronsay that are much larger than 40 hectares (99 acres).[1] Strangeway's definition is simply "a piece of land surrounded by sea that you can't walk to".[2]
On 28 August 2007, Strangeway landed on Soay, St. Kilda becoming the first person on record to land on all of the major Scottish islands.
On 29 August, he became the first person to sleep on them all.[3]
On Saturday 8 August 2009, upon landing Out Stack, Andy Strangeway claimed to be the first person to land the four extreme points of Scotland, and the first and so far only known person to achieve this feat.[4] However, having not yet landed on Rockall this claim is disputed.[5]
Notable landings Direction Location Date West Soay, St Kilda 28 August 2007 South Mull of Galloway 31 March 2009 East Bound Skerry 2 August 2009 North Out Stack 8 August 2009
Strangeway is now an access rights campaigner.[6][7]
On Saturday 6 March 2010, Strangeway assisted Uri Geller to land and sleep on the island of Lamb which he had bought a year earlier. It was Geller's first visit and Strangeway's second.[8][9]
On 10 May 2010, Strangeway claimed to have successfully applied for the first ever planning permission for Rockall to replace the Queen's plaque.[10][11][12][13] This he intended to do in 2011 but was abandoned.[14] However, Tom McClean had in fact applied successfully for consent for his temporary shelter in 1985 (Comhairle nan Eilean/Western Isles Islands Council planning application reference A/85/68).
Upon landing and sleeping on the southerly point of Yorkshire on 5/6 February 2011 Strangeway became the first person to not only sleep on the summits of the three Ridings but also the first person to sleep on the seven extreme points of Yorkshire.[15][16][17]
On 31 August 2011 Strangeway became the first person to sleep at each of the six extreme points of Great Britain solo on consecutive nights.[18][19]
This is the extreme point route Strangeway took:
Thursday 25/Friday 26 – Southernmost point – Lizard Point, Cornwall
Friday 26 /Saturday 27 – Lowest point – Holme Fen, Huntingdonshire
Saturday 27/Sunday 28 – Easternmost point – Lowestoft Ness, Suffolk
Sunday 28/Monday 29 – Westernmost point – Corrachadh Mor, Argyllshire
Monday 29/Tuesday 30 – Northernmost point – Dunnet Head, Caithness
Tuesday 30/Wednesday31 – Highest point – Ben Nevis, Inverness-shire
In June 2012 Strangeway successfully campaigned for the removal of 69 No Overnight Parking signs on trunk roads in the Highlands.[20][21][22] He followed this in September 2012 by successfully campaigning for an estimated 250 No Overnight Parking signs to be removed from non-trunk roads across the Highlands.[23]
A few days later in September 2012 Strangeway became the first person to sleep on the summit of all 52 counties of England and Wales.[24][25]
On 7 May 2015, Strangeway stood as the UK Independence Party candidate for the Wolds Weighton ward of East Riding of Yorkshire Council, finishing fourth in the three-member ward with 1,915 votes.[26] As an independent candidate, he was elected for the Pocklington Provincial ward in a by-election on 7 April 2016.[27]
Notes [ edit ]
References [ edit ]Save up to 60% on selected PS4, PS3 and PS Vita titles such as Battlefield 1, Overwatch, Rise of the Tomb Raider and many more
It’s that time of year once more… the PlayStation Store Easter Sale, where you can save up to 60% on selected PS4, PS3 and PS Vita titles, until 26th April.
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Star Wars Battlefront Season Pass, The Division Season Pass and The Witcher 3 Wild Hunt Expansion Pass all feature on offer in our DLC and Season Pass category and we have a host of PS VR titles available in the sale such as Robinson: The Journey, Job Simulator, Eagle Flight and Rez Infinite!
The list of titles available in the Easter Sale is huge so we’ve put a selection of each category below, just head to the Easter Sale page on PlayStation Store for the complete list*!
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DLC/Season Pass
PS VR
*Some titles may not be available in your region.After Snowden's NSA revelations, a lot of us are being far more vigilant with our data. Enterprise users and journalists have had to encrypt their emails for years to prevent leaks which could break a company if it got into the wrong hands, which is why it's such an issue when an ISP decides to block it without notice.
Software engineers from Golden Frog, a digital security and privacy firm, found they were unable to send encrypted messages for a period of time over Cricket's mobile network...
It compromises the idea that internet traffic should be able to move freely across networks.
Golden Frog brought up the issue in a filing to the FCC (Federal Communications Commission) back in July, whilst Techdirt also posted an article on the issue. Subsequent tests which were undertaken shortly after the publication posted their article revealed that Cricket had indeed removed the restriction.
Cricket, however, did not address questions about the issue or alert customers that these restrictions will be in-place and that they would be unable to protect their files from outside parties. It’s unknown how many customers were affected by this decision.
In a comment to the Washington Post, Cricket said they are "continuing to investigate the issue but do not intentionally prevent customers from sending encrypted emails."
Typically, an encrypted email server will "ask" the receiving email server if it is ok to receive the communication. According to Golden Frog, in Cricket's case the email didn't even get that far, and was deleted before even asking the receiving server for permission.
Golden Frog found the issue after one of its own engineers who lived in rural Texas and relied on Cricket's service kept trying to send emails which weren't being received. The firm found emails were attempted to be sent - stripped of their encryption requests - through a portal known as 'Port 25' which many ISPs have blocked due to spam concerns.
Net Neutrality has become a heated debate in recent times due to ISPs wanting to implement "slow lanes" for services which use their bandwidth and do not pay for the luxury. In the FCC filing against Cricket, Golden Frog brought up the issue and said it compromises the idea that internet traffic should be able to move freely across networks.
Do you think ISPs should be allowed to refuse encryption? Let us know in the comments.News
Supreme Leader of Iran Ayatollah Khamenei condemned the Saudi Arabia-led airstrikes in Yemen as “criminal acts.”
In an address to a gathering in Tehran, Ayatollah Khamenei said: “The Saudis will definitely be struck back in this issue and their nose will be rubbed against the ground [they will be defeated].”
Ayatollah Khamenei compared the actions of the coalition led by Saudi Arabia to the “crimes” that Israel committed in its war last year in the Gaza Strip. “This action [of Saudi Arabia] is not acceptable in the region and I warn that they will certainly lose interests.”
He also criticized the Saudi royal family for the invasion of Yemen, calling it a mistake that could set a dangerous precedent in the region.
Ayatollah Khamenei also dismissed the Saudi accusations about Iran’s meddling in Yemeni affairs. The leader said the Saudis have caused insecurity in Yemen by direct intervention and dropping bombs on the country.
Elsewhere during a discussion with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in the Iranian capital, Khamenei said: “Yemenis should decide the future of their country. Today, the United States and the Zionists are happy with differences among Muslim countries and the solution to these problems is cooperation between the Islamic counties and taking practical and constructive measures.”
Israel started its latest war on the Gaza Strip in early July last year. The offensive ended on August 26, 2014, with a truce that took effect after indirect negotiations in the Egyptian capital, Cairo.
Nearly 2,200 Palestinians, including 577 children, were killed in Israel’s 50-day onslaught. Over 11,100 others – including 3,374 children, 2,088 women and 410 elderly people – were also injured.
Saudi Arabia started its air campaign against Yemen on March 26 without a UN mandate in a bid to restore power to the country’s fugitive former president, Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi, a staunch ally of Riyadh.The main problem is not that it’s expensive, although it is expensive. Nor that it’s needlessly ideological, although it is that too. We could pile on a few more criticisms, all of them true: it’s antagonistic; it’s politically expedient; it’s irredeemably and unforgivably ugly. These don’t quite get at the heart of it either.
The problem with the Memorial to the Victims of Communism is that, in being all these things, it undermines its stated purpose. Somehow, a monument designed to rebuke one form of authoritarianism manages to faintly echo several ways that authoritarian governments go about dumping great mounds of concrete and metal onto the earth: spending hand-over-iron-fist on propagandist landscaping, demonizing ideological opponents through said landscaping, selecting a landscaping site that opponents will be forever damned to look upon, and, most of all, not letting public opinion get in the way of a public build.
A memorial’s cost wouldn’t prevent Stalin, Xi or any of the Kims from building it. But then, Stalin loved throwing money at big useless projects. China’s Xi unveiled a $16-million gold and jade statue of Mao just two years ago. As for Kim Il-Sung, by the time his body finally lay under a Worker’s Party flag, a glass case and the roof of a $100-million renovated mausoleum, North Koreans were so poor that many lived off and died on tree bark. The country that couldn’t afford rice could afford electricity even less — still, the bronzed Kims stayed lit. (One must never leave the Sun of the Communist Future in the dark.) While famine fears loom over them this summer, North Koreans donated copper to a “loyalty fund” that turned out to be a statue fund.
Ostentatious monuments have mostly fallen out of fashion in the non-communist world, and certainly in Canada. So it’s bizarre that the government would back the deployment of this brutalist geometry, which could cost Canadians $3 million dollars and devour public real estate worth up to $30 million. This type of spending is typically the habit of governments that enjoy driving tanks through public squares, not governments that like to talk about balancing budgets.
Then there’s the name. It escapes the attention of no one capable of telling one word apart from another word that the Memorial to the Victims of Communism isn’t called the Memorial to the Victims of Totalitarianism, nor for the Victims of Violent Despotism, nor for the Victims of Very Bad Governance. Canada may be taking on the dictatorship of the proletariat, but the dictatorship end of the phrase isn’t its primary concern. Now, Europe has plenty of uncontroversial memorials named for the victims of fascism, but they’re generally found in places that actually were victimized by fascism.
By needlessly setting its ideological beliefs in several tonnes of concrete, the Canadian government provoked a reaction of equal and opposite stupidity: market demand grew for a monument to victims of capitalism. Though I wouldn’t mind seeing someone try to depict a broken invisible hand in granite, it’s alarming that anyone feels the world is poorer for lacking a 25-foot tall sculpture of a child stitching a wallet. Theirs is nearly as strange as the belief that the world will be richer for the Czech Republic, the United States and Canada each having dedicated memorials to victims of communism, even though only one is set in a post-Communist country. At least the anti-anti-communist memorialists haven’t plagiarized the name of an existing one: I can find no communist state, let alone three, that explicitly denounces capitalism in stone. Even communist Cuba calls its anti-American, anti-capitalism monument an Anti-Imperialism monument.
But neither Canada’s nor Cuba’s monument really needs words to tell target audiences to get bent: they plant themselves in the yards of opponents. Cuba’s Anti-Imperialist Platform features flagpoles that operate very effectively as a series of raised middle fingers, obscuring as they do the electronic billboard of the de facto embassy of the United States. In case the point is too subtle, a star’s single red point is aimed directly at the Americans. (Though Italy’s anti-capitalist builders are even more direct: Maurizio Cattelan’s massive marble hand |
accounted for factors such as social selection through the estimation procedures outlined earlier. Figure 2 depicts the results of analyses examining, via the network permutation method, the extent to which adolescents who had been involved in a serious fight tended to be friends with other adolescents who had been involved in a serious fight (network clustering). Data from wave 2 showed that participants with friends who had been in a serious fight were 48% (95% confidence interval [CI] = 35%, 62%) more likely to have been in a serious fight themselves. The association between friends was significant for up to 4 degrees of separation in wave 1 (i.e., friend of friend of friend of friend), when the increase in probability that a participant had been in a serious fight when a friend had been in a serious fight was 4% (95% CI = 2%, 5%). These results show that there was significant network clustering among peers who had been in a serious fight. Table C (available as a supplement to the online version of this article at http://www.ajph.org) presents the results of the regression analysis controlling for demographic factors, violent behavior in wave 1, and violent behavior among participants’ nominated friends in both wave 1 and wave 2. Overall, we found no significant effect of a friend having been involved in a serious fight on a participant having been in a serious fight. However, we found that when a participant’s sibling had been in a serious fight, the participant’s likelihood of having been in a serious fight increased by 38% (95% CI = 16%, 62%; P <.01). These results show that although there was significant network clustering, only siblings exhibited evidence of an increased probability of fighting given that a sibling had been in a fight once social selection and demographic factors had been taken into account. Influence of Friends on Hurting Someone Badly Figure 3 depicts the results of analyses examining, again via the network permutation method, the extent to which adolescents who had hurt someone badly tended to be friends with other adolescents who had hurt someone badly (network clustering). In wave 2, participants with a friend who had hurt someone badly were 183% (95% CI = 150%, 220%) more likely to have hurt someone badly themselves. In both waves, the association between friends was significant for up to 2 degrees of separation (i.e., to friends of friends), and in wave 2 the increase in probability that a participant had seriously hurt someone when a friend had seriously hurt someone was 34% (95% CI = 13%, 56%). These results suggest that there was significant network clustering among peers who had hurt someone badly. Table D (available as a supplement to the online version of this article at http://www.ajph.org) presents the results of the regression analysis controlling for demographic factors, violent behavior in wave 1, and violent behavior among participants’ nominated friends in both waves. We found that for each additional friend who had seriously hurt someone, the likelihood that a participant had seriously hurt someone increased by 55% (95% CI = 5%, 124%; P =.02). When we restricted our analysis to male participants, we found that for each additional friend who had seriously hurt someone, the likelihood of a participant doing the same increased by 82% (95% CI = 17%, 165%; P <.01). Similarly, we found that when a participant’s sibling had seriously hurt someone, the participant’s likelihood of having seriously hurt someone increased by 78% (95% CI = 24%, 145%; P <.01). These results show that the influence of friends on participants’ likelihood of hurting someone badly was still significant after social selection and demographic factors have been taken into account. Influence of Friends on Pulling a Gun or Knife on Someone Figure 4 depicts the results of analyses examining the extent to which adolescents who had pulled a gun or knife on someone tended to have friends who had done the same. In wave 2, participants with a friend who had pulled a gun or knife on someone were 140% (95% CI = 82%, 208%) more likely to have themselves pulled a gun or knife on someone. In both waves, the association between friends was significant for up to 3 degrees of separation (i.e., to friends of friends of friends), and in wave 2 the increase in probability that a participant had pulled a knife or gun on someone when a friend had pulled a knife or gun on someone was 54% (95% CI = 27%, 77%). These results show that there was significant network clustering among peers who had pulled a knife or a gun on someone. Table E (available as a supplement to the online version of this article at http://www.ajph.org) presents the results from the regression analysis controlling for demographic factors, violent behavior in wave 1, and violent behavior among participants’ nominated friends in both waves. Overall, we found no significant effect of a friend having pulled a knife or gun on someone on a participant having done the same. We also found no significant effects when we restricted our analysis to male participants, female participants, or siblings through dichotomous specifications of the dependent variable. These results suggest that the influence of friends on participants’ likelihood of pulling a knife or gun on someone was insignificant after social selection and demographic factors had been taken into account.
DISCUSSION Section: Choose Top of page Abstract SIMILARITY OF VIOLENCE TO... PSYCHOLOGICAL MECHANISMS... USING SOCIAL NETWORKS TO... METHODS RESULTS DISCUSSION << REFERENCES CITING ARTICLES Considerable evidence shows that individuals who observe violence in their home, school, community, or even the mass media are at increased likelihood for committing violence themselves, both inside and outside the home.1 Considerable evidence also shows that having been a victim of violence increases the likelihood that one will also become a perpetrator of violence, inside as well as outside the home.1 Our results from adolescent social networks are consistent with those of other studies showing that gun violence passes from person to person.8,20–22 Recent work has also suggested that more serious violent crimes, such as homicide, may be transmitted through social networks in social and physical space.23,24 The consequences of violence seem to pass through social networks as well: gunshot victims in a given area are likely to be socially connected to one another.25 Our study adds to the body of work showing that violence may spread through social networks in a manner similar to how a contagious disease spreads. However, our study is the first to our knowledge to examine how far violence can spread in social networks. Our results suggest that violence can spread through such networks, especially in the case of male adolescents and between siblings. Using permutation tests, we showed that participants were more likely to engage in violent behavior if their friends also engaged in violent behavior. Indeed, the association of violence likely extended beyond immediate friends to 4 degrees of separation for serious fights, 2 degrees for causing serious injuries, and 3 degrees for pulling a weapon on someone. These initial findings are consistent with previous work showing that violent crime spreads in networks and that this spread largely decreases after 2 degrees of separation.26 Clinical and Policy Implications Violence, similar to contagious diseases, can be treated or prevented. Efforts can be directed at preventing individuals from being exposed to violence or at inoculating individuals against the effects of such exposures. Because friends have a significant impact on the violent behavior of adolescents, parents and other adults should encourage adolescents to interact with nonviolent peers. If adolescents are already aggressive, they can be taught alternative nonviolent ways of solving conflicts. Parents can also discourage violent interactions among siblings27; because parental violence is associated with sibling violence, they can start by modeling nonviolent behaviors themselves.19 There are many other factors that may protect people from violence, such as increasing supportive and prosocial climates in schools and communities, providing resources for young people to achieve academically, offering substance abuse programs, and encouraging the development of social skills and empathy.11,12 One program used to reverse the spread of violence is Cure Violence28 (previously known as CeaseFire29), which begins by analyzing the clusters involved in the transmission of violence. Trained individuals (e.g., community coordinators) then use modern methods of persuasion and behavior change in their efforts to stop the spread of violence and change underlying norms. The Cure Violence methodology has been shown to be effective in at least 20 US cities (e.g., Baltimore, MD; Chicago, IL; New York, NY) as well as in South Africa, reducing shootings by 16% to 100%.4 This research should help inform future programs intended to reduce violent behavior. When such programs are effective, they are likely to reduce violence not only for those who are directly impacted by the program, but also for those with whom they come into contact. Such programs may be more effective, and more cost-effective, than currently understood because the effects of such programs may be socially transmitted. Limitations and Future Research As do all studies, this study involves limitations. Our study’s major limitation is the correlational nature of the data. However, because the design was longitudinal, we can establish the direction of the relationship between exposure to violent acts committed by participants’ friends and subsequent violent acts committed by participants themselves. Another limitation is the measures of violence we used. The interviews conducted in Add Health covered a wide array of topics related to adolescent health and behavior; assessment of violent behavior was not one of the main objectives of the study, and only 3 questions were used to measure such behavior. An inventory with more items would have been more reliable. The 3 measures were based on self-reports, and responses may have been biased with respect to participants’ willingness or lack thereof to divulge details of their violent behavior. Future research should collect reports from other individuals (e.g., peers, parents, teachers) and especially behavioral data (e.g., criminal records). A third limitation is that Add Health data were collected from 1994 to 2002. Future longitudinal studies are needed to replicate and extend the results of our study. Our study was also limited in the way in which social networks were measured. At most schools, a subset of Add Health students were selected for in-depth interviews. As such, the networks of these schools were likely to include a substantial amount of missing data. (It is important to note, however, that a number of schools were mapped much more fully. We have included replications of our main findings on one such school in the supplementary appendix.) In addition, the Add Health data did not include out-of-school friendships. Thus, the relationships we identified were restricted to within-school friendships. Another important limitation is that we were unable to account for spatial contagion in violence that might be related to social contagion. A growing literature has shown that violent behaviors cluster both socially and spatially,16,30 and recent work has emphasized the importance of integrating social as well as spatial networks.31 Future research that incorporates measures related to both types of networks will be key to understanding how the various contexts to which individuals are exposed facilitate, or potentially inhibit, violent behavior. (Note that Add Health has established policies and processes through which supplemental geographical data, such as the census tract locations of participants’ homes, may be merged with the survey data. Although geospatial relationships in social networks are beyond the scope of this article, we encourage future researchers to use these or other data to investigate how spatial and social relationships may contribute to violent behavior.) Although the methods we used to identify peer effects are widely used, they are not without criticism32 (see the supplementary appendix for more details). Disentangling influence effects from selection effects is among the most difficult problems faced by social network researchers, and, as a result of the methods we used, we cannot definitively rule out selection as an explanation for the relationships observed in our study.33 As new statistical techniques and research designs emerge (e.g., experiments in which peer effects can be identified34), researchers should employ these methods to study peer effects on violent behavior among adolescents as a means of better understanding the social transmission of violence. Conclusions Youth violence is a serious problem, both in the United States and around the world. The rates at which young people in this country perpetrate and experience violence are very high relative to rates among youths in many other developed nations.35 In the United States, more young people die from homicide each year than from cancer, heart disease, birth defects, flu and pneumonia, respiratory diseases, stroke, and diabetes combined.35 US youth homicide rates are 3 to 40 times higher than rates in similarly high-income countries.35 Although no analogy is perfect, we agree that it is useful to conceptualize the spread of violence as similar to the spread of a contagious disease.1 By treating violence as a contagious disease, perhaps we can reduce its transmission.
HUMAN PARTICIPANT PROTECTION No protocol approval was needed for this study because secondary data were analyzed.
REFERENCES Section: Choose Top of page Abstract SIMILARITY OF VIOLENCE TO... PSYCHOLOGICAL MECHANISMS... USING SOCIAL NETWORKS TO... METHODS RESULTS DISCUSSION REFERENCES << CITING ARTICLES
References
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34. Muchnik L, Aral S, Taylor SJ. Social influence bias: a randomized experiment. Science. 2013 ;341(6146): 647 – 651. Crossref, Medline, Google ScholarThe data mavens at the route-tracking app RunKeeper provided a glimpse into how people have changed their workouts to account for World Cup-watching.
RunKeeper has seen some dramatic swings in how users have altered the timing of their runs, walks, or hikes since the soccer tournament began. They've also seen some unchanged behaviors.
Here are RunKeeper's findings (RunKeeper has given Runner's World permission to republish these charts and text):
In Brazil, we saw users replace their usual evening runs with morning workouts to leave the rest of the day open for cheering on their home team.
The first game in the 2014 World Cup was at 5 p.m. Brazil--right when we usually see peak activity levels in Brazil. But during the game, the number of runners (and walkers, cyclists, hikers, etc.) was down more than 80 percent from the same time a week earlier on June 5. However, almost 90 percent more Brazilian users were out and about at 10 a.m.
(Croatia doesn’t yet have the critical mass of RunKeeper users needed to run this kind of analysis. We looked for countries where at least 3,000 RunKeeper users were working out on a given day.)
Spain and Netherlands both showed a somewhat different pattern—down quite a bit during the game, but no major bump earlier in the day.
Spain in particular was down throughout the day. This could be largely due to high temps that day: The high in Barcelona on June 13 was 91 degrees, as compared to only 73 degrees on June 6—it was warm enough that a lot of people may have been discouraged from running, period. The weather in Amsterdam, on the other hand, was very similar week over week, so we’re not quite sure what their excuse was!
Despite having more than 18 million U.S. viewers (the biggest viewership of any sporting event outside of the Super Bowl and collegiate football events), the U.S. v. Portugal game barely changed U.S. workouts—in the evening or in the morning. This suggests that in the U.S., our users didn’t explicitly plan their workouts around World Cup matches. (The was outside of normal running hours for most Portuguese runners. Because of this, we can’t draw hard conclusions about the impact of the game on their workout behavior.)
However, this doesn’t mean U.S. users won’t change their workouts for a big game. To compare, we looked at this year’s Super Bowl:
Perhaps if the U.S. had made it to the later rounds of the World Cup, we would have seen this pattern emerge. Speaking of later-round games…
If you checked your social media feeds, it felt as if the whole world was watching and reacting to this match. The impact on RunKeeper was noticeable:
We saw a big dip in Brazil traffic starting just before game-time, which doesn’t recover after the game, even though that would usually be prime-time for running in Brazil. It’s worth betting that their post-game depression got in the way of their evening workouts.
Germany, on the other hand, was down throughout the day (possibly because it was raining in Germany, while it was clear a week earlier), but their traffic started to recover after the game.
Interestingly, our U.S. traffic, which was slightly down for most of the day, spiked during game time.
With this game, we saw some interesting parallels to previous matches:It appears that somebody is getting the message, at least in South Carolina. A growing movement around the nation in support of right to work policies has dealt one blow after another to organized labor. The latest edition of the story comes to us out of South Carolina where one of the nation’s larger unions has been attempting to organize workers at the Boeing plant. That proposal came up for a vote this week and the results speak for themselves. Employees rejected the plan and the final vote wasn’t even close. (Fox News)
Nearly three-quarters of eligible production workers at Boeing’s South Carolina plant voted Wednesday not to join the International Association of Machinists in a major setback for organized labor. The Post & Courier newspaper reported that 2,097 of 2,828 voting workers — 74.2 percent — cast ballots against unionization. Under NLRB rules, workers must wait a year before another union vote. In a statement, Machinists organizer Mike Evans said the union was disappointed with the vote but vowed to stay in close touch with Boeing workers to figure out next steps. “Ultimately it will be the workers who dictate what happens next,” Evans said. “We’ve been fortunate enough to talk with hundreds of Boeing workers over the past few years. Nearly every one of them, whether they support the union or not, have improvements they want to see at Boeing. Frankly, they deserve better.”
Not that I’m offering too much sympathy to the Association of Machinists here, but they were facing an uphill battle from the beginning. Before leaving for a position in the Trump administration, former governor Nikki Haley had been a frequent and vocal critic of the unions and a promoter of right to work policies which would make her state a more attractive home for large employers such as Boeing. State legislators had also been on board an the airwaves were peppered with advertisements reminding people precisely why Boeing had considered coming to South Carolina in the first place.
Considering how lopsided the vote was, it’s difficult to see what might possibly change over the next 12 months (the amount of time the union will have to wait before they can try again) which could lead to a different outcome. And why would the workers want to suddenly change course and head down a trail which has led to significant job losses and recession conditions in other states where unions maintain iron-fisted control? South Carolina was an early leader in the right to work movement and began their recovery from the great recession faster than a number of other states precisely because of these policies. Take a look at these figures from the Bureau of Labor Statistics showing the unemployment rate over the past several years.
There’s an old saying about not changing horses mid-race and that’s particularly true when you’re in the lead. Boeing is producing a significant number of well-paying jobs and holds the promise for this to continue well into the future. Entire families in that region can look forward to continued opportunity and secure retirements as long as the airline industry remains in the area. But the workers need to remember that Boeing moved once and, while it would be expensive, there’s nothing stopping them from doing it again. A business friendly environment is the rising tide which lifts all boats, or in this case airplanes.
Congratulations to Boeing’s workers on a wise decision. As for the union, better luck next time I suppose.Memphis Marching Forward on Safe Streets
Something important is happening in Memphis, Tennessee.
Out on the streets, the city has made progress on its plan to add 55 miles of bike lanes in two years, including the installation of some protected bike lanes. In addition, the state of Tennessee has been overhauling its transportation policies in a shift away from road expansion.
More change is coming. Anthony Siracusa at the Green Lane Project blog reports that Memphis Mayor A.C. Wharton has issued an executive order on complete streets that will require a big update of the city’s street design practices:
Memphis has quickly become a municipal leader among Tennessee cities, rethinking transportation policies to focus more on providing safe places for people to walk and bike. Among the opportunities afforded Memphis by its new Complete Streets policy is the chance to create a design guide that will provide public works, engineering, and a host of other divisions with brand new street design guidelines. The policy says “the City of Memphis Department of Engineering shall partner with relevant Departments of City of Memphis and Shelby County Governments, the Memphis Area Metropolitan Planning Organization, and the Memphis and Shelby County Complete Streets Coalition to create a Street Design Manual for use in all city departments.” The city’s new policy means Memphis will establish an entirely new blueprint to guide the creation of city streets, producing a document similar in scope to the City of Chicago’s bikeway design guide. The Executive Order comes at an ideal time for Memphis, as the city is positioned to develop a design guide that will stand among the most innovative in the country.
The news out of Memphis is evidence that progress toward safer, multi-modal streets is not limited to places like New York and Portland. The movement to bring city transportation policy into the 21st Century is increasingly broad-based.
Elsewhere on the Network today: The Kansas Cyclist reports a statewide tourism group is urging Governor Sam Brownback to expand bicycle trail development. California High Speed Rail blog says that Congressional Republicans are trying to block federal loans that would help fund a Los Angeles-to-Las Vegas rail corridor. And Bike Delaware shares anonymous advice from Beltway insiders to bicycle advocates shared at last week’s Bike Summit.Mystery Science Theater 3000 (MST3K) is one of those cultural touchstones – much like Doctor Who, Firefly, and the works of Terry Pratchett – that seem to always get brought up at least once at parties (at least the ones I go to). So many of us discovered them at just the right age to be completely taken in with the worlds they offered, and accordingly they shaped how we made friends, how we viewed ourselves, and how we defined our interests further down the road. So when that thing changes and evolves, it’s understandable that people who love it would feel personally affected. These shows are pretty much sacred ground for a lot of people.
With this in mind, MST3K creator Joel Hodgson has boldly undertaken the task of reigniting the MST3K series. He has banded together a new crew of carefully selected cast members to carry the torch onward and, as he describes below, the show has come together as a mixture of the old and the new. The show, due to hit Netflix on April 14th, will absolutely maintain its original flavor and beloved wackiness. In chatting with the new crew – Jonah Ray, Hampton Yount, and Baron Vaughn – it is clear that they deeply resonate with the concerns of the show’s fans (“MSTies,” as they’re called). Recently I sat down with Ray (the new host), Yount (the new voice of Crow T. Robot), Vaughn (the new voice of Tom Servo), and Hodgson to discuss what approaches they had to rekindling such an important cultural touchstone.
So how did this all get rolling to begin with? When did the new crew start coming together?
Joel Hodgson: I’ve been thinking about this for like seven years. I went back, found my notebooks and basically for the last seven years I’ve been thinking about how we should do it again. I’m trying to think when we first started… [to Jonah] When did I ask you to be the host?
Jonah Ray: I’m trying to remember the timeline. We can start with when you were on Nerdist, ‘cause that’s when we met.
Joel: Right.
Jonah: I was still at The Soup at the time, but then we met up at a con and you were talking about, like, “Yeah, I’m thinking about bringing it back, I’m not sure how I want to do it or in what capacity” and then you said, “Oh, you should be a writer on it!” And then the next time you said I should be a producer on it. And then eventually, I think a year after that, you called me up and you said “I’ve been thinking about it, you should just be the guy!” I was like, “Which guy?” and you said, “The me! The guy! The host!” So I guess that was like three or four years ago?
Then, a year after he asked me to be the host, he started saying, “Who do you think would be good for the bots?” And I immediately thought of Baron [Vaughn] and Hampton [Yount]. And then we went to Umami Burger and you got to meet ‘em!
Joel: My thinking was that I felt like if I were to cast the guys to be Tom Servo and Crow T. Robot, then there’s all these shake-down crews, like, “Do we know each other? Do we like each other?” And I felt like, if it came from Jonah, it would be a lot better, ‘cause he understood the people that he wanted in there.
And that was true of the old show too, where we basically went to Josh Weinstein and said, “We need a writer. Can you go find somebody you think is funny?” So he brought me into a comedy club and we watched Mike Nelson, and he was an open-stage act, so that’s where we found Mike. And then Mike found Frank, and so, yeah, that’s kind of the method I use so that people are comfortable. Like, if I were to pick them out, I wouldn’t understand it, I wouldn’t have that dynamic.
Jonah: And also, I mean that’s the thing that I think anyone would agree about Mystery Science Theater, that it does feel like it’s some friends getting together and goofing off. And that’s how I always felt about the show.
Sure, just being tortured by mad scientists, as friends do.
Jonah: Yeah, we’ve all been there. But yeah, I’ve known both of these guys for so long and they both kinda remind me of those robots’ personalities anyway. So it wasn’t too hard of a decision. Like, I knew Baron would be so perfect for Servo when they did some Star Wars sketch for Funny or Die, and I texted them, and I said, “Hey guys, you did a great job on that sketch.” And then Baron was like, “Well, they cut out my improvised Shakespearean monologue.” And I was like, “That sounds like something Tom Servo would say.”
A key characterization point! So what’s it like getting to do this, presuming you all also grew up watching MST3K. Did you ever imagine that you’d be involved like this?
Jonah: My vision board did. And all those sacrifices.
Hampton Yount: No way, we could have had no inclination we would work with the show.
Jonah: Yeah, the show was gone.
Jonah: The first showbiz meeting I ever had was in 2003 and I had a general meeting with some agency, and they do that general meeting thing where they were like, “What would the YOU show be?” And I said, “Oh, I would be the host of Mystery Science Theater. We should bring it back and I should be the host.” And then they laughed at me.
Hampton: They all laughed!
Jonah: Little did they know nostalgia would be big bucks in the future! But, yeah. It’s hard to understand it in my own brain. It’s a literal dream come true. It’s not a version of a thing. Like we’ve all kind of had a version of our dreams coming true, in doing comedy for a living. But this is a legit one-to-one… There’s no analogy. It’s just straight-up a dream come true.
Absolutely. And I think you hit on this when you brought up the nostalgia factor, that’s got to be a thing I imagine you guys are all wrestling with right now. Like, people constantly asking “Where about the previous cast and writers?” and that sort of thing.
Joel: That’s a great question, and people really care about it. I think the funny thing for me was just that my perspective was different, ‘cause I created it and I always thought the concept was great. I think a lot of people felt the same way but more about the people making it. I think it’s both, obviously, but with the latest iteration, which is a new cast, I really saw it clearly. And I don’t feel like anybody understood that. Like, “Wait, it’s gotta be you or Mike, don’t you get that? The switch for my brain only says ‘Joel’ or ‘Mike,’ how can there be a third switch? It’s Joel or Mike!”
So that was always there. And when we were approaching the Kickstarter, a lot of the original cast was involved. Like, we were six weeks out before we shot the Kickstarter video. They were all on board and we were making arrangements, like airfare and stuff, and I was writing the script and sending it to them, and then for various reasons they all dropped out from the Kickstarter. So it was much more of an amalgam of the old and the new when we were like six weeks out.
Fortunately, on the other side, after the Kickstarter, Mary Jo [Pehl] and Bill [Corbett] and Kevin [Murphy] agreed to come back. Mary Jo and Bill are writing on it, Paul Chaplin who’s a longtime writer, he wrote over 150 episodes, he came back and wrote an episode and he performs in it. And then Beez McKeever who built all the props in the Mike episode and did all the costumes for the robots, came back. So did Charlie Erickson, who wrote the theme song, he came back and did a bunch of music. So we tried our best to lay in as many of those original people as possible. And also to help seam the new show with the old show, so Pearl and Brain Guy and Bobo come back to the new show and make appearances.
And if this is moving into a new generation of MST3K, are we gonna see a new aesthetic or anything to that effect?
Joel: Yeah. I mean, |
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Cleaning our oceans will be a daunting task, and it will take the combined effort of many nations over many years to truly rectify the damage that pollution has already caused. Yet, despite how daunting the problem seems, if no one does anything, nothing will be done about it.
Without going into a detailed list of the sources of ocean garbage, it should shock anyone to discover how much garbage is already in the oceans now. According to the U.S. Coast Guard statistics, one of the main sources of garbage that reaches shallow shores is recreational boaters, offshore fishing boats, cruise ships and merchant vessels. And this is the type of garbage that scuba divers are mainly concerned about. The coast guard estimates at least one ton of trash enters the oceans everyday from recreational boaters alone. The amount rises exponentially if we garbage from larger vessels such as cruise ships.
Ask any scuba diver if they have seen garbage on the ocean floor and no doubt you will get a ‘yes.’ Can scuba divers actually make a difference in cleaning up the garbage in the ocean? Of course, a few heroic divers can’t save the world themselves, but there are more than 22 million PADI certified scuba divers in the world and growing, located in more than 120 countries. NAUI also has a few million certified divers around the world. These two organizations have the manpower to make a big difference in cleaning up shallow-water garbage. If, on average, each diver conducted two dives a year, picking up at least one pound of trash each dive, then PADI divers alone could easily pick up 44 million pounds of garbage (approximately 22,000 tons) a year.
One major obstacle is organizing the millions of scuba divers into participating in ocean-cleanup activities. The main idea is not to let a dive go to waste. One organization that has been very successful in promoting such ocean-cleanup activities is Project AWARE Dive Against Debris.
Dive Against Debris is by far the most organized group of scuba divers today who are diligently working to clean our oceans of garbage. The group’s success is due to their efficiency when it comes to instructing divers how to plan and promote cleanup events in their communities. Divers are asked to effectively log the types of garbage they collect and then to submit that information to Dive Against Debris so that it can be entered into a global database. This vital information is then used to support, develop and, ultimately, to implement new policies to curb ocean dumping.
If divers started organizing and collecting garbage on a regular basis during all dives it would make a noticeable difference — it’s a start in the right direction, anyway. Cleaning up the ocean “one dive at a time” is a great way we can individually contribute to saving our oceans. And, that’s heroic, because true heroism begins with each of our actions.The announcement that Francis-Stevens Education Campus in D.C.'s West End neighborhood could close caused Sarah Reece to start looking at the city's public charter schools for her two sons.
If her sons remain in a traditional public school next year, they will go to Marie Reed Elementary School, which is not close enough to where the family lives to be feasible, Reece said at the D.C. Public Charter School Expo on Saturday.
Reece is one of many parents looking for alternatives to D.C. Public Schools after Schools Chancellor Kaya Henderson proposed closing 20 schools at the end of the academic year. At no cost to District residents, charter schools are many parents' first choice.
Source: D.C. Public Charter School Board
D.C. charter school enrollment Year Enrollment 2000-2001 9,626 2001-2002 10,651 2002-2003 11,600 2003-2004 13,575 2004-2005 15,163 2005-2006 17,343 2006-2007 19,662 2007-2008 21,743 2008-2009* 25,363 2009-2010 27,508 2010-2011 29,366 2011-2012 31,562 2012-2013 35,018 *In 2008, then-Chancellor Michelle Rhee announced the closing of 23 D.C. public schools, likely accounting for some of the higher-than-usual increase in charter school enrollment that year. Also that year, Center City, a group of Catholic schools, became public charter schools, adding 1,448 new students to the D.C. Public Charter School system.
D.C. at-large Councilmember David Catania had barely arrived at Saturday's expo when he saw parents of a student whose school is slated to close.
"They're here hoping their school doesn't close, but in the event that it does, they're looking for an alternative," he said.
Henderson said she plans to release the final list of school closings next week. The application deadline for more than 85 charter schools is March 15.
Meanwhile, some charter schools are preparing for an increase in applications.
With five schools slated to close in its ward, Friendship Public Charter School's Woodridge Elementary and Middle Campus is trying to communicate with parents looking for options, said Principal Rictor Craig. Though the school does not have plans to increase enrollment, they are considering shifting students around to accommodate more students within their existing space.
D.C.'s charter schools are expecting a roughly 10 percent increase in enrollment next year, but that jump is a fairly standard increase for a year when the District is not closing schools, said D.C. Public Charter School Board Executive Director Scott Pearson. Much of that increase comes from four new charter schools opening their doors in the fall and numerous schools adding new grade levels.
Still, he said, the application process probably will be more competitive than usual. After then-Chancellor Michelle Rhee announced plans to close 23 D.C. public schools in 2008, charter school enrollment rose by 16.6 percent, compared with 10.6 percent the previous year and 8.5 percent the year after.
While not all parents of soon-to-be-displaced D.C. public school students are excited about charter schools, some say they don't have many options.
"Honestly, I don't really know what I'm going to do if Garrison [Elementary School] closes," said Ann McLeod, PTA president at the Logan Circle school. Getting a spot in a charter school will be tough, she said, but she doesn't want to send her son to Seaton Elementary School -- the D.C. Public Schools alternative -- "on principle."
[email protected]’s right: guests have a greater obligation to please their host—and passersby to please a vendor—than vice versa. Is there any civilized value that foodies cannot turn on its head? But I assume Bourdain has no qualms about waving away a flower seller, just as Pollan probably sees nothing wrong with a Mormon’s refusal of a cup of coffee. Enjoinders to put the food provider’s feelings above all else are just part of the greater effort to sanctify food itself.
So secure is the gourmet community in its newfound reputation, so sure is it of its rightness, that it now proclaims the very qualities—greed, indifference to suffering, the prioritization of food above all—that earned it so much obloquy in the first place. Bourdain starts off his book by reveling in the illegality of a banquet at which he and some famous (unnamed) chefs dined on ortolan, endangered songbirds fattened up, as he unself-consciously tells us, in pitch-dark cages. After the meal, an “identical just-fucked look” graced each diner’s face. Eating equals sex, and in accordance with this self-flattery, gorging is presented in terms of athleticism and endurance. “You eat way past the point of hitting the wall. Or I do anyway.”
If nothing else, Bourdain at least gives the lie to the Pollan-Severson cant about foodie-ism being an integral part of the whole, truly sociable, human being. In Bourdain’s world, diners are as likely to sit solo or at a countertop while chewing their way through “a fucking Everest of shellfish.” Contributors to the Best Food Writing anthologies celebrate the same mindless, sweating gluttony. “You eat and eat and eat,” Todd Kliman writes, “long after you’re full. Being overstuffed, for the food lover, is not a moral problem.” But then, what is? In the same anthology, Michael Steinberger extols the pleasure of “joyfully gorging yourself … on a bird bearing the liver of another bird.” He also talks of “whimpering with ecstasy” in a French restaurant, then allowing the chef to hit on his wife, because “I was in too much of a stupor … [He] had just served me one of the finest dishes I’d ever eaten.” Hyperbole, the reader will have noticed, remains the central comic weapon in the food writer’s arsenal. It gets old fast. Nor is there much sign of wit in the table talk recorded. Aquinas said gluttony leads to “loutishness, uncleanness, talkativeness, and an uncomprehending dullness of mind,” and if you don’t believe him, here’s Kliman again:
I watched tears streak down a friend’s face as he popped expertly cleavered bites of chicken into his mouth … He was red-eyed and breathing fast. “It hurts, it hurts, but it’s so good, but it hurts, and I can’t stop eating!” He slammed a fist down on the table. The beer in his glass sloshed over the sides. “Jesus Christ, I’ve got to stop!”
We have already seen that the foodie respects only those customs, traditions, beliefs, cultures—old and new, domestic and foreign—that call on him to eat more, not less. But the foodie is even more insatiable in regard to variety than quantity. Johnston and Baumann note that “eating unusual foods is part of what generates foodie status,” and indeed, there appears to be no greater point of pride in this set than to eat with the indiscriminate omnivorousness of a rat in a zoo dumpster. Jeffrey Steingarten called his first book The Man Who Ate Everything. Bourdain writes, with equal swagger, “I’ve eaten raw seal, guinea pig. I’ve eaten bat.” The book Foodies quotes a middle-aged software engineer who says, “Um, it’s not something I would be anxious to repeat but … it’s kind of weird and cool to say I’ve had goat testicles in rice wine.” The taste of these bizarre meals—as researchers of oral fixation will not be surprised to learn—is neither here nor there. Members of the Gastronauts, a foodie group in New York, stuff live, squirming octopuses and eels down their throats before posting the carny-esque footage online.
Such antics are encouraged in the media with reports of the exotic foods that can be had only overseas, beyond the reach of FDA inspectors, conservationists, and animal-rights activists. Not too long ago MSNBC.com put out an article titled “Some Bravery as a Side Dish.” It listed “7 foods for the fearless stomach,” one of which was ortolan, the endangered songbirds fattened in dark boxes. The more lives sacrificed for a dinner, the more impressive the eater. Dana Goodyear: “Thirty duck hearts in curry … The ethos of this kind of cooking is undeniably macho.” Amorality as ethos, callousness as bravery, queenly self-absorption as machismo: no small perversion of language is needed to spin heroism out of an evening spent in a chair.Sigma Makeup Brushes vs. MAC Brushes
Make sure you check out my standalone review for Sigma Brushes, which considers them on their merit and by themselves, not as an alternative to MAC specifically.
Q. Are they on the same level as MAC? Or are they a more affordable alternative, but not as good?
The majority of brushes are not on the same level as MAC, and there are some subtle differences that translate in application that makes me think Sigma really would be better off having their own numbering system and designing original brushes and improving upon their existing designs or similar-to-MAC brushes. Though the numbering system has made me hesitant to review Sigma since I first heard of the brand (because I don’t like copycats, diversion, knockoffs, etc.), I think they could do just as well without the MAC numbers. I think it automatically invites very tight, very critical comparisons between the two brands.
Sigma Makeup brushes are definitely a more affordable alternative to MAC brushes or any other high-end brushes. They are good, but not always great and sometimes just so-so. Like all brush ranges, not all brushes are made equal. Some brushes aren’t as soft, others not as useful. I have all of the currently available MAC brushes, and there are certainly brushes that I have no use for and some that I don’t love or even like. To expect every Sigma Makeup Brush to be outstanding or to surpass MAC or other high-end brands is a very tough expectation to meet.
I think if you go in with “this is an affordable alternative” rather than “this is exactly the same or better” mindset, you won’t be disappointed. (Of course, also make sure you’ve read my thoughts on the brushes themselves, because some might still disappoint you–e.g. 187!)
See brush-by-brush comparisons, photos, and more Q&A…
All photos show Sigma Makeup Brushes brand new–they have not been washed or used, they’re right out of the package, so my MAC brushes may look dirtier (I swear I cleaned them all, but I think I might have forgotten one or two) and some of my white-bristled brushes I’ve never been able to turn 100% perfectly white again. This post focuses exclusively on how Sigma brushes stack up to MAC brushes, because this is the most common question I’ve seen asked.
Q. How do they compare to MAC brushes of the same number? (e.g. quality of the handle, hair, shedding, similarity to, worse/better)
First, one common denominator: nearly all of the Sigma Makeup brushes are heavier (the handle being heavier) and thicker/larger in diameter in comparison to MAC brushes. Most of the Sigma Makeup Brushes are also longer.
MAC 109 Brush / Sigma Makeup SS109 Brush
MAC 109 Brush / Sigma Makeup SS109 Brush
Sigma Makeup SS109 Brush / MAC 109 Brush
MAC 109 Brush / Sigma Makeup SS109 Brush (Handle thickness comparison)
SS109 vs. MAC 109: The MAC 109 is denser, softer, and the brush-head itself is about 2mm longer. I found the SS109 to be fluffier and not as densely packed as the MAC brush; the shape itself is a little more domed and not as flat. My MAC 109 doesn’t shed very much (maybe one bristle for every 2-3 uses), but I do have some trouble with my SS109 shedding. The SS109 splays out more, while the MAC 109 is rounded and tapers in.
MAC 150 Brush / Sigma Makeup SS150 Brush
MAC 150 Brush / Sigma Makeup SS150 Brush (Handle thickness comparison)
MAC 150 Brush / Sigma Makeup SS150 Brush
MAC 150 Brush / Sigma Makeup SS150 Brush (Length comparison–MAC is 5-6mm longer)
SS150 vs. MAC 150: The MAC 150 is more domed and tapered inward, while the SS150 flares out more and then has a wide dome shape. The SS150 has the same softness (which, by the way, the MAC 150 isn’t ultra soft, it’s soft but could be softer) as the MAC 150, but the SS150 differs greatly in its shape and density. I think the SS150 is more similar to MAC’s 134 (even though Sigma also offers the SS134). The SS150 is flatter and denser, not as fluffy as the MAC 150. The SS150 sheds like nobody’s business, while my MAC 150 doesn’t shed much at all. The SS150 is also the smelliest, most troublesome brush out of all the Sigma brushes I’ve tried–it sheds, smells, and bleeds. The weight difference between these two also feels the largest–the SS150 is distinctly heavier than the MAC brush, even though it’s shorter.
MAC 168 Brush / Sigma Makeup SS168 Brush
MAC 168 Brush / Sigma Makeup SS168 Brush
SS168 vs. MAC 168: The MAC 168 is tighter, more compact, and it retains its shape a lot better than the SS168, which was splayed when I first opened it and still splays out even when I re-shape it after washing. The SS168 is fluffier and better for diffusing a blush than it is for cotouring, just because I find the lack of firmness makes it more difficult to contour the hollows of my cheeks. (Please keep in mind that I’ve had my 168 forever, and I didn’t always know how to clean them, so mine is a little discolored–it does start off white!)
Sigma Makeup SS182 Brush / MAC 182 Brush
MAC 182 Brush / Sigma Makeup SS182 Brush
SS182 vs. MAC 182: My MAC 182 is a Couture 182, which means it has a square handle and is thusly not *exactly* the same as the permanent MAC 182. (And yes, I still own TWO of the Couture 182s, and I love them dearly!) These two are almost equally soft. I’d say the MAC brush is just slightly softer against the skin, but it’s really close. The SS182 does a really good job replicating the feel and density of the MAC 182. The MAC 182 sheds less than my SS182, but neither sheds much at all. The SS182 smells after washing, though, and my MAC 182 always just smells like whatever I washed it in (baby shampoo).
Sigma Makeup SS187 Brush / MAC 187 Brush
Sigma Makeup SS187 Brush / MAC 187 Brush
MAC 187 Brush / Sigma Makeup SS187 Brush
MAC 187 Brush / Sigma Makeup SS187 Brush (Handle size/length comparison)
SS187 vs. MAC 187: I found that the differences between these two were more pronounced than in many of the other comparisons. The MAC 187 is significantly softer and it is much more dense. It also holds its shape better and has enough firmness/density so you can use it for stippling. The SS187 feels a little fluffy and floppy in comparison. The SS187 is nearly an inch longer and significantly heavier with a thicker handle.
MAC 188 Brush / Sigma Makeup SS188 Brush
MAC 188 Brush / Sigma Makeup SS188 Brush
Sigma Makeup SS188 Brush / MAC 188 Brush
SS188 vs. MAC 188: Like the previous comparison between SS187 and MAC 187, the SS188 is just not as dense or firm as the MAC 188. The 188 is tighter, thinner, and doesn’t flare out like the SS188. The SS188 brush-head is about 1-2mm longer in length.
MAC 190 Brush / Sigma Makeup SS190 Brush
MAC 190 Brush / Sigma Makeup SS190 Brush
SS190 vs. MAC 190: These two are very, very similar. The MAC 190 is a little softer, but otherwise the two brushes are identical.
MAC 194 Brush / Sigma Makeup SS194 Brush
SS194 vs. MAC 194: I don’t think these brushes are comparable. The MAC 194 is thinner, skinnier, and longer. They’re two totally different brushes. The SS194 is considerably longer than MAC 194.
MAC 209 Brush / Sigma Makeup SS209 Brush
MAC 209 Brush / Sigma Makeup SS209 Brush
SS209 vs. MAC 209: The MAC brush is skinnier overall, but it’s also more straight/narrow and comes to a point, but it’s not as tapered as the SS209, which almost bulges at the bottom and middle before it comes to a thin point. The SS209 is also a good deal longer and the handle thicker than the MAC 209.
MAC 219 Brush / Sigma Makeup SS219 Brush
Sigma Makeup SS219 Brush / MAC 219 Brush
Sigma Makeup SS219 Brush / MAC 219 Brush
SS219 vs. MAC 219: The photos do a really good job showing just how different these two brushes are. The SS19 is a fluffy, dome-shaped crease brush, whereas the MAC 219 is more penci-shaped, more pointed and less domed, and it is much tighter/compact and not nearly as fluffy. I find that both are good to have on hand, but the SS219 is not like the MAC 219. Just think of them as two different brushes entirely! The SS219 is also over an inch longer than the MAC 219.
MAC 224 Brush / Sigma Makeup SS224 Brush
MAC 224 Brush / Sigma Makeup SS224 Brush
MAC 224 Brush / Sigma Makeup SS224 Brush
Sigma Makeup SS224 Brush / MAC 224 Brush
SS224 vs. MAC 224: The SS224 is about 10mm longer than the MAC 224, even though the MAC 224 brush-head is 3-4mm longer than the SS224. Much like the 219 comparison, there are enough differences between these two brushes that make them less than identical. The MAC 224 is longer, skinnier, and not as dense–it’s very soft and floppy in a sense. The SS224 is shorter with more of a domed shape rather than a tapered edge like the MAC 224. The SS224’s shorter brush-head allows you to have more control over it.
MAC 239 Brush / Sigma Makeup SS239 Brush
MAC 239 Brush / Sigma Makeup SS239 Brush
Sigma Makeup SS239 Brush / MAC 239 Brush
SS239 vs. MAC 239: One of the most noticeable differences is the fact that the MAC 239 is white-haired, while the SS239 is brown. The MAC 239 is much, much better than the SS239 at picking up, packing on, and blending eyeshadow. The SS239 is larger, denser, and stubbier in comparison to the MAC 239. The SS239 actually reminds me of an old, long-discontinued Benefit eyeshadow brush I used to use. These just aren’t very comparable to me–it doesn’t mean the SS239 is bad, it’s decent, but it’s not the same as the MAC 239.
MAC 266 Brush / Sigma Makeup SS266 Brush
MAC 266 Brush / Sigma Makeup SS266 Brush
MAC 266 Brush / Sigma Makeup SS266 Brush
SS266 vs. MAC 266: Even though the angle of the MAC 266 looks much more severe than the SS266, they are actually the same. (Maybe your eyes are better than mine and didn’t think that, but I put them side by side, and the angle continues perfectly.) As you can see, the SS266 is skinnier and a smidgen shorter. The SS266 is also just under an inch longer than the MAC 266 with a thicker handle–I like my eyeliner brushes on the shorter side for more control but that’s a personal preference.
Sigma SS275 Brush / MAC 275 Brush
Sigma SS275 Brush / MAC 275 Brush
Sigma SS275 Brush / MAC 275 Brush
SS275 vs. MAC 275: The SS275 is significantly smaller than the MAC 275, which isn’t a bad thing. It actually kind of reminds me of MAC’s 272. The SS275 is a little more angular towards the edge in comparison as well. Like most Sigma brushes, the SS275 is also about half an inch longer than the MAC 275. The SS275 fits better in my inner corner than the MAC 275, actually! The SS275 sheds a bit more than my MAC 275 (which doesn’t shed at all). It’s not particularly worrisome, but it’s worth noting.
Q. Do you like the Sigma or MAC Kabuki (182) better?
I like the MAC 182 better, but it is really a tight race. I prefer the square handle of my MAC 182, which is actually not even what MAC 182 normally comes equipped with! I find MAC is just the littlest bit softer. Is it worth the huge price difference? No, I don’t think MAC is $25+ better by any means. I also like that my MAC 182 doesn’t smell after washing. I’m not that bothered by the scent, just because I don’t notice when I actually just use the brushes rather than specifically going out of my way to smell to see if there *is* a scent. The SS182 hardly sheds, is incredibly dense, very soft, and it retains its shape well after washing. I didn’t have any bleeding with the SS182 either.
Q. How does the weight of the brush compare?
The weight of the Sigma brushes seem heavier than the MAC brushes overall, and the difference is more noticeable in the face brushes, just because the handles are significantly thicker. Nearly all of the Sigma brushes are longer than MAC brushes.
Q. Why do they have the same numbers as MAC brushes?
According to Simone, when they originally launched their brushes, they didn’t have numbers. Customers requested that numbers be added to the brushes so they could refer to which brush they were using. Simone has told me that they are slowly phasing out the MAC-based numbering system and will have a new numbering system in place by the end of this year.
Q. Do you think these would last a lifetime like MAC brushes?
If you don’t use them very often, sure. If you use them everyday, I don’t think they will last you as long as MAC brushes. I see some of the ferrules loosening up over time with heavy use (I put ’em through the ringer, trust me!), a few brushes have some shedding/dye issues that could be fixed, and the smell might get worse after a couple of years (can’t say either way). These are just some concerns I’d have for lifetime use. I think they’ll last you a few years, and if you have to replace them in a few years, I think the low cost of even an entire set is certainly worth a few years’ of usage, you know?
I know several makeup artists who can vouch for their MAC brushes being as good today as they were 15 years ago when they first bought them–but they also take meticulous care of their brushes. With good care of your Sigma brushes, I imagine you can get several years out of them. You may have to hot glue the ferrule back on after a few years, but the brush itself seems to hold its shape, not shed so much that you’re missing half a brush six months later, etc. It is unrealistic to expect that Sigma = MAC (and unfair to hold Sigma to MAC standards, considering their price point, to be honest) in every single way.
Q. Do MAC brushes fit in the brush roll?
Yes.
Please feel free to ask any additional questions you may have. Thanks for reading!Donald Trump, angry at a Facebook campaign showing a cheesecake photo of his wife, threatened to retaliate against the reputation of Heidi Cruz in multiple tweets Tuesday night.
In the first tweet, Mr. Trump berated rival Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, saying “that is some low level ad you did using a picture Melania in a GQ shoot. Be careful or I will spill the beans on your wife.”
Mr. Trump quickly deleted that tweet, though not before it had been preserved for history by numerous political reporters.
Despite the unusually personal nature of the attack, neither Mr. Cruz nor his wife had anything to do with the ad from the Make America Awesome PAC, an anti-Trump super PAC that is legally barred from any ties to Mr. Cruz or his campaign.
But then Mr. Trump doubled down, adding his epithet for Mr. Cruz, though he did not tag the senator’s own Twitter handle this time.
“Lyin’ Ted Cruz just used a picture of Melania from a G.Q. shoot in his ad. Be careful, Lyin’ Ted, or I will spill the beans on your wife!” he said in the second tweet.
In neither tweet did he specify what he would “spill the beans” about.
In reply, Mr. Cruz took to Twitter to point out that he had nothing to do with the picture and calling Mr. Trump classless and a coward.
“Pic of your wife not from us. Donald, if you try to attack Heidi, you’re more of a coward than I thought. #classless,” Mr. Cruz replied.
The real-estate tycoon and Republican front-runner was irked by a Facebook campaign by an anti-Trump group seeking to drive up turnout among conservative Mormon women in Utah and Arizona.
The Make America Awesome PAC distributed a picture of Mrs. Trump, a former professional model, curled up on a fur rug with no clothing visible. The risque shot is accompanied by the text “Meet Melania Trump. Your next first lady. Or you could support Ted Cruz on Tuesday.”
Liz Mair, a strategist with Make America Awesome, also noted on Twitter that the picture wasn’t being circulated by Mr. Cruz’s campaign.
“Hi Donald, I know you’re really upset about that ad, but it was Make America Awesome’s, not Ted Cruz‘s,” she wrote.
Copyright © 2019 The Washington Times, LLC. Click here for reprint permission.Hacker compromised Royal Navy security BelfastTelegraph.co.uk Computer details of current and former defence staff, including a former Royal Navy head, were posted on the internet after a hacker broke into a military website and shut it down. https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/uk/hacker-compromised-royal-navy-security-28569502.html
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Computer details of current and former defence staff, including a former Royal Navy head, were posted on the internet after a hacker broke into a military website and shut it down.
The Royal Navy website was taken offline after being "compromised" by the hacker, codenamed TinKode, who has a history of breaching government databases including Nasa, the US Space Agency and the Pentagon.
The Ministry of Defence stressed yesterday that no "malicious damage" had been inflicted on the Royal Navy site, which did not contain any classified information. However, the site has been down for three days and TinKode, who is Romanian, posted so-called "hash values" for Ministry passwords he claimed to have obtained from his illegal entry. With hash values, hackers can crack passwords a lot more easily. One of the named accounts was for former First Sea Lord Admiral Sir Jonathon Band.
In the wake of the disclosure, other hackers piled in with additional material including five passwords for other members of staff. The MoD insisted that the information posted would not allow anyone access to secrets.
The electronic break-in took place on Friday night. Visitors to the website yesterday morning were greeted with the message "Unfortunately the Royal Navy website is currently undergoing essential maintenance. Please visit again shortly." A message posted by TinKode on the social networking site Twitter read: "Minister (sic) of Defence United Kingdom – HACKED". According to members of the hacking community, TinKode used to be a member of Hackers Blog, a collective of cyber activists who ran a campaign of breaking into websites to highlight security flaws.
Members of the group were known as "white hats" who did not harm the websites. But TinKode is said to have since become a "grey hat" – someone who deliberately publishes sensitive information online.
TinKode is believed to have used a "SQL injection attack" to target the Navy website, a common method which exploits vulnerabilities in databases used by websites. Once entry has been gained, the hacker can look at and download sensitive data as well as upload malicious software.
Rik Ferguson, a cyber security analyst at the company Trend Micro, said: "It's always embarrassing when something public is successfully hacked and should serve as a warning to anyone who has a presence online to take all the necessary steps to secure their websites." The MoD said: "There has been no malicious damage, but as a precaution the website has been temporarily suspended. Security teams are investigating."
Officials said the site had the level of security needed to prevent "things like silly pictures being put in". TinKode's actions, said one official, added nothing to the debate on cyber security.
Belfast TelegraphThe following are all relevant, fact-based issues, the "hard news" stories that the media has a responsibility to report. But the business-oriented press generally avoids them.
1. U.S. Wealth Up $34 Trillion Since Recession. 93% of You Got Almost None of It.
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That's an average of $100,000 for every American. But the people who already own most of the stocks took almost all of it. For them, the average gain was well over a million dollars -- tax-free as long as they don't cash it in. Details available here.
2. Eight Rich Americans Made More Than 3.6 Million Minimum Wage Workers
A recent report stated that no full-time minimum wage worker in the U.S. can afford a one-bedroom or two-bedroom rental at fair market rent. There are 3.6 million such workers, and their total (combined) 2013 earnings is less than the 2013 stock market gains of just eight Americans, all of whom take more than their share from society: the four Waltons, the two Kochs, Bill Gates, and Warren Buffett.
3. News Sources Speak for the 5%
It would be refreshing to read an honest editorial: "We dearly value the 5 to 7 percent of our readers who make a lot of money and believe that their growing riches are helping everyone else."
Instead, the business media seems unable to differentiate between the top 5 percent and the rest of society. The Wall Street Journal exclaimed, "Middle-class Americans have more buying power than ever before," and then went on to sputter: "What Recession?...The economy has bounced back from recession, unemployment has declined.."
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The Chicago Tribune may be even further out of touch with its less privileged readers, asking them: "What's so terrible about the infusion of so much money into the presidential campaign?"
4. TV News Dumbed Down for American Viewers
A 2009 survey by the European Journal of Communication compared the U.S. to Denmark, Finland, and the UK in the awareness and reporting of domestic vs. international news, and of 'hard' news (politics, public administration, the economy, science, technology) vs.'soft' news (celebrities, human interest, sport and entertainment). The results:
Americans [are] especially uninformed about international public affairs.
American respondents also underperformed in relation to domestic-related hard news stories.
American television reports much less international news than Finnish, Danish and British television;
American television network newscasts also report much less hard news than Finnish and Danish television.
Surprisingly, the report states that "our sample of American newspapers was more oriented towards hard news than their counterparts in the European countries." Too bad Americans are reading less newspapers.
5. News Execs among White Male Boomers Who Owe Trillions to Society
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The hype about the "self-made man" is fantasy. In the early 1970s, we privileged white males were spirited out of college to waiting jobs in management and finance, technology was inventing new ways for us to make money, tax rates were about to tumble, and visions of bonuses and capital gains danced in our heads.
While we were in school the Defense Department had been preparing the Internet for Microsoft and Apple, the National Science Foundation was funding the Digital Library Initiative research that would be adopted as the Google model, and the National Institute of Health was doing the early laboratory testing for companies like Merck and Pfizer. Government research labs and public universities trained thousands of chemists, physicists, chip designers, programmers, engineers, production line workers, market analysts, testers, troubleshooters, etc., etc.
All we created on our own was a disdainful attitude, like that of Steve Jobs: "We have always been shameless about stealing great ideas."
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6. Funding Plummets for Schools and Pensions as Corporations Stop Paying Taxes
Threeseparatestudies have shown that corporations pay less than half of their required state taxes, which are the main source of K-12 educational funding and a significant part of pension funding. Most recently, the report "The Disappearing Corporate Tax Base" found that the percentage of corporate profits paid as state income taxes has dropped from 7 percent in 1980 to about 3 percent today.
7. Companies Based in the U.S. Paying Most of their Taxes Overseas
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Citigroup had 42% of its 2011-13 revenue in North America (almost all U.S.) and made $32 billion in profits, but received a U.S. current income tax benefit all three years.
Pfizer had 40% of its 2011-13 revenues and nearly half of its physical assets in the U.S., but declared almost $10 billion in U.S. losses to go along with nearly $50 billion in foreign profits.
In 2013 Exxon had about 43% of management, 36% of sales, 40% of long-lived assets, and 70-90% of its productive oil and gas wells in the U.S., yet only paid about 2 percent of its total income in U.S. income taxes, and most of that was something called a "theoretical" tax.
8. Restaurant Servers Go Without Raise for 30 Years
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An evaluation by Michelle Chen showed that the minimum wage for tipped workers has been approximately $2 an hour since the 1980s. She also notes that about 40 percent of these workers are people of color, and about two-thirds are women.(Photo provided)
By KEVIN NEVERS
Cats are perverse creatures. By turns affectionate and malicious, yowlingly needy then serenely aloof, crafty one minute and asinine the next, they might have been put on earth solely to prove Emerson right, that consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds.
Cats are great believers in their own dignity, and for that reason easily embarrassed, yet they’ll upchuck a hair ball on your pillow and look you blandly in the eye while doing it.
Cats are supremely confident, tremblingly skittish, fickle, ungrateful, fussy, crude, inspired to acts of vandalism and bloodletting by ghostly voices only they can hear, and for all that we still welcome them into our homes and hearts, because in the end we need them more than they need us.
Except when they do need us. For cats are one other thing too: oblivious to their own best interests, maddeningly obstinate, suicidally willful, happy to sacrifice the nose to spite the face.
Consider, then, the case of Mili, a gray tab |
may be amazing - it was a hatched when Richard Nixon was president and around the time John Lennon wrote his iconic "Imagine" - fisheries experts say its longevity is a testament to the safe spaces created for Superior's fish.
"We often think of a fish's lifespan being relatively short, maybe 10 years," Terry Margenau, Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources fisheries supervisor, said in a news release. "But lake trout are slow-growing and have a longevity that will rival that of the ancient sturgeon.
"This fish is a prime example of that longevity and the important role fish refuges play in sustaining populations of these native fish."
This particular lake trout has been caught eight times by the DNR in the Gull Island Refuge.
The first time was in 1981, when it was tagged and estimated to be 10 to 12 years old. It measured 27.3 inches then.
When it was most recently caught during the DNR spawning assessment on Nov. 2, it measured 35.5 inches, the DNR said.
Pictures from that catch were captured by David Stokes of Stokes Media House Inc.
The Gull Island Shoal area is one of two refuges in Lake Superior's Wisconsin waters where fishing is not allowed. The Gull Island refuge was created in 1976, while the Devils Island Refuge was established in 1981.
The islands are among the 22 that are part of Superior's Apostle Islands group.
"Creating these protected areas was the primary driver of the recovery of lake trout following their depletion from sea lamprey invasion and overharvest" Brad Ray, senior fisheries biologist for DNR in Bayfield, Wis., said in a press release.
If you catch a tagged fish in western Lake Superior and you're interested in its backstory, the DNR can tell you.
All lake trout handled by the DNR get a colored tag with a number on it. Anglers who catch and release those fish can keep track of the tag number and call the Bayfield DNR office (715-779-4021) to get the capture history.Bureaucracy is an interactive fiction video game released by Infocom in 1987, scripted by comic science fiction author Douglas Adams. It is Infocom's twenty-fourth game.
Setting [ edit ]
The player is challenged to confront a long and complicated series of bureaucratic hurdles resulting from a recent change of address. Mail isn't being delivered, bank accounts are inaccessible, and nothing is as it should be. The game includes a measure of simulated blood pressure which rises when "frustrating" events happen and lowers after a period of no annoying events. Once a certain blood pressure level is reached, the player suffers an aneurysm and the game ends.
While undertaking the seemingly simple task of retrieving misdirected mail, the player encounters a number of bizarre characters, including an antisocial hacker, a paranoid weapons enthusiast, and a tribe of Zalagasan cannibals. At the same time, they must deal with impersonal corporations, counterintuitive airport logic, and a hungry llama.
Feelies [ edit ]
Among the extra items, which Infocom called feelies, in the Bureaucracy game package are:
A pamphlet entitled You're ready to move! from the fictional bank Fillmore Fiduciary Trust
from the fictional bank Fillmore Fiduciary Trust A flier advertising the fictional magazine Popular Paranoia
A welcome letter from the player's new employer, Happitec Corporation
A Fillmore "Better Beezer" credit card application form (each sheet of the triplicate carbon copy form had different instructions and questions)
A very skinny pencil (similar to those provided at banks)
Notes [ edit ]
According to Adams, the premise of the game was inspired by a real-life experience. Before moving from one address to another in London, Adams filled out several change-of-address forms, including one he submitted in person at his bank. Shortly after settling into his new home, he found that his credit card no longer worked. The bank had invalidated his current card and sent a new one to his old address. Adams spent weeks trying to get the bank to correct its mistake, filling out several new forms and talking to several bank officials. The bank finally sent a letter apologising for the inconvenience; naturally, it was sent to his old address.
Although Bureaucracy showed the unmistakable signs of Adams' humor, the game didn't sell nearly as well as his other collaboration with Infocom, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. This may be, at least in part, because Infocom was facing grave financial difficulties in 1987. The recent failure of its relational database product Cornerstone was one reason for these difficulties. Advertising budgets were being slashed and personnel from all departments of the company were facing layoffs.
In a somewhat surprising move given the author's popularity, Adams' name appears only in small print near the bottom of the box's cover, where a blurb reads "by Douglas Adams and the Staff of Infocom." Adams was somewhat dilatory in delivering the game (a habit for which Adams was well-known), and other writers including Michael Bywater were asked to help on an uncredited basis. (Bywater wrote about this at the time in his then-regular column in Punch.)
Infocom rated Bureaucracy as "Advanced" in its difficulty rating system. It was also part of the Infocom Plus range, which required a machine with a minimum of 128K of memory.
In a realistic touch, the game begins with a short online "software registration form" displayed on the screen. After the form has been completed, the game uses the given information after appropriately mangling it. (For example, the game will persistently address the player as the wrong gender, and whatever the player enters as "least favourite colour" will appear in numerous descriptions.)
The game has 50 locations.[1]
Reception [ edit ]
Game reviewers Hartley and Patricia Lesser complimented the game in their "The Role of Computers" column in Dragon #124 (1987), calling it "an outrageous journey through red tape that puts you directly in the middle of a bureaucratic muddle so convoluted that you can't help but laugh."[2] Jerry Pournelle named Bureaucracy as his game of the month for October 1987, stating that he and Larry Niven became "engrossed".[3] The game sold 40,000 copies.[4]
Tagline [ edit ]
Everything goes wrong in this hilarious battle with the powers that be!
See also [ edit ]This year's Royal Croquet Club. Photo: RCC / Facebook.
The council invited entrepreneurs Tom Skipper and Stuart Duckworth to participate in the Qingdao International Beer Festival in China last year, in a bid to woo Chinese tourists and investment to South Australia.
The company lost more than $1.1 million staging the rebadged Royale Adelaide Club at the festival.
According to the pair, Chinese officials, including Qingdao’s Mayor, promised there would be 50,000 visitors per day to the site.
The Royale Adelaide Club budgeted for 7000 visitors per day; average attendance was 700 people per day.
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Skipper and Duckworth say they have had to place “certain companies”, including Royal Croquet Club Adelaide and its parent company The Social Creative, into voluntary administration because of the losses.
The massive storms that caused South Australia’s state-wide blackout last year also severely affected The Social Creative event the Good Fortune Market, during the OzAsia Festival – adding to the losses.
“The weather’s bad luck, but we’ve copped bad faith and bad decisions as well. It’s been the year from hell,” Duckworth said.
“However, we’re willing to do everything in our power during the voluntary administration process to help rectify the situation and continue to contribute to SA’s vibrancy agenda, as we have done so over the past four years.”
Skipper and Duckworth hope to be able to stage the Royal Croquet Club event again during next year’s Adelaide Fringe.
But they have warned 400 casual jobs, seven full-time jobs and a total contribution of $8 million to the South Australian economy would be lost if The Social Creative goes under.
According to The Social Creative, Chinese authorities gave assurances they would waive all duties and taxes relating to imported goods for the Royal Adelaide Club event – but this never occurred, meaning “hundreds of thousands of dollars” had to be spent releasing SA food and wine from customs.
The company also says Chinese authorities did not follow through on an agreement to pay for power and water, while “constant delays from the Chinese led to a majority of third-party sponsorships never materialising”.
“All that combined made the event a black hole for us,” said Skipper.
“My passport was reported to authorities – I was effectively detained – and only when we managed to raise additional funds from a supporter who helped to pay our Chinese creditors were we allowed to exit the country.”
Duckworth told InDaily this morning the decision to place the companies in voluntary administration was “definitely a blow … [but] it’s not the end”.
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He said the decision was the best way to ensure creditors were repaid debts, and the best hope of the companies resurfacing.
Duckworth said the companies’ events had attracted more than one million patrons over the past four years – “we are very proud of that” – adding he and Skipper intended to learn “very hard lessons” and come back stronger.
“We’ve got some very real options we are working through [in] this voluntary administration process,” Duckworth said.
“We’re not going to throw up our hands and just say it’s too hard now.
“I’m not pissed off with anyone … I’m disappointed with the situation.”
He added that “it would be remiss of us not to acknowledge our part in it”.
“There definitely wasn’t one thing or group [… that created the situation]; it’s just been a combination of things.
“[But] do I feel let down? Absolutely.”
Duckworth presented to a meeting of the Adelaide City Council mid-last month spruiking plans for an Alpine Winter Village event for Victoria Square.
He said the family event was now not going ahead – but that TSC was in negotiations with Renewal SA, and there was still hope it would return.
He said “it would not be the best to specify” what his companies owe individual creditors.
Asked whether TSC owed the Adelaide City Council any money, Duckworth said it did not – but that there had been a discrepancy in a bill owed to the tune of about $7000.
He said that money was being paid today.
A council spokesperson told InDaily this afternoon that: “The City of Adelaide appreciates and recognises the great events that the Social Creative and The Royal Croquet Club put on and the people and activity that these events bring to the city.”
“The Royal Croquet Club and the Social Creative have quickly become a key element of Adelaide’s dynamic festival program as well as a key element of city activation.
“[The] council has worked closely with them over many years to provide support for their events and to give them the best chance of success.”
The spokesperson added that the council “is not in a position to comment on outstanding monies from any of its contracting parties as such information would be deemed commercial in confidence”.
“We wish them all the best in working through their current difficulties.”
Property Council SA executive director Daniel Gannon told InDaily: “If Adelaide’s vibrancy agenda is contingent upon the success or failure of one company, then we should be concerned about its depth.
“However, this isn’t the case. Whilst it’s unfortunate for the company in question, Adelaide’s vibrancy is a collaborative effort across multiple sectors and bats deeper than one.
“Could it be stronger? Absolutely.
“But for that to happen, we need a bigger residential population in the CBD with more businesses and job opportunities.”
We value local independent journalism. We hope you do too. InDaily provides valuable, local independent journalism in South Australia. As a news organisation it offers an alternative to The Advertiser, a different voice and a closer look at what is happening in our city and state for free. Any contribution to help fund our work is appreciated. Please click below to become an InDaily supporter. Powered by PressPatronRemember this day, everyone. This is the day they came for our WETFARTs, and we did nothing. Today is the day that freedom died, in a moist burst, one last, damp eruption from our nation’s beautiful rectum of freedom. Yes, the state of California has recalled the legally-issued license plate that reads WETFART, and inside, we all die a little.
We were alerted to this shattering of justice, via, like all important news nowadays, via this tweet:
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That tweet is actually a Matruska doll of social media, being a screenshot of another user’s Instagram account, which is a picture of a physical letter sent by the California DMV. That user, thisismyaccountyay, seems to be the owner of the license plate in question, and it also seems that the letter was received sometime around August of last year. So I guess this really isn’t the day freedom died, as it’s been dead for a few months already.
The car and plate in question do seem to be real, as a picture of the Mercedes bearing the plate showed up on Imgur and Reddit about nine months ago.
The plate in the picture was legal until at least April of 2017, if freedom had remained unchecked. For whatever reason, the California DMV has reconsidered issuing the WETFART plate, and is recalling it, stating that
“It has come to our attention that the personalized plate “WETFART” is assigned to your 2010 Mercedes Benz. The configuration “WETFART” could be considered offensive to good taste and decency and may be misleading to some of our citizens.”
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That “may be misleading to some of our citizens.” part is interesting, because it perhaps implies that a California citizen confronted the car’s owner, demanded to see a sample of the advertised wet farts, and was only able to discover farts that were as bone-dry as the Mojave desert.
“Where’s the wetness?” I imagine the irate citizen demanding, banging on the roof of the white Benz. “This parched, arid flatus is the exact opposite of what your license tag clearly suggests! Expect to hear from the good people of the California Department of Motor Vehicles, you charlatan!”
I hope the person with these plates gets a chance to defend themselves. “Offensive?” they’d argue, “Offensive to whom? What sort of person finds the beautiful, life-affirming act of a hot, unexpected spray of moist wastes, ejected suddenly and with characteristic raspberry-fanfare from a human anus, offensive? I defy you to find a person who does not associate the act of a wet, sloppy fart with unbridled joy!”
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Our hearts go out to Ryan R, the semi-anonymous Mercedes owner and (likely) former holder of the WETFART licence plate. Perhaps the owner was just trying to convey how We TFA RT (we think fast, always, [in] real time) or something?
Keep fighting the fight; WETFART will be our rallying cry for freedom.Advanced server-side rendering for Angular 4+ applications
Introduction
The purpose of this library is to support server-side rendering of your Angular 4+ applications with minimal code changes and mimimal difficulty. It supports both Angular CLI projects and projects that use custom webpack configurations. It works out of the box with @angular/material with no hot-fixes or workarounds! It also generally requires zero changes to your existing application code: you won't have to create separate @NgModule s, one for the server-side rendered application and one for the regular client application (unless you want to). You can just take your Angular code as-is and follow the steps below to get server-side rendering working.
There are two ways you can use angular-ssr :
If you want to generate prerendered documents as part of your application build, run a normal ng build, and then invoke ng-render from node_modules/.bin. I should emphasize that this is the simplest use of angular-ssr, but also the least flexible and the most prone to errors. So if you encounter exceptions because you have some unsual configs or webpack settings, please try one of the other options below. But if you are using ng-render, it will result in several steps being taken: It will use tsconfig.json, webpack.server.config.js or webpack.config.js and some other configuration elements to compile your application to a temporary directory and load the resulting JavaScript code into memory.
, or and some other configuration elements to compile your application to a temporary directory and load the resulting JavaScript code into memory. It will query your router configuration and collect all your application routes into a flattened array (eg. /, /foo, /bar ) Note that your application should not be using the hash location strategy if you wish to do server-side rendering. Otherwise this will generate a directory structure containing # as part of the path and this is probably not what you want. Just use the regular location strategy instead of useHash or HashLocationStrategy.
,, ) For each of the discovered routes, it will instantiate your application and render that route to a static.html file in dist (or, if you specified an alternate output directory using --output, it will write the files there). It instantiates the application using the existing dist/index.html file that was produced as part of your normal application build as a template. The pre-rendered content will be inserted into that template and written out as a new.html file based on the route: e.g., /foo/index.html.
file in (or, if you specified an alternate output directory using, it will write the files there). It instantiates the application using the existing file that was produced as part of your normal application build as a template. The pre-rendered content will be inserted into that template and written out as a new file based on the route: e.g.,. The drawback to this approach is that the content is generated at build time, so if your routes contain some dynamic data that needs to be rendered on the server, you will instead need to write a simple HTTP server using express or koa and do on-demand server-side rendering. If you need to do on-demand rendering (using the API) instead of build-time rendering (using ng-render ) because your application contains a lot of dynamic data or due to some other constraint, no problem. It just means that you will have to build a separate webpack program output: either a NodeJS HTTP server, or a NodeJS application whose sole purpose is to do prerendering. You will follow these rough steps: Install angular-ssr as a dependency: npm install angular-ssr --save
as a dependency: If you already have multiple webpack configs (one for server and one for client), then you can skip down to the next section and begin writing code to interface with angular-ssr.
. Otherwise, you will need to add an additional output to your existing webpack configurations. This can take two forms: either you modify your existing webpack.config.js and just add an additional output, or you create an entirely new webpack-server.config.js which will serve as your SSR webpack configuration. Regardless of how you accomplish it, you will ultimately need to produce two programs from webpack: Your normal client-side JavaScript application An additional server-side application that you will use to do server-side rendering. You have a couple choices here, as well: If you want your application to use a NodeJS application with an HTTP server inside of it that will do on-demand pre-rendering of your application routes, then do that. We can then write a few lines of code to do the actual pre-rendering / caching inside of your route handlers. It doesn't matter if you use koa or express or any other HTTP server you wish to use -- angular-ssr will not integrate directly with the HTTP server anyway. It just exposes a very simple API to get pre-rendered HTML documents, and you can integrate this with your server in whichever way makes the most sense for your application. Alternatively, you can build an application whose sole purpose is to do server-side rendering at build-time. This application will produce some static pre-rendered application content and then exit. This use-case makes sense if your application will not need to do on-demand server-side rendering. Let's say for example you just have an application with a few routes ( /a, /b, /c, etc.). In this case, since all routes are known in advance and none of them take any URL parameters, we can just pre-render each route at build time and spit out some.html files. Let's say that your application does need on-demand rendering, though. For example, you are writing a blog application that has URLs like /blog/post/1, /blog/user/3, etc. In this case, you will need to do on-demand server-side rendering. No problem! Write a small HTTP server using express (or koa). Then from inside your server, you can demand render (and optionally cache, with a short TTL) particular routes like /blog/post/1. I will show you some examples of how to do this below.
and just add an additional output, or you create an entirely new which will serve as your SSR webpack configuration. Regardless of how you accomplish it, you will ultimately need to produce two programs from webpack:
The simplest possible case: an application with no built-in HTTP server and no need for on-demand rendering
If it makes sense for you to render your application at build time as a performance optimization (ie., your application does not contain lots of dynamic content that is not available at build time, or which is subject to change after the build), then the ng-render CLI tool is probably what you want. You simply run ng build or npm run build as normal, and then invoke./node_modules/.bin/ng-render (after npm install angular-ssr --save of course). This will render your application routes into static.html files. It is worth emphasizing that this use case is the easiest, but also the least flexible. If you need on-demand rendering, or if you have custom webpack configurations, then you should skip down to the examples below as they will cover your use-case better than this section.
To give ng-render a shot, just do:
npm install angular-ssr --save ng build./node_modules/.bin/ng-render
It should spit out some messages like:
[info] Writing rendered route / to /Users/bond/proj/dist/index.html [info] Writing rendered route /foo to /Users/bond/proj/dist/foo/index.html [info] Writing rendered route /bar to /Users/bond/proj/dist/bar/index.html
You can then do cd dist and run:
npm install -g http-server http-server.
Then when you load the application by hitting http://localhost:8080, you should see the pre-rendered document in the initial HTTP response (for each route in your application). To see what the prerendered document looks like, open Chrome Developer Tools and click the Disable JavaScript option. This way you can see the server-rendered document and prevent the client app from booting.
An example application like the one I have just described is available in the examples/cli directory. It also uses @angular/material to prove that Material works with angular-ssr.
Additional examples
Additional examples are available in the Examples section.
Use cases
On-demand server-side rendering and caching
I think this is likely to be the most common usage of angular-ssr :
You have an HTTP server application that you build as part of your application using webpack
You have an HTTP server application that you build as part of your application using webpack When you build your application, you are outputting two targets: your actual Angular client application, and your HTTP server application
We are going to focus on the server application here because there will be zero changes to your client application code.
Your actual HTTP server code will look something like the following:
import { applicationBuilderFromModule } from'angular-ssr'; import { join } from'path'; import { AppModule } from '../src/app/app.module'; ; ; ; ; ; ; http. get ( /. * /, ) ; http. listen ( process. env. PORT ) ; ;
Prerendering
Pre-rendering is the process of rendering of all routes that do not take parameters at server startup time instead of when thoseroutes are first requested. This may or may not be appropriate for your application, depending on its content and what is rendered inside of those routes. Perhaps you really do want to render them on-demand with a short TTL. You have to choose what makes sense for your application. If you do want to do prerendering, the code in your server will look vaguely like this:
application. prerender ( ). subscribe (, ) ;
This bit is completely optional.
Caching
The caching implementations in angular-ssr are completely optional and are not integral to the product in any way. The library provides two caching implementations: one that is variant-aware ( MemoryVariantCache ) and one that is not ( MemoryCache ). They are both fixed-size LRU caches that default to 65k items but can accept different sizes in their constructors. But they are very simple abstractions that just sit atop application.renderUri() and there is absolutely no requirement that you use them. They all share the same basic implementation:
async load ( uri : string ) : Promise < Snapshot < void >> { ; if ( snapshot == null ) { snapshot = await this. application. renderUri ( uri ) ; this. cache. set ( uri, snapshot ) ; } return snapshot ; }
These cache implementations are being considered for removal or deprecation because they are not appropriate for most applications.
If you want to roll your own caching solution, or just not cache anything, you are absolutely free to do so. Just call application.renderUri and you will get a freshly rendered document each time. After that, you can cache it or not cache it or do whatever you want with it. Caching is not an integral part of the library; MemoryCache and MemoryVariantCache are provided mostly as examples of how to implement basic caching.
Single-use server-side rendering as part of a build process
If your application does not fall into the categories described above (i.e., you do not need on-demand server-side rendering of all URLs), then perhaps your application falls into another category: single-use server-side rendering as part of the application build process.
In this case, your code will look similar to the HTTP server code above, but instead of integrating with express, you will simply use ApplicationPrerenderer to pre-render all application routes and write them to static.html files, which you can then serve with the HTTP server of your choosing. Again: this case only makes sense if you do not need on-demand rendering of all application routes.
In this case, your code will look something like this:
import { HtmlOutput, applicationBuilderFromModule, applicationPrerenderer } from'angular-ssr'; import { join } from'path'; import { AppModule } from '../src/app.module'; ; ; ; ; ; renderer. renderTo ( html ). catch ( ) ;
preboot
angular-ssr integrates with preboot seamlessly. Simply call:
builder. preboot ( true ) ;
or
builder.preboot({appRoot: 'application},...otherOptions});
Then simply call prebootClient().complete() from your client-side entrypoint ( main.ts ).
Note that for applications which use @angular/router, you do not want to call complete() until the router has finished rendering your application. Otherwise the server-rendered document will be hidden before the client-rendered document is ready, producing a white flash that is perceptible to users. Whereas if you call complete() after routing is finished, there is no flash and it is a completely seamless transition, invisible to the user:
@ NgModule ( ) export class AppComponent { constructor { ; } }
If you are not using @angular/router, you can just call it after client bootstrap completes:
; platformBrowserDynamic ( ). bootstrapModule ( AppModule ). then ( complete, complete ) ;
Variants
Now we arrive at the most complex use case. Here we wish to do prerendering and demand rendering inside a NodeJS HTTP server, but we also wish to render variants of each page. For example, our application may support multiple languages. angular-ssr supports this using a concept called a variant. A variant is essentially a key, a set of unique values, and a transition function which can place the application in the specified state.
Client code
To illustrate, let's again use the example of locales / languages. Your application has multiple languages and you want to support server-side rendering for each of them. The first time someone loads your application, we set the current language selection to the value of navigator.language (eg, "en-US"). We set an application cookie using document.cookie so that subsequent loads of the application will include as part of the request the language that the user wishes to view the application in. Assume we have some simple code like this somewhere in the application:
import { Component, Injectable, OnInit } from'@angular/core'; @ Component ( ) export class LocaleSelector implements OnInit { constructor { } onLocaleChanged { this. localeService. locale = locale ; } }
import { Injectable } from'@angular/core'; import { Observable, ReplaySubject } from'rxjs'; @ Injectable ( ) export class LocaleService { ; constructor { this. update ( cookies. get < string > ('locale') || navigator. language ||'en-US') ; } locale : Observable < string > { if ( locale ) { this. update ( locale ) ; } return this. subject ; } private update { this. subject. next ( value ) ; this. cookies. set ('locale ', value ) ; } }
@ Injectable ( ) export class CookieService { get map : Map < string, CookieValue > { ; ; return new Map < string, string > ( tuples ) ; } get < T > : T { return this. map. get ( key ) as any ; } set { this. delete ( key ) ; document. cookie = ` ${ key } = ${ value. toString ( ) } ; path=/; domain= ${ location. hostname } ; ` ; } delete { ; while ( criterion. length > 0 ) { ; document. cookie = ` ${ key } =; ${ serialized?'' + serialized : String ( ) } `. trim ( ) ; criterion. pop ( ) ; } } }
Essentially what this code is doing is setting a cookie in two events:
The user loads the application for the first time and there is no cookie, so we set the cookie value to navigator.language, to respect their system locale settings. If the user changes the locale, we update document.cookie with the new locale setting. Then subsequent HTTP requests will include a correct locale value, and we can use that to determine whether to serve them an English or a French page.
Server code
The code above means that our HTTP requests will match one of two cases:
The first time the user loads the application, no cookie will be set, in which case we can default to returning the English variant of the server-side rendered app and wait until we have access to navigator.language to select the system-correct locale All subsequent requests will have a locale cookie which we can use to determine which language we should return when we are querying our document store.
We can handle this by rendering different variants of our application. Let's assume that our application supports en-US, en-CA and fr-FR locales. This is how we would configure the server:
import { Injector, Injectable } from'@angular/core'; import { StateTransition } from'angular-ssr'; @ Injectable ( ) export class LocaleTransition implements StateTransition < string > { constructor { } transition { this. localeService. locale ( value ) ; } } type Variants = { } ; ; builder. variants ( ) ; ; app. get ( /. * /, ) ;
Voila! Now whenever the user reloads our application or comes back to it in a few days, we are going to hand them a pre-rendered document that is in the language of their choosing! Simple.
The example in examples/demand-express has working code that implements what was just described. Give it a shot!
APIs
The main contract that you use to define the behaviour of your application in a server context is called ApplicationBuilder. It has thorough comments and explains all the ways that you can configure your application when doing server-side rendering. ApplicationBuilder is an implementation of the Builder pattern. You use it to configure your application and then once you are finished configuring, you call the build() method to get an instance of Application<V> (where V is an object describing the variants your application understands, or void if you are not using variants).
ApplicationBuilder is an interface. There are three different factory functions, each of which returns an ApplciationBuilder appropriate for a specific use-case:
applicationBuilderFromModule<Variants = {}>(module: Type<any>, templateDocument?: string): Application<V> If your code has access to the root @NgModule definition (obtained through import or require() ), then this is probably the ApplicationBuilder factory that you want to use. It takes a module type and a template HTML document: dist/index.html, the build output index.html that contains all of the <script> tags necessary to bootstrap the client application inside the browser. If you use the source index.html instead, your server will render the application correctly but the client application will fail to boot inside the browser.
applicationBuilderFromModuleFactory<Variants = {}>(moduleFactory: NgModueFactory<any>, templateDocument?: string): Application<V> If your application code has already been run through ngc and produced.ngfactory.js files, then you can pass your root @NgModule's NgFactory type -- not the module definition itself, but its compilation output -- to applicationFromModuleFactory and you can skip the template compilation process. This results in superior startup performance, but after startup, there is no performance difference between applicationBuilderFromModuleFactory and any of the other ApplicationBuilder factories.
applicationBuilderFromSource<Variants = {}>(project: Project, templateDocument?: string): Application<V> You can use this for projects that use @angular/cli if you wish to use inplace compilation to generate an NgModuleFactory from raw source code and execute that to render your application on the server. That said, it is probably fairly unlikely that you will ever use this class: its main purpose is for the implementation of the ng-render command.
The typical usage of ApplicationBuilder looks something like:
; ; ;
The entire purpose of ApplicationBuilder is to produce an Application<V> object. The Application<V> interface that you get from ApplicationBuilder::build() is the primary API that you will use to render your application. It contains several methods:
export interface Application < V > extends Disposable { renderUri : Promise < Snapshot < V > > ; prerender : Observable < Snapshot < V > > ; discoverRoutes : Promise < Array < Route > > ; }
Note that because Application<V> extends the Disposable interface, you should call dispose() when you are finished with it. Failing to call dispose() is likely to result in memory leaks, temporary files not being deleted, and other undesirable behaviour.
State transfer from server to client
Many applications may wish to transfer some state from the server to the client as part of application bootstrap. angular-ssr makes this easy. Simply tell your ApplicationBuilder object about your state reader class or function, and any state returned from it will be made available in window.bootstrapApplicationState in the client application.
On the server, we tell our ApplicationBuilder about our state reader class:
; builder. stateReader ( MyStateReader ) ; ;
Your MyStateReader class implementation might look like this:
import { Injectable } from'@angular/core'; import { Store } from'@ngrx/store'; import { StateReader } from'angular-ssr'; @ Injectable ( ) export class MyStateReader implements StateReader < any > { constructor { } getState { return this. store. select ( ). toPromise ( ) ; } }
Note that you can inject any service you wish into your state reader. angular-ssr will query the constructor arguments using the ng dependency injector the same way it works in application code. Alternatively, you can supply a function which just accepts a bare Injector and you can query the DI yourself:
builder. stateReader ( injector. get ( Store ). select ( ). toPromise ( ) ) ;
Both are equivalent, but the class-based solution is probably cleaner and easier to understand.
Note that your state reader will not be called until your application zone becomes stable. That is to say, when all macro and microtasks have finished. For example, if your application has some pending HTTP requests, angular-ssr will wait for those to finish before asking your state reader for its state. This ensures that your application has finished initializing itself by the time the state reader is invoked.
Another interesting one is Snapshot. This is the data structure you get back from the server-side rendering process. It takes a type argument that represents the variants your application is aware of, or void if you are not using variants.
One thing to note about Snapshot is that it contains far more information than just the final rendered document. It has:
console: Array<ConsoleLog> This is an array of console logs that your application emitted during bootstrap and during the rendering process. It includes errors, infos, warnings, assertions, and anything else that you can emit via console.
exceptions: Array<Error> This is an array containing any uncaught exceptions that were generated during the bootstrap and rendering process. Generally it is possible to get back a snapshot that has an empty document and at least one exception in exceptions, so you should usually check this in your retrieval methods to ensure that everything worked properly. You don't want to send a mangled document to the user.
renderedDocument: string This is what you are primarily interested in: the final version of the rendered application HTML. This contains the document you will need to send in your HTTP response.
variant: V If you are using variants, this describes the particular set of variants that were used to generate this snapshot.
uri: string This is the URI that was originally given to the renderer when this snapshot was generated.
Very simple (example) caching implementations
The library provides two extremely simple caching implementations. Both are LRU caches that default to a maximum size of 65k items. They are unlikely to be useful to you if your application contains a lot of dynamic content, but they illustrate how you can implement caching inside of your server application:
MemoryCache is an extremely simple URL-based bounded LRU cache. Each time a URL is requested, it gets bumped to a higher priority. If the cache reaches its maximum size, documents that were last requested a long time ago will be the first to be deleted. MemoryVariantCache is identical to MemoryCache except that it works in conjunction with the concept of variants. It uses a trie structure to store and query specific variants of URLs.
Alternatively, you can provide your own caching mechanism and just call application.renderUri() when there is a miss. This is the solution that is going to be the most flexible and allows you to customize your caching needs to suit your application (for example, you may wish to integrate with an external |
or NAFTA), 30 percent say the trade agreement has had a more positive impact, 28 percent say it’s had a more negative impact and 22 percent say it hasn’t made much of an impact at all.
The NBC/WSJ poll was conducted Oct. 23-26 of 900 adults, including nearly half of whom were reached by cell phone, and it has an overall margin of error of plus-minus 3.3 percentage points.MPs hail Kuwait’s stance on Jerusalem, discuss reconciliation
KUWAIT: The government has ordered an investigation into a $1.1 billion deal to buy 30 military helicopters from France, a minister said yesterday, after reports of alleged kickbacks. Kuwait agreed to buy the Airbus Caracal helicopters for one billion euros ($1.1 billion) in Aug 2016 as part of a package of deals between the two countries worth €2.5 billion.
“It was decided to refer the Caracal helicopters deal to the Public Anti-Corruption Authority to investigate it and take all relevant measures,” said Anas Al-Saleh, the government spokesman and state minister for Cabinet affairs. The probe was ordered by HH the Prime Minister Sheikh Jaber Mubarak Al-Sabah, the minister said, quoted by the official KUNA news agency. “With regards to what has been raised in a local daily today… about the Caracal deal, it was also decided to refer the same issue to the Audit Bureau to scrutinize all data, documents and procedures of the deal,” he added.
The Audit Bureau was told to submit its findings to the Cabinet as soon as possible. The government move came after opposition lawmaker Mubarak Al-Hajraf raised the issue in parliament yesterday and demanded an investigation. He based his arguments on a report by Al-Rai newspaper which cited an article in the French Marianne magazine which said that a middleman had demanded €60 million from Airbus in commission.
Meanwhile, MPs yesterday voiced their pride over the government’s stance toward the recent US move on Jerusalem. They praised HH the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah’s reiteration of Kuwait’s historical stance during the Islamic summit held in Istanbul last week. The Assembly yesterday resumed discussions on US President Donald Trump’s decision on Dec 6 recognizing Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and giving orders to begin preparations to move the US embassy from Tel Aviv to the holy city.
Following the discussions, the parliament approved a host of recommendations on Jerusalem, which expressed the Kuwaiti people’s stance toward the issue and stressed the fact that Jerusalem is the “eternal capital of Palestine”. The MPs recommended speeding up steps for the formation of a parliamentary committee to support the Palestinians and other afflicted people. They also called upon the government, through embassies and representation offices, to continue denunciation and opposition of the US decision.
In addition, the government has been urged to begin executive procedures to realize a full recognition of the state of Palestine, which must have full representation in all the international organizations. The MPs affirmed that Jerusalem is a pivotal and major UN, Arab and Muslim issue. Denouncing the US decision, they said that Kuwait has been embracing the Palestinian struggle and will continue support of the cause. The legislators lauded National Assembly Speaker Marzouq Al-Ghanem’s efforts and adoption of the Jerusalem issue.
Also during yesterday’s session, MPs debated the issue of national reconciliation and called for establishing a government agency for crises and catastrophes. The Assembly unanimously called for issuing legislation for emergencies, and for forming a temporary committee to follow up with the government’s preparations for crises.
The lawmakers called on the government to prepare a full formula for reconciliation and for the Assembly to work out and pass legislation for national reconciliation. They also recommended to establish a media outlet to focus and work for consolidating national unity.
The debate was called by opposition MPs to debate the need for national reconciliation after three MPs were handed jail terms along with over 60 opposition activists for storming the Assembly. MP Ali Al-Deqbasi called for the “need to open a new page and overcome all our crises and disputes”. He called on the interior minister to crack down on all those who undermine national unity. He also called for a pardon for the jailed activists and said that Kuwait is passing through extraordinary conditions and all must unite.
MP Shuaib Al-Muwaizri said the Kuwaiti people are solidly behind the ruling family and accused certain quarters of trying to creating a dispute between the people and the ruling family. MP Mohammad Al-Dallal questioned what has been done to face the dangers like the ones seen in Qatar, in a reference to its blockade. He said national reconciliation has become a necessity because “some people are still living in the past”.
MP Khaled Al-Otaibi said that there was no criminal intent among those who entered the Assembly building. He hoped that the court of cassation will correct the jail terms against the activists and called for an amnesty for them.
Speaking from the seat of MP Jamaan Al-Harbash, who is in jail, MP Abdulkarim Al-Kandari said for the national reconciliation to happen, members of the ruling family must end their quarrels and the government must reconcile with the law and stop sending political activists to jail. MP Omar Al-Tabtabaei stressed on the need for reconciliation and warned that the infighting is destructive for Kuwait.
By B Izzak and Agenciesclick to enlarge Photo by Scott Morris
Alameda resident Gabrielle Dolphin speaks in favor of stronger tenant protections before a City Council meeting on April 4.
Maria Dominguez is an organizer with the Alameda Renters Coalition, a group that works to protect tenant rights, but when her own landlord texted her last month that he was evicting her, even she didn’t know what to do. She was pretty sure her landlord didn’t follow the legal procedure, according to the city of Alameda’s rent-control ordinance which was approved in March of last year. But she had no idea how to challenge it.“It’s been very eye-opening to go through the process myself, as an advocate for renters, especially when the process is broken,” Dominguez said outside last week’s Alameda City Council meeting, where officials discussed the city’s first annual report on the effects of the new ordinance.Organizers like Dominguez say that continued rent hikes and threats of eviction are tearing apart the fabric of the small island community, where more than half of the residents are renters. “When the City Council says that we all belong here, we have to hold them accountable,” she said.Debates over tenants’ rights have rocked Alameda in recent years. ARC members and other activists say the city’s version of “rent control” is rife with loopholes and allows landlords to get around even the most basic eviction protections. They also argue that most tenants don’t even know they have recourse to challenge rent hikes, and that the process is unclear and intimidating.Tenants’ groups placed a progressive renter-protections initiative, Measure M, on the November ballot, but it failed due to an opposition campaign paid for by landlord groups. Months later, though, they still argue that the city’s ordinance, which was approved by voters as Measure L, is not working.Meanwhile, property owners say the new law is adequate. Many attended last week’s meeting dressed in white and holding signs reading, “It’s Working.”“The City Council I think got it right. [Officials] struck a balance,” said Greg McConnell, a consultant from Danville representing the landlord advocacy group the Alameda Housing Providers Association. “It’s not always easy to know if you’ve done the right thing, but, in [this] case, it is easy,” he said, pointing to the margin by which voters approved the city’s ordinance — 55 to 44 percent.But not every landlord agrees. Alameda Unified School District Board of Education Vice President Gray Harris, who is also a rental-property owner, recalled her 10 years teaching in the district and said if she still had to rely on her old teacher’s pay, she could no longer afford to live in the Bay Area. “In order to attract and retain good teachers here, we have to build them a place to live,” she argued.So far, what little data there is offers limited, if any, insight into the efficacy of Alameda’s rent policies. Statistics do suggest, however, that rent increases might be trending downward on the island — but still outpacing the region at large.For instance, a report commissioned by the city found that, from the third quarter of 2015 to the same period in 2016, average rents for properties with more than 50 units went up 7.9 percent. In the four years prior, rents had gone up an average of 13 percent per year, suggesting that the ordinance may at least be slowing the city’s rental price increases. Data was unavailable for smaller properties.But regional data suggests the rental market has slowed more dramatically. In fact, multiple analyses by real-estate firms have found rents are falling in the Bay Area, including data from the Axiometrics research firm showing that rents in Oakland, San Francisco, and San Jose declined from September 2015 to September 2016. Alameda’s data suggests that the city’s rents continued to rise substantially over that period.The city has collected some of its own statistics on rent increases since the ordinance took effect, but the numbers only track the cases referred to the Rent Review Advisory Committee, or RRAC, a panel that resolves landlord-tenant disputes. Under the ordinance, landlords must report any rent increase above 5 percent to the committee. Tenants can request a hearing to argue against a greater than 5 percent increase.A total of 456 rent increases have been reported to the committee since the ordinance took effect, with 434 of those above 5 percent. Only 22 tenants challenged an increase at RRAC, which renters’ advocates argue is because tenants don’t understand the process and are intimidated by the prospect of confronting their landlord at a public hearing. Also, the committee’s decisions are ultimately non-binding.Many tenants argue that even a 5 percent rent increase is not achievable for low-income tenants with stagnant wages, particularly if they persist annually.Megan, an Alameda resident who did not provide her last name because she is facing a no-cause eviction, said that she has received rent increases of five, five, and 8 percent in the three years she’s lived in her apartment. Her wages as a community mental health worker only go up 3 percent per year, she said.“I love Alameda, but it’s no longer a place I feel secure putting down roots,” she said. “There’s a growing regional consensus around just cause and rent control, and we’re asking our City Council to listen up.”Activists argue that Alameda’s renter protections lag far behind neighboring cities like San Francisco, Oakland, and Berkeley. However, as the housing crunch radiates out from urban centers, and rents spike throughout the region, there has been a growing movement to add new protections in more suburban Bay Area communities.Most rent-control measures cap annual rent increases at 100 percent of the Consumer Price Index — typically around 2 or 3 percent per year — but within limitations, such as the state’s Costa-Hawkins act, which prohibits rent control on buildings constructed after 1995. Eviction protections frequently also guard tenants from “no cause” evictions, making the landlord prove some violation by the tenant, such as damaging the property or failing to pay rent. Landlords also can evict tenants in the case of an owner moving in, or to take the unit off the rental market using the Ellis Act. But some cities require the landlord to assist with relocation fees in those cases.Alameda still allows for no-cause evictions, but puts a cap on how many tenants a landlord can evict each year, and requires relocation assistance. It also mandates that landlords pay relocation fees for if they evict a tenant using the Ellis Act.According to city data, there were 97 eviction notices requiring relocation assistance since the ordinance took effect, including 35 no-cause.But the council may yet prohibit no-cause evictions. Late in Tuesday’s meeting, two councilmembers, Marilyn Ashcraft and Malia Vella, expressed support for ending no-cause evictions entirely. With Mayor Trish Spencer and Councilmember Frank Matarrese hesitant to make any substantive changes so soon after the election, the deciding vote will likely come down to Councilmember Jim Oddie, district director for state Assemblymember Rob Bonta, a strong proponent of increased tenant protections.Oddie said that he is open to considering stricter eviction protections if the issue is studied and analyzed appropriately. But he also pointed out that, given the choice between competing ballot measures — one maintaining the city’s existing ordinance and the other sponsored by tenant advocates — Alameda voters overwhelmingly chose the city’s ordinance. While the tenants’ measure would have prohibited no-cause evictions, it was a particularly progressive package of protections, including rent control that capped hikes at 65 percent of the Consumer Price Index, more restrictive than even Oakland or San Francisco.When the council reconvened to continue the meeting on Friday, Oddie directed further study of the city’s no-cause evictions. The council will take up the issue again in May.Oddie said he discovered that most of the no-cause evictions since the ordinance took effect were of long-term tenants who had lived there four years or more. “Not all landlords are devils, not all tenants are angels, but again I stand on the side of tenants,” Oddie said at the meeting.In the meantime, the council is working on closing loopholes created by the ordinance, including landlords avoiding paying relocation assistance by only offering short fixed-term leases, an exploit that the city says they’ve already seen in a few cases.You must enter the characters with black color that stand out from the other characters
Message: * A friend wanted you to see this item from WRAL.com: http://wr.al/16Oyj
— A caravan of about 20 vehicles organized by the Ku Klux Klan celebrated President-Elect Donald Trump's win with Confederate and American flags Saturday afternoon in Roxboro.
Officers blocked several intersections along U.S. Highway 501, so the convoy would move and exit the city quickly.
Natalie Allison Janicello, a reporter for The (Burlington, N.C.) Times-News, captured the convoy on video and shared it on Twitter.
“We learned late this afternoon the group wanted to come to Roxboro. I want to thank our law enforcement partners who helped us close intersections so the group could enter and leave the city as fast as possible,” Roxboro Police Chief David Hess said in a statement.
He said the group posted the event on social media but never said it would take place in Roxboro. The group was present for around 5 minutes, and there were no bystanders watching.
The North Carolina Democratic Party released a statement after the incident.
“The North Carolina Democratic Party finds it horrifying that the KKK is embarking on a march in North Carolina,” Chairwoman Patsy Keever said. “This comes after months of toxic and divisive rhetoric that belittled many in our state. We must all stand together in rejecting these hateful actions, which includes listening to and valuing those in our communities who feel targeted.”
Hess said there were no incidents or counter protests in Roxboro.
"We owe it to the community to make sure limited exposure and potential acts of violence are minimized. I, nor you, want anyone regardless of color being physically hurt,” he said.
Shortly after the election, the KKK posted about holding a parade Saturday, but never announced a location or time.
Anticipating a parade, the Triangle Unity May Day Coalition held its own demonstration in downtown Raleigh. Hundreds gathered for what they called a rally against hate.
Trump recently distanced himself from white supremist groups.One of notorious Eurosleaze auteur Jess Franco's most shocking films,1976's BARBED WIRE DOLLS is finally coming to Blu-ray from Full Moon! Can your hormones handle it?
Full Moon's High-Def Blu-ray version of our best-selling Jess Franco Collection DVD series kicks off with BARBED WIRE DOLLS, one of the most outrageous entries in the unholy “Women-in-Prison” film cannon. In it, Franco favorite and lifelong muse Lina Romay stars as the wide-eyed Maria, an unfortunate young woman who kills her father (played by Franco) in self defense after he attempts to rape her. She is tried, sentenced and shipped off to what is perhaps the grisliest, greasiest and most depraved women’s penitentiary in screen history where, at the hands, fingers and fists of psychotic lesbian warden Monica Swinn, she and her fellow inmates are subjected to an endless onslaught of perverse psychological and sexual abuse.
Filled to the gills with sex, Sapphic erotica, copious amounts of female nudity and offensively staged scenes of genital humiliation, this sleazy Franco masterpiece will rattle your cage in the sweetest way!
Full Moon's 1080p presentation of BARBED WIRE DOLLS is culled from a digitally remastered negative from Swiss producer Erwin C. Dietrich's vaults and retails for $22.95.
Special Features include an audio Interview with THE DUKE OF BURGUNDY director Peter Strickland discussing the films of Jess Franco and a vintage Jess Franco VHS Trailer reel.
More Jess Franco Blu-ray SINsanity to come!A Japanese porn actress has at least 100 fans that would give their lives to her. Well, at least help her give life to another.
As part of an upcoming erotic opus tentatively titled "Semen Collection 2," Uta Kohaku asked her fans on Twitter to donate to the cause by sending in bottles of their own male bodily fluids for inclusion in the film, according to the Brazilian website, Odia.ig.com.br.
The actress received more than 100 bottles of sperm-filled plastic bottles in a 10-day period, each featuring the name of the dirty donator, DigitalJournal.com reported.
Kohaku appreciated the randy response to her request and, according to RocketNews24.com, promised her fans: "I will care for them as if it were my own child.”
Shooting for the film commenced Dec. 20 and there is no word on whether it will be released in the U.S. or what Kohaku will do with the donations after all the shooting is completed.Last week, we reported to you that Liberty Memes was on the brink of being shut down, after Facebook briefly unpublished their page because of a meme critical of Hillary Clinton. Today, Facebook deleted the page Being Libertarian after they posted the following image.
Being Libertarian’s Head of Media Relations, Mike Mazzarone, said the following on his personal Facebook, lamenting about the deletion.
Being Libertarian has reached out to Facebook in hopes of receiving a media inquiry about the deletion of their page. After Facebook was recently caught tailoring their news towards liberal sources, it was believed that their relationship with non-liberals would improve. But this week’s turn of events indicate that things aren’t getting any better. We know that conservatives are being censored by Facebook, but the censorship of libertarians is even worse.
Please share this story to help our friends at Being Libertarian get their page back. They’ve worked arduously to build a loyal following of more than 90,000 fans who enjoy their daily content, and would appreciate if you could give them a helping hand.Inflammation is one of the main reasons why people with diabetes experience heart attacks, strokes, kidney problems and other, related complications. Now, in a surprise finding, researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have identified a possible trigger of chronic inflammation.
Too much fat in the diet promotes insulin resistance by spurring chronic inflammation. But the researchers discovered, in mice, that when certain immune cells can’t manufacture fat, the mice don’t develop diabetes and inflammation, even when consuming a high-fat diet.
The study is available Nov. 2 as an advance online publication from the journal Nature.
“The number of people with diabetes has quadrupled worldwide over the last 20 years,” said senior investigator Clay F. Semenkovich, the Irene E. and Michael M. Karl Professor and director of the Division of Endocrinology, Metabolism & Lipid Research at the School of Medicine. “We have made modest progress in making it less likely for some people with diabetes to have heart attacks and strokes. However, those receiving optimal therapy are still much more likely to die from complications driven by chronic inflammation that is, at least in part, generated by these immune cells.
“But by blocking the production of fat inside these cells, it may be possible to prevent inflammation in people with diabetes and even in other conditions, such as arthritis and cancer, in which chronic inflammation plays a role. This could have a profound impact on health.”
Semenkovich’s team made genetically altered mice that could not make the enzyme for fatty acid synthase (FAS) in immune cells called macrophages. Without the enzyme, it was impossible for the mice to synthesize fatty acids, a normal part of cell metabolism.
“We were surprised to find that the mice were protected from diet-induced diabetes,” said first author Xiaochao Wei, an instructor of medicine. “They did not develop the insulin resistance and diabetes that normally would have been induced by a high-fat diet.”
Through a series of experiments in the animals and in cell cultures, the researchers, including Douglas F. Covey, a professor of developmental biology and biochemistry, and Daniel S. Ory, MD, a professor of medicine and of cell biology and physiology, found that if macrophages could not synthesize fat from within, the external membranes of those cells could not respond to fat from outside the cells. That prevented the cells from contributing to inflammation.
But eliminating inflammation altogether is not the answer to preventing diabetic complications because inflammation is also vital for clearing infectious pathogens from the body and helps wounds heal. Still, Semenkovich said the new findings may have profound clinical implications.
“An inhibitor of fatty acid synthase actually is now in clinical trials as a potential cancer treatment,” he explained. “And other drugs have been developed to inhibit fatty acid synthase in diabetes, too. One possibility that our work suggests is that altering the lipid content in the cell membrane may help block cancer metastases and complications of diabetes.”
Drugs currently in use to block fatty acid synthase, as well as other developing strategies, potentially could allow for chronic inflammation to be blocked, without completely eliminating the ability of macrophages to fight infection.
The researchers also plan to take a look at existing drug compounds that change the lipid composition in cells. Such medications failed in clinical trials, but they may have an effect on the membranes of macrophages and therefore may lower the risk of diabetes complications, Semenkovich said.
Wei X, Song H, Rizzo MG, Sidhu R, Covey DF, Ory DS, Semenkovich CF. Fatty acid synthesis configures the plasma membrane for inflammation in diabetes. Nature. Nov. 2, 2016. http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/nature20117
This work was supported by the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases; the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute; and the National Center for Research Resources of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), grant numbers DK101392, DK076729, DK088083, DK20579, DK56341, RR00954 and HL067773. Additional funds came from the Taylor Family Institute for Innovative Psychiatric Research.
Washington University School of Medicine’s 2,100 employed and volunteer faculty physicians also are the medical staff of Barnes-Jewish and St. Louis Children’s hospitals. The School of Medicine is one of the leading medical research, teaching and patient-care institutions in the nation, currently ranked sixth in the nation by U.S. News & World Report. Through its affiliations with Barnes-Jewish and St. Louis Children’s hospitals, the School of Medicine is linked to BJC HealthCare.
Originally published by the School of MedicineGet the latest from TODAY Sign up for our newsletter
June 27, 2014, 11:50 AM GMT By Bobbie Thomas
Bobbie in the hospital for an IVF treatment. She writes: "When I posted to my Facebook page that I was not pregnant, but was hoping to become so with the help of IVF, I was astounded by the outpouring of love and encouragement from people who I’ve never even met." Today
The other F-word: No, it’s not the f-bomb, or even my least favorite, “fat.” I’m referring to “fertility,” a topic that has been at the center of my life since shortly after my wedding last year. While starting a family is something my husband, Michael, and I are excited about, the journey to get there has, so far, been a little different than what we anticipated.
WATCH: Bobbie Thomas shares she's in the midst of IVF
When it became clear that IVF was our best bet for conceiving, I went through a number of emotional reactions — scared, sad, optimistic, overwhelmed, eager, nervous, and then through all of them all over again. (And this was before I actually started taking hormones!) I, like many women, have had numerous friends and colleagues struggle with fertility issues and I have heard both the heartbreaking and happy endings. So I tried my best to buckle up and hit this thing head-on, hoping for the best.
Love? Check. Marriage? Check. Baby carriage? We're working on it, and sometimes things don't happen as easily as you'd hope. Today
I’m very fortunate to have an amazing doctor and team of professionals helping me navigate the ups and downs of IVF. But there are certain things everyone can tell you about the process, and it’s not until you experience them yourself that you really understand. For example, I knew about the needles. I did. I knew shots were going to be involved and yet, that first night, after our nurse demonstrated to Michael how to administer them to me, I promptly passed out on the bathroom floor before he got within a foot of me. And my crippling fear of needles was only the start (and something I learned to get over fast since those suckers come out every day, twice a day, and three times when there’s blood work involved!).
WATCH: After failed IVF cycles, couple's friend carries their twins
There’s also: the changes in diet (eat organic if you can, fewer carbs, more veggies, alkaline-friendly foods, limit sugar and I hope you like salmon, so much salmon…); the supplements (don’t forget to take ALL of them, every day); the acupuncture (helps if you’re able to get there 2 or 3 times a week… and have you heard of cupping?). Also, cut back on work and make sure to get great sleep. But don't forget your monitoring appointments every other morning at 7 a.m. Got all that? Good, because the most important thing is to not stress. This last part I’m pretty sure is some kind of cruel joke because there’s also the IVF weight gain. Unfortunately, being a part of the public eye really didn’t help with this last one.
A few of the many questions posted on both Bobbie's and KLG and Hoda's Facebook pages. Today
I love my job as a “professional girlfriend” and feel blessed that I am able to pursue my passion and spread “the buzz” on platforms like TODAY. I have always tried to accept the comments and criticisms that come with appearing on national television. But it’s hard to not be human when someone asks on social media, “baby bump or burrito?” in reference to your changing body on TV.
WATCH: Woman gives birth to friend's twins after 5 failed IVF cycles
I’ve long spoken out on the importance of embracing your body and feeling comfortable in your skin because it’s an essential part of your self-expression and how you communicate to the world. I aim to practice what I preach, but couldn’t help wondering, when this question kept popping up more and more, if I should say something about the IVF. I worried that, without context, people would think there was something wrong, that I was depressed, off my game, or just lazy.
Bobbie before and after starting IVF. Today
Additionally, I was starting to notice that when I did tell friends or colleagues about the treatments, I often found myself whispering. As if “IVF” was something to be ashamed of rather than an increasingly common way many couples are conceiving. More often than not, “I’m so sorry” has been the response I’ve received when telling someone that I am about to start my second round of treatments. Sure, it’s not glamorous. It’s painful and expensive, and occasionally causes me to act like a hormonal rage monster. But it’s also a wonderful, amazing, life-changing medical advancement that has the ability to bring so much joy to so many families.
So I decided that I wanted to share my journey with social media, with Today.com, with other women out there — hopeful moms-to-be and their partners. And when I posted to my Facebook page that I was not pregnant, but was hoping to become so with the help of IVF, I was astounded by the outpouring of love and encouragement from people who I’ve never even met. It was as if an instant sisterhood of support sprang up on my computer screen. There are so many kind, strong women out there who have gone through what I’m going through, and many more who will one day. I hope that by talking about it as something we’re proud of, we can lean on and learn from each other.
I will continue to interact on Facebook with any of you who want to share stories, vent, or offer suggestions to those of us struggling with fertility issues and I’ll document more of my personal journey on Bobbie.com. I hope that, if this is a topic that affects you or someone you love, you’ll join our clan.
Bobbie Thomas is TODAY's resident style editor and author of "The Power of Style." Follow her on Twitter, Facebook & Instagram.Uber, the ride-sharing tech company, has fired at least 20 people for hostility towards women after reviewing 215 sexual harassment claims and other complaints. The inquiry followed a blog post by a former employee who said she was was sexually harassed and who further claimed that improper conduct was stoked by those at the top of the company.
Read more
In a company-wide meeting on Tuesday, attorney Bobby Wilson from the firm Perkins Coie, told Uber’s 12,000 employees that 215 claims of sexual harassment had been investigated, according to a person familiar with the matter, Forbes reported.
Sexual harassment is illegal under the state and federal law, as is discrimination.
About 100 of the reported incidents resulted in no action, while more than 20 were considered serious enough to result in terminations.
Another 31 employees, whose behavior was considered inappropriate but not egregious enough for terminations are in counseling or training. Seven others received written warnings.
A further 57 investigations are ongoing, according to an Uber spokesman.
Susan Fowler, whose blog started the probe, tweeted extensively in response to the announcement.
Remember that this is not about diversity and inclusion, it's about laws being broken. Harassment, discrimination, retaliation are illegal. — Susan J. Fowler (@susanthesquark) June 6, 2017
Arianna and Liane to press: there is no systemic sexual harassment, just Susan.
External lawyers: there are 215 cases of sexual harassment. https://t.co/sZl0bnLccs — Susan J. Fowler (@susanthesquark) June 6, 2017
The issues related to harassment, discrimination, retaliation and other HR matters. The company didn’t name the employees let go, but some of the people fired were senior executives, according to the Forbes source.
The San Francisco-based company’s internal review was sparked by a blog post in February by former Uber engineer Susan Flower. She wrote of a history of discrimination and sexual harassment by her managers which she was said was shrugged off by Uber’s human resources department. Fowler said the inappropriate culture was stoked – and even fostered – by those at the top of the company.
READ MORE: US Justice Department launches criminal investigation into Uber
“When I joined Uber, the organization I was part of was over 25% women. By the time I was trying to transfer to another organization, this number had dropped down to less than 6%,”wrote Fowler. “Women were transferring out of the organization, and those who couldn't transfer were quitting or preparing to quit.”
“There were two major reasons for this: there was the organizational chaos, and there was also the sexism within the organization. When I asked our director at an org all-hands about what was being done about the dwindling numbers of women in the org compared to the rest of the company, his reply was, in a nutshell, that the women of Uber just needed to step up and be better engineers,” she added.
Following Fowler’s blog, Uber hired former US attorney general Eric Holder to investigate its handling of sexual harassment allegations, according to the New York Times.
The company, valued at close to $70 billion by private investors and operating in more than 70 countries, has also been hit in the past few months by the departures of senior executives, including, its president, as well as the heads of finance, growth, engineering, and policy and communications. Uber is also seeking a chief operating officer.
Uber Chief Executive Officer Travis Kalanick also demanded the resignation of Amit Singhal, his new head of software engineering, after the company learned of a sexual harassment claim against him at his former employer, Google. Singhal, who left in late February, denied the allegation.
In the wake of complaints and lack of leadership, Uber has hired two women as senior executives, former Apple Inc. executive Bozoma Saint John and Harvard Business School Professor Frances Frei as senior vice present for leadership and strategy, Bloomberg reported.In a somber gathering today inside the viewing area at the top of the world’s largest mustache — the Gateway Arch — the American Mustache Institute sought to distance itself from Mustached American St. Louis Rams owner Stan Kroenke after the National Football League announced it would allow the team to abandon St. Louis for the fair-weather pastures and feline yoga studios of Los Angeles.
“Standing here inside and atop the world’s largest mustache, we are reminded of the power of the Mustached American experience,” said Dr. Adam Paul Causgrove, chief executive of the American Mustache Institute (AMI). “But one of our own — at least, someone we thought was one of our own — has abandoned the powerful role as leaders we play inside the communities which depend on our wisdom, rugged good looks, and deep commitment to masculinity.
“We certainly understand the metrics for success in owning an NFL team. This of course includes aspects like revenue growth, the need for corporate support, easy access to gentlemen’s clubs for players and more. Yet while economics driving the International Bowling Hall of Fame to Fort Worth could be rationalized, the Rams are altogether different. In fact, our exhaustive fiscal analysis clearly demonstrates that St. Louis remains a viable, and actually a vibrant market. This region touts a growing populous of near 3 million, some 18 Fortune 1000 companies calling the area home, strong multi-modal capabilities providing easy transportation access across the region, and a dense volume of mullets.
“Yet while science demonstrates that a healthy labia sebucula (Latin for ‘lip sweater’) can help mammals make more informed decisions, Mr. Kroenke has demonstrated that he is an anomaly. Our AMI Dept. of Nuclear Mustacheology & Sociological Sciences speculates that he is more than likely not truly a person of Mustached American descent. Instead, we believe that for all of these years Mr. Kroenke has possibly been wearing a faux lower nose garmentry unit in order to create the assumption that he comes from Mustached American stock and understands the sexual dynamism and power that captures our experience.
“We, the Mustached American community, call on the National Football League, along with former U.S. Ambassador John Bolton not only investigate whether Mr. Kroenke is who he claims to be, but to now work with Mustached American Jacksonville Jaguars owner Shahid Kahn to bring his organization to St. Louis and fill the much-needed role of local mustached-owned NFL franchise.”
“You’re welcome.”No secret that Atalanta starlet Andrea Conti is one of AC Milan summer transfer priorities. The Italian right-back is pushing to move to the San Siro as he has already reached an agreement with the rossoneri. The player’s agent met representatives of Atalanta today and sources have told calciomercato.com that a deal between the two clubs is now pretty close.Conti’s agent provided journalists some transfer update after his meeting with Atalanta and our reporter Daniele Longo was on the spot.The meeting between Mario Giffredi (the player’s agent) and representatives of Atalanta lasted roughly one hour.“I am very satisfied [for the meeting with Atalanta]”, Giuffredi said.“Now it is up to the clubs.”“There is still some work to be done to complete the transfer, the two clubs have to meet [to finalize the deal].”NEW DELHI: The Union Cabinet on Thursday gave in principle approval to a bill providing for time-bound delivery of services like pensions, passports, caste certificates, death certificates, ration cards and tax refunds, among others, to the citizens. Defaults will attract a penalty of Rs 250 a day subject to a maximum of Rs 50,000.The Right of Citizens for Time-Bound Delivery of Goods and Services and Redressal of their Grievances Bill, 2011, was approved by Union Cabinet at a meeting chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh here.
The bill envisages penalty of up to Rs 50,000 against a government official failing to provide his or her duties, official sources said.
It lays down an obligation upon every public authority to publish citizen's charter, stating therein the time within which specified goods shall be supplied and services be rendered and provides for a grievance redressal mechanism for non-compliance of its provisions.
The sources said the issue of inclusion of NRIs in the ambit of the bill to access time-bound delivery of services will be dealt with separately by the Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions and the Law Ministry.
The proposed legislation, spearheaded by Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances, also mandates a public authority to establish a call centre, customer care centre, help desk and people's support system to ensure time- bound delivery of services.
It also seeks establishment of public grievance redressal commission at the Centre and every state.
According to its provisions, a person aggrieved by the decision of the commission may prefer an appeal before the Lokpal at the Centre (in case of decision by the Centre's public grievances redressal commission) and the Lokayuktas in the states.
All services provided by both the Centre and the state governments will be extended to citizens in a time-bound manner under the bill.
Addressing a joint sitting of Parliament last month, President Pranab Muk |
all the non-software examples," said Tabriz.
"A lot of people ask me what's the best answer I've been given to the vending machine problem, and the real answer is there is none. Some people think about how they'd steal their favorite snack; some people figure out how to steal the entire machine of snacks; and some people figure out how they could add some sort of functionality to the machine that wasn't there before"
Tabriz's job is as much about technological know-how, as understanding the psychology of attackers.
"Anybody who's working in defense -- police officers, security, or law enforcement -- has to stop and think 'what is the enemy or the attacker going to do?'" she said.
"Because you always want to stay one step ahead of them."
Read more from Make, Create, Innovate:No-one was expecting this, right? That's not exactly true; right when this came out two very nice catalog reissue websites each offered to post it when I finished it. Unfortunately, I was nearly done when I had to abandon the review.
Well, as the title says, it was 311 days ago when "Nothing Has Changed" was released. The sites passed when I finally finished it, and I can hardly blame them. I think the extra time helped the thoughts I was having then crystalized over time, so that's a bonus.
On the other hand, this may be the thing that stops readers from reading the site, so if I alienate any of you, my apologies in advance. I am nothing if not honest and opinionated.
There's something cosmic (or at least astrological) in publishing a review of a 3-disc Bowie comp that runs backwards chronologically almost a year late and exactly 26 years to the day Sound + Vision was originally released - a 3 disc set that is programmed forward.
Before I wade in, three things; 1) I have some Bowie fatigue (I know this seems impossible to many of you, but when it comes to RCA-era tracks I heard them SO many times working on the Rykodisc releases that I did burn out on them, if only temporarily) 2) after not spending much time with it, I eagerly looked forward to reassessing his post-“Let’s Dance” oeuvre in the context of this compilation, and finally 3) as you may know already if you read this site, I am aggravated when people gripe how “Sound + Vision” box (or at least the iteration I put together) is not the greatest hits they expected, or something entirely different than Bowie & I intended – and I’m more than happy to explain on this site - in potentially agonizing detail, I’m afraid – how we got to that track list and why.
But here’s a set that is clearly stated as “The Very Best Of David Bowie” yet is packed with odds & ends edits and mixes of songs we may know better in other versions. This seems like the very definition of a contradiction. A “Best Of” should glorify or at least illuminate its subject. Are we to believe the unedited and un-remixed versions of these tracks are LESS than the BEST? I am open to accepting tracks can be improved by post-origination tampering, but only a few here meet that criteria.
I suppose the alternate versions that are the majority rather than the minority here are great for Bowie trainspotters who’ve been asking for CD releases of these edits for years (HAVE THEY REALLY?!!?). Because of these “rarities” the set services the rabid fanbase, but not necessarily the songs; these versions do allow obsessive completists to check them off lists, and who else is left buying physical product these days anyway?
But this called “The Very Best Of David Bowie” so one assumes the compiler has grander goals than stacking a bunch of versions in one place. On the other hand, calling anything “The Very Best Of David Bowie” sets both a large expectation and an impossible goal. Bowie has meant so much to so many that any fixed “Best Of” track listing is a deliberate baiting of his fans at worst, or a flame-thread-starter at worst.
You’ll notice that none of the Ryko releases were titled “Best Of” – we did three comps, the “Sound + Vision” box, “Changesbowie” and “The Singles” – the last under pressure. We also rejected compilation ideas from Bowie’s camp; I’ll talk more about that later.
So what is the intent behind this set? Is it really a “Very Best”? I have a theory (and it is only a theory).
I’m reviewing the 3 disc version - it seemed best to go big when assessing a huge body of work. The two and one disc versions are far less interesting and all feature material culled from the 3 disc version, with no additional tracks. Surely distilling fifty years of music to a measly three CDs would yield nothing but classics? If only.
Like Prince, Bowie’s peaks were so fabulous and exciting (and OF THEIR MOMENTS) that he maintains a loyal fan base even after the new work has been spotty. Yet he’s so important and talented, we come back time and again, sifting through the latest work for the gems.
It doesn’t hurt that Bowie’s a fascinating, intelligent, constantly evolving (and now reclusive) artist who knows how to manipulate and excite the media and his fans. As the press for with “The Last Day” proved, critics are ready to rant and rave over any new work with even the slightest hint of the artist at his peak, colored as it may be by rose-colored hope when the dame grants us a new opportunity to consume his product.
One hopes that this was assembled with an eye to celebrate Bowie’s FIFTY years of recording, but, as frequently seems the case these days, it may be just another repackaging designed to feed the bond he famously floated, which may have taken a hit in recent years due to the faltering music business.
Yes, that sounds extremely cynical, but the proof is in the ones and zeroes. It’s difficult to argue that in the larger sense Bowie’s best songwriting days aren’t behind him. Furthermore, his voice (or is it his delivery?) has dropped to a reedy echo of it’s former self – an often basso mumble/whispers that rarely captures the spark of crackling energy that informed his limited, but expressive, range of old.
This is precisely why it’s admirably daring to release a compilation that works chronologically backward (the two disc version is chronological and the single ping-pongs all over the place). It’s as if Bowie is defying us to undermine his newer work by putting it right up front. I think this risks rattling newer fans, too – there are plenty of kids into Bowie, but few, if any, are rating “Hours” or “Heathen” as their favorite Bowie album, so to start with later tracks is ballsy as fuck.
With the art of the compilation almost completely undermined by the ease with which anyone can create their own playlist, I listen to “Nothing Has Changed” searching for the point it’s compiler intended to make, what they hoped to illuminate about the artist through this selection and sequence.
A wise man once noted that how you navigate through something is intrinsic to your understanding of it – for instance, if you watch the infamous 1991 video of the Rodney King beating backwards it looks like the cops are helping King onto his feet and sending him on his way. This kind of perverse time-bending seems like something Bowie would enjoy tinkering with.
The set leads off with “Sue (Or In A Season Of Crime)” a brand new track with Bowie working his Anthony Newley roots, melding jazzy 60’s brass flourishes to drum & bass rhythms. The 60’s retro noir vibe is driven home in the track’s video, and perhaps that’s the pojnt - opening the set with this track is an attempt to tie together the earliest material here with Bowie’s present.
As the only truly new music here, it’s a worm on the hook for fans who already have the rest of this stuff in myriad formats.
As a song, it’s dubious, more of the meandering chorusless stuff that I find too frequently infests Bowie’s recent work; safe from a critical standpoint in that it defies conventional assessment, but at 7 minutes, it’s long outworn its welcome in my house at the halfway mark (there is a shorter radio edit which will no doubt appear on a future compilation under the pretense of being a “rarity”).
By contrast “Where Are We Now” the lead track from 2013’s “The Next Day” plays to David’s strengths of the last 20 years. Haunting, simple, impeccably arranged and sung in a voice that perfectly suits the subject matter, it made me over-ly optimistic about the album it preceded.
“Love Is Lost”, which, in its original incarnation, sounds like a “Tonight” outtake, is represented here with the much-improved James Murphy / DFA remix, an excellent choice, although here we get the first of many self-references to earlier (arguably better) material, with a sample from “Ashes To Ashes”. This “early years” theme recurs in many of the later tracks, which again, raises questions about motive – is Bowie trying to re-frame his history again?
The last track from Next Day is the album’s “rocker” (if this is a rocker, “Blue Jean” is “Blitzkrieg Bop”), “The Stars (Are Out Tonight)” which, by contrast to an actual “rocking” Bowie track, serves to illustrate through it’s turgid “doo-doo-doo-do” backing vocal that restraint is a constant in any contemporary Bowie recording, not always to the benefit of the finished product.
“Reality”, despite the buzz around its release is just another too-uptight Bowie album and the tracks here don’t come to its defense, although these are all edits, so be thankful for merciful brevity. I would’ve included his cover of Sigue Sigue Sputnik’s “Love Missile F-1 11” from that period.
Interestingly a spirited re-recording of one of his early tracks “Let Me Sleep Beside You” shows signs of life but is let down by his vocal. “Shadow Man” another outtake from his early days, captured here in a re-record from 2000’s lost “Toy” album loses the energy of the original and falls apart in a halting version. Best left alone. On the plus side, “Your Turn To Drive” epitomizes the kind of material best-suited for Bowie these days. Its lackadaisical pacing and dreamy subtext works great with his voice and, despite meandering for so long it overstays its welcome, is the best of the “Toy” material.
Then Maurice De Vries shows up and all of a sudden, this listener perks up! His “Seven” remix is quite good, and leaves me wondering if the mixer excavated some of the magic from the track’s far superior demo version (from the “Hours” Collector’s Edition). In my view “Hours” was the last record that benefitted from Bowie’s full range of vocal quirks, and this track in particular, is better for it. “Survive” gains some much needed gravitas from the same mixer.
These are all co-writes with Tin Machine conspirator Reeves Gabrels, who I never felt added much of value to the Bowie Ouevre outside of “Earthling”, which seems to have had its own momentum and probably would’ve been as good without Mr Gabrels on board. I have never understood the appeal of the snoozy “Thursdays Child”, but it was a top 20 hit in the UK, so I suppose it earned a place here.
Considering that “Earthling” is widely acclaimed as Bowie’s best album of the 90’s, it’s a bit of a surprise that only the two most obvious tracks are found here, both edits. From the adventurous “Outside” (I have SOOOOO many stories about this record) we get the widely available PSB remix which features Neil Tennant singing lines from “Space Oddity” over the track, reinforcing the underlying theme of referencing earlier days. This is also the “easy to digest” track from the otherwise challenging album.
Disc Two is the mixed bag you’d expect it to be, covering the years 1993-1976 – in other words, nearly 15 years of output – and out of 20 tracks only 8 of them are post-1984, leaving12 from the “Station To Station” through “Tonight” period of 8 years.
Interestingly, no “Tin Machine” here – and a jolt of “Under The God” would be most appreciated as we wade into what I consider a very dull patch.
Plenty of non-lp tracks abound, but these can hardly be considered rarities (“Under Pressure”, “Dancing in The Streets”, “This Is Not America”, “Absolute Beginners”, etc.). I’ve never felt much love for “Black Tie, White Noise” or “Never Let Me Down”, both of which feel largely like failed attempts to keep the MTV-era “normal” Bowie train going. I’m clearly not alone in my dislike for these albums, each is represented by a sole track, alternate versions of singles.
Listenability is the buzzword for the next handful of unremarkable (for Bowie) but foot-tapping tracks taking us into the “Let’s Dance” explosion of hits and mega-mega stardom. I’d have liked to have the live version of “Modern Love”, which is hands-down my favorite song from what I consider to be a solid but overrated album.
The “Scary Monsters” stuff is beyond reproach, and after a gazillion listens, if “Under Pressure” doesn’t make the hairs on the back of your neck stand up and salute, you are officially deceased. It should be on every Bowie and Queen compilation and probably every compilation ever.
It’s hard to argue with “Golden Years” and “Sound + Vision” (for reasons similar to “Under Pressure”), but the other choices from the four albums Bowie made between 1976 and 1979 are fine but uninspired, especially “Wild Is The Wind”, a track that always felt out of place in the Bowie catalog, appearing here in a 2010 remix that, while fine, ads little to the original. Why not “Helden” or the full version of “Heroes” for instance? The Berlin records feel under-served.
Disc Three; mostly the classics, albeit in edited or “single version” form. although “Young Americans” and “Life On Mars?” are remixes from the last ten years or so. I have to ask, as in the case of “Young Americans”, how do you do a remix of a single edit, which was a cut version of a stereo mix anyway. Furthermore, is bringing the bongos (or maybe it’s the toms) up that high really necessary?
There’s just no arguing with these songs, and while it’s painfully obvious to say that, I sure wish some of the spontaneity of Bowie’s “bow-wow”-ing, “woof-woof”-ing and howling on “Diamond Dogs” would find its way into his current work, which feels overwrought and overthought by comparison. Making an album a year seems like a good idea (says the guy who can barely update his own website monthly).
But I digress.
Hurtling past obvious Ziggy-era material, 1969 and “Space Oddity”, there are five early tracks that serve as little more than historical oddities – from a period when a young, ambitious Bowie was flailing around chasing trends instead of creating them.
“In The Heat Of The Morning” speaks to “Sue”, in that it’s too long, somewhat aimless and tuneless and has a very annoying organ part that is a Neanderthal cousin to “Sue’s” horn parts. “Silly Boy Blue” is pseudo-psychedelia worthy of the Monkees lesser efforts. “Can’t Help Thinking About Me” is watered down Who, but as such, stands on it’s own two legs and is one of the more fully-formed songs here. “You’ve Got A Habit Of Leaving” and “Liza Jane” are both typical throwaway early Brit takes on American R&B forms, - much like the Stones early material, but without the raw edge and genius of Brian Jones and Mick Jagger.
This is pedestrian work from someone we expect so much from, but early work rarely is fully-formed. Every lesson learned by 60’s Bowie added up to 70’s Bowie and beyond. In that respect, even though Bowie certainly knows these are lesser works, it’s quite bold to include and illuminate them - songs which have never found their way on any Bowie-approved comp alongside his better-known material.
And this is quite possibly the point of the set in the first place; the life of an artist itself; artists start out on shaky legs, attempting to emulate their heroes and naively share their own early life experiences. But if they stick with it, they ultimately create unique, and, if they’re lucky, mind-bending work that overturns new soil and plants seeds that will echo for generations to come? And inevitably the true artist grows older, wearier, maybe less energetic but still seeking, thinking, exploring, and most importantly, creating.
Putting compilations together properly is all about having a viewpoint and making choices that illustrate your position.
Consider this choice; if you could own only one Bowie record (single or album, no cheating with compilations!), which would you choose?
I wouldn’t trade any post “Scary Monsters” Bowie album for the single of “Jean Genie” or a multitude of other classics that crackle with propulsive energy, spontaneously colliding ideas and just plain fun that is often missing in Bowie’s later work.
On the other hand, it speaks volumes that I’d have to think about “Where Are We Now” in exchange for any single song from 40 years ago. Older, sure. Wiser?, Better? Worse? – the answers to these questions are just opinions.
On one hand, almost all of these tracks were out in the world already, so what does it matter if they are collected here?
On the other, this is a lifetime of work, a sprawling, chaotic, hard to boil down puzzle, an uncontrollable collision of ideas, events, places and people; an encapsulation of work but also a representation of an artist’s life.
I am only theorizing about the point of this thing. I don’t buy it as the very best of David Bowie, and I doubt anyone does. Maybe it’s no more than a bond-server, or perhaps it’s got a grander scope, an epic concept in Bowie’s mind that no-one will grasp till years after he’s gone. Or maybe someone threw a tracklist in front of him and he rubber-stamped it.
Who knows? The mystery just makes it more fun to speculate.Father Son(s) Notes Ref.
• Rick and Brent are the second father-son duo to win NBA Championships as players
• Rick, Jon and Brent all played for and ended their playing career with the Houston Rockets
• Rick, Jon and Drew all played for the Golden State Warriors [1]
• Both played for the New York Knicks [2]
• Both played against Kobe Bryant and Kevin Garnett during their respective careers [3]
• Both played for the Chicago Bulls [4]
• Wayne played in the ABA [2]
• Both played for the Utah Jazz [6]
• Rich played in the ABA [2]
• Both played for the Milwaukee Bucks
• Mike Sr. is the second NBA coach to face his son, Mike Jr., in an NBA game [10]
• Matt Sr. and Matt Jr. are the first father-son duo to win NBA Championships as players [13]
• Earle played in the ABA [2]
• Bill Sr. played in the NBL [2]
• George is the third NBA coach to face his son, Coby, in an NBA game [16]
• Both played for the Houston Rockets [18]
• Both played for the New York Knicks [2]
• Pete played in the NBL [2]
• Both played for the Cleveland Cavaliers
• Walt played in the ABA [2]
• Doc is the fourth NBA coach to face his son, Austin, in an NBA game
• Austin is the first son to play for his father in an NBA game [30][31]
• Both started their playing career with the Detroit Pistons [32]
• Al played in the ABA [2]
• Both played for the Utah Jazz [35]
• Walter played in the ABA [2]
• Collis played in the ABA
• Both played for the San Antonio Spurs [37]
• Mychal and Klay are the fourth father-son duo to win NBA Championships as players [38]
• Butch is the first NBA coach to face his son, Jan, in an NBA game [10][39]
• Both played for the New York Knicks [2]
• David Jr. played in the ABA [2]Hillary Clinton likes to spread her shit around, literally. The Clinton campaign bus was caught ILLEGALLY dumping feces and other human waste into a storm drain near the Grayson Highway in Lawrenceville, Georgia. It was so bad, that the HAZMAT team had to be called out clean up Hillary Clinton’s shit. This is really timely, considering Trump is running with “drain the swamp” now.
Shitting together – Clinton bus illegally dumps feces Georgia storm drain
Lawrenceville police are investigating a claim that involves a Democratic National Committee tour bus illegally dumping human waste in between campaign stops. The incident occurred on Grayson Highway, Tuesday morning. Police say when they arrived on the scene, toilet paper was scattered everywhere and there was a foul smell. A Lawrenceville businessman took several photos of the tour bus dumping waste into the storm drain. You can see in the pictures, a liquid coming from the bottom of the bus. According to the witness, a HAZMAT crew had to be called to the location.
If Georgia is stupid enough to vote for Clinton, they will get more free shit from Clinton and the Democrats.Nationals leader Warren Truss reckons Clive Palmer could go the way of other political ''saviours'' such as Pauline Hanson.
He said those who voted for him in protest were ignoring their obligations to democracy and putting their country at risk.
Deputy Prime Minister Warren Truss. Credit:AFP
Mr Truss, acting Prime Minister while Tony Abbott is overseas, said the Coalition took its responsibilities seriously and would get on with the job of delivering what was important for Australia.
He said other parties could worry about themselves.
Asked if the Palmer United Party was just a ''flash in the pan'', he said there had always been independent parties. ''We have had plenty of saviours in the past, like Pauline Hanson and Bob Katter. They all made a little bit of an impact for a while,'' he told reporters at a NSW Nationals conference in Queanbeyan.
Mr Palmer was the big winner at the 2013 federal election, gaining his own seat and three Senate spots.
Ms Hanson was only in Federal Parliament for a single term.Share. Could the studios still make a deal to bring the webhead into the MCU? Could the studios still make a deal to bring the webhead into the MCU?
Last night a report came in that simultaneously overjoyed and yet broke the hearts of many Spider-Man fans: It turns out that Marvel and Sony Pictures have had talks about bringing the wallcrawler into the Marvel Cinematic Universe, including the Captain America: Civil War movie, but that those discussions had stalled.
While that revelation came via leaked e-mails and documents (more fallout from the Sony hacking scandal) uncovered by The Wall Street Journal, today Latino Review reports on some additional inside info on the subject.
Exit Theatre Mode
For starters, LR’s Da7e says his source indicates that the deal Sony ultimately rejected was not a Marvel trilogy of Spider-Man movies that Sony would control. While that was mentioned in The Wall Street Journal’s story last night, what Sony finally passed on was instead a co-production arrangement where Marvel and Sony would split Spidey movie costs 60/40 (Marvel paying the 60%). Yes, Marvel would’ve shouldered more cost, but they also would’ve regained creative control over the character and films. This scenario sounds much more like the kind of deal Marvel’s Kevin Feige would be interested in.
So that makes more sense in a real-world sort of way, but still, Sony reportedly passed on this approach, preferring to keep Peter Parker and his alter ego in their creative corner. That said, LR’s sources also indicate that Sony Pictures’ parent company is none too pleased about the current situation at the studio and the internal communications and even movies that have leaked out. Additionally, they view “Sony Pictures’s handling of the Spider-Man property as disappointing. … Sony Japan thinks the Marvel deal for Spider-Man is still on the table and they want to renegotiate as a return to quality.” The sources also say that “the 60/40 split” can be negotiated and “Sony Entertainment’s October hard-line stance of wanting creative control is now mostly moot in the eyes of the higher-ups.”
Exit Theatre Mode
Of course, even if this did somehow happen and Spider-Man became part of the MCU, there are still a ton of questions. For one, what happens to Andrew Garfield? Is the character recast? And what about Amazing Spider-Man producer Avi Arad, who has been a guiding force for Marvel and Spidey on the big screen for years? His relationship with Marvel Studios and Kevin Feige is said to be a frosty one since he left the studio, which certainly can’t help matters.
And as much as we’d all love to see Spidey join the MCU, there’s another question lurking here as well: Why do superheroes have to be part of a shared universe in order to succeed these days? Can’t standalone movies with these characters still be worthy of our attention?
As always, keep it locked to IGN for more on this as we have it.
Exit Theatre Mode
Talk to Senior Editor Scott Collura on Twitter at @ScottIGN, on IGN at scottcollura and on Facebook.Last March, Sally Harpold, an Indiana grandmother of triplets, bought two boxes of cold medication in less than a week. Together, the two boxes contained 3.6 grams of pseudoephedrine, putting her in violation of the state's methamphetamine-fighting law, which forbids the purchase of more than three grams by one person in a seven-day period.
Police came to Harpold's home, arrested and handcuffed her, and booked her in a Vermillion County jail. No one believes Harpold was making meth or aiding anyone who was. But local authorities aren't apologizing for her arrest.
“I don’t want to go there again,” [Vermillion County Prosecutor Nina] Alexander told the Tribune-Star, recalling how the manufacture and abuse of methamphetamine ravaged the tiny county and its families. While the law was written with the intent of stopping people from purchasing large quantities of drugs to make methamphetamine, the law does not say the purchase must be made with the intent to make meth. “The law does not make this distinction,” Alexander said... Just as with any law, the public has the responsibility to know what is legal and what is not, and ignorance of the law is no excuse, the prosecutor said. “I’m simply enforcing the law as it was written,” Alexander said... It is up to customers to pay attention to their purchase amounts, and to check medication labels, Alexander said. “If you take these products, you ought to know what’s in them,” she said.
Harpold's photo was put on the front page of the local paper as part of an article about the arrest of 17 people in a "drug sweep." Alexander has generously allowed Harpold to enter a deferral program. If she commits no crimes in the next 30 days, her arrest will be wiped from her record. She'll still have to pay court costs and attorney fees.
I'll leave it to Vigo County Sheriff Jon Marvel to (unintentionally) put an exclamation point on the absurdity.
“Sometimes mistakes happen,” Marvel said. “It’s unfortunate. But for the good of everyone, the law was put into effect. “I feel for her, but if she could go to one of the area hospitals and see a baby born to a meth-addicted mother …”
Because clearly the best way to prevent meth-addicted babies is to arrest women who buy cold medication for their grandchildren.
(Via William Grigg)Back in 2002, Stanford University mathematics professor Robert Osserman chatted with comedian and banjo player extraordinaire Steve Martin in San Francisco’s Herbst Theatre. The event was called “Funny Numbers” and it was intended to deliver an off-kilter discussion on math. Boy did it deliver.
The first half of the discussion was loose and relaxed. Martin talked about his writing, banjos and his childhood interest in math. “In high school, I used to be able to make magic squares," said Martin. "I like anything kind of 'jumbly.' I like anagrams. What else do I like? I like sex."
Then Robin Williams, that manic ball of energy, showed up. As you can see from the five videos throughout this post, the night quickly spiraled into comic madness. They riffed on the Osbournes, Henry Kissinger, number theory, and physics. “Schrödinger, pick up your cat,” barks Williams at the end of a particularly inspired tear. “He’s alive. He’s dead. What a pet!”
When Martin and Williams read passages from Martin’s hit play, Picasso at the Lapin Agile Williams read his part at different points as if he were Marlon Brando, Peter Lorre and Elmer Fudd. At another time, Williams and Martin riffed on the number zero. Williams, for once acting as the straight man, asked Osserman, "I have one quick question, up to the Crusades, the number zero didn't exist, right? In Western civilization.” To which Martin bellowed, “That is a lie! How dare you imply that the number zero…oh, I think he’s right.”
The videos are weirdly glitchy, though the audio is just fine. And the comedy is completely hilarious and surprisingly thought provoking.
via Metafilter
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Listen as Albert Einstein Reads ‘The Common Language of Science’ (1941)
Einstein Explains His Famous Formula, E=mc², in Original Audio
Jonathan Crow is a Los Angeles-based writer and filmmaker whose work has appeared in Yahoo!, The Hollywood Reporter, and other publications. You can follow him at @jonccrow. And check out his blog Veeptopus, featuring lots of pictures of vice presidents with octopuses on their heads. The Veeptopus store is here.Tortilla Soup is one of my favorites at Mexican restaurants. My rendition here is delicious beyond words so I hope you’ll try this one!
My very first exposure to Tortilla soup was at a little place in San Antonio called El Mirador. My Dad and Mom kept bringing up how fantastic this soup was and we finally went there on one of my visits to try it. What a flavor delight! It was every bit as good as my parents had advertised! Let me tell you, I’ve had it many places since and none shine a light to El Mirador’s rendering of it. 🙂 I know the restaurant is still there and assume they are still offering this wonderful soup, but it looks like at their website linked above, they have changed the name of the soup to Chicken Cilantro Soup. I’m sure it’s the same soup though. You San Antonio dwellers who were unaware of this culinary treat need to get on over to El Mirado and try it if you haven’t yet! The rest of you might want to try my version of it.
I’ve tried to recreate that wonderful soup ever since I tasted it! I’ve gotten pretty close, but it’s still not quite as good as theirs. This low-carb version, without the little strips of high-carb tortillas typically in tortilla soup, will blow your socks off! If the base soup is good enough, you really don’t need the tortilla strips for this to be delicious. This recipe is Induction friendly and also suitable for Keto and Primal lifestyles. Paleo followers will want to omit the cream or sub in coconut milk.
This and many more low-carb soup recipes can be at your fingertips in Jennifer Eloff’s latest cookbook series: Low Carbing Among Friends. Jennifer has brought together a number of very talented low-carb cooks who offer some of their best low-carb creations. A sampling of what awaits you can be seen at their Facebook page. You can order copies of this 5-volume set (or individual volumes) at Amazon or here: http://amongfriends.us/order.php
INGREDIENTS:
13 oz. cooked chicken meat (canned with juice is just fine in this)
1 qt. water + 2 c. chicken broth
1 oz. tomato paste
1 c. yellow squash, diced (about ½ med-large squash)
2 oz. yellow onion
2 oz. green bell pepper
1 oz. poblano pepper, seeded and chopped
1/2 tsp. chili powder
dash chipotle chile powder (smoky)
1 small Guajillo chile, seeded and chopped (these are very mild and found in most stores’ produce dept. dried, sold in a bag)
Dash cumin
1/4 c. heavy cream
DIRECTIONS: Cut chicken meat up into small pieces. If using canned meat, just break up the large chunks. Put all ingredients but the cream into soup pot. Bring to a boil and then lower heat and simmer until squash and all veggies are tender but not falling apart (about 15-20 minutes). Turn heat to lowest setting. Now add cream and stir. If you like, you can puree this soup with a stick blender or in small batches in your food processor. I think I like it better chunky myself. That’s how El Mirador served theirs as well. I’ve done it both ways though.
NUTRITIONAL INFORMATION: Serves 4, each serving contains:
283 calories, 15.1 g. fat, 6.95 g. carbs, 1.6 g. fiber, 5.35 NET CARBS, 26.3 g. protein, 780 mg sodiumNot only does it give the best ever view of a baby in the womb, but it can also help doctors pick up problems early, because it maps the entire internal structure of the foetus - not just the outside - meaning specialists can see how vital organs are developing.
British experts said it could also help parents bond with their children earlier. It is even possible to 3D print a model of the baby.
"We believe that these images will bring a new experience for parents when following the development of their unborn child,” said study co-author Dr Heron Werner Jr. from the Clínica de Diagnóstico por Imagem, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
"The 3D foetal models combined with virtual reality immersive technologies may improve our understanding of anatomical characteristics and can be used for educational purposes and as a method for parents to visualize their unborn baby.”
MRI scanning is usually only used by doctors when an ultrasound fails to provide images of sufficiently high quality to check the development of the baby. But this is the first time the two techniques have been combined.
The models have been shown to be remarkably similar to the postnatal appearance of the newborn baby and they can helps doctors predict difficulties when the baby is born such as problems in the airways.
It is crucial that the airways are open and unblocked before birth, and so if doctors spotted an abnormal mass in the respiratory tract, they could make preparations for surgery to clear the obstruction as soon the baby was born.Of all the major literary figures in the twentieth century, Ezra Pound has been one of the most controversial; he has also been one of modern poetry's most important contributors. In an introduction to the Literary Essays of Ezra Pound, T. S. Eliot declared that Pound "is more responsible for the twentieth-century revolution in poetry than is any other individual." Four decades later, Donald Hall reaffirmed in remarks collected in Remembering Poets that "Ezra Pound is the poet who, a thousand times more than any other man, has made modern poetry possible in English."
The importance of Pound's contributions to the arts and to the revitalization of poetry early in this century has been widely acknowledged; yet in 1950, Hugh Kenner could claim in his groundbreaking study The Poetry of Ezra Pound, "There is no great contemporary writer who is less read than Ezra Pound." Pound never sought, nor had, a wide reading audience; his technical innovations and use of unconventional poetic materials often baffled even sympathetic readers. Early in his career, Pound aroused controversy because of his aesthetic views; later, because of his political views. For the greater part of this century, however, Pound devoted his energies to advancing the art of poetry and maintaining his aesthetic standards in the midst of extreme adversity.
In his article "How I Began," collected in Literary Essays, Pound claimed that as a youth he had resolved to "know more about poetry than any man living." In pursuit of this goal, he settled in London from 1908 to 1920, where he carved out a reputation for himself as a member of the literary avant-garde and a tenacious advocate of contemporary work in the arts. Through his criticism and translations, as well as in his own poetry, particularly in his Cantos, Pound explored poetic traditions from different cultures ranging from ancient Greece, China, and the continent, to current-day England and America. In The Tale of the Tribe Michael Bernstein observed that Pound "sought, long before the notion became fashionable, to break with the long tradition of Occidental ethnocentrism." In his efforts to develop new directions in the arts, Pound also promoted and supported such writers as James Joyce, T. S. Eliot and Robert Frost. The critic David Perkins, writing in A History of Modern Poetry, summarized Pound's enormous influence: "The least that can be claimed of his poetry is that for over fifty years he was one of the three or four best poets writing in English"; and, Perkins continues, his "achievement in and for poetry was threefold: as a poet, and as a critic, and as a befriender of genius through personal contact." In a 1915 letter to Harriet Monroe, Pound himself described his activities as an effort "to keep alive a certain group of advancing poets, to set the arts in their rightful place as the acknowledged guide and lamp of civilization."
Arriving in Italy in 1908 with only $80, Pound spent |
backdoors, but they left the backdoors so that they can get in once I change my password.
I carefully checked my site and removed all of this stuff. Even after I removed the PHP backdoors, the config.ini file continued to get updated until I changed my FTP password. From that point, I was pretty sure that the attackers somehow got my FTP password.
Looking for other hijacked sites
After cleaning up my site, one of the first things I did was notify the other compromised site, which hosted the planted content linked from my site.
I also wondered if more sites have been hacked in a similar way. I tried various online tools to find other sites that contain the same links that have been planted on my site.
I found a handful of hacked sites right away. The fact that the links change every few hours made the task more difficult, though. The newest links generally point to content that has not yet been crawled by search engines. But, there is a simple solution. By looking at older versions of several compromised sites in a service like Google Cache, I eventually found older links that lead me to many more hijacked sites.
After repeating the process for a couple hours, I ended up with a list of over a 150 infected sites, including some fairly major sites. The larger sites generally removed the infestation quickly, though. Here are a few sites that haven’t cleaned up, despite the fact that I alerted them at least two weeks ago:
bayonnenj.org – City of Bayonne, NJ
steinercollege.edu – Rudolf Steiner College
dillard.senategop.org – GOP Senator Kirk Dillard
egnc-ibm.gov.eg – Egypt-IBM Nanotechnology Research Center
Don’t go to these sites unless you know what you are doing. At the time of writing this post, these sites appear to be compromised, so they may well contain viruses or malware.
UPDATE: Most of the sites are suddenly not showing the links. My guess is that the hacker group distributed an empty config.ini file after this story became popular on reddit. I don’t believe that so many obscure sites on my list would be fixed over night when they have been infected for months before. Some sites still contain the planted links, but those seem to be the ones that haven’t been updating the links regularly. These are probably the sites that the hackers only have partial control over at this point (e.g., FTP password changed, but there is still a backdoor on the site somewhere). You should be able to view the planted links on all infected sites by looking at Google Cache.
I did my best to contact owners of as many hijacked sites as I could. Looking for contact information on that many sites – most of them not in English – is a time-consuming endeavor, though.
Tools I used
I found these tools useful when tracking down other sites that have been hijacked:
Yahoo! Site Explorer This is the best tool I found to search for sites that link to a particular URL. At least for my purposes, it worked much better than “link:” queries in Google.
Proxify When visiting sites controlled by hackers, it is worthwhile to be cautious, since the site may be infested by malware. Proxify sends the request on your behalf, and in the Source mode, sends you the HTTP response as text. So, the infested site won’t see your IP address, and any HTML it sends back will not be rendered, just shown in text format.
Web caches As you probably know, all major search engines (Google, Bing, Yahoo!) let you view the version of the page cached by the service. This gives you a version of the page as it was a few days or weeks ago.
And how did I get hacked in the first place?
Of course, I have been wondering about how the hackers got my FTP password in the first place. It wasn’t really guessable or discoverable by brute force, and I didn’t use the same password on other sites.
And then I got an email from my webhost, notifying me that FTP passwords may have been stolen due to a vulnerability. They tracked down the issue to a particular software package they use.
So, I assume that my password got stolen this way. If not, it is also possible that I logged into my site on a computer with a particular virus. Apparently, that’s how many FTP passwords get stolen.A friend of mine asked me the other day what the prevailing "saber-opinion" was on the Miami Marlins' decision to call up their flame throwing prospect Jose Fernandez at such a young age. I could only tell him that I recall a general sense of confusion as to why the Marlins would call up such a promising prospect when the club is clearly very far from competing for the NL East division title this season.
But as far as concern that this would hurt Fernandez's "development," I don't remember any outcry.
It does seem, however, whenever a prospect is called up this early this voice is is always heard in some manner. I get the impression that some of the concern is with a young player's confidence-- introduce him to failure too early, and he may not recover.
For this reason I think more often than not the narrative gets written retroactively.
Prospect is called up.
Prospect struggles.
Prospect was brought up too early.
This is not to ignore the experts, however. I am sure there are many scouts in the public sector that could speak to 'development' issues much more thoroughly and articulately. But there is no way to prove a premature call up was the cause of a bad career that other wise might have been a good career. In other words, we don't know if a failed prospect with a premature call-up was destined to fail all along.
I imagine it is frustrating for fans to watch one of these kids fall flat on their face amidst all the hype. After all, it is exactly this type of prospect that is supposed to go on and have a storied Hall of Fame type career. And we want to relish that career from the very start. We want to be able to tell our children or our grandchildren we saw one of the best to ever play the game from a very young age. And instead when they fail, it is possible we misdirect our feelings into blame.
Prospects that are awarded their ticket to the show at an early age, especially before the age of 20, typically go on to have some of the best careers. If we look at all careers since 1950, we find that the age 18-21 call-ups ultimately fared the best at the career level according to Fangraphs WAR:
Debut Age Position Players Career WAR avg Career WAR/650 Pitchers Career WAR avg Career WAR/650 16 1 -0.3 -17.7 1 -0.8 -2.6 17 8 10.0 0.4 10 11.6 1.5 18 36 14.5 0.9 29 9.2 0.4 19 96 18.5 1.4 83 13.8 0.3 20 223 16.2 0.8 180 12.4 0.9 21 438 12.0 1.0 423 7.7 0.7 22 651 8.6 0.2 646 6.2 0.5 23 823 5.4 -0.2 792 4.6 0.4 24 849 4.1 -0.3 847 3.0 0.0 25 626 1.9 -1.1 720 2.3 0.0 26 399 1.2 -1.8 486 1.0 -0.3 27 235 1.3 -1.7 287 1.1 -0.2 28 159 0.3 -1.8 154 0.9 -0.1 29 68 0.9 -1.1 72 1.3 0.1 30 50 0.4 -2.6 43 0.5 -0.9 31 21 0.5 -0.4 19 2.2 0.6 32 11 1.4 -1.1 16 1.1 0.6 33 7 0.3 -3.9 7 3.4 -0.5 34 1 -0.6 -4.6 7 1.1 -2.6 35 0 - - 6 0.3 0.2 36 3 -0.1 -6.8 3 2.8 1.2 37 1 -0.2 -4.6 1 -0.2 -1.1 38 1 1.4 1.2 2 4.8 0.3 39 1 -0.1 -5.9 1 -0.8 -5.0 40 0 - - 1 0.0 0.0 41 0 - - 1 1.6 2.2
Of course, this does not mean that if you call up a prospect at 19 he is more likely to succeed. That's ridiculous. What it does mean is that an early call up is typically reserved for the most elite of the elite prospects-- the Hank Aarons, the Mickey Mantles, the Nolan Ryans:
Greatest Careers debuting before age 21 since 1950
# Name Debut Age PA WAR Pos 1 Willie Mays 1951 20 12493 150.1 cf 2 Hank Aaron 1954 20 13940 136.2 rf 3 Greg Maddux 1986 20 20421 114.2 p 4 Mickey Mantle 1951 19 9909 112.2 cf 5 Alex Rodriguez 1994 18 11163 110.9 ss 6 Nolan Ryan 1966 19 22574 106.3 p 7 Rickey Henderson 1979 20 13346 106.1 lf 8 Bert Blyleven 1970 19 20491 105.5 p 9 Frank Robinson 1956 20 11743 104.3 rf 10 Steve Carlton 1965 20 21683 103.1 p
And this is why we get so excited about the especially young call up, and probably also why we are so eager to overreact when they fail.
When we hear a prospect has the goods to get an early call-up, we may draw an immediate association with previous and more notable early call-ups, which may lead to some unrealistic expectations.
Because not all of those early call-ups pan out. And some of them never really pan out. It's those non-pan outs that I would like to interest myself in this morning. At least theoretically. A prospect may be called up for other reasons besides excellent pedigree, I suppose, but we'll just have to deal with that. Here are the worst careers for players who debuted at the age of 20 or younger.
Worst Careers debuting before 21 since 1950
Regardless of how the narrative developed in the media or in the broadcast booth or in the taverns and living rooms, some one saw something in these players that convinced them they were ready to play at the major league level. Some combination of front office personnel, scouting directors, managers made the decision to green light the early call-up, but things just didn't evolve as planned.
Of course, some of these players may not have been prospects, they ay have been filling out a temporary need for the major league club due to injury etc. Dee Brown, for instance, saw just three plate appearances in his age 20 season before his mid-September cup of coffee came to an end.
So let's limit the query to only those players drafted (and signed) in the first round that saw at least 50 plate appearances (or batters faced) before their age 21 season.
Worst first-rounder careers debuting before 21 since 1965
As a 19 year old shortstop in the major leagues, Jack Heidemann had a rough go of it during his first few seasons. A concussion during an outfield collision midway through his age 21 season only exacerbated his struggles, and Heidemann never again saw the full season's worth of playing time he saw as a 20 year old despite remaining in the majors for eight years fro 1969-1977.
Ricky Seilheimer was drafted 19 overall by the Chicago White Sox in 1979 and a year later was promoted to the big leagues. The catcher saw 57 plate appearances before his 69 wRC+ earned him a demotion back to the organizations AA team in Glenn falls, NY the following year. Seilheimer would never again step foot on a major league infield.
Of course we al know Delmon Young's career hasn't been nearly as fruitful as the Tampa Bay franchise had hoped when they selected him first overall in the 2003 draft.Young has been the definition of replacement level in his 3700 plate appearances so far in the major leagues, peaking with a pedestrian 1.6 WAR season in 2010 with the Minnesota Twins. His is probably the most recognizable on the list-- with his career the most recent of the group-- save for only the Toronto Blue Jays' 14 overall pick in the 2006 draft, Travis Snider.
As a 20 year old call-up in 2008 Travis Snider did impress more than a few of us with a 100 wRC+ in 80 plate appearances. His numbers have not been comparable since, even with the change of scenery to Pittsburgh in 2012. As of this morning, Snider has only accumulated 1.6 WAR in over 1200 PAs and counting.
It remains to be seen whether Snider can hang around the major leagues long enough to match Young's playing time, which despite his pedigree is still a rarity beside such a miserable level of production. The leash is probably a bit longer on first rounders-- presumably there is something about these prospects that seduced the front office in the first place. For some players, like Ryan Wagner, injury derails the plan-- while for others like Young and Snider the answer to what went wrong is much more complicated.
Exactly why these players busted while others didn't is a much more involved matter. I generally believe that the prospect would not have panned out regardless of what point he was called up. I'm not saying it's impossible for an early call-up to result in failure and wreak havoc on a player's psyche, I'd just rather not error on the side of wild speculation.
It may be easier to answer this question instead: why were these prospects selected so join the show so early? What was it about their skill sets that so intrigued the scouts that did not translate at the major league level?
...
James Gentile writes about baseball at Beyond the Box Score and The Hardball Times. You can follow him on twitter @JDGentile.“They paved paradise to put up a parking lot.” That’s how the song goes, and sadly, it’s a fictional tale that plays out in real cities around the world every day. Continuous urban development, and our attachment to personal vehicles, demands that the number of parking lots be directly proportional to population growth.
This philosophy leads to cities severely lacking in green space, which can exacerbate a number of environmental issues. In Los Angeles, however, the trend seems to be working in reverse. Mayor Villaraigosa and Councilmember Huizar recently attended the opening of Spring Street Park in Downtown Los Angeles–a vibrant public space that used to be a parking lot.
Although designed by Lehrer Architects, the park’s planning, design, and implementation involved a collaboration among the Mayor’s Office, various Council Districts, Recreation and Parks, Engineering, and local stakeholders, including ‘Friends of Spring Street Park’, a non-profit organisation established to assist the park.
The Spring Street Park is a marvelous example of how much good you can do with a tiny bit of land. Situated on 0.7 acres of land the former parking lot now includes walking paths, an open lawn, seating, children’s play elements, native landscaping, and a smart irrigation system.
Spring Street is the 16th park to be opened through the 50 Parks Initiative, which launched in August of 2012. The initiative takes makes parks out of abandoned or unsightly properties, many left behind by the housing crisis.
“By creating these 50 parks in the least-served neighborhoods of Los Angeles, we are permanently transforming our City,” said Barry A. Sanders, Commission President, Recreation and Parks, in a news release. “With the addition of the 50 Parks Initiative, about 20% of the parks established during this Department’s long history will be the work of the last seven years.”When Michael Boehlje was 8 years old, he accompanied his dad to the local sale barn to buy feeder cattle.
“He had a little black book that he’d look at when he was bidding on cattle,” says the Purdue University agricultural economist. “Sometimes he would buy cattle, and sometimes he would not. As an 8-year-old kid, that didn’t seem very successful to me. So on the way home, I asked him what was in his little black book. He told me that every day before he went to the cattle auction, he calculated what it would cost him to feed the cattle and how much he could pay for them.”
If the bid price didn’t cross that line, he bought feeder cattle. If it did, he passed.
Boehlje thinks this strategy has merit for grain farmers.
“People who make money in the cattle industry buy cattle right,” says Boehlje. “If you pay too much for cattle, it’s rare to offset that high price at selling time. The most important decision is not at what price you sell your product. It is what you pay for inputs.”
Watch costs
That’s not an easy task, considering the current environment. Although corn and soybean prices are about one half of 2012 levels, input prices are budging little.
At least they’re staying stable. Over the last decade, the average annual increase in agricultural inputs has been over 6% annually, says Michael Langmeier, Purdue University Extension agricultural economist. Compounded annually, that’s a 79% increase over 10 years. That’s higher than the normal 3% annual uptick in input prices over the last 40 years.
“We won’t see an increase in input prices like there has been in the last 10 years,” says Langmeier.
Unlike trying to outguess grain markets, you do have some control over inputs.
“At least you can compare prices,” says Boehlje. “When you pay too much for cash rent, fertilizer, and equipment, you automatically set up a cost structure where you are in an uncompetitive position."
Farmers can also match grain sales with input buys.
“When you buy $20,000 worth of inputs, sell $20,000 worth of grain,” says Boehlje. “Make a cash match. A lot of people don’t want to think about the cost side of business, but it’s key.”
Land
You’re likely hitting stiff headwinds in land-rental negotiations this winter. When margins tighten, land rents are often the last input to fall.
“The philosophy of the landowner is, ‘Why should we drop prices when seed and fertilizer companies have not? They have made substantial profits, so why shouldn’t the landowner?’” says Neil Mason, who farms with family members, including his grandson, Steve, near Early, Iowa.
Cash rent is king when it comes to rental agreements. Still, some farmers like Mason continue to farm a share of their land under crop-share agreements. “It brings stability to both the renter and the landowner,” he says. He says these agreements allow both parties to share in good times and jointly endure tighter times.
Buying land is another land-procurement option. Average land values in Iowa declined 8.9% from 2013 to 2014. Still, the 2014 average land value in Iowa is the third-highest level in history.
“Land values go down, but it takes adverse economic conditions to force a strong downward correction,” says Craig Dobbins, a Purdue University agricultural economist. “It doesn’t look like we are going to have a real strong crash.”
In the meantime, be careful. Michael Boehlje, Purdue University agricultural economist, points to a $20,000-plus per-acre 2014 land sale in Iowa in the face of $4-per-bushel (or less) corn. “With $4 corn and 200-bushel-per-acre yields, you have nothing left for anything else,” says Boehlje. "You have locked yourself into being a high-cost producer. Forever.”
Seed
Gatherings of deer hunters following the hunting season are filled with wide-extended arms mimicking bucks with racks “this big.”
Some tales are true; some are not so true.
It’s akin to farmers telling about gleaning equal or better yields from conventional hybrids compared with traited ones. Some testimonies are true, particularly in the absence of pest pressure; others are not.
“You often hear about conventional corn yielding as well as traited corn,” says Jeff Anderson, a Webster City, Iowa, farmer and seed dealer who farms with his son, Jesse. “I guarantee that you never hear stories about how farmers lost 15 to 20 bushels per acre or more in fields with heavy corn rootworm pressure because they didn’t have the rootworm trait.”
Remember that as you finalize your seed lineup for 2015 and beyond. The harsh winter of 2013-2014 and soggy spring of 2014 blitzed corn rootworm populations last year. Don’t count on a repeat.
Balmy temperatures through parts of this winter will aid corn rootworm egg survival into spring. If favorable growing conditions result, corn rootworm could return with a vengeance. In most areas, a properly stewarded rootworm-resistant trait is still an attractive rootworm-management option.
“Traits are there to protect your investment,” says Anderson.
Granted, you pay more for protection with traits. Remember, though, that price is just one part of the equation. Performance is the other.
“When it comes to seed, I don’t look at price much, to be honest,” says Dan Arkels, a Peru, Illinois, farmer. “The most expensive genetics are usually the latest numbers they just come out with. If they yield more, that is worth the extra dollars per unit of seed.”
Arkels examines yield data that his seed companies supply him with, and he also researches hybrids and varieties on his own. Still, he puts a lot of trust in his seed dealers.
“I rely heavily on dealers for my recommendations,” he says. “I have been working with the same seed dealers for 25 to 30 years, so I have lots of trust in them.”
It’s important to weigh product performance across different environments, too, to assess performance on your farm. “Look at multiple years and multiple locations,” says Scott Erickson, Syngenta soybean genetics portfolio manager.
For the most part, seed prices haven’t declined from previous years for 2015. Still, they haven’t risen, either. You can glean some deals by shopping around and buying in bulk. Be careful, though, not to wait too long.
“I tell growers to shop around and research options,” says Eric Boersma, Syngenta corn product manager. “They need to realize if they wait too long, though, they may not be able to select the top hybrids for their fields.”
Fungicide
Fungicide applications paid in high-disease areas last year.
“We saw a 20- to 40-bushel-per-acre difference due to fungicides,” says Chris Clark, a Syngenta seed adviser in Ida Grove, Iowa. “We had high levels of northern corn leaf blight due to higher-than-normal rainfall patterns. We also had a new disease called physoderma brown spot pop up. The high humidity levels were like an incubator for disease pressure.”
In these cases, fungicide applications more than covered the application expense.
“Those who didn’t spray last summer at the onset of leaf diseases paid the price of 35 to 40 bushels per acre,” says Iowa farmer and seed dealer Jeff Anderson. A fungicide application costing farmers around $28 per acre would have nixed this loss, he adds.
Fungicide response can be hybrid-specific,” says Clark. “There seem to be certain hybrids or genetic families that are more responsive to fungicides.”
Physiological responses – trademarked by BASF as Plant Health and termed as Plant Performance by Syngenta – also occur.
Illinois farmer Dan Arkels credits a 2013 trial he conducted in which he sprayed three times (at V10, at tasseling, and at brown silk), and it yielded 319 bushels per acre.
“It would have stayed green all winter if I had left it there,” he says. “It was the healthiest field of corn I have had in 35 years of farming.”
Responses also occurred in soybeans. “I’ve found that soybeans respond better to fungicides than corn,” says Iowa farmer Neil Mason. “For some reason, they just react better to the fungicide and response is more predictable.”
Still, fungal disease matters most when it comes to application success, says Daren Mueller, Iowa State University Extension plant pathologist. “There is a greater yield response when disease severity in plants is greater than 5% than when disease is under that level,” he says.
Mueller says plant physiological reactions can tilt the odds in favor of a favorable fungicide application response.
“We certainly see it,” he says. “It is difficult to identify conditions under which this phenomenon occurs, however. Response is less consistent than when there is disease in the field.”
Repeated applications can also set the stage for resistant fungi down the road. The factors that drive fungicide resistance are the same that build up resistance to other pest-control measures; specifically, the repeated use of the same control measure time after time, he says. Soybean frogeye leafspot fungi that resist strobilurin fungicides have surfaced in 10 states since 2010.
In this case, steps to forestall resistance include planting resistant varieties and rotating to other crops. Mueller advises applying fungicide premixes with dual modes of action.
“Don’t let this lull you into a false security,” he cautions. “Rates may be reduced in premixes.” This can compromise control under heavy disease pressure, he adds.
Machinery
It’s a buyer’s market for machinery these days. After some great years, machinery sales have slowed.
For example, the Association of Equipment Manufacturers reports that +100-hp. tractor sales dipped 12.4% from November 2013 to November 2014, with four-wheel-drive tractors declining 22.8%. Meanwhile, self-propelled combine sales declined 23.7% during the same time frame.
“Farmers bought a lot of machinery in the past few years,” says Michael Langmeier, a Purdue University agricultural economist. “It will be a pretty tough time for machinery manufacturers over the next two to three years, however. Historically, in times of low returns, machinery doesn’t hold its value very well.”
Dealers will give prices “you have never seen on used equipment,” says Purdue ag economist Michael Boehlje. “You will go home and say, ‘I have never been able to buy a combine that cheap.’ ”
Still, be careful. “Make sure you don’t destroy your working capital trying to get that good deal,” cautions Boehlje.
Farmers typically don’t monitor asset turnover or how many dollars they generate from assets. Custom work or joint machinery ventures are ways to boost it, says Boehlje. Short-term operating leases are other ways to increase asset turnover, as it lowers cash investment.
An objection to sharing machinery is when two farmers would simultaneously need the implement. One way to work around this is to take a page from the wheat industry, Boehlje says. “They start combining in Texas and go north,” he says.
Arrangements like this can enable two farmers growing similar crops in two diverse geographic areas to share the implement.
“When you get twice the acreage on the same machine, costs go down,” he says.
Herbicide
Every year, companies touting corn and soybean herbicides entice farmers to apply their newest wares.
One catch: They may not be new. No corn and soybean herbicide with a new mode of action has been commercialized since the late 1990s. Nor is there one ready to hit the market soon. That means you’re left to wrestle with the plethora of herbicide-resistant weeds lurking in fields with older products.
The good news is you do have plenty of options. One area it will pay to spend money in 2015 and beyond is on a residual preemergence herbicide that controls major problem weeds. They cost $20 per acre or more per pass. Still, yield losses incurred by weeds cost much more.
In 2011, University of Tennessee weed scientists pegged weed competition as routinely clipping 17% of 35-bushel-per-acre soybeans. At nearly 6 bushels lost at $9, a $54-per-acre yield loss results.
Although a preemergence product can’t totally nix weeds, it can take the heat off later postemergence applications.
“The length of residual control in corn and soybeans usually lasts 28 to 35 days,” says Eric Ott, Valent field market development specialist.
As you buy herbicides, you’ll likely be bombarded with a host of premix options. Look closely at the label, says Mike Owen, Iowa State University Extension weed specialist. Premixes contain several compounds that may or may not be effective on your fields’ weeds.
Check herbicide rates within the premixes, too. Premix rates of each herbicide are often lower than stand-alone herbicide rates. That’s done to make the premix cost competitive, says Owen.
“The biggest problem with lower rates (in premixes) is the lack of immediate and consistent control,” says Owen. “A full rate of herbicide may give you two of more weeks of control, compared with a reduced rate typically found in premixes. In certain fields that have high weed pressure, add the herbicide that will provide the longer residual control.”
Cover crops
Cover crops are hot. Claims include reduced erosion, weed-control assistance, and the ability to scavenge leftover nitrogen.
Still, the majority of farmers are not planting cover crops. Why?
“The top objection is that cover crops often make planting more challenging,” says Newell Kitchen, a USDA-ARS soil scientist based in Columbia, Missouri. “Another reason is the perception that cover crops are costly.”
Cover crop seed can cost between $15 and $30 per acre, and aerial-seeding costs another $8.50 per acre. That’s on top of time and expense of killing them with herbicides prior to cash crop seeding.
“It’s also hard to quantify the direct economic benefit of cover crops,” says Chris Clark, an Ida Grove, Iowa, seed dealer.
Seeding also isn’t as straightforward as with cash crops. Can you imagine aerial-seeding corn or soybeans on top of rock-hard ground in August, hoping you’ll get a rain to incorporate it? That’s often the case with cover crops.
“Weather has made it hard to establish cover crops in the fall (in northwest Iowa) and then kill them in the spring,” says Kyle Andersen, precision sales agronomist with E4 Crop Intelligence.
If you’re considering adding cover crops to your 2015 plan, think about what you want to accomplish. They’re a good fit for soils prone to erosion. Kitchen examined erosion rates in a Missouri field.
The average annual sediment loss from 1993 to 2003 was 2 tons per acre per year.
“Some say that is no big deal, but it is still lots of sediment loss,” says Kitchen. “There was four times as much sediment coming off this field as in a larger 28-mile watershed that this field is in.”
Since 2003, cover crops and no-till changed the field’s hydrology by slicing erosion down to.5 to 1 tons per year.
“The erosion is down to the rate of soil formation,” says Kitchen. “Prior to that, we were at net loss, losing more soil than the soil we were forming. There was a significant improvement in keeping nutrients on the field as a result of cover crops.”
Cover crops likely won’t replace commercial fertilizer, though. Data examined by Kitchen shows cover crops had little impact on increasing potassium and phosphorus availability on the Missouri field.
“It illustrates the fact that if you remove those nutrients with grain crops and don’t replenish them, you can’t count on cover crops to do it,” he says.
Fertilizer
If you’re looking to skimp on input dollars in 2015, don’t pinch soil fertility.
“I’m not cutting any on fertility whatsoever,” says Illinois farmer Dan Arkels. “Fertility is crucial for crop production.”
If dollars are tight and your phosphorus (P) and potassium (K) levels are satisfactory, it’s tempting to defer applications on these nutrients for the coming year. Just expect payback if you don’t add them in subsequent years.
“If you skip P and K one year, you will have to make up the next year or the year after that,” Arkels says. “You’ll pay for it sooner or later.”
Iowa farmer Neil Mason firmly believes in starter fertilizer. He normally applies a pop-up application of 3 to 5 gallons per acre at planting. “It gives me more jump out of the gate,” he says.
One area in which you can save money, though, is in the time at which you buy, says David Asbridge, president and senior economist with the NPK Fertilizer Advisory Service.
Locking in prices this winter may fend off spring price increases for nitrogen. Last fall’s wet weather in some areas prevented farmers from applying anhydrous ammonia. This pent-up demand likely translates into higher demand for urea and UAN (32% liquid nitrogen) this spring.
“With the fall we had, there should be more nitrogen demand this spring. So we are anticipating a price rise this spring,” says Asbridge.
If corn prices don’t rise and soil levels are sufficient, farmers may not buy much P and K, says Asbridge.
“We may see more demand this spring if soybean prices fall relative to corn and if corn acreage comes in close to 90 million acres,” he says. “There may not be much opportunity to buy it any cheaper than right now, although potash prices could fall a bit more before rising this spring.”(CNN) President-elect Donald Trump brushed aside his campaign promises to jail Hillary Clinton, batted away questions about conflicts of interest over his business empire and denounced the neo-Nazi movement that is celebrating his victory.
Answering questions for just the second time since his election, Trump met for 75 minutes on Tuesday with reporters, editors and columnists from The New York Times.
It wasn't broadcast live, but some Times reporters tweeted Trump's remarks in real time. And, since Trump has not held a news conference since his upset win two weeks ago, the entire political world was glued to Twitter through it all.
Here are six takeaways from Trump's meeting with the Times:
The grudges Trump is still holding
Trump delivers his acceptance speech during his election night event at the New York Hilton Midtown hotel on Wednesday, November 9.
Trump delivers his acceptance speech during his election night event at the New York Hilton Midtown hotel on Wednesday, November 9.
Trump shakes hands with President Barack Obama following a meeting in the Oval Office on November 10. Obama told his successor that he wanted him to succeed and would do everything he could to ensure a smooth transition.
Trump walks with his wife and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell after a meeting at the US Capitol on November 10.
Trump walks with his wife and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell after a meeting at the US Capitol on November 10.
Ryan listens as Trump speaks to the press at the US Capitol on November 10. Trump talked about his eagerness to join forces with Ryan to begin implementing new policies.
House Speaker Paul Ryan shows Trump and his wife, Melania, the Speaker's Balcony at the US Capitol on Thursday, November 10.
House Speaker Paul Ryan shows Trump and his wife, Melania, the Speaker's Balcony at the US Capitol on Thursday, November 10.
"60 Minutes" correspondent Lesley Stahl interviews Trump and his family at his New York home on Friday, November 11. It was Trump's first television interview since the election.
Trump is flanked by Pence and Romney after a meeting in Bedminster Township, New Jersey, on Saturday, November 19.
Trump is flanked by Pence and Romney after a meeting in Bedminster Township, New Jersey, on Saturday, November 19.
Trump waves to a crowd at The New York Times building after meeting with some of the newspaper's reporters, editors and columnists on Tuesday, November 22. Six takeaways from the meeting
Trump and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney share a meal in New York on Tuesday, November 29. Romney was reportedly in the running for secretary of state.
Trump visits the Carrier air-conditioning company in Indianapolis on Thursday, December 1. Carrier announced that it had reached a deal with Trump and Vice President-elect Mike Pence, who is currently governor of Indiana, to keep about 1,000 of 1,400 jobs at its Indianapolis plant rather than move them to Mexico. The Carrier plant had been a theme of Trump's campaign promise to prevent more jobs from being outsourced to other countries.
Trump speaks to members of the media at Trump Tower in New York on December 6.
Trump speaks to members of the media at Trump Tower in New York on December 6.
Trump greets retired Marine Gen. James Mattis at a rally in Fayetteville, North Carolina, on Tuesday, December 6. Trump said he would nominate Mattis as his defense secretary.
Trump shakes hands with Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad at an event in Des Moines, Iowa, on Thursday, December 8. Trump re-introduced Branstad as his pick for US ambassador to China.
Betsy DeVos, Trump's pick for education secretary, speaks during an event in Grand Rapids, Michigan, on Friday, December 9.
Trump waves during the Army-Navy football game, which was played in Baltimore on Saturday, December 10.
Trump waves during the Army-Navy football game, which was played in Baltimore on Saturday, December 10.
Trump has tapped ExxonMobil CEO Rex Tillerson to serve as secretary of state, the transition team announced December 13. Tillerson, seen here at a conference in 2015, has no formal foreign-policy experience, but he has built close relationships with many world leaders by closing massive deals across Eurasia and the Middle East on behalf of the world's largest |
learned to do it. We started out with an apartment complex and we were taking the trash to the Dumpster one day and I guess somebody was moving and they threw away a bunch of stuff. We pulled the box out of the Dumpster without actually having to crawl in there; there was a whole set of cast-iron cookware in there. And it was the old kind, not the new kind that you can buy. And that's where it started.
"Over the years I've found all kinds of neat stuff on trash piles or in Dumpsters."
Melissa has always been eco-friendly, but Dumpster-diving became a necessity for her when she lost her first husband.
"I was a single mom," she says. "My husband had died when my daughter was young, so we didn't have the money to go to the furniture store and buy new furniture when we needed to. We made do with what we could find."
Unlike hard-core freegans, she has never recovered food from a Dumpster.
"If I got to the point where I couldn't afford food, I'm sure I would, but I've never been to that point."
Now she's doing better financially -- her new husband is an engineer for an oil company -- but she still forages when she gets the chance.
She scored recently in a Dumpster behind an H-E-B near her house.
"They were doing a remodel on the grocery store and they had that huge Dumpster out there, and it was piled high with fixtures from the store and everything. I pulled up there in the truck and I got in the back of the truck bed and I could reach the top of the Dumpster there. And I got about 12 wire baskets out and I made flower baskets out of them for my windows. That was a very good find.
"Everybody who comes to my house, they're like, 'Oh, my gosh. Where did you get those?' 'Cause they're wire and you can actually see the peat moss through them -- it looks really neat. I just tell them I got them off the Dumpster. They think I'm joking.
"The whole philosophy of Dumpster-diving to me is just to keep stuff out of the dump. Those wire baskets would have taken up a lot of space in the dump if I hadn't taken them -- and I was needing window boxes anyway. You just want to do your part."
On a Wednesday evening underneath the bridge at Main and Pierce, about 50 homeless people form a line toward what appears to be nothing. Several crusty kids wander around talking to them.
Then a truck rolls up and the kids spring into action. A table is erected and set; the line slowly moves forward; heaping spoonfuls of tasty vegetarian fare are doled out. After the diners finish their plates, they carefully scrape them and stack them neatly in a pile.
"We have a process for working which is so essential because it's not hierarchical," says Nick Cooper, a 36-year-old who has been with Food Not Bombs for about a year. "It's very much about that process. When Food Not Bombs makes a decision, there's no positions, there's no titles, there's no chain of command -- it's just a group that decides something together."
Sometimes the absence of rank makes it difficult to mete out responsibility.
"There's a couple of people who do a lot more work than other people and it's really rough on them," he says. "[But] we have a system for doing it and this is it."
That system extends to the way FNB treats the homeless.
"What we're doing is not charity," says Lyons. "It's solidarity. Because charity implies a handing down, like we have it and we're better and we are nice enough to give it to someone else. We believe that we have no more of a right to food than anyone else.
"A lot of times the Christian groups will come out and look down their nose and condescend to homeless people," he says. "They feel better by doing it. You can tell they don't want to be there; they're not going to look anyone in the eye."
And they often will show up once and then disappear for weeks. FNB, on the other hand, is steady.
Just ask Gary, a 49-year-old military vet who has been sleeping under the bridge for the last seven weeks. He sits on a wall near Pierce, sharing his perch with two buddies while listening to sports radio. They are surrounded by a plethora of plastic bags filled with their belongings.
Though he's been homesteading there for less than two months, Gary seems to have achieved an avuncular status with the other residents of the underpass. An elderly man walks up and offers him a banana. Others come by to say hello and check on the score of the game.
Gary talks about how difficult it is to find food in the area, given the large number of people panhandling and digging through the trash. But he livens up when asked about Food Not Bombs.
"These kids come Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays," he says. "Every month, every week. I have faith in them, like friends. I don't know them all by name, but I trust them.
"Rain, sunshine, tornado watch -- these kids are coming. This is why I praise them, and that is why God blesses them."
Such immediate feedback and results -- absent from most volunteer work -- are some of the bonuses of life as a freegan.
"A lot of work that people do, you don't see the effect for a while or you just can't really ever see it," says Lyons. "You know it's somewhere, but you have to have faith in it. This way, every time people are like, 'Thank you.'
"It's pretty real-world shit for a lot of kids."Pupils at the Hulebäcks secondary school outside Gothenburg decided to make a statement in their annual class photo. When the time arrived to take the picture only three of 25 strong class showed up.
The trio appeared in the shot with a student holding a sign saying 'Jimmie sent the rest home' in protest against the nationalist policies advocated by the Sweden Democrats' leader Jimmie Åkesson.
Most of the class come from immigrant backgrounds, so the three blonde haired students appear amidst a row of empty chairs.
"We had two serious proposals for the picture. One was that we were going to dress up as Star Wars characters and the second was to do something more drastic, something that would stand out from the crowd," Patricia Spång Lundahl, who is pictured holding the sign, told Sweden's Aftonbladet newspaper.
The teenager added the class were taking a stand against the Sweden Democrats, which claimed over 800,000 votes in last September's election.
The party is temporarily being led by Parliamentary group leader Mattias Karlsson, while Jimmie Åkesson is on sick leave.
How the Sweden Democrats went mainstream
"We are not sympathetic to their policies and their way of looking at people. In other words we are against racism and for equality," said 18-year-old Spång Lundahl.
Since being picked up by the Swedish media the picture has gone viral generating over 15,000 likes on the we like different (vi gillar olika) Facebook page.
"We have received very positive feedback, a little negative too but most people think it was a good thing for us to do...it's crazy that the photo has got so much attention," Spång Lundahl added to the Expressen newspaper.
The Local/prThe MS-13 gang became a focal point in the news last week, thanks to President Trump. The Mara Salvatrucha, as the gang is also known, has operated in the United States and in El Salvador since the 1980s, and federal agencies have fought for decades to decimate their influence, along with that of 33,000 criminal gangs that operate in the United States. But for Trump, a few recent sting operations that have yielded dozens of MS-13 arrests were enough to declare a de-facto war on the gang. Never mind that federal agencies have conducted many crackdowns on MS-13 members in past years, such as the indictment of 51 members in The MS-13 gang became a focal point in the news last week, thanks to President Trump. The Mara Salvatrucha, as the gang is also known, has operated in the United States and in El Salvador since the 1980s, and federal agencies have fought for decades to decimate their influence, along with that of 33,000 criminal gangs that operate in the United States. But for Trump, a few recent sting operations that have yielded dozens of MS-13 arrests were enough to declare a de-facto war on the gang. Never mind that federal agencies have conducted many crackdowns on MS-13 members in past years, such as the indictment of 51 members in Boston in 2016 and of 37 members in North Carolina in 2015. Using all the might and fury of his bullish bravado, Trump called them “predators,” and “criminal aliens,” and “animals,” and promised to “send them the hell back from where they came from.” He has found a new boogeyman to parade in his rallies, and it’s not a coincidence that he has chosen a Latino gang.
The stench of Trump’s anti-Latino and anti-immigrant rhetoric is not easy to ignore politely. It’s all over his actions because the man himself doesn’t have the capability, or the desire, to mask it, and one should look no deeper than the words he uses to see his true motives. Let’s recall the words with which he launched his asinine relationship with the Latino community, especially with Mexicans: They’re bringing drugs. They’re bringing crime. They’re rapists. Later on, he promised to build the wall between the United States and Mexico, noting that the United States needs to “keep illegals out.”
As president, he has found a new outlet to continue stigmatizing the Latino community, and what better way to do so than with an existing criminal organization that can seemingly justify his attack on Mexicans and immigrants? It’s a cathartic moment for Trump, a distorted vindication for his promise to build a wall to keep Mexicans and Central Americans out, and for his twisted notion that all Latinos are criminals and rapists. Promising to send members of the MS-13 “the hell back from where they came from” is an insult that many of us law-abiding Latinos have heard at least once in our lifetime. It’s coded language that unfortunately, as much as we may want to separate the good from the bad and because Trump doesn’t do nuance, extends to the rest of the Latino community, Mara or not.Former vice president Dick Cheney and his daughter said Sen. Rand Paul's (R-Ky.) foreign policy views would make it difficult to support him as a presidential candidate. (Jackie Kucinich/The Washington Post)
Former vice president Dick Cheney sought Sunday to draw a sharp distinction between his position on Iraq and Sen. Rand Paul's, marking the latest fight over foreign policy in a Republican Party torn between military hawks and those who are far less keen on intervening abroad.
Appearing on a pair of Sunday morning news shows, Paul (Ky.) argued that turmoil in the Middle East is at least partly the result of U.S. involvement in Iraq and Syria. Cheney, a leading advocate of military action in Iraq during the presidency of George W. Bush, hit back sharply against Paul's warnings about too much U.S. military action overseas.
"If we spend our time debating what happened 11 or 12 years ago, we're going to miss the threat that is growing and that we do face. Rand Paul, with all due respect, is basically an isolationist. He doesn't believe we ought to be involved in that part of the world. I think it's absolutely essential," Cheney said on ABC's "This Week with George Stephanopoulos."
Paul said on CNN's "State of the Union" that "there's chaos in the Middle East, and I think the chaos is because we have created a vacuum. Before the Iraq war, I think there was somewhat of a standoff between Sunni and Shiite, had been for maybe 1,000 years off and on."
He also said that the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, a militant group fighting the Iraqi government, have been "emboldened" because "we have been arming their allies. We have been allied with ISIS in Syria. They have had a safe haven because we have been arming the rebels to keep [Syrian President Bashar al-Assad] away from them."
Cheney acknowledged that "there are no good, easy answers in Iraq." But he argued for a more robust U.S. military presence in the region.
"What I would do now," he said, "is, among other things, be realistic about the nature of the threat. When we're arguing over 300 advisers when the request had been for 20,000 in order to do the job right, I'm not sure we've really addressed the problem. I would definitely be helping the resistance up in Syria, in ISIS's back yard, with training and weapons and so forth, in order to be able to do a more effective job on that end of the party."
Paul said the United States needs to first see what the Shiites in Iraq will do to defend themselves against militants before it decides whether to launch airstrikes.
"If the Shiites aren't willing to fight for their country, it may be that their country is not going to exist," he said.
Democratic and Republican lawmakers weighing in Sunday agreed that ISIS is or could become a threat to U.S. national security.
"I believe it can be. I believe that they're recruiting in Europe," Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) said on "State of the Union."
Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) said on CBS's "Face the Nation" that, "Without a doubt, I think this is an urgent counterterrorism matter. I know a lot has been talked about the future of Iraq itself as a country, and that's a very legitimate issue that needs to be looked at, but for me this is not about nation-building, or imposing democracy — this is a counterterrorism risk that we need to nip in the bud. It is my view that we will either deal with ISIS now or we will deal with them later. And later they are going to be stronger and harder to reach."Anyone who has experienced getting a puppy knows it can be hard work. Owners often refer to their pets as "fur babies," which makes a lot of sense considering how much attention puppies require when you first get them.
Anyone who has experienced getting a puppy knows it can be hard work. Owners often refer to their pets as "fur babies," which makes a lot of sense considering how much attention puppies require when you first get them.
Puppies need time to settle into their new home and bond with their owners. They've probably just been taken from their mothers and introduced to a brand new environment, so there's likely to be a lot of crying. And that's before you can even think about house-training.
As it turns out, some companies sympathise with this transition and offer what's known as "pawternity leave." In fact, research from Petplan found that 5% of owners have been offered paid leave from their job to adjust to their pet owning duties.
These are some of the companies which give you a few days off to bond with your new best friend.
Mars Petcare
Mars Petcare was one of the first companies to offer pawternity leave. The company offers its employees ten hours of paid leave when they get a new pet, and they can bring them into the office after that.
BitSol Solutions
A tech company based in Manchester called BitSol Solutions offers its employees a full week of paid leave if they get a new pet. According to the Metro, company owner Greg Buchanan said: "Pets are like babies nowadays, so why shouldn't staff have some time off when they arrive?"
BrewDog
Scottish brewery company BrewDog has just started offering a week of paid leave. The reason given on the BrewDog website is that they just really love dogs. Also, it aims to be "the best company to work for, ever."
Some companies offer pet bereavement leave too
There's also a growing trend to offer employees time off when their pets die. Losing your furry friend is devastating, and more and more companies are sympathising.
Kimpton Hotels & Restaurants in San Francisco offers three days leave, Mars Inc offers one day and flexible hours, California-based software company VMware and Boston-based Maxwell Health both offer flexible days, and Trupanion, a Seattle-based pet insurance company, offers employees one day. Canadian company Shoppers Drug Mart lets employees take days off if they have a loss in the family, and they say that includes a beloved pet.
Independent News ServiceSen. Bob Corker Robert (Bob) Phillips CorkerBrexit and exit: A transatlantic comparison Sasse’s jabs at Trump spark talk of primary challenger RNC votes to give Trump 'undivided support' ahead of 2020 MORE (R-Tenn.), whom some see as a contender to be Donald Trump Donald John TrumpREAD: Cohen testimony alleges Trump knew Stone talked with WikiLeaks about DNC emails Trump urges North Korea to denuclearize ahead of summit Venezuela's Maduro says he fears 'bad' people around Trump MORE’s running mate, will meet with the presumptive Republican presidential nominee on Monday, according to a Washington Post report.
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The two will meet at Trump Tower in New York.
Corker, who has yet to offer a full-throated endorsement of Trump, nonetheless has been warm about his willingness to support the billionaire and has encouraged fellow Republicans to unite behind the candidate.
“I can’t imagine why people are taking this position of ‘never this, never that.’ Let’s work with him,” Corker said earlier this month. “I’ve seen some flexibility already. We want good things to happen for our country.”
Corker, the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, would instantly give deeper establishment support to a Trump ticket, particularly on issues of diplomacy and national security.A November 15 article in the New York Times cited a recent study from Harvard happiness experts Daniel Gilbert and Matthew Killingsworth, who used an iPhone app to contact some 2,200 individuals and get a total of roughly 250,000 replies as to how each person was feeling and what they were doing at the time they were contacted. Not surprisingly, the people who reported the highest levels of pleasure were having sex when contacted (not sure what they felt after being interrupted). And they were highly focused on what they were doing, at least prior to the interruption.
The surprise came from the 99.5% of people who were not having sex when contacted. Nearly half of them reported that their minds were wandering when contacted; in other words, half of them were not focused on whatever it was they were doing. Those who were focused reported significantly higher levels of happiness than those who were not.
As an expert on ways to achieve peak performance as well as expert on attention deficit disorder (A.D.D.) and the crazy busy pace of modern life, this study caught my eye. So…unless we’re having sex, half of us at any given moment are not focused on what we’re doing. Not only does such lack of focus lead to unhappiness, it also leads to errors, wasted time, miscommunication and misunderstanding, diminished productivity, and who-knows-how-much global loss of income (there’ll be a study on that soon, no doubt).
All of which cries out the question, why such rampant lack of focus? And what remedies can we apply?
One might suggest we all take Ritalin for our culturally-induced A.D.D., but not only would that be medically inadvisable, we’re pretty much already doing the equivalent. Just look at the lines at Starbucks and Dunkin’ Donuts, not to mention the sales of Mountain Dew, Red Bull, and the rest.
But why such lack of focus in need of so much caffeine? If Killingsworth and Gilbert had done their study 100 years ago, or even 20 years ago, would they have found the same results? At any given moment, have half the minds in the USA — or the world — always been wandering? Or is this a new phenomenon?
My money — and available research — says it’s new, or at least it’s grown worse of late. 30% to 40% of people’s time in the workplace is spent tending to unplanned interruptions, and then reconstituting the mental focus the interruption caused. I’m sure that was not the case 20 years ago simply because the tools of interruption were not so plentiful. And all the distraction has created blocks in thinking and feeling deeply. We’re being superficialized and sound-bit.
Through my lectures, I’ve had the chance to ask thousands of people, “Where do you do your best thinking?” Rarely do I get the response, “At work.” The most common response? “In the shower.” The shower is one of the last places left where we’re not often interrupted. But who knows, maybe the next hot gift item will be a waterproof BlackBerry.
If technology lures us to lose focus, I also believe a deeper conflict is at work, one that indeed was in force 100 years ago, and 1000 years ago as well. It is the paradox that even though we are never so happy or productive as when we are intensely focused in a given activity, we also avoid and resist entering such focused states. But why? If modern research demonstrates the great rewards of focus, why would anyone resist it?
Simple physics. Nature tends toward disorder. Focus imposes order. So focus requires energy. It requires work. It can hurt. People often avoid pain and work. We humans have mixed feelings about expending energy, even if we know it will bring us pleasure. For example, in the Harvard study, the second-rated activity in terms of happiness was physical exercise. And how many of us avoid that?
So what’s my solution to the problem of fractured focus?
First, recreate boundaries that technology has broken down so that you have some time actually to think when you’re at work. Turn it off. Close the door. Don’t jump online the minute you feel frustrated or vexed. Push on. Grapple with the problem. Go deep. Persist. Don’t allow intrusions into the precious process of creative thought.
Second, try to spend as much time as you can at the intersection of three spheres: what you’re good at, what you like to do, and what adds value to the world, i.e., what someone is willing to pay you to do. At the intersection of those spheres lies a land of joy and productivity that can successfully compete with force of entropy, of disorder, that tilts us all toward lassitude. When you infuse work with pleasure, then you want to work, even though it hurts at times.
So, since you can’t have sex all day, and no one can exercise for much more than an hour or maybe two, pick tasks that you have skill at, that you like to do, and then set the bar just a little higher each day. Focus will follow. And with focus, you’ll gain both pleasure and success.
Edward Hallowell, MD, is a psychiatrist, served as an instructor at Harvard Medical School for 20 years, and is the director of the Hallowell Centers in New York City and Sudbury, Massachusetts. He has written two popular Harvard Business Review articles and authored eighteen books, including the national bestseller Driven to Distraction, that have sold millions of copies. His forthcoming book, Shine, is due out in January from Harvard Business Review Press.Feb 12, 2014; Oakland, CA, USA; Miami Heat forward LeBron James (6) reacts after recording an assist against the Golden State Warriors in the third quarter at Oracle Arena. The Heat defeated the Warriors 111-110. Mandatory Credit: Cary Edmondson-USA TODAY Sports
Well that didn’t last long.
Barely two days after Kevin Love trade talks between the Golden State Warriors and Minnesota Timberwolves were declared “dead,” it looks like the Dubs could be positioning themselves to not only add Love this summer, but LeBron James as well.
According to a radio interview with ESPN’s Chad Ford, the Warriors are still very motivated to trade for Love and believe that if they are able to acquire him, they’ll also be able to make a run at LeBron in fee agency this summer.
The Warriors would do well to start putting feelers out there to see if LeBron James would show any interest in moving to the Bay Area should the Warriors add Kevin Love to superstar Stephen Curry and defensive anchor Andrew Bogut. If LeBron so much as nibbles at the prospect of playing for the Warriors next season, you can be guaranteed Golden State will immediately drop their off-limits stance on Klay Thompson.
If the Dubs were to move Thompson and could find a way to get David Lee and maybe even Harrison Barnes off the books, Golden State would have enough cap space for LeBron, Love, Curry and Bogut with plenty of room left over for locking up Draymond Green, dealing with their glaring need at the backup point guard position and ensuring backup center Festus Ezeli stays on the roster.
Like most free agency reports we’ve seen lately involving Kevin Love and LeBron James, this is a bit of a long shot. There’s no guarantee LeBron opting out of his contract means anything other than his willingness to take less money with the Big Three to revamp the Miami Heat and make another title run. However, if LeBron even remotely expresses interest in playing in Golden State, the Warriors should immediately pull the trigger on the Kevin Love trade. The same was still true before LeBron rumors got involved, but still.
More and more the NBA landscape is starting to feel like MyTeam mode in NBA 2K. Enjoy the ride and speculation while it lasts.gold in the Sun? You bet there is. Careful analysis of the Sun's spectrum shows that about 6 ten-billionths (0.0000000006) of the mass of the Sun consists of atoms of gold. Doesn't sound like much does it? But, because the Sun is so huge, this is a lot of gold! The Sun's mass is 2.0 x 1030 kg - that's
2,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 kg But if 6 ten-billionths of the Sun's atoms are gold that gives a mass of 1.2 x 1021 kg (1,200,000,000,000,000,000,000 kgs). That's a heap of gold! In fact, it's about the same mass as one of the largest asteroids like Ceres - and Ceres is 913 kilometers in diameter. Imagine an asteroid made of pure gold just floating in space waiting for you to get in your spaceship, fly off, pick it up and come back to Earth seriously rich!
At approximately £7 per gram, I reckon the Sun is worth about seven million nine hundred thousand billion billion pounds! £7,900,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 back to topIn its cynical attempts to evade responsibility for devastating Ecuador’s Amazon rainforest and its inhabitants, US oil giant Chevron has long relied on the time-tested tactics of shifting the blame, playing the victim, and changing the subject. After all, that’s what ya gotta do when the evidence of your guilt is so overwhelming.
Chevron spokespeople have claimed that poor sanitation is responsible for the cancer epidemic ravaging the region pock-marked by Chevron’s abandoned toxic waste pits. They’ve claimed that the courageous two-decade effort by local indigenous communities to hold the company accountable is a extortion conspiracy cooked up by trial lawyers. And they’ve vowed to fight the case “until hell freezes over” while declaring, “we can’t let little countries screw around with big companies like this.”
In the wake of Tuesday’s verdict from an Ecuadorean appeals court that upholds the historic $18 billion judgment against Chevron, expect lots more of the same. Especially since the 3-judge appeals court panel outlined so clearly the mountain of clear and incontrovertible evidence it used to affirm the lower court’s decision.
In its decision, the appeals panel explained that the case against Chevron had been substantially proven by scientific evidence submitted by the company’s own experts, and blasted Chevron for its “flagrant bad faith” and the “abusive” manner in which it attempted to defend itself for its crimes in the Ecuadorean Amazon.
Today, the Amazon Defense Coalition released a conclusive (but relatively concise!) summary report of the evidence against Chevron—including that supplied by the company itself and discovered through open judicial inspections of Chevron’s contaminated sites—that the courts in Ecuador relied upon in finding the company guilty.
Of course, the document has been prepared by the victors—the Ecuadorean plaintiffs—in this epic legal case, and they outline all the highlights they’ve been presenting at trial since 1993. But as you’ll see, the summary gets into exactly why Chevron doesn’t have a leg to stand on after the most litigated environmental case in history.
For instance, the summary section outlining the Judicial Site Inspections—official technical tests of contamination at former Chevron oil sites conducted with the participation of both sides before the judge, often surrounded by media and observers:
The trial court conducted 54 inspections of Chevron wells and oil production facilities and found oil contamination (measured as Total Petroleum Hydrocarbons, or TPH) in violation of applicable legal norms at every single site inspected. Ecuador law allows TPH in soil and waters at 1,000 mg/kg―a standard ten times more lax than the typical U.S. standard. As the trial court noted, some times samples at Chevron sites showed contamination up to 900 times higher than the Ecuadorian norm. The average TPH level across the nearly 800 samples taken from Chevron pits was 20,033 mg/kg―over 20 times the lax Ecuadorian standard. The average TPH level from the nearly 1000 samples taken in areas surrounding those pits was was 5,247 mg/kg, or five times that standard.
Indisputable. And there’s lots more of it.
Of course, there remains a long road ahead as the plaintiffs take this appeals court-affirmed, enforceable judgment to countries where Chevron has operations—it carefully pulled them from Ecuador—to ask courts in those jurisdictions to force the company to pay up or freeze its assets.
As Ecuadorean lawyer for the plaintiffs—as well as CNN Hero and Goldman Prize Winner—Pablo Fajardo said in the wake of the appeals court verdict:
Finally, there will be justice and hopefully (the) repair of the Ecuadoran Amazon. It’s not going to be easy to enforce this judgment, but even if hell freezes over, we are going to try.”
The Amazon Defense Coalition issued a press release to announce the summary document, which you can read here. Or just check out the 4-page document here: Summary of Overwhelming Evidence Against Chevron In Ecuador Trial.Image copyright Wikimedia/Francofranco56 Image caption Only about half of Ostana's population live there all year round
A small town in northern Italy is celebrating the arrival of its first baby since the 1980s.
The mayor of Ostana, which lies in the mountains of the Piedmont region, says the new arrival is a "dream come true" for the tiny community, which has seen its population plummet over the past 100 years. Baby Pablo, who was born in a Turin hospital last week, takes the number of inhabitants to 85, although only about half live there permanently, La Stampa newspaper reports.
Mayor Giacomo Lombardo says that while 1,000 people called Ostana home in the early 1900s, a steady drop in the birth rate began after World War Two. "The real decline started in 1975, with 17 babies between 1976 and 1987, when the last boy was born - until little Pablo," he says.
Ostana is trying to reverse the depopulation trend, primarily by creating new jobs. Pablo's parents, Silvia and Jose, had themselves planned to move abroad five years ago, but stayed put when offered the chance to manage the nearby mountain refuge.
Some feel the family's story bodes well for other mountain communities. "They are individual choices, but they multiply," says Marco Bussone from the The National Union of Mountain Towns and Communities. He wants new rules such as tax exemptions for businesses to help communities to regenerate.
Small towns across Italy are battling against depopulation, as young people move out to find work. Some have tried to reverse the trend by giving away empty houses for free, while one mayor focused his efforts on stopping the existing population from declining by "banning" residents from falling ill.
In Ostana, Pablo's arrival is being marked with a party and, according to La Stampa, a model stork at the entrance to the town with a small blue bundle in its beak.
Next story: Russian republic offers free boots to homeless
Use #NewsfromElsewhere to stay up-to-date with our reports via Twitter.'She would get very upset that he wouldn’t let her hug him:' Dysfunctional relationship of Sandy Hook gunman and his mother
Nancy Lanza portrayed as'survivalist' who stockpiled food, water and guns
She was shot four times in the head, possibly as she slept, by her son
Collection of guns included handguns, assault rifle and two hunting rifles
Son Adam was reclusive, spending most of his time in adjoining bedrooms
Friend: Mrs Lanza 'would get very upset that he wouldn’t let her hug him'
Moved to Sandy Hook in around 1998 but Mrs Lanza and husband divorced
Funerals for the young victims held today
All schools in Ridgefield, Connecticut, were in lockdown today because of a suspicious person who might be armed, police said
The loner who massacred 26 pupils and staff at a U.S. primary school refused to hug his mother, it has been revealed.
Friend of the family Rich Collins who drank in a bar with Adam Lanza's mother Nancy said she found it hard to deal with her son's inability to express affection.
'She would get very upset that he wouldn’t let her hug him,' said Mr Collins.
'She was proud of the boys, but she would get upset about Adam not being affectionate,' he told the New York Post.
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Was he inspired by his mother? Adam Lanza, 20, shot his teacher mother Nancy before driving to her elementary school and shooting 26 people including 20 children
Nancy Lanza's home in Newtown, Connecticut, was raided after 2 pm on Friday and she was found shot dead from an apparent gunshot wound to the face
Friends and family portrayed Adam Lanza’s mother Nancy as a paranoid ‘survivalist’ who believed the world was on the verge of violent, economic collapse.
She is reported to have been struggling to hold herself together and had been stockpiling food, water and guns in the large home she shared with her 20-year-old son in Connecticut.
Mrs Lanza, 52, was a ‘prepper’ – so called because they are preparing for a breakdown in civilised society – who apparently became obsessed with guns and taught Adam and his older brother, Ryan, how to shoot, even taking them to local ranges.
That backfired horrifically on Friday when Adam Lanza began his killing spree by shooting his mother dead in bed.
He fired four bullets into her head – possibly as she slept – then took three of her guns to Sandy Hook elementary school in Newtown, Connecticut, where he killed 20 children and six staff.
Funeral: A limousine arrives at Honan Funeral Home, where the family of six-year-old Jack Pinto is holding his funeral service, in Newtown, Connecticut Difficult: Mourners weep as they leave the Honan Funeral Home after the funeral
Grieving: Mourners arrive at the Honan Funeral Home
Today all schools in Ridgefield, Connecticut, were in lockdown because of a suspicious person who might be armed, police said.
Ridgefield is about 20 miles (30 km) from Newtown, site of Friday's elementary school massacre.
'We're looking for a suspicious person at an elementary school,' said a dispatcher at the Ridgefield Police Department.
State police in Newtown were aware of the situation, and said local police was handling it.
Remembrance: Names of victims hang on a U.S. flag on a makeshift memorial in the Sandy Hook village of Newtown
Memory: Small U.S. flags adorn a large flag on a makeshift memorial on the side of Highway 84 near the Newtown
Marked: A woman carries balloons to the Abraham L. Green & Sons Funeral Home, where Sandy Hook Elementary school victim Noah Pozner's funeral will be held
Speaking after last week's tragedy Lanza’s aunt Marsha said Nancy was ‘self reliant’ and that they talked a lot about how she was preparing for the economic meltdown.
She said her former sister-in-law was meticulous about never leaving guns out, but made no secret of having an imposing firearm collection.
It included not only the two handguns and semi-automatic assault rifle used in the killings but also two traditional hunting rifles.
She would boast about them in a local bar and also showed them off to her landscape gardener.
‘She told me she liked the single-mindedness of shooting,’ said Dan Holmes, who looked after the large garden around her rambling home. He also recalled how Mrs Lanza would go target shooting with her boys ‘pretty often’.
Overcome with emotion: President Barack Obama gave a moving speech at a vigil in Newtown, Connecticut last night for victims of the Sandy Hook shooting
Mother: Out of the tragedy in Newtown, Connecticut, came a disturbing picture of Sandy Hook gunman Adam Lanza and his first victim, his mother Nancy, pictured
Disturbed: Adam Lanza (circled) at a school technology group. Fellow pupils called him a 'ghost'
Baby-faced: Adam Lanza pictured during his secondary school days. His mother taught him how to shoot
OBAMA ADDRESSES GUN RESTRICTIONS DURING VIGIL
During a vigil in Newtown, Connecticut last night for victims of the Sandy Hook shooting President Obama made several references to the prospective- and likely- legal battles that will come as politicians fight for tougher restrictions on guns in the wake of the shooting.
That said, he was clear to avoid specific plans, but took aim at the arguments made by activists who point to the Second Amendment's right to bear arms as a reason to keep guns accessible.
'Are we prepared to say that such violence visited upon our children year after year after year is somehow the price of our freedom?' he said.
A particularly poignant moment came in the speech when Mr Obama read the first names of all 20 children who died in the shooting.
'We can't accept events like this as routine. Are we really prepared to say that we're powerless in the face of such carnage?' he said, referring to the four other mass shootings that have taken place since Mr Obama was elected.
Mr Holmes revealed how Mrs Lanza – who divorced Adam’s father Peter, a wealthy senior executive at a financial services company, in |
unarticulated. “Louisiana 1927,” a flood song released in 1974, became New Orleans’s de facto anthem post-Katrina, in 2005, its refrain of “They’re tryin’ to wash us away” capturing the city’s feeling of helplessness in the face of governmental indifference. “Korean Parents,” from 2008, made the same argument as Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother (albeit with tongue in cheek) three years before that nuisance Amy Chua showed up. And “The Great Nations of Europe,” from 1999, a rousingly arranged chronicle of how the 16th-century apex of the Age of Discovery wrought havoc on the lands its explorers “discovered,” uncannily anticipated the current campus and Op-Ed debates over the historical figures for whom we name buildings and holidays. Christopher Columbus, in Newman’s lyric, thoughtlessly spreads disease among the indigenous peoples he encounters, giving them “TB and typhoid and athlete’s foot, diptheria and the flu / ‘Scuse me, Great Nations comin’ through!” Newman is writing the score for Pixar’s Toy Story 4, due in 2018. Though his two career tracks, of devilish songsmithery and innocuous movie commissions, may occasionally seem to be at cross-purposes—can the nice man telling us we’ve got a friend in him really be the same person who sings, in the opening lines of his 1974 album, Good Old Boys, “Last night I saw Lester Maddox on a TV show with some smart-assed New York Jew”?—they both speak to what Lenny Waronker, Newman’s oldest friend and frequent producer, describes as “Randy’s ability to make music look like something, where you can literally see the place he’s writing about.” This ability might fairly be called a family inheritance. Escape to L.A.
As boys in the late 1940s and 50s, Newman and Waronker spent time on Stage 1 of the Twentieth Century Fox lot on Pico Boulevard, watching the great Alfred Newman conduct. Waronker’s father, Simon, known as Si, was Al Newman’s lieutenant, a former violinist who, realizing his limitations as a player, re-invented himself as the Fox orchestra’s contractor, in charge of hiring and dismissing musicians. Si Waronker grew close to Al’s brothers, in particular Randy’s father, Irving, a physician. Lenny, born in 1941, was two years older than Randy, but the two boys were best buddies more or less from the nursery onward. In those days, before Pro Tools, click tracks, and little video monitors, the sight of movie music being made was a majestic thing to behold: Al Newman on the podium, arms waving, eyes trained on a giant screen before him, watching a projection of a work print of the newest Fox movie—All About Eve, perhaps, or The Robe—while an 85-piece orchestra faced him, following his cues. (The senior Newman and his orchestra make a rare on-screen appearance at the beginning of Fox’s 1953 CinemaScope confection How to Marry a Millionaire, performing the overture in formal concert dress.) The boys sat right on the soundstage, in chairs some distance from the musicians. “Everything was recorded live,” Waronker said. “A bell would go off, and you couldn’t say a thing; you couldn’t move. It screwed me up—it still does. When I listen to music, I can’t stand people talking or walking around. It all had a major impact on me. And, certainly, on Randy.” “It was a hell of a sound to hear,” Newman said. “I remember it as an actual something I felt.” For Randy, a musical career was essentially foreordained. Irving, his father, wrote songs his whole life and played the clarinet when young, but his ability didn’t measure up to his composer brothers’; he was the rare Jew who felt he had let down his family by falling into medicine. There would be no such fate for Randy. When he was five a piano materialized in his room—“in case I was Mozart,” he said. The musical Newmans are as storied an Old Hollywood family as the Goldwyns, Warners, or Zanucks, if less recognized as such. As is often the case where Old Hollywood is concerned, the roots lie in the shtetl. Much as Schmuel Gelbfisz, a penniless 19th-century child of Warsaw, evolved into the Thalberg Award-winning Samuel Goldwyn, and as Harry and Jack Warner, a Polish cobbler’s boys, willed themselves into the men who delivered to the masses everything from Casablanca to Bugs Bunny, so did Alfred Alan Newman—born in 1901, the eldest of the seven sons and three daughters of the fruit peddler Michael Newman (né Nemorofsky) and Luba Newman (née Koskoff), immigrants from pogrom-ravaged Yelisavetgrad (now Kirovograd, Ukraine)—scrap his way to the pinnacle of his field: music for films. Michael and Luba, who actually met in the U.S. and married when he was 23 and she not quite 14, made their home in New Haven, Connecticut, in what was then a Jewish ghetto and is now the campus of Yale University’s School of Medicine. Alfred, born to Luba when she was 17, was recognized early on as a piano prodigy. Before he could even shave, flyers were distributed in New Haven that advertised “Master Alfred Newman, Pianist, Open for Engagements for Concerts, Musicales and Entertainments.” The boy in the photo had his thick dark hair in a pompadour and wore a high stiff collar with a string tie. Alfred’s musical precocity propelled him to New York, where, still in his teens, he worked as an accompanist to Grace La Rue, a vaudeville star, and Lina Abarbanell, a popular light-opera singer. By the 1920s, he was an in-demand pit conductor on Broadway, where he got to know George Gershwin, Irving Berlin, Jerome Kern, and Richard Rodgers. Along the way, he became the primary supporter of the large Newman brood, which followed him to New York—with the conspicuous exception of his father, Michael, a ne’er-do-well who had fallen out of the picture sometime in the previous decade. “Some people said he was a drunk,” Randy said of his grandfather, whom he never met. “But, to be fair, in those days, when a Jew had two drinks a week, they’d think he was a drunk.” California beckoned in 1930, when Alfred was summoned to work as the conductor on two early Hollywood musicals, Irving Berlin’s Reaching for the Moon and Eddie Cantor’s Whoopee! “My father used to say it was just there, the opportunity,” said Tom Newman, Alfred’s youngest son. “It was all teed up for him. The talkies were starting, and here was Hollywood waiting for people to come from New York who had the training, who could do music with a sense of dramatic context.” As the 30s progressed, Alfred’s stock only climbed higher—he worked with Charlie Chaplin on Modern Times and composed the rousing “searchlight” fanfare that, to this day, opens most Twentieth Century Fox films. The fanfare has since been re-recorded several times—twice under the baton of his son David Newman. Alfred was devoted to his mother, Luba, frequently sending her affectionate letters in his peripatetic early years, addressing her as “sweetheart.” “If I get set beyond the Cantor picture,” he wrote to her in his first months out West, “we can begin to talk about a house here for you.” This was an auspicious moment in Newman-family history, with major implications for the future: he loved L.A. Stolen Time
By the time of Randy’s birth, in 1943, the extended Newman clan was a Los Angeles family, its members settled near one another in Pacific Palisades. Emil and Lionel followed Alfred into movie music, while another brother, Marc, became an agent specializing in the representation of film composers, and still another, Robert, known as Bobby, was a film-production executive, working for Goldwyn and Howard Hughes, among others. Though he stood only about five feet five, Al cut an authoritative figure, “a reverential fog around him, though not of his own making,” Randy said. Known in the industry as “Pappy,” Al, in his capacity as the musical director of Twentieth Century Fox, scored and conducted the music for more than 200 films, among them the best-picture Oscar winners How Green Was My Valley, Gentleman’s Agreement, and All About Eve. David Newman, trying to explain the transcendent expressiveness of his father’s orchestral work, comes back to the word rubato. “It literally means ‘stolen time,’ ” he said. “You steal time and you make it up. Basically, you slow down, speed up; slow down, speed up—in an expressive way. The Fox Orchestra was all about this vocal playing, like they were singing all the time. There’s a certain sound, and I don’t know what other word to use except this cliché word, but there’s this love in it. It’s so beautiful, it’s almost uncomfortable. That shimmering, crazy sound under those movies: that’s Fox.” In the late 1940s, shortly after marrying his third wife, a comely blond shiksa and former Goldwyn Girl named Martha Montgomery (the mother of David, Tom, and Maria), Al Newman commissioned Lloyd Wright, the son of Frank Lloyd Wright, to build him a dream home out among the avocado groves of the still-wide-open Palisades. Wright took the task and his client tremendously seriously, writing in a rambling, discursive letter to Newman, “I can best parallel our desires starting with music. I am of the neoclassical school, which prefers the logical dissonances of Rachmaninoff to the brilliant creations of Arnold Schoenberg.” The result was a sprawling, right-angle-free house with a sunken performance space in the living room ideal for chamber music. The Newmans didn’t do von Trapp-style sing-alongs, but Randy remembers seeing extraordinary musicians give recitals in the house, among them the Fox Orchestra’s concertmaster, Felix Slatkin, and his wife, the cellist Eleanor Aller, who, together, founded the Hollywood String Quartet, the first U.S.-based chamber group to achieve international recognition in the classical world. To this day, most of the musical Newmans live west of Interstate 405 in Los Angeles, with Randy and Tom in the Palisades and many of the others clustered in Malibu, where Alfred and Bobby Newman had the foresight to buy land when it was cheap. Randy lives just a couple of miles from where he grew up, in an airy but unflashy stucco modernist house whose most eccentric feature is that it was designed, at the behest of his second and current wife, Gretchen, by the then new husband of his first wife, Roswitha. Newman has two children in their 20s with Gretchen, and three older children with Roswitha, the eldest of whom, Amos Newman, works as an agent for William Morris Endeavor—representing, like his great-uncle Marc before him, film composers. Idiosyncrasy
Irving Newman, Randy’s father, was an internist with a practice in Beverly Hills. He was the most handsome and book-smart Newman brother, beloved by his nephews and nieces as “Uncle Doc,” but notorious for his temper. Family lore has him constantly getting into fistfights and contretemps, including, it is said, a cursing match with Nancy Reagan in the parking lot of the Brentwood Country Mart. Randy remembers his father tangling with a restaurant’s parking valet—“He tosses the keys to the kid and says, ‘Thanks, sonny,’ the kid says, ‘I’m not your son!,’ and whammo!”—and springing out of his car on the Pacific Coast Highway to take on a man who had evidently called him a “dirty Jew.” Photograph by Tony Newman. Anti-Semitism was often the triggering mechanism for Irving’s fights, or at least the stories of Irving’s fights as he later embroidered them. Some of this anger was rooted in authentic experiences of bigotry. Because medical schools still set quotas on Jewish students in the 1930s, he was compelled to transfer as an undergraduate from New York University to the University of Alabama, whose School of Medicine promised him a spot if he spent his senior year in Tuscaloosa. The plan worked out, and he was accepted into the med school, but he was expelled after slugging a dean who, so the story goes, called him a “Hebe.” Fortunately, Irving’s brother Bobby, politically well connected in Democratic circles, used his influence to get Irving into another medical school, at Louisiana State University. It was during his time at L.S.U. that Irving met and fell in love with a Jewish girl from New Orleans named Adele Fuchs. They were married in 1939. Adele didn’t take easily to Los Angeles at first, and because Irving was serving in World War II at the beginning of Randy’s life, as a flight surgeon in North Africa and Italy, she went home to live in New Orleans, new child in tow. Even after the war, Randy and his mother, along with his kid brother, Alan, born in 1947, continued to spend their summers down South. Randy witnessed the Jim Crow laws in action—“the COLORED and WHITE on ice-cream wagons and drinking fountains,” he said—but, back home in L.A., he also experienced the coastal elite’s reflexive denigration of southerners as ignorant and backward. All of these ingredients conspired to make Newman the idiosyncratic songwriter he became. His mother’s ongoing fealty to Louisiana gave him a nuanced, often sympathetic view of the South and its people. His father’s anger, some of which he says he inherited, channeled itself into songs that, in certain cases, railed against injustice, and, in others, sent up the very foul-tempered behavior he had both practiced and witnessed. “I’m very good at being wrongheaded in my songs,” Newman told me. “I’ve seen wrongheaded really close-up.” Going Pro
Lenny Waronker recognized Randy’s songwriting and arranging talent before Randy did, when they were still teenagers. One of the young Newman’s tricks, a thing he did for his own amusement, was to take a pop standard—say, “When I Fall in Love,” first popularized by Doris Day—and re-arrange it as an R&B song, “taking it to a completely contemporary place without it being cheesy,” Waronker said. When Randy started writing original songs, Waronker nudged him into going pro. Si Waronker, Lenny’s father, had by then become a rich man, having left Fox to start up Liberty Records, the label behind Eddie Cochran, Julie London, and, most crucial to its early success, Alvin and the Chipmunks. Before Lenny and Randy were even out of college (the former at U.S.C., the latter at U.C.L.A., from which he never actually took a degree), Lenny, working part-time at Metric Music, Liberty’s publishing arm, was hustling his friend’s work to artists and labels. “Lenny was really my courage for a lot of years, when I’d write something and didn’t think it was good,” Newman said. “I just didn’t have any confidence at all, but if I played a song for him and he liked it, I’d feel better about it.” Curiously, the clutch of songs that Newman wrote in the early to mid-60s proved more popular with British artists than American ones, with such U.K. acts as Cilla Black, Manfred Mann, and Alan Price giving, respectively, “I’ve Been Wrong Before,” “So Long Dad,” and “Simon Smith and His Amazing Dancing Bear” their first airings. Dusty Springfield chose two Newman originals for her landmark Dusty in Memphis album, “I Don’t Want to Hear It Anymore” and “Just One Smile.” By the late 1960s, Waronker was an A&R man at the Reprise division of Warner Bros. Records, then at the dawn of its glorious run, under its charismatic chief, Mo Ostin, as the most artist-friendly company in music. (Later, in the 1980s, Waronker was promoted by Ostin to the position of president of Warner Bros.) At the time, Ostin and Waronker were placing bets on such unconventional performers as Van Dyke Parks, to whose Song Cycle Newman contributed its opening number, the wonderfully kaleidoscopic “Vine Street.” “Mo said to me, ‘What about Randy Newman?,’ knowing that we were best friends,” Waronker said, “and I said, ‘Yeah, it’d be great!’ ” Thus was Newman signed up as a recording artist. Parks, enlisted as Waronker’s co-producer on Newman’s debut album for his arranging and studio prowess, remembers the 24-year-old Newman as shy and hesitant, someone who needed to be coaxed out of his shell. “A total recluse and social anomaly,” Parks said. “I enjoy thinking that I had to talk Randy out of his reluctance. That makes me feel very important.” Also present at the earliest sessions for the album, which took place late in 1967, was none other than Alfred Newman. He had left Twentieth Century Fox in 1960, when the advance of television had begun to cut into budgets for film orchestration. His youngest brother, Lionel, who had been in charge of Fox’s TV-music division, effectively stepped into Alfred’s musical-director job, albeit no longer with the benefit of an in-house orchestra. (Lionel did just fine, winning an Oscar for the score of Hello, Dolly!, and playing a large role in advancing the career of his friend John Williams, whose Star Wars opening theme was deliberately composed in the same key, B-flat major, as Alfred’s Fox fanfare.) Al, a heavy smoker, was in failing health due to emphysema. But he kept on working to the very end, scoring the movie Airport, released two weeks after his death, in 1970. Randy recalls his uncle’s being enthusiastic about the nephew’s songwriting, since, for all of his accomplishments, Al attached no glory to his own work—in Randy’s words, “writing great bloody hunks of music to order.” Until his first album, which has 75 credited musicians, Randy had never written an arrangement for orchestra. Among the first he attempted was the one for the album’s closer, “Davy the Fat Boy,” a bizarre, asymmetrical suite-song whose narrator exploits an orphaned, obese friend (the titular Davy) as a sideshow freak. Al Newman, undaunted by his nephew’s flight of fancy, dutifully ran the orchestra through rehearsals of Randy’s woozy, Italian-circus-like arrangement. But he left it to Randy to conduct the live recording. The reason the song, eccentric to begin with, sounds especially warped and melted, its author says, is that, in his greenness as a conductor, he followed his musicians rather than the other way around, resulting in “a weight to the orch”—a lurching heaviness to the music’s movement. Still, this strangeness jibed both with the psychedelic times and Waronker and Ostin’s vision of an audacious new American music. “I was very much into the Gershwin idea,” Waronker said, “of a singer-songwriter who had those kinds of chops, and songs that were sort of timeless. I thought there was a lane for that. But in terms of being commercial, it was a nail-biter—and Van Dyke and Randy’s albums weren’t commercial.” Newman’s next album, 12 Songs, came out in April 1970 and used more conventional rock-band instrumentation. Parks tipped off Danny Hutton of Three Dog Night to one of its songs, “Mama Told Me Not to Come” (actually written for Eric Burdon, of the Animals, four years earlier), and Three Dog Night’s goofy, swampy cover went to No. 1 in the U.S. that summer. Thus was cemented Newman’s enduring reputation as someone whose songs sell better in other people’s voices than in his own. Photograph by Annie Leibovitz. Deep Dig
About that voice—that distinctive, divisive, conversational singing voice that the rock critic Robert Christgau has characterized as an “indolent drawl” … “Well, Ray Charles is what I sound like to myself,” Newman told me. “It’s never been conscious. But I’ll tell you, doing what southerners do, the vowels just sound better to me. I think that my interest in the South is an attempt to justify the accent I have when I sing.” Considering this further, he said, “No—it’s about Jews digging into America really hard. Digging into America a little harder than someone else might.” When I asked him to elaborate, Newman cited a passage from Philip Roth’s novel Operation Shylock in which the protagonist pays twisted tribute to Irving Berlin. “God gave Moses the Ten Commandments,” Roth’s narrator says, “and then He gave to Irving Berlin ‘Easter Parade’ and ‘White Christmas.’ The two holidays that celebrate the divinity of Christ—the divinity that’s the very heart of the Jewish rejection of Christianity—and what does Irving Berlin brilliantly do? He de-Christs them both! Easter he turns into a fashion show and Christmas into a holiday about snow … He turns their religion into schlock. But nicely! Nicely! So nicely the goyim don’t even know what hit ‘em.” Surely the straight-shooting Berlin didn’t remotely possess Newman’s capacity for mischief, but the point is made: Newman has spent his adulthood engaging in the meaning of Americanness, and doing so as only someone who feels slightly on the outside, not fully assured of his place, can. His third studio album, 1972’s Sail Away, is where his authorial voice fully crystallized, and its title song is arguably his greatest—and one of the saddest songs in the American canon. On paper, it sounds like a sick joke: a slave trader pitching America to Africans like an infomercial huckster pitching dubious time-shares: “In America, you get food to eat / Won’t have to run through the jungle and scuff up your feet.” But the melody Newman puts this sales pitch to, underpinned by a string arrangement worthy of his uncle Al, is hymnally gorgeous, and the chorus, when it kicks in—“Sail away, sail away / We will cross the mighty ocean into Charleston Bay”—has the stirring, “My Country, ‘Tis of Thee” tug of a song sung fervently at assemblies by schoolchildren. It’s as mixed-up a song as the United States is a mixed-up country. Ray Charles, to Newman’s everlasting delight, covered it. With a gospel choir.LONDON — The European Union’s highest court waded into the politically explosive issue of public expressions of Muslim identity on Tuesday, finding that private employers can ban female workers from wearing head scarves on the job.
The ruling comes as Europe is beginning a critical election season, with races in the Netherlands, France and Germany, and with anti-immigrant, anti-Islam populism rising in many countries. Dutch voters go to the polls on Wednesday, and the far-right party of the anti-Islam politician Geert Wilders is expected to fare well.
In its ruling, the European Court of Justice found that company regulations banning “the visible wearing of any political, philosophical or religious sign” did not constitute direct discrimination — so long as such prohibitions applied to religious garb from all faiths, a requirement that legal experts say could also encompass a Sikh turban and a Jewish skullcap, among other religious symbols.
“It is a very bold step,” said Camino Mortera-Martinez, a research fellow at the Center for European Reform in Brussels, describing the ruling as a landmark decision, if also a political and pragmatic one. “Recently we have seen the court being much more attentive to the political winds rather than being so legalistic, because of the recognition that the E.U. is at risk of collapse.”Proposition 64 will appear on the U.S. election ballot for California voters. If it passes, it would legalize the recreational use of marijuana in the state.
John Roselius has already voted "Yes".
You may not know him by name. But, you've likely seen some of the actor's earliest work. Roselius is best known for his role in a 1987 anti-drug public service announcement, in which he makes his point by cracking an egg into a frying pan.
"It's very hard to explain how I felt personally about doing this thing," Roselius tells As It Happens host Carol Off. "I just asked them don't run it past six months — and they ran it for 14 years."
The now iconic television ad was paid for by the Partnership for a Drug-Free America. The 30 second spot was widely circulated across the United States, parodied on late night television and shown in classrooms to generations of teenagers.
"I think some of them laughed and some of them took it seriously, Roselius admits.
I was aware that I had a drinking problem when I did the ad. - John Roselius
At the time, Roselius says he firmly believed in the message he was sending. He even donated money he made from the ad to a boxing group for youth, which he helped run for a similar cause.
"We bought our own ring," Roselius recalls. "We worked with the kids and tried to get in the schools — to keep kids out of gangs and avoid drugs."
For the second time in six years, California voters are being asked to legalize the recreational use of marijuana. Polls show Proposition 64 with more than the 50 percent of voter support needed to pass. (Rich Pedroncelli/AP)
Roselius felt the government drug programs were failing and "horribly run and misread." In addition to acting, he also worked with inmates at San Quentin State Prison."There's more drugs in the prison than there are in the streets so you learn a lot about it," Roselius explains. Furthermore, he was also dealing with his own addictions.
"I was aware that I had a drinking problem when I did the ad," Roselius admits.
(Youtube)
Roselius has now been sober for the past 28 years. He is still uncomfortable with being known as the "Drug Guy" and questions whether the ad was effective. He says he has first hand knowledge of the scourge of drug addiction but thinks it's important to differentiate between medical marijuana and harder opioid based drugs. Roselius felt the government drug programs were failing and "horribly run and misread." In addition to acting, he also worked with inmates at San Quentin State Prison."There's more drugs in the prison than there are in the streets so you learn a lot about it," Roselius explains. Furthermore, he was also dealing with his own addictions."I was aware that I had a drinking problem when I did the ad," Roselius admits.Roselius has now been sober for the past 28 years. He is still uncomfortable with being known as the "Drug Guy" and questions whether the ad was effective. He says he has first hand knowledge of the scourge of drug addiction but thinks it's important to differentiate between medical marijuana and harder opioid based drugs.
He credits his in-laws, who voted to legalize medicinal marijuana in the state of Washington, with influencing his decision to support legalization.
"They were in their late '80s and my mother in-law, god rest her soul, had pretty bad arthritis and a lot of pain. My father in-law had a lot of pain in his legs. They didn't want to use opioids and they went with the marijuana," Roselius explains.
"I think that kind of directed me and when they legalized it for medicinal purposes that changed me."
For more on this story, listen to our full interview with John Roselius.The Ebola outbreak in West Africa kills seven out of 10 victims and new cases could hit 10,000 a week within two months if it is not brought under control, the World Health Organisation has said.
Dr Bruce Aylward, WHO's assistant director-general, said on Tuesday that the death rate was higher than the official 50 percent rate and that "a lot more people will die" if the West Africa outbreak was not stopped.
"What we're finding is 70 percent mortality," Aylward said, adding that he had a "working forecast" of 5,000 to 10,000 new cases a week by December to guide the international response.
"It's been running at about a thousand cases a week now for about three to four weeks. The labs sometimes can't keep up with the amount of specimens they're getting."
The announcement comes as the Texas Department of Health Services announced a second health worker at the Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital has tested positive for Ebola.
WHO figures released on Tuesday show 8,914 confirmed cases and a total of 4,447 people dead.
However, WHO has said several times that the tallies are unreliable due to difficult recording conditions and workload.
Hardest hit countries
Sierra Leone, Guinea and Liberia have been hardest hit.
"There are this many cases that we're aware of, this many deaths that have been reported to us, but that doesn't mean you divide one by the other and get how many this disease kills," Aylward said.
"To get that number, you need to take a bunch of people, follow them right through the course of their disease, and understand how many survive.
"That subset of people, who we know were sick, and we know their final outcome, what we're finding is 70 percent mortality.
"It's almost the exact same number across the three countries," he said.
Aylward said WHO needs to isolate 70 percent of cases within two months to contain the outbreak.
"Every time you isolate another patient, every time you have a safe burial, you're taking some of the heat out if this outbreak," he said.
"But this is Ebola. This is a horrible, unforgiving disease. You've got to get to zero."
Death in Germany
Aylward's comments came on a day a UN medical worker infected with Ebola in Liberia died in Germany.
The St Georg hospital in Leipzig said on Tuesday that the 56-year-old man, whose name has not been released, died overnight of the infection.
The man tested positive for Ebola on October 6, prompting Liberia's UN peacekeeping mission to place 41 other staff members under "close medical observation".
Also on Tuesday, a UN official gave warning that the world was failing to gain the upper hand against the deadly outbreak.
"Ebola got a head start on us," Anthony Banbury, the British head of the UN Mission for Ebola Emergency Response, said.
Addressing the UN Security Council in New York by remote link from UNMEER headquarters in Accra, Banbury said: "It is far ahead of us, it is running faster than us, and it is winning the race.
"If Ebola wins, we the peoples of the United Nations lose so very much.
"We either stop Ebola now or we face an entirely unprecedented situation for which we do not have a plan."For decades computer scientists have strived to build machines that can calculate faster than the human brain and store more information. The contraptions have won. The world’s most powerful supercomputer, the K from Fujitsu, computes four times faster and holds 10 times as much data. And of course, many more bits are coursing through the Internet at any moment. Yet the Internet’s servers worldwide would fill a small city, and the K sucks up enough electricity to power 10,000 homes. The incredibly efficient brain consumes less juice than a dim lightbulb and fits nicely inside our head. Biology does a lot with a little: the human genome, which grows our body and directs us through years of complex life, requires less data than a laptop operating system. Even a cat’s brain smokes the newest iPad—1,000 times more data storage and a million times quicker to act on it.Batch 22 voting is now open. The following polls are currently open:
Batch 22
Batch 21
Batch 20
Batch 19
Batch 18
Batch 17
Batch 16
Batch 15 results will be up soon.
The full list of matchups for today is:
Saprazzan Breaker vs Green Scarab
Crumbling Necropolis vs Thermal Glider
Kolaghan’s Command vs Abundance
Urge to Feed vs Weight of Conscience
Cloudchaser Kestrel vs Jeskai Student
Selvala’s Enforcer vs Icatian Priest
Iroas, God of Victory vs Varolz, the Scar-Striped
Mystic Enforcer vs Goblinslide
Priest of Gix vs Lost in Thought
Words of Worship vs Deputized Protestor
Supreme Verdict vs Archangel Avacyn
Rage Weaver vs Drake Familiar
Pavel Maliki vs Curse of Inertia
Kemba’s Legion vs Infernal Spawn of Evil
Glint vs Valakut Invoker
Rogue’s Passage vs Hundroog
Aether Tide vs Viridian Acolyte
Hurr Jackal vs Evolution Charm
Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle vs Soulfire Grand Master
Zealous Conscripts vs Reveillark
Metathran Transport vs Flooded Grove
Shared Fate vs Choked Estuary
Sultai Ascendancy vs Dryad’s Favor
Dense Canopy vs Thrashing Mossdog
Earth Elemental vs Wandering Eye
Restless Dreams vs Dark Favor
Concordant Crossroads vs Living Lore
Withering Hex vs Soul Collector
Goblin Dynamo vs Waxmane Baku
Windreaper Falcon vs Wei Night Raiders
Goblin Gardener vs Deepwood Tantiv
Exsanguinate vs Vampire WarlordMaple syrup is more than just a breakfast staple. In Canada, where more than 75 percent of the world’s maple syrup is produced, the Federation of Quebec Maple Syrup Producers effectively acts as a cartel, controlling the supply and keeping prices stable. But the tasty moneymaker might be at risk, according to a new study that says sugar maple trees in the Adirondacks are on the decline.
Related Content Maple Syrup Farmers Can Now Vacuum Sap Out of Trees
According to research published in the journal Ecosphere, by examining the tree rings of sugar maples in the Adirondacks scientists from the State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry discovered that the tree’s growth rate has steadily dropped for almost 40 years.
"Given their relatively young age and favorable competitive status in these forests, these sugar maples should be experiencing the best growth rates of their lives. It was a complete surprise to see their growth slow down like this," Daniel Bishop, who conducted the research for his master’s thesis at SUNY ESF, says in a statement. "But our data tells a clear story. We can detect the start of a region-wide downturn after 1970, with a large proportion of the trees continuing this trend over recent years."
Though the growth rate began to drop off in 1970, when sugar maples in the region were threatened by acid rain, it's unclear if pollution has caused the trees' decline. One thing is clear: The increasingly warm and wet climate in the Adirondacks should be boosting plant growth, Mary Beth Griggs reports for Popular Science.
Still, there’s no need to start stockpiling syrup just yet. The SUNY ESF study focused solely on sugar maples in the Adirondacks—and scientists haven't determined if maples in other parts of North America are also on the decline. Even if the problem spreads across northeastern United States and Canada, though, that may not necessarily mean that sugar maples will disappear, Griggs writes. More research needs to be done to know for sure.
"Time will tell if slower growth is a harbinger of something more serious for sugar maple," Dr. Colin Beier, who oversaw the SUNY ESF study, says in a statement. "But given the ecological, economic and cultural importance of this tree, the stakes could be high. We need to sort out whether these declines are more widespread, the reasons why they are occurring, and what their implications might be for our ecosystems and local economies."Raise your hand if you think Pixar’s Brave is an under-appreciated effort in the animation studios’ oeuvre! It was a bit of a departure for the folks up in Emeryville, but just because the story is different, doesn’t mean it’s any less Pixar. At its core Brave is the story of a mother and daughter coming to terms with their relationship as the daughter grows more independent. Pixar has always excelled at exploring the emotional turmoil of relationships.
Pixar has just released an special feature that explores the creation of both Merida and Queen Elinor and their relationship. It clocks in at just under 9 minutes, so there is a lot to enjoy:
I don’t know about you, but I could listen to Kelly Macdonald talk with that Scottish accent all day long.
Merida still has a big following in the parks. Her meet and greet at the Magic Kingdom always has a queue and her float in the Festival of Fantasy parade also gets a big cheer when it goes by. I wonder if we might ever see a sequel or animated TV series with the characters from the film.
If you haven’t already, now might be the time to add Pixar’s Brave to your home DVD collection.With Office 365, we’re eager to help your small business achieve more. That’s why we are expanding the value of Office 365 to include not only essential productivity and collaboration tools, but also new services to help you run your business. The launch of Bookings earlier this year introduced a new way to schedule appointments with your customers. Today, we are adding a new tool to help you manage your customer relationships more effectively.
As a business owner, you know that getting repeat business starts with knowing your customers well, remembering the conversations you’ve had, and following through on their requests. That can be a challenge when you have many customers to keep track of and not enough time in the day. To make it easier for you to track and grow your customer relationships, we are introducing a new Office 365 service called Outlook Customer Manager.
Outlook Customer Manager gives you a complete view of your interactions with each customer, helps you track tasks and |
it’s network was small as well. It would have been easy to attack it. Just as it would be easy to attack IOTA now if it hadn’t the coordinator. The only difference is that there is lots of money invested in IOTA. The appeal for attackers is higher than for a baby-Bitcoin. One way or the other, you need to protect the investor’s assets until enough adoption is made and the 34% attack becomes less and less likely.
Don’t compare pears with apples, blockchain with a DAG and Bitcoin with IOTA. They have different technological base, different use cases. Hence, they have different requirements when it comes to adoption. Yes, 34% attack is less than 51% attack needed on a blockchain. It is a downside, but a small one. If you keep in mind that the final idea is to run the nodes on IoT with huge total hash rate, this difference will mean nothing. On the contrary: Four of the top Bitcoin mining pools control more than 51% of the Bitcoin hash rate. All of them are Chinese. And these “coordinators” are permanent. Isn’t this unsettling? How a decentralised currency has become centralised and practically owned by one country? Just think, what this could mean and what it could lead to.
Again, do your homework. Decide. Follow through. Once you have decided, you need to handle the “madman” (aka the psychotic crypto market scene). How?
Be stoic
Constantly, there is news that an influencer expressed his skepticism regarding a crypto. Or a country outlining it plans to impose control or ban something. You can never know for sure whether these news are genuine or what’s the reason behind it. The madman, will react. He will scream. He will howl. He will preach that the doomsday is near. It is up to you, how you react to such events and the madman’s cries. But keep in mind the following:
There will always be a resistance from the establishment. This is just how society works. Everything new is observed with caution. Why? Because the unknown makes you fear. I wonder, how the stone age people reacted to the first uses of fire. I wonder if the inventor of the wheel was considered a madman. I wonder how many people laughed on the idea of an automobile. It’s always the same. New is fearful. It is easier to hide behind mockery than to listen and to accept. It is easier to kill the newcomer while it’s small than to fear what it will grow into.
The establishment in this case is not only the global banking order, but also the crypto-establishment. The blockchain world fears the newcomer. IOTA’s tangle is too disruptive. If it really works, if it grows, it will eclipse any blockchain. Because blockchains cannot compete with it. In an ideal world, this wouldn’t matter. Progress is positive. However:
Money is a big motivator against any progress. That’s why we still barely have any electric cars on the streets. That is why Mr Dimon expresses his concern about Bitcoin. That might be the reason IOTA is getting verbally attacked and mocked. The ego is the enemy. The greed is a powerful force. No one likes to lose money. If IOTA has no fees and no mining, there is no money for the miners to make. If it’s cheaper faster and infinitely scalable, it might replace Bitcoin for it’s originally intended use case sooner or later. Where does it leave the crypto industry that invested billions in specialised mining equipment? Will they perish without fight? Think about it.
There will always be bugs. The industry average of bugs per 1000 lines of code is about 15–50. Microsoft applications boast with 10–20 defect per 1000 LOCs (and we all know the “quality” of Microsoft applications). There is no software in this world that has no bugs. There is only software, which bugs have not been found, yet. Do not make a mistake to judge a technology, because there was a bug.
Back to IOTA. There was an article published not so long ago here on Medium regarding a possible vulnerability. This “news” has been proven wrong since then, but a lot of uncertainty and speculation is still circling around. The madman still screaming that the technology behind IOTA is not viable. Why? I do not know. The madman is crazy. He is exaggerating or might be influenced by people with their own agendas. It doesn’t really matter. Just don’t listen. Use your own judgement:
Take the baby-Bitcoin for example. In 2010 it was about the same age as IOTA is now. A vulnerability was discovered and successfully used by an attacker to generate billions of bitcoins. Just like that. Now put it into perspective with the IOTAs “vulnerability”. And did it hinder Bitcoin’s progress? No. The bug was fixed, the project marched on.
There will always be bugs and attacks. It is a kind of stress that is needed for evolution. Intermittent stress is vital: be it in technology, biology or any other system. It’s essential. Just because your baby got a flu, doesn’t mean that it’s weak and unworthy to live.
Use your head. Do your homework. Don’t listen to the news or any “authority”. They are seldom right. They often have other agenda. Learn, decide, follow through.
As for myself, in my decade as an investor and software developer, I was never so excited and convinced about something. IOTA is simply beautiful. Study it, read the code, think about the possibilities. And it will leave you in awe. Once your conviction is solid, you do not care what the madman says. Leave him terrorise the other weak souls, but you. You have an unshakable belief and will gladly take any IOTA that is offered at discount rates while the madman panics.
Thanks for reading and take care!
==========================
A few words about myself so that you have a framework and can decide on value of my words. I am a software consultant and developer with a dozen years of experience in different technologies, including blockchain and cryptography. I did work for financial institutions and gained some knowledge in asset trading along the way. I closely watched the development of the blockchain for the past 10 years. I never had much invested in cryptos, apart of a small set of Bitcoins and Ethereum, until IOTA came along.
I am writing about IOTA on twitter. Feel free to follow!
Roman Semko
Donations welcome:
IYUIUCFNGOEEQHT9CQU9VYJVOJMQI9VYTQGQLTBAKTFIPWWRBFEV9TJWUZU9EYEFPM9VB9QYXTSMCDKMDABASVXPPXAccording to reports from Todd Witteles and Allen Kessler on Two Plus Two and Poker Fraud Alert, there has been a major shakeup at the Aria Poker Room in Las Vegas, allegedly due to theft.
Witteles sourced a person who claimed “a bunch of Aria tournament people” were let go for theft: “The rumor is that when they paid people for cashing in tournaments, they did it in a room with no witnesses. Tokes were never recorded and they pocketed or skimmed from the cash tips.”
Witteles added that another source claimed an Aria’s “poker tournament director” was let go “under suspicion of theft,” saying, “The investigation turn into a rat-fest, with people trying to save their own skin or take someone down with them.” Witteles added that no arrests were made and an investigation is still ongoing.
He explained, “The ‘General Manager’ of the poker room [Leon Wheeler] resigned. However, apparently this was over a completely different matter and was unrelated to the thefts. This general manager was said to not have been involved with the thefts and the timing of his resignation seems to have been an unfortunate coincidence.” Witteles then reiterated that Wheeler was reportedly not involved in any theft.
Comps have also been part of the investigation. As a post on Poker Fraud Alert outlined, “There are suddenly new safeguards for comp issuance such that a player now must present an ID and player’s card for every transaction and only the shift supervisor may issue it.”
Kessler posted on Two Plus Two, “Trying to get more details. What a shame. Best run room in Vegas.” Another poster shared what details he knew of the investigation: “Whoever was doing the investigating seems to have taken a scorched earth approach, running off a massive portion of supervisor-level staff and their underlings.”
Aria is fresh off hosting the WPT500, which featured numerous starting days an affordable $565 buy-in. Craig imgrinding Varnell won the tournament after a five-way chop and over 5,100 entries were recorded. Needless to say, Aria’s poker room was hopping throughout the tournament series. One source told Witteles, however, “Many of the dealers from the WPT500 have not received their envelopes for almost a month.”
Aria is also home to the high-stakes Ivey Room. Fourteen-time World Series of Poker bracelet winner Phil Hellmuth serves as one of its brand ambassadors.
Want the latest poker headlines and interviews? Follow PocketFives on Twitterand Like PocketFives on Facebook.Wallabies five-eighth Quade Cooper faces a 16-week recovery after MRI scans today confirmed he requires surgery to heal an AC joint injury suffered against the Melbourne Rebels on Saturday.
Cooper will undergo surgery on his shoulder tomorrow to repair a Grade 3 AC joint injury in his left shoulder after he fell on it awkwardly in a tackle in Queensland's last-minute 30-27 loss to the Melbourne Rebels.
Blow: Reds five-eighth Quade Cooper leaves the field against the Rebels. Credit:Getty Images
Cooper will use the lengthy recovery window to also undergo arthroscopic surgery to clean up loose cartilage in his hip – a maintenance job that required a break in his playing schedule before it could be fixed.
Cooper's injury leaves Wallabies coach Ewen McKenzie on the hunt for a new No.10 for the upcoming Tests which kick off against France in Brisbane on June 7.CLOSE Catch the replay of our insider answering your questions.
Free-agent cornerback Antonio Cromartie signed with the Arizona Cardinals on March 20, 2014. (Photo: Ross D. Franklin/Associated Press )
In Thursday's edition of The Republic, Cardinals offensive coordinator Harold Goodwin gave his assessment of the changes that have taken place on that side of the ball.
Today, defensive coordinator Todd Bowles talks about his group.
Question: Linebacker Karlos Dansby signing with the Browns was the team's biggest loss this off-season. What are you losing or what are you worried about replacing?
Answer: I don't worry about anything necessarily. Communication has to come every year, and Karlos was a very vocal guy. Because of his years in the league, he kind of knew things, where the ball was going, anticipated it very well. Every first - or second-year guy has to gain that experience when he comes into the league. Karlos is longer and probably, on paper, a better athlete than Kevin (Minter). Kevin's probably a better thumper than Karlos. It's apple and oranges. With Karlos we lost some leadership in the locker room and on the field. He had a great year and made a bunch of plays. It's just next man up. Kevin's not trying to be Karlos. He's just trying to be Kevin, our next 'Mike' backer. There will be some competition there if we draft somebody and bring somebody in free-agent wise.
Q: Kevin seems to be built to step into this. It doesn't seem like much bothers him. Is that accurate?
A: It's not his first rodeo. He played at LSU, one of the top programs in the country, so he's played a lot of football. It's the experience and the things he sees at this level, study habits. Hopefully he picked up from Karlos. I don't think there is a lot of pressure on him, just do your job.
Q: Are you OK with numbers at those two inside spots?
A: We're OK with numbers. You can never have enough of them but we're OK.
Q: Are you moving Lorenzo Alexander there?
A: He'll be inside and outside, just like he was last year. You have to have somebody who can play both places. We'll see what we come out of the draft and free agency with, but Lorenzo's a good football player.
Q: What does cornerback Antonio Cromartie give you that maybe you didn't have a year ago?
A: Height. (Jerraud) Powers played great football. I've always taught that you can never have enough linemen and never enough corners. He (Cromartie) has the reputation of being a very good man-to-man corner. Barring any injuries, I think with him, Powers and Patrick (Peterson), we'll be able to match up and do some things.
Watch: Bidwill talks Pro Bowl
CLOSE Glendale now to host two major football events in 2015
Q: Do you have to have corners these days who are built like Peterson, who is 6-1, and Cromartie, who is 6-2?
A: You don't have to have them but over the past five to eight years, the receivers have gotten taller. Out on the field, it's fine, but when you get into the red zone and you've got Calvin Johnson, Andre Johnson, Dez Bryant, Chicago's got (Brandon) Marshall and Alshon Jeffery and Denver's got their guys who are 6-5 and 6-6. It's hard to play with 5-8 and 5-9 corners. You can't double every player because they will run the ball on you. I think as big as the receivers are growing these days, you have to evolve as a secondary as well. It's not that way in all cases but in our conference we play some pretty big receivers and we play some big receivers coming up this year.
Q: At the scouting combine, General Manager Steve Keim was asked about how the team could defend tight ends better. He mentioned getting taller, longer at certain positions, defensive end and outside linebacker?
A: Taller, longer, faster, smarter. Everybody equates stopping the tight end to the strong safety but that's not the case at all. Most of the passes they caught weren't even on the strong safety. A few but not many. As a defense, we've got to become more aware. I've got to coach them better. They have to play it better and we have to pay more attention to where he (the tight end) is when they break the huddle. It's an awareness and everybody doing their jobs.
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Q: But it's easy to point at one guy and say, "We need a better, or taller, strong safety."
A: We played some different things last year, and everybody (was wrong) at one point or another. We played the Saints, and hell, everybody covered Jimmy Graham, nobody stopped him. Y.B (Yeremiah Bell) got beat Tryann (Mathieu) got beat, Patrick got beat, Powers got beat, the linebackers got beat. I've got to do a better job of doubling and understanding the formations as far as putting some of them in the bind they get in."
Cardinals announce 2014 preseason schedule
Q: Are you OK with the depth you have at defensive end?
A: You can always use more. We have to see what becomes available. Like I said, D-line and corners you can never have enough of.
Q: Especially given Dockett's age, he turns 33 in May. Don't you have to look a year or two down the road?
A: Yeah, you do but we don't go by age. Sometimes the age thing is overrated. In the NFL, when you're reach 30, if you're playing like you're 25, then you're 25. If you're playing like you're 45, then 30 is an old age. Dockett keeps himself in great shape. We need more depth; they take a pounding more than anything, rather than the age thing being a factor.
Q: How about safety? Yeremiah is not re-signed. There is no guarantee Mathieu will be ready by the start of the season.
A: We probably need more depth there. We're looking for one or two. Hopefully, somewhere in the draft and maybe still somewhere in free agency."
Q: Did you see enough of Tony Jefferson last year to make you think he can be a factor?
A: Tony did a good job. It's a natural progression for a rookie. He got better the second year. He has to communicate a lot better but from a physical standpoint, he did some very good things playing as a rookie. The game wasn't too big for him.
Q: Personal question about your career. You interviewed for head-coaching jobs with Cleveland and Minnesota this off-season. What did you learn or gain in going through the process?
A: I learned that it's cold in Cleveland. It was zero degrees and a snowstorm when I got off the plane. I was like, 'Wow.' But the process was good. It's hard to impress somebody when you're only there for five or six hours. The conversation and football part of it was very good. We had good dialogue, Cleveland and Minnesota. You have to go where the situation fits you and they have to pick the guy that best fits them. I think the situation was best for me to come back to Arizona. Bruce treats me great. Michael (Bidwill) treats me great. We've got a good group of guys on defense and some good coaches. I'm not dying to be a head coach. It comes, it comes but it has to be the right situation. I'm very happy where I am right now.
Cardinals: Key off-season program datesUPDATE (4PM, SUNDAY, 5 JANUARY, 2014)
Officers looking for Tashi Thornley who has been missing from home since 4 January, 2014, now believe that she could be in the Birmingham area.
…………………………………………………………………………………
Merseyside Police is becoming increasingly concerned about the whereabouts of 24-year-old Tashi Thornley who has been missing since Saturday, 4 January 2014.
Tashi, who comes from Formby, was last seen by her brother at about 4.30pm on Saturday, 4 January, by her brother at her home address.
Since being reported missing officers have been actively seeking Tashi. House-to-house inquiries have been carried out and detectives are viewing CCTV to establish her whereabouts.
Family and friends are very concerned and are appealing to Tashi, or anyone who may know where she is, to contact the police.
Tashi is described as being a white female, 5ft 6in tall, slim build, blue eyes, short hair dyed blue, and she speaks with a Liverpool accent. She is believed to be wearing a grey hooded top, blue tracksuit bottoms, a maroon coloured hat and is carrying a grey rucksack.
Tashi is also known frequent Liverpool and other areas of Sefton and regularly visits Leeds to see friends.
Officers would urge anyone who has seen Tashi since Saturday, 4 January, to contact Merseyside Police on either 0151 777 3835, or via the 101 number, or Missing People on 116000.
Submit News Contact us with your community, business or sport news. Phone 07930717137 Email [email protected]
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CommentsThroughout the short history of Hollywood, artists have drawn upon real life tragedies regularly. Horror movies especially have a particularly strong take on events. Hell, last year, who could escape the It Follows marketing and revelation that the film was about STD’s? Jason, Freddy, and Michael always punished the “bad kids” for drinking, smoking, and fornicating. Very rarely, their actions led to mass PTSD that effected those not associated with the inner sanctum of characters. Sometimes they did. At one point in the series, Haddonfield tried to cancel Halloween when they realized it drew back Michael Myers for slaughter. Crystal Lake tried to change its name to Forest Green. Both were silly logical steps and never really dealt with the root cause…but I bet it made some politician happy for keeping youth safe!
In the summer of 2005, Steven Spielberg released his take on the War of the Worlds. It was to be an epic film, dabbling in the hopelessness and fear that happened as we watched 4 planes get hijacked and wrecked on a sunny morning in September 2001. Soon, Hollywood followed suit with other films also depicting devastating battles and happenings to large amounts of people. In 2008, Matt Reeves took us through New York as a giant monster ripped it apart in Cloverfield. Cloverfield achieved cult status quickly. Maybe it was the rabid fans it created with its ARG (Alternative Reality Game) prior to its release. Maybe it just managed to capture how many of us felt in 2001 perfectly: scared and too small for the events happening around us. Maybe it was just because we like to see cities get destroyed. Either way, the film offered no answers to the origin of the beast. Its audience was just as much in the dark about the events unfolding around these people as they were. The ARG offered potential answers but nothing is officially canon (which makes the story telling more impressive).
While 10 Cloverfield Lane is not an “official” sequel to that movie, it’s a continuation in how we (as a society) are effected by massive events around us. 10 Cloverfield Lane is the Patriot Act to Cloverfield‘s 9/11 imagery. It’s more character driven, less flashy, and translates well to old and new audiences. (SPOILERS) It’s connections to the first film are fleeting but exist. Watching both films back to back, I firmly believe we have a continuous story here.
Directed by Dan Trachtenberg, 10 Cloverfield Lane follows a group of 3 survivors of an “attack”. Michelle (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) is a young heartbroken woman. After leaving her fiancee, she is fleeing to parts unknown. A car crash on a lonely country road sidelines the escape and she wakes up being held captive by the strange Howard (John Goodman). He informs her that there has been an attack and introduces her to the other resident there, Emmit (John Gallagher Jr). It turns out that the group is in an underground bunker and is waiting out the effects of a chemical attack above. Howard is a survivalist and has been preparing for this for years. Emmit assisted him in building the bunker. After seeing the first signs of attack, he fled to the bunker as Howard was sealing it and “fought his way in”. As the two men have already accepted the attack, Michelle plays the doubting Thomas role and thinks there is something much more sinister at play here.
The film’s tagline is “Monsters Come in Many Forms”. Howard walks a tightrope of being a savior and being a maniac in 10 Cloverfield Lane. While his actions saved their lives, his demons cloud his judgment and twist his morals. While 9/11 was a surprise, the twist was that it led to a quite intrusive fringe of thinking to become mainstream: We must protect ourselves at any cost. We passed horribly encompassing legislation to circumvent previous laws. We held onto accused combatants without trial and spit on what we tried to build here over 200 years ago. We began a path towards becoming “monsters” ourselves. We didn’t do this because we intended to be “monsters”. We accepted Big Brother because…safety. We did this because we were scared. 10 Cloverfield Lane explores this logic wonderfully. Howard is a broken man. He was right (about the attack)… but does that make him right? His smugness exudes from his madness and superiority. Emmit lets Howard abuse him in the name of safety. Michelle, on the other hand, sees the value of what Howard offers but also sees the storms brewing below the surface. Safety in captivity can be comforting, but it can also be quite dangerous.
While Cloverfield tried to fit character development into its story, 10 Cloverfield Lane focuses on the characters primarily. Howard is an intriguing character to say the least. I’ve had a soft spot for Goodman for years and he kills in this role. While you see the once likable aspects of the actor and character under the surface, it is far below a hardened shell of….something. We don’t really get an explanation for why Howard is the way he is. We just know that his life has been spiraling out of control for a while now. Winstead plays the hero role well. Her mind is always moving as she chameleons to the aggressor. As the movie progresses, she becomes more brazen. I’m not sure if it was because she sees the madness that Howard or if she, too, is slowly losing her grip with reality. Gallagher Jr is Emmit. While not putting a ground breaking performance on film here, he is solid and holds his own with the other two.
Finally, we need to talk about the end. Yes. There are monsters. They aren’t deep sea monsters like in Cloverfield. They are aliens. They are aliens that are strangely reminiscent of the monster in the first one. In my mind, I’ve already connected the two movies. Emmit describes what he saw as a red flash. He immediately fled to the bunker. We are shown that Howard was once employed by Bold Futura (a company from the Cloverfield ARG). Howard “knew” the attack was coming but didn’t know if it was Russians or if “those martians finally figured out how to get down here”. If you look very closely at the thing trying to eat Michelle, well, it sure looks like Clovie shoved into an aircraft. Imagine what we must look like to other creatures when they see us getting into cars, planes, and motorcycles. Are the two movies connected? In my mind…yes. 10 Cloverfield Lane is an extension (and probably is happening) simultaneous to the events in the New York. Just like the first movie, we are offered no official canon stances.
Do you need to be a fan of the first movie to see 10 Cloverfield Lane? No. It’s a great stand alone film in its own. Connect it to its predecessor, however, and it continues the theme of the first movie while maturing it realistically. The performances are wonderful and carry the film. But, if you are looking for definitive answers on what roles Tagruato, Seabed’s Nector, and whether the monster in the first one was of this planet….you aren’t going to get them. There’s just more questions.Jennifer Lawrence, Kate Upton, and Abigail Spencer. All are targets of iCloud hackers and photo dealers. Reuters/Lucas Jackson, AP, David Buchanan/Getty Images Some dealers say the celebrity-photo-trading industry died on the afternoon of Labor Day 2014. An anonymous pornography collector, "OriginalGuy," did the unthinkable and set about uploading his entire collection of stolen photographs to the notorious porn forum AnonIB — hundreds of images of 101 different actresses and singers. When users discovered what was happening, they swarmed the site. Eventually he was unable to load the forum to post any more images, so he took to 4chan, the anarchic discussion forum read by thousands.
That's when people really started to notice what was going on.
Hours after OriginalGuy shared hundreds of stolen photographs of female celebrities, the media began to realize what had happened. At first, they weren't sure how to report on the incident. Gossip blogger Perez Hilton re-uploaded stolen naked photographs to his site, and he was forced to issue an apology hours later due to widespread outrage. TMZ, the celebrity news site famed for breaking stories of hacking and sex scandals, took hours to publish anything on the leaked images. It looked like this was a world-first: Hackers had infiltrated Apple's iCloud service and made away with a seemingly endless trove of stolen photographs. But for those in the know, this wasn't new. Rather, it signaled the death of a thriving underground industry that had existed online for years.
This is the story of that death, and the way it led within days to a reconstitution of the marketplace in a new home, where it thrives today.
/stol/, Short For "Stolen"
The pornography forum AnonIB was started in May 2006, formed as an offshoot site of the notorious anonymous message board 4chan. The site was controversial from its very inception. AnonIB has struggled to prevent its users from posting child porn on the site, which includes the subforums "Teens (18+)" and "Drunk/Passed Out." One board proved particularly popular: /stol/, short for "Stolen" and "Obtained Pictures." For years, /stol/ served as a kind of advertising system, almost like a Craigslist for hackers.
Here's the kind of ad users see on AnonIB. This French hacker advertises his services as a "ripper" who can steal naked photographs from iCloud accounts:
anonIB
But after OriginalGuy posted his trove of photos online, AnonIB was immediately taken down. For two weeks, the site said it was undergoing "scheduled maintenance." The truth was that the site's anonymous operator was scrubbing the site of any incriminating evidence that linked the porn forum to the iCloud hacks. AnonIB
When AnonIB came back online, every post in the /stol/ forum had been deleted. Thousands of stolen photographs and hundreds of ads for iCloud hackers had been removed. The internet's celebrity-photo-trading ring gradually realized that its central hub had been compromised.
Nonetheless, some dedicated users returned, asking for help in stealing photographs of women. They were cautioned from posting on the site, warned that journalists were monitoring AnonIB for information about how iCloud accounts were illegally accessed.
AnonIB
The mass leak of celebrity photos (dubbed "The Fappening" by fans amazed at the scale of the collection) forced would-be photo leakers to take to private forums and chatrooms. They communicate using a network of monikers, encrypted emailed addresses, and Google-hosted Blogger pages.
Google's Servers Host A Thriving Market In Hacked Pictures
One of the new hubs for stolen photographs of celebrities is a blog known as "Abi Wins." It's public and available for anyone to view. Abi Wins is also hosted on Google's Blogspot servers, which is unfortunate for the company that so keenly defended itself against an accusing letter from top Hollywood lawyer Marty Singer.
In his note to Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin, as well as chairman Eric Schmidt, Singer accused Google of failing to remove photographs from its Blogger service. Google responded to the letter, defending its moderation procedures, remarking:
We've removed tens of thousands of pictures — within hours of the requests being made — and we have closed hundreds of accounts. The Internet is used for many good things. Stealing people's private photos is not one of them.
The Abi Wins blog is used to index stolen photographs of celebrities obtained by accessing iCloud accounts. Users then discuss the latest leaked images using Chatango, a chatroom tool created by programmers from MIT, Caltech, and Berkeley. Business Insider contacted Chatango to inform them of the chatroom, and it was deleted. We also reached out to Google about Blogspot and will update this post when we hear back.
But the Abi Wins blog is just the public gateway to the internet's celebrity-photo-trading ring, which lives on despite the increased press attention that occurred following the Labor Day leak.
The New Home For Stolen Pictures
The celebrity-photo fans who used to gather on AnonIB have a new home on the internet: Volafile. The German site offers real-time file sharing for large groups of people, along with a chat facility to discuss the files posted. The site allows the creation of anonymous accounts, and it offers fast upload speeds. For iCloud hackers with collections of celebrity photos to offload, Volafile is a dream come true. New celebrity photo leaks are now emerging almost exclusively through Volafile.
When a photo collector is about to leak new stolen photographs, that person posts excited messages, creating hype for whatever is about to appear online.
The left of this screenshot shows the chatroom discussion of leaked images, and the list on the right shows files uploaded to the room. A user named "realpsamathe" is excitedly announcing a new celebrity leak, posting "HERE WE GO." in the chat:
Volafile
"realpsamathe" uploaded a large video file named "THE ONE YOU'VE BEEN WAITING FOR." The file was a video sent by actress Abigail Spencer, known for her roles in "Cowboys & Aliens" and the TV show "Suits," to her boyfriend, actor Josh Pence, who starred in "The Dark Knight" and "The Social Network."
Chatroom users rushed to thank realpsamathe for posting the stolen video.
Volafile
As users downloaded and viewed the stolen video, which had just been shared online for the first time, they offered to send Bitcoin donations to realpsamathe. He declined, saying, "I don't want donations." He instructed users to "go donate somewhere meaningful" and shared a link to a Unicef donation page to help fight Ebola in Africa.
The Trade In Photos Of Under-Age Celebrities
Users constantly request photographs of the 18-year-old Olympic gymnast McKayla Maroney and actress Bella Thorne, who is just 17. Naked photographs of both women are said to have leaked online as part of the iCloud leak, with the photographs taken while both were underage. That hasn't stopped celebrity-photo fans requesting that others post the child pornography online. Every request results in a debate over the ethics of child pornography.
Volafile
New photographs and videos of female celebrities are still being posted online on a daily basis. "OriginalGuy," the person who first leaked the images, seems to have gone silent, but other established photo traders have realized that the industry is all but dead and are offloading their collection for Bitcoin (and the adoration of their peers) using chatrooms like Volafile.
When Business Insider contacted Volafile founder N. Kuhnhenn, the chatrooms were deleted, along with the content hosted on Volafile and the backup chatrooms reserved for "emergency use." Kuhnhenn told Business Insider that he deletes rooms that breach the site's terms of use as he finds them.
Yet Another Massive Cache Of Celebrity Photos Is Poised To Leak
But there's an even more secretive side to the online photo-trading industry. Private dealers still operate, using encrypted email accounts and fake names to avoid detection. After observing the conversations in the main Volafile chatroom, Business Insider learned that a dealer named "Sets Ahoy" had a substantial collection of unreleased images, potentially equal in size to the "OriginalGuy" collection that was posted online on Labor Day. (A "set" is a collection of images, usually about a dozen.)
Using cached versions of deleted messages on the anonymous note site Pastebin, Business Insider was able to contact Sets Ahoy through his encrypted email address. Posing as a potential buyer, Business Insider messaged the photo dealer. We didn't specify what we were looking to buy, just that we had heard he was reliable. Sets Ahoy replied within hours, telling us, "You came to the right guy." He sent over his catalogue of stolen celebrity photographs and videos without any prompting. Here it is in full:
Sets Ahoy
Continuing to pose as an interested buyer, we expressed interest in the photographs of the British model Daisy Lowe. No stolen photographs of Lowe have leaked online. If Sets Ahoy were to possess them, it would help to prove there may be thousands of stolen photographs yet to be released.
Minutes after we expressed our interest in the Daisy Lowe photographs, Sets Ahoy replied with a price.
Sets Ahoy
For about $350 (roughly one bitcoin), Sets Ahoy was selling a collection of stolen naked celebrity photographs. To prove that he was in possession of the photographs, Sets Ahoy sent a Dropbox link to a sample photograph from the Daisy Lowe set. The photograph apparently shows Lowe in a hotel bathroom with an unnamed male. Their genitals are obscured by black bars, and Sets Ahoy's email address is watermarked over the image. Sample photographs are intentionally censored by traders to reduce their value and prevent other dealers from selling the same collections. Minutes after Sets Ahoy uploaded the sample to Dropbox, he deleted it to avoid detection from Dropbox's illegal content filters. Business Insider contacted Dropbox for comment on this story, and we will update this post when we hear back from them.
Sets Ahoy sent Business Insider a Bitcoin payment address, which could be used to send him the one bitcoin he requested in payment for the stolen photographs. The address was newly created, showing no previous transactions. It's likely that it would have been deleted immediately after payment was processed, which makes sure that Sets Ahoy remains anonymous. Business Insider did not purchase any photographs, and the sample image was deleted as soon as it was received. We contacted Daisy Lowe's representatives prior to publication to inform them that their client was a target of iCloud hackers, and that stolen photographs of her were circulating online.
Hundreds Or Thousands Of Photos Have Been Stolen
The collection of photographs that OriginalGuy posted online on Labor Day is by no means the full extent of the stolen material that photo traders possess. Dealers like Sets Ahoy have hundreds, possibly thousands, of photographs and videos of female actresses that they are seeking to offload. Some traders realized that OriginalGuy's leak changed the underground industry forever, and so they have taken to leaking the images online for free, as realpsamathe has been doing on Volafile.
It's difficult for Hollywood lawyers like Marty Singer to clamp down on the spread of stolen photographs online. For every blog shut down, and every chatroom deleted, the community of people hungry for more content moves on to another site. It's difficult to see where the community will move next, although the trend is to adopt more private networks.
There has been talk of a "deepweb" marketplace for stolen celebrity photographs, accessible only through the Tor web browser. Tor is constructed so that no search engine would be able to index that auction site, and nobody would be able to discover it without knowing the unique series of letters and |
to pay the invoices owed to the manufacturer. This led to a catch-22 in which the manufacturer wanted payment before it would send me the products, but I needed the products in order to raise the revenue to pay the manufacturer.
We worked out a deal where I would forward to the manufacturer all purchase orders from distributors, the manufacturer would send me the reserved Kickstarter copies to send out to backers, and the manufacturer would hold the remaining inventory and fulfill distributor orders until the sales covered the remaining invoices. However, I have yet to receive the Kickstarter copies.
For the past several months I've been scrambling after loans and angel investors, trying to find a way to save the company. I've started talks with other board game publishers who might be willing to purchase some or all of 5th Street's catalog. None of those efforts panned out, though.
As a result, after exhausting every possible avenue I can think of, and every avenue that everyone I know can think of, I have no other option but to file a personal Chapter 7 bankruptcy. There aren't enough sales to cover the business's monthly payments, and the sales that are occurring are going straight to the manufacturer. This affects 5th Street because the credit lines set up for the company were personally guaranteed by me.
Unfortunately, the bankruptcy also means that no Chroma Cubes games will be produced. You will each be receiving a notice in the mail regarding my bankruptcy within a month or so.
I'm so sorry for the frustration this Kickstarter has caused you and for not being able to deliver Chroma Cubes as promised. The buck stops with me, and you all have my deepest apologies.
I am privileged and honored to have had your support during 5th Street's run. Some of you have been with me from my first game, Castle Dash. Thank you for sharing 5th Street's vision. I wish I could have lived up to it.
I've also been privileged to be part of the Kickstarter community. I sincerely hope the situation with 5th Street doesn't affect your opinion of Kickstarter. The vast majority of projects that fund are delivered successfully, and there are lots of awesome projects that could still use your support.Arsene Wenger believes he has not been supported adequately. (AP Photo)
Arsene Wenger is unhappy with Arsenal’s board over the lack of support they have shown him this season, according to reports.
The Times claims that the 67-year-old is now concerned that the intensity of the speculation surrounding his future is damaging his squad, and feels more could have been done by the club’s hierarchy to show their faith.
Wenger is claimed to have privately indicated to Arsenal that he will sign the two-year contract extension which is on offer, but the club want to wait until the end of the season as they are aware of the fans’ anger towards the manager at the present time.
The report also claims that Wenger was ‘unimpressed’ with last month’s statement about his future, which was released by Arsenal chairman Sir Chips Keswick.
(AFP/Getty Images)
(AFP/Getty Images)
(AFP/Getty Images)
There is also said to be tension between Wenger and the club’s chief executive, Ivan Gazidis, over Arsenal’s plans to launch a major restructure this summer.
Gazidis wants to bring in a sporting director to oversee transfers – a move which Wenger is claimed to be unhappy with.
Speaking about his future ahead of Arsenal’s FA Cup clash with Manchester City on Sunday, Wenger said: ‘The FA Cup doesn’t play any part.
‘Its an important game for me because it’s our only chance to win a trophy this season.
‘We are fully focused on that. My future is Sunday.’
MORE: Liverpool target Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain plans to remain at Arsenal next season
MORE: Arsenal line up options for FA Cup semi-final v Manchester City: Is 3-4-3 worth the risk for Arsene Wenger?Street artist Stephen Doe paints an educational mural to inform people about the symptoms of the deadly Ebola virus in Monrovia, the Liberian capital. (Dominique Faget/AFP/Getty Images)
Until this year's epidemic, Ebola did not exist in West Africa. Now with nearly 2,300 people dead from the virus, mostly in Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone, scientists still don't fully understand how Ebola arrived from Central Africa, where outbreaks of this strain of the virus had occurred in the past.
A new model by Oxford University, published in the journal eLife, takes a look at the most likely explanation -- that Ebola's animal reservoir, fruit bats, could spread the disease in the animal kingdom and to humans through the dense forest that spans 22 countries.
Several species of fruit bats are suspected -- though not confirmed -- to carry Ebola without showing symptoms. Unlike humans and other animals who are likely to die from an Ebola infection, bats can carry the disease and infect other bats and animals, such as monkeys and rodents through migratory activities.
Bats along with other animals, such as monkeys, are also one form of "bush meat" consumed in some African countries where there have been reports of Ebola outbreaks. And though consuming cooked bush meat is unlikely to spread the virus, hunting or preparing raw meat for consumption increases the likelihood that an infection might occur.
RELATED READING: 20,000 cases or 100,000? How researchers predict Ebola's spread.
According to the Oxford model, in addition to the seven countries who have reported Ebola outbreaks in this epidemic and in past outbreaks since the disease was identified 1976, 15 other countries are at risk. There are five known strains of Ebola, and the one currently causing the West African outbreak, Zaire, is the most virulent. The other strains, Sudan, Taï Forest and Bundibugyo, have caused contained outbreaks in Ivory Coast, Sudan, and Uganda in the past. And the Reston species has not caused any known outbreaks, according to the World Health Organization.
According to the Oxford prediction, these countries are at risk of animal-to-human transmission of Ebola by virtue of their geography: Nigeria, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Ghana, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Angola, Togo, United Republic of Tanzania, Ethiopia, Mozambique, Burundi, Equatorial Guinea, Madagascar and Malawi.
"Our map shows the likely ‘reservoir’ of Ebola virus in animal populations, and this is larger than has been previously appreciated," said the study's author Nick Golding, a researcher at Oxford University’s Department of Zoology. "This does not mean that transmission to humans is inevitable in these areas; only that all the environmental and epidemiological conditions suitable for an outbreak occur there.’"
1 of 50 Full Screen Autoplay Close Sept. 12, 2014 Sept. 7, 2014 Sunday Sept. 6, 2014 Sept. 5, 2014 Sept. 1 to Sept. 4, 2014 Skip Ad × Struggling to contain Ebola epidemic View Photos Health experts debate using unproved drugs to treat the deadly virus as it continues to spread in west Africa. Caption Health experts debate using unproved drugs to treat the deadly virus as it continues to spread in west Africa. Sept. 13, 2014 The body of a man is carried by Liberian Ministry of Health workers in the capital of Monrovia. The man died in the morning, but his body was not picked up until after 3 p.m. Locals say he died from Ebola. Michel du Cille/The Washington Post Buy Photo Wait 1 second to continue.
MORE READING: In Liberia, Ebola strengthens its hold
As the worst Ebola outbreak in history unfolds in West Africa, The Post's Joel Achenbach explains how the deadly virus wreaks havoc on the human body. (Davin Coburn/The Washington Post)
[This post has been updated.]An unprecedented drive to ban insurance coverage of abortion has been gaining momentum since the health care law was signed a year ago, yet very little is known about it. If successful, this effort may be more devastating to women's reproductive health care than the hundreds of individual state laws that mandate counseling and sonograms, forced delays, and bans on specific procedures. Rather than chip away at reproductive rights bit by bit as these laws do, insurance prohibitions go for the jugular. They can do maximum damage by restricting or eliminating private coverage or making it extremely difficult to obtain, without the uproar that accompanies federal legislation and Supreme Court decisions. No wonder abortion opponents are intent on insurance bans!
At this point, it is critical to understand how much is at stake because these bans are moving through the states with remarkable swiftness, often relatively unnoticed. Although the exchanges where millions of people will buy insurance under the Affordable Care Act will not go into effect until 2014, after the Act was signed in March 2010 five states almost immediately passed bills to prohibit insurance plans on the exchanges from covering abortion except in dire circumstances such as to save the woman's life. Now, a year later, 22 more states are considering similar bills and nearly half of those are also considering making it illegal for all private plans to cover abortion.
Clearly, this is a coordinated, opportunistic attack that is either ignorant or callous -- or both -- about women's real lives and real needs. First, it is intended to reduce women's life options -- and therefore, from the perspectives of the many faith traditions that are pro-choice, an attack on women as moral decision-makers and on women's ability to make personal choices according to their own religious views and conscience. Second, it is an attack on the caring community that we seek to create, in which we have options that enable all of us to lead healthy lives and raise children with love and in a safe environment.
Throughout the legislative battle over the health care law, anti-choice legislators manipulated by the U.S. Conference on Catholic Bishops and extreme political organizations used abortion as a bargaining chip, purposely creating a furor and almost destroying good-faith reform efforts. The Democratic leadership -- determined to deliver on campaign promises to "fix" the badly broken health care system -- gave in to the threats of legislators who would vote for reform only if measures to restrict coverage of abortion were included. At first, it seemed that the restrictions would reaffirm existing Hyde Amendment provisions that federal funds would only be available to Medicaid recipients in the narrow cases of rape, incest or endangerment of the woman's life.
But it soon became clear that restrictions would apply to millions of additional women who would purchase insurance on the state insurance exchanges, the marketplaces being set up as part of reform that will be used by individuals of all income levels. The deal that was struck by Congress specified a "strict segregation" process. If an individual wanted coverage for pregnancy termination, she would have to purchase an entirely separate policy and pay for it with a separate payment, which would go into a separate fund! Because this system would be so difficult to administer and because states are not required to cover abortion, it is likely insurers will opt out of covering abortion at all, according to health experts. In addition, anti-choice Republicans introduced two bills to restrict coverage -- HR 3 (the "No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act") and HR 358 (the "Protect Life Act") -- as soon as Congress convened in January and, with their House majority, passed both. Along with low-income women who receive Medicaid, an estimated 14.5 million women who are insured by their mid-sized and large employers would be affected by this scheme, according to the Employee Benefits Research Institute. Contrast that to the fact that about 80 percent of private plans now cover pregnancy termination and the impact becomes clearer.After being involved in three-straight nail-biters – two away from home – the No. 1 Florida Gators (27-2, 16-0 SEC) were able to take a breath and cruise to a wire-to-wire 79-61 victory on Saturday afternoon, taking down the LSU Tigers (17-11, 8-8 SEC) at the Stephen C. O’Connell Center in Gainesville, FL.
Florida clinched the outright 2014 SEC regular-season title with Kentucky’s loss on Thursday but celebrated in style Saturday as it extended its school-record winning streak to 21 games and continued a number of other program-best marks including winning 16 SEC games in a single season.
OnlyGators.com breaks it all down with eight quick-hitters:
It was over when: With under 12 minutes left in the game, Florida senior forward Will Yeguete found senior F Casey Prather cutting to the hoop for an impressive one-handed jam. Less than one minute later, Prather had another impressive finish when he corralled a left-handed alley-oop pass from senior point guard Scottie Wilbekin on the fastbreak for a highlight layup. The Gators increased their lead to 24 points with the basket making it near-impossible for the Tigers to fight back over the duration of the contest. Wilbekin scored 11 points on 3-of-5 shooting from deep, dished four assists and registered two steals. Yeguete had four points and five boards.
Prominent players: Neither player led UF in scoring on Saturday, but Prather and sophomore guard Michael Frazier II each took over the game in a half to help Florida to victory. Frazier went 4-for-6 from downtown in the first half to spot the Gators an early double-digit lead; he only scored once in the second half, finishing with 14 points and four boards, but was undoubtedly his team’s catalyst. Prather wrapped things up nicely for UF in the latter 20 minutes, finishing 6-for-7 for 14 points with a steal and a block.
Significant stretches: Florida achieved an 18-point lead with four minutes left until the break with a trio of long runs in the first-half. The Gators opened up the game 8-0, compiled an 8-2 stretch midway through the period and used an 11-0 run including three-straight bombs from downtown – two from Frazier – to jump way ahead of the Tigers in the early going. UF’s lead did not dip below 13 points for the remainder of the contest and eventually stretched to as high as 27 points with 6:14 left in the game.
Check out the second half of The Fastbreak…after the break.
Extraordinary effort: Turning over the ball to LSU’s Shavon Coleman with an empty backcourt early in the first half, Prather chased down the ball thief and registered a clean block to negate a potential layup, eliminating the negative consequence from his own miscue and once again showing tremendous effort.
Bountiful bench: Led by a team-high 16 points from Gators redshirt sophomore F Dorian Finney-Smith, UF’s reserves outscored those of the Tigers 28-2 on Saturday. Finney Smith drained 4-of-8 attempts from beyond the arc and reached double-digit scoring for his second-straight game after going through a massive six-game slump in February.
Standout stat: Florida went 9-for-14 from downtown in the first half, hitting more triples in the first 20 minutes than it did in all but three complete games this season. UF made 4-of-9 treys in the second half and finished with a season-high 13 makes from deep.
What it means: Taking care of business at home, the Gators increased their O’Dome winning streaks to 31 games overall and 16 games against SEC opponents. UF also ensured it will retain its No. 1 ranking on Monday as it looks to close out the season with two more games next week.UPDATE: Speculation continues on the state of Bobbi Kristina Brown.
Bobby Brown's lawyer released a statement on Thursday denying that his daughter will soon be taken off of life support. "If we issued a statement every time the media published a false report regarding this matter, that's all we would be doing 24 hours a day," says Christopher Brown. "This is false, just as is the vast majority of the other reporting that is currently taking place."
The DailyMail.com reported earlier in the day that the 21-year-old had already been taking off of life support on Thursday, which sadly also happens to be her father's birthday, citing police sources with inside knowledge of the situation.
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Bobbi Kristina Brown's family is gathering at her bedside to say their goodbyes to the 21-year-old, People.com reports. Whitney Houston's daughter has been in a coma since Saturday after she was found face-down and unconscious in her bathtub. Doctors are saying Brown has brain damage and that nothing more can be done.
The news was especially devastating to her father, Bobby Brown, who flew from Los Angeles to Atlanta to be at Bobbi's side on Saturday. "Bobby has been crying nonstop since yesterday," says the source. "We are grieving."
A second family member went by the hospital overnight to say goodbye and admits that the devastating news is hard to believe. "If you saw her, you'd think she was just sleeping," says the source.
THE UPS AND DOWNS OF BOBBI KRISTINA BROWN
"It's sinking in that this is it," says the second family member, "but we're all still praying that God will intervene and heal her body."
TMZ is reporting that Bobby Brown is hopeful Bobbi Kristina can beat the odds and wants to wait until the weekend to make a decision. In a sad twist, today is Bobby Brown's 46th birthday.
On Wednesday, Extra’s AJ Calloway sat down with Debra Antney, a well known music manager, mother of Wacka Flocka Flame and good friend to the Brown family, about the tragic situation and what she saw when she visited Bobbi Kristina at the hospital
“She blinked her eyes, she did do that…She’s not out of danger, but it ain’t over with yet,” she says of Brown's condition, presumably before doctors gave their bleak prognosis.
As for Bobby Brown, she says, “he’s a wreck, you know, thankful he got a good wife that stands right by him, you know, and he has a little support team there so, but how would anybody be.” TMZ reports Bobby Brown's wife, Alicia Etheredge, is four months pregnant.
Antney also said, “That baby has not stood a chance since she was conceived, just about. She was talked about, ridiculed. All the people that had all those things to say about her… that’s a baby, a 21-year-old baby. To have to constantly listen to things, and to still have to deal with the death of her mom, and every five minutes they are posting something about her mother… and never anything good.”
Antney added, “Everyone has a breaking point.”
February 11 marks three years since Bobbi Kristina's mother Whitney Houston, who was also found unconscious in a bathtub, passed away. It was later declared she died of a combination of drug overdose and heart complications.
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Click here to subscribe to our newsletter.A Washington D.C.-based firm paid an ex-British spy $168,000 for his work on the infamous and controversial Trump dossier.
Continue Reading Below
The opposition group Fusion GPS said in a statement the money had been paid to former MI6 officer Christopher Steel to collect compromising information about Trump and that the Kremlin was engaged in an active effort to assist his presidential campaign.
In an interview with FOX Business’ Lou Dobbs, Judicial Watch president Tom Fitton said the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Department of Justice (DOJ) are working to keep the American public in the dark regarding the Trump dossier controversy.
“[The FBI has] been telling us they can’t confirm or deny whether the dossier even exist or not or documents about the payments related to the dossier exist,” Fitton said.
Fitton is questioning why some members of Congress were able to review the documents pertaining to the dossier payments behind closed doors, and whether the Obama-era federal agencies used the information as a “political hit job” against then-candidate Trump.
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“If the FBI under the tutelage of Barack Obama’s administration, his appointee were also doing this that is the scandal of the decade. That is the scandal of the last 50 years,” he said.Xavier Richards insists he's not bothered if he fails to get picked up by another club
• Indicative draft order: What picks will your club take to the draft?
• Who's on the move? Nick Bowen tracks 2016's free agents
DELISTED Sydney forward Xavier Richards says he is "not fazed" if he doesn't get another AFL opportunity after being cut by the Swans.
Richards, who played in the club's Grand Final loss to the Western Bulldogs last month, requested to be traded to a Melbourne club in the NAB AFL Trade Period but failed to find a new home, with little interest from rivals.
He now qualifies as a delisted free agent and can sign with another club if a chance arises, but the 23-year-old says he realises it may not happen.
• Who's hanging up the boots? Keep track of 2016's retirements and delistings
"I'm not fazed by it," Richards told News Corp.
"Whatever happens, happens, I can study in Melbourne if that's the worst case and be with family and friends.
"Sydney has been great to me and I'm grateful for the time I had there. I decided Melbourne is home and that's where I should be. When you are younger you don't realise how important family and friends are."
Richards, the younger brother of retired Swans defender Ted, played the last 10 games of the year to take his tally to 12 over his career at the club.
He was offered a two-year deal to stay at the club but denies he left to chase more money at another club.
• Worth a look? Top delisted free agents assessed
"I just decided I didn't want to be in Sydney for another two years," Richards said.
"It was a late decision for me, I just wanted to be back in Melbourne. I know a lot of people may not understand that but I think family and friends are more important.
"I've been in Sydney for four years and decided this wasn't for me."
The first delisted free agency period opened on Tuesday, with a number of senior players hoping for an AFL lifeline.
Essendon will re-sign top-up players James Kelly and Matt Dea, while former Eagle Mitch Brown, ex-Docker Michael Barlow and Brisbane Lions small forward Josh Green may also find new homes.Alitalia's new survival plan: deep cuts, budget flights
An Alitalia airplane is seen at the Fiumicino airport near Rome on Jan. 9, 2014. (Photo11: Vincenzo Pinto, AFP/Getty Images)
MILAN (AP) — Italian flagship airline Alitalia presented Thursday a new business plan that includes 1 billion euros in cost-cutting in a bid to compete with low-cost carriers.
The new plan comes nearly three years after Abu Dhabi carrier Etihad Airlines took a controlling stake in the long-troubled airline.
"We have a lot of work to do," Transport Minister Graziano Delrio said in Rome after a one-hour meeting with Alitalia CEO Cramer Ball.
Under the plan, Alitalia will introduce services common to budget carriers on flights of less than four hours, including charges for meals, priority boarding and preferred seating, while retaining the full-service model for longer-haul flights.
"Consumers' buying habits have been shaped by how low-cost carriers sell their products," Ball said in a statement after the plan was approved Wednesday night. "The radical and necessary measures across the entire airline will secure our long-term sustainability."
The airline noted that budget carriers had captured nearly half of the Italian market, the highest share in Europe.
ARCHIVES: Gulf carrier Etihad to'reboot' Italy's ailing Alitalia (August 2014)
The plan envisions reaching profitability by 2019, including cutting operating and personnel costs by 1 billion euros while increasing revenues by 30% from 2.9% euros to 3.7 billion euros.
Cramer said he intended to meet with unions as soon as possible to discuss "headcount related measures."
The airline also said it was in talks with suppliers, including in-flight catering and airports themselves, to renegotiate costs. It also plans to refit its narrow-haul plans with extra seats while reducing that fleet by 20 aircraft.
The board also approved a delegate from big Italian banks that own a stake in the airline as a new member. Luigi Gubitosi, a former head of RAI state television, will become executive chairman once shareholders approve funding for the new plan, the airline said. The move is expected to pave the way for the exit of Chairman Luca Cordero di Montezemolo.
ALSO ONLINE: A new, kinder Ryanair... for real? | Ryanair backtracks: No $15 U.S. flights, after all | Now kinder and gentler, Ryanair's profit soars (story continues below)
TODAY IN THE SKY: The 'boneyard': Where airlines send old planes to be scrapped
Read or Share this story: http://usat.ly/2m88TvvVriksasana (Tree Pose). Is not an easy pose due to balance as well as strength since all the bodies weight is on one leg. Called Tree Pose because the foot is rooted like roots of a tree and the upper body and arms continue moving to maintain balance like the limbs and leaves of a tree.
Benefits of Vriksasana: Improves balance and stability in the legs, pelvic stability, strengthens the bones of the hips, legs and feet. When balance is achieved you will also gain self confidence.
When in Vriksasana the body is using lots of muscles that contract and relax continuously to help with balance. Also this pose requires the integration of the whole body to work together as one, mentally and physically to maintain balance. Of all poses I’d say more is going on with this pose then any other. With so many things going on the brain is forced to stay in the moment.
Come into the pose from standing with the feet together arms at your side and shoulders relaxed. Ground or root through your right foot. Place your hands on your hips, bend the left knee and place the sole of the foot on the right leg at the inner ankle, calf or thigh whichever location you can hold your balance in, but not the knee. The toes of the left foot point down with the knee open to the side. Lengthen your tailbone toward the floor. Once you have established your balance place your hands over your heart center with palms together. If comfortable take your arms over your head. If shoulders are tight the arms will be in a V over your shoulders.
Find a gazing point, soften the belly to allow the breath to come in without resistance, tense the buttocks to help keep the hip points forward and the knee open to the side. Keep the spine elongated and lengthen the leg of the rooted foot. Avoid the temptation to let the hip of the standing leg sink. Have the chin parallel to the floor and relax the body. Breathe evenly with a long breathe not to deep and hold the pose 15 – 30 seconds. If your tight 15 seconds is plenty and if flexible and have balance you can hold for a minute or longer if you choose. I hold the pose 40 to 60 seconds. To come out of the pose release the arms and leg, down to standing. Repeat on the other side.
If your not comfortable with balance poses like I was when I started. Actually, I would fall out every time. Use props; wall, chair, table to lean against and over time you will get to know your body where it is in the pose and make the subtle adjustments to keep your balance.
Tips: Do not place the sole of the foot on the knee if you do over time you will loosen the knee and start having issues. I find if I rush the pose my body is tense and I fall out, so I’ll relax my jaw and the relaxation melts down through the rest of my body. This seems to help me get into a relaxed state and balance is achieved and it feels great. Also the more solid the standing surface the easier it is to balance.
Sorry about the poor video, I’ll be getting a video camera soon.
Enjoy the journey to discovering your balance.
Healthy & Happy,
Yoga ChuckAttorney General Maura Healey must defend her probe of Exxon Mobil’s climate-change policy in a Texas courtroom hearing that one prominent analyst says shows a federal judge sees “big-time political motives” in her use of power.
The order issued by Judge Ed Kinkeade late last week, could compel a law-enforcement officer to answer a target firm’s questions in a Dallas courtroom deposition Dec. 13. First Amendment attorney Harvey Silverglate said it’s “very rare” for a sitting attorney general to be ordered to court for a deposition.
“It indicates that the judge suspects big-time political motives,” Silverglate told the Herald, adding he sees Healey’s probe as “political grandstanding …. There is nothing really to be gained here except to embarrass the company. There is no legislation in this country thus far making it a crime to oppose global warming.”
Healey launched her probe of Exxon Mobil’s research in April on the grounds the oil giant was deceiving consumers and investors. Exxon Mobil filed for an injunction to stop her on First Amendment and other grounds. Healey’s attorneys have moved to toss that motion. But last month, Kinkeade, noting that Exxon Mobil suspects Healey was attempting “to satisfy a political agenda,” issued a written ruling saying he needed to know more about what was behind her civil investigation demand before he finds for either side.
“Attorney General Healey’s actions leading up to the issuance of the CID causes the Court concern and presents the Court with the question of whether Attorney General Healey issued the CID with bias or prejudgment about what the investigation of Exxon would discover,” Kinkeade wrote. He noted that Healey, along with New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman and former Vice President Al Gore, took part in an “AGs United For Clean Power” press conference three weeks earlier, where Healey announced her plan to hold Exxon Mobil accountable.
Schneiderman also has been ordered to Dallas for the Dec. 13 hearing.
Healey’s spokeswoman said in a statement, “We are surprised that the Court has ordered two Attorneys General to appear for depositions in Dallas even though Exxon made no such request. Our office has argued strongly that there is no personal jurisdiction in Texas and have urged the Court to rule on our motion for dismissal. In the meantime, we continue to litigate against Exxon in Massachusetts state court, where this dispute properly belongs, and will fight aggressively to investigate whether Exxon Mobil deceived consumers and investors about the impact of fossil fuels.”
In a court filing earlier this month, lawyers for Exxon Mobil charged, “For nearly a decade, climate change activists and certain plaintiffs’ attorneys have sought to obtain the confidential records of energy companies as a means of pressuring those companies to change their policy positions.” They dismiss Healey’s efforts as a fishing expedition for “ammunition.”
Kinkeade, appointed by President George W. Bush, has to decide whether to enjoin Healey from moving forward in Massachusetts with her probe into whether the $171-billion Texas-based Exxon Mobil Corp. has deceived consumers and investors about the potential environmental hazards of fossil fuel. If Healey prevails, Exxon Mobil would be forced to disclose records dating back to 1976 on what — if anything — it knew about global warming and climate change.
Silverglate said Healey could try to appeal being deposed, but doesn’t think she’d win. Still, he said, Judge Kinkeade’s order is so unusual a higher court would likely hear her objections.Story highlights A lake has emerged amid the sand dunes in the United Arab Emirates
It is a result of recycled waste water dumped from the UAE's water management system
It attracts a wide variety of wildlife, delighting birdwatchers
But desert ecologists consider the lake an environmental disaster
In a remote corner of the United Arab Emirates, a blue lake shimmers amid the sand dunes.
It's not a mirage, but a man-made oasis -- an unintended byproduct of the UAE's water management practices, which has sprung from the desert in recent years.
Opinion is divided over this unexpected phenomenon, known locally as Lake Zakher.
Huw Roberts is a university lecturer who has been an avid birdwatcher in the Gulf region for nearly two decades.
"This is one of the best sites in the UAE for birds," he said. "It's a good habitat for wintering birds and birds on passage."
To Roberts, Lake Zakher has reliably proved something of a birdwatcher's paradise, with herons, flamingos and stilts among the rich diversity of species drawn to this rare water source.
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He has been coming to the lake for seven years to photograph the birds, insects and reptiles and add them to WildlifeUAE -- his photographic inventory of nearly 600 species of the country's wildlife.
But to others, like Brigitte Howarth, an ecologist at the UAE's Zayed University, Lake Zakher is an environmental calamity.
"This lake to me is a bit of an ecological disaster because we really don't understand how it's affecting all the various species that do live naturally within this environment," she said.
"If you suddenly create an artificial situation, where many other species benefit, it is the species that have been here for millions of years that then suffer."
The lake is an industrial byproduct of the desalination system used to meet the UAE's water needs. With few sources of fresh water in the region, the country has relied on desalinating seawater for domestic use -- a technology that has been essential to the country's growth, according to advocates.
"Desalination started here 50 years ago," said Corrado Sommariva, president of the International Desalination Association. "There wouldn't be any development of the industry or society if there was no desalination."
The waste water is treated and just over half reused for industrial purposes, according Mohamed Al Madfaei, executive director at the Abu Dhabi Environmental Agency.
But the other 45% of recycled waste water was simply discharged at sea or released on to the land, where it had been pushing up groundwater levels, and eventually resulted in the creation of Lake Zakher.
Desalination has increased as the UAE's population has grown, bringing with it other unwanted environmental impacts. The process is energy-intensive, and releases brine into the surrounding ocean, which has the potential to harm marine life.
As a result, the government is encouraging people to reduce consumption, and put excess water to better use.
"People can reduce their water consumption, be more wise when it comes to water use," said Al Madfaei. "When washing your car, instead of using a hose, maybe use a bucket. When it comes to the agriculture sector... we are looking to reduce our consumption, and increasing the use of treated water in those areas as well."
It's an approach that will help improve the UAE's environmental sustainability, but could spell the end of the already shrinking Lake Zakher, to the dismay of Roberts and his fellow birdwatchers.
"I'd be very disappointed if Zakher Lake disappeared," said Roberts. "I'm hoping it doesn't."* Surprisingly weak trade data fans stimulus expectations
* Risk that growth could slow to global crisis levels
* April exports -6.4 pct yr/yr, vs f’cast +2.4 pct
* Imports -16.2 pct yr/yr, vs f’cast -12.0 pct
* Trade balance +34.13 bln, vs f’cast +39.45 bln (Adds exports to US, EU)
By Kevin Yao
BEIJING, May 8 (Reuters) - China’s exports unexpectedly fell 6.4 percent in April from a year earlier, while imports tumbled by a deeper-than-forecast 16.2 percent, fueling expectations that Beijing will quickly roll out more stimulus to avert a sharper economic slowdown.
The dismal trade performance raises the risk that second-quarter economic growth may dip below 7 percent for the first time since the depths of the global financial crisis, adding to official fears of job losses and growing levels of bad debt.
“This is bad. I expect an interest rate cut this weekend,” said economist Tim Condon at ING in Singapore.
“This is going to make 7 percent (GDP) growth hard to attain. It looks like the weakness in the first quarter wasn’t transitory. It’s persistent.”
The central bank has lowered interest rates and banks’ reserve requirement ratio (RRR) thrice in three months since November to stoke the economy, and most analysts had expected it to loosen policy again on both fronts in coming months.
Policy insiders told Reuters this week that China’s leaders have been caught off guard by the sharpness of the downturn, and are likely to resort to fiscal stimulus to revive growth after a flurry of monetary policy easing has proved less effective than hoped.
Imports have been weaker than exports, falling 16.2 percent in April from a year earlier, according to data released by the General Administration of Customs on Friday, highlighting tepid domestic demand as the world’s second-largest economy slows.
Analysts polled by Reuters had expected exports would rise 2.4 percent in April after a 15 percent plunge in March, and predicted imports would fall 12 percent after a 12.7 percent drop the previous month.
In April, exports to the United States, China’s top export market, rose 3.1 percent from a year earlier, while shipments to the European Union, the second largest market, dipped 10.4 percent, according to customs data.
UNCERTAIN OUTLOOK
Economists at Nomura expect annual economic growth to slow to 6.6 percent in the second quarter from 7 percent in the first quarter, and are pencilling in three more 25-basis-point rate cuts and two more 50 bps cuts in banks’ reserve requirements for the rest of the year, which would mark the central bank’s most aggressive easing campaign since the global crisis.
Buffeted by lukewarm foreign and domestic demand, China’s trade sector has wobbled in the past year, adding to pressure on the slowing economy and unsettling policymakers.
Earlier this week, China’s trade minister said the devaluation of currencies by some countries has led to sharp gains in the yuan, hurting the competitiveness of Chinese exports.
The yuan has gained against major non-dollar currencies in recent months, leading to its rise on a trade-weight basis.
But Premier Li Keqiang has ruled out a devaluation, even as the economy faces headwinds.
While some exporters said they have not felt the impact of a rising yuan, thanks in part to the growing popularity of currency hedging options, few doubt that sales would suffer in coming |
3: Download the new Redsn0w 0.9.9b5 for Mac or Windows.
Step 4: Click on the “Jailbreak” option, select “Install Cydia” and follow the onscreen instructions to enter DFU mode. Once you’re in DFU mode, Redsn0w will perform the jailbreak (without having to have you select the IPSW file manually! YES, the new Redsn0w can fetch all the required files automatically from Apple’s servers).
Booting into Tethered-Jailbreak Mode:
Step 4: Once you’ve installed Cydia, you will need to boot the device into a tethered jailbroken state. Go into DFU mode, and then in “Extras”, opt for “Just Boot”. Redsn0w will subsequently boot your device as tethered. Note: Due to the nature of this jailbreak, you will have to repeat this booting sequence every time you wish to reboot your device.
For Unlockers Only:
If you rely on a Gevey SIM or Ultrasn0w (for old basebands only) unlock, DO NOT update to the stock firmware update offered by iTunes. Instead, use this latest version of Redsn0w to cook a custom firmware file without the upgraded baseband so that you can unlock it with Ultrasn0w or Gevey SIM. To do this, click on “Extras” option and then select “Custom IPSW” option. Select the required iOS 5 IPSW firmware file, and let Redsn0w make the custom firmware for you. Once done, enter Pwned DFU mode by selecting “Pwned DFU” from Redsn0w’s Extras option, and then restore to this custom firmware using iTunes. Once done, unlock your iPhone using Gevey SIM, or the updated Ultrasn0w.
Alternatively, unlockers can also use Sn0wbreeze for jailbreaking iPhone on iOS 5 with preserved baseband.
This video was shot when iOS 5 GM was released. Today’s public iOS 5 release is exactly same as last week’s GM release.
If p0sixninja’s revelation at MyGreatFest, backed up by i0n1c’s recent tweets are anything to go by, we could have a very swiftly released untethered jailbreak. Without giving too much away, i0n1c told us that an untethered solution was "covered", so we now await news from the Chronic Dev Team – the group behind the Greenpois0n 4.2.1 – with great excitement and anticipation.
If and when iOS 5 gets an untethered jailbreak, we’ll have it covered from top to bottom here at Redmond Pie, so stay tuned!
UPDATE x1: The new Redsn0w 0.9.9b7 for both Windows and Mac brings much faster jailbreak by “no longer stashing the application” during the jailbreak process. This has helped in reducing the complete jailbreak time by 60% (from 210 seconds to 80 seconds). We have updated the above download links for Redsn0w.
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Related StoriesWhen Quebecers cast their ballots in the 1980 referendum, Jennifer Drouin was much too young to be paying attention. She was born in 1976, one month after Rene Levesque led the Parti Quebecois to its first term in office.
Drouin’s political coming of age was in 1995 when Quebecers were asked, for a second time, to make a choice about their future relationship with Canada.
“I lived through the referendum at the same time that I was kind of becoming aware of Quebecois language and culture and history,” said Drouin.
A Nova Scotia-born anglophone, Drouin’s bookshelves are filled with an assorted collection of Shakespearean tomes and French literature. She started reading the works of Quebec author Michel Tremblay when she wanted to pick up joual.
Drouin moved to Quebec in 2001, to pursue a PhD in Quebec studies at the Université du Quebec a Trois-Rivieres. By that time, she’d already been a card-carrying member of the PQ for three years.
She is currently a professor of English Literature at the University of Alabama, on leave.
The transition, she said, began as she sat in front of her TV in the Maritimes, watching the results roll in on referendum night.
“I realized I was against something and I didn't even know what it was or why I was against it – other than that's the way I was born and raised and grew up thinking, without having any kind of critical perspective on it, or background or history of knowing why I was automatically a ‘No’ and why I was against Quebec sovereignty,” she said. “But I could see on the faces of the people on the ‘Yes’ side that they were for something, and they were for it very strongly, and there had to be reasons for that – and that was kind of the beginning of the turning point.”
She now sees Quebec independence as the best way to protect the French language and Quebecois culture, while taking control over other issues, such as protecting the environment.
“The pipeline, Energy East, is a good reason for Quebec to have sovereignty over its own territory and to be able to say ‘No, we don't want (it),’” she said.
Anglophones for Quebec Independence
Drouin, now living in Montreal, is the driving force behind a new organization called Anglophones for Quebec Independence.
The group launched a Twitter account in June, and went silent after sending out a single tweet: “We’re here and growing - More to follow.”
The social media presence sparked plenty of online chatter and speculation, with critics questioning who was really behind the mysterious account.
The idea for the new group, Drouin said, was inspired by PQ leadership candidate Jean-Francois Lisee, who first floated the proposal for “Bold Anglos For Independence” in a blog post two years ago.
“When I said, 'Hey, I like your idea and I'm going to take it and run with it (…) I've got your blessing?' he was like, ‘Yeah,’” said Drouin.
Despite Lisee’s support, Anglophones for Quebec Independence isn't endorsing him.
“We’re non-partisan in the sense that we are open to members from the PQ, Option Nationale and Quebec Solidaire – any sovereignist,” said Drouin.
Lisee said he welcomes the new addition to Quebec’s political landscape, while acknowledging they’re unlikely to attract much support.
“I fully expect that they're going to have a hard time and that's why they need to be bold and strong and have character, and build their credibility over time, and build their numbers over time,” he said. “We know there's a small percentage of anglos who vote for the PQ. I want to expand that.”
Jean-Marc Fournier, Liberal MNA for Saint-Laurent and government house leader, questioned the attempts to attract English-speaking Quebecers to the sovereignty movement.
“I just want to know, in the anglophone community, is there this big will now to separate from Canada?” he asked. “In my riding there are a lot of people from the English community,” Fournier added. “I’ve never heard that what they want is for Quebec to take its own road, apart, deciding to isolate itself.”
But Drouin said English-speaking Quebecers should not be pigeonholed.
“There's simply the assumption that anglophones are de facto federalist, as if speaking a language equated to particular political views – which is really reductionist,” she argued. “As we know francophones have a range of political views and they can be sovereignist and federalist, so there's no reason why anglophones can't have a range of political views and be sovereignist or federalist.”
Former PQ premier weighs in
For former premier Bernard Landry, despite the English community’s traditional support for the Liberals, it’s not surprising that a group of anglophones has formed an organization promoting Quebec independence.
“I am, of course, delighted to see such a group come into action,” said Landry. “I spent an important part of my political career [working] with anglophones and allophones.”
Landry said the PQ has made progress with its outreach efforts, but needs to continue working at being inclusive.
“We must be in fraternity and harmony with our compatriots coming from other places whatever the language or the ethnic origin may be,” he told CTV News.
Courting controversy
Robin Philpot, an Ontario-born Anglophone who has long been a sovereignist, was one of the first people to join Anglophones for Quebec Independence.
“We do want people to know that if they decide that they're a sovereignist, there are also many others who've gone through the same thinking. They're not alone,” said Philpot.
Philpot is no stranger to controversy. In a book he wrote about the 1995 referendum, he claimed the No side used dirty money and illegal tactics to steal away a victory from their Yes adversaries. The book drew scorn from federalists in and outside of Quebec.
Philpot also came under fire when he ran for the PQ in 2007, in the Montreal riding of Saint-Henri-Sainte-Anne. He was criticized about another book he wrote, in which he challenged accounts of the Rwandan genocide.
Then-premier Jean Charest was categorical on the campaign trail.
“If Mr. Philpot is continuing to pretend that this genocide is something other than a genocide he should not be a candidate for the Parti Québecois,” Charest said at the time.
Fringe group?
Drouin refused to reveal how many members are in her group. She said Anglophones for Québec Independence will unveil its action plan at a press conference on Friday morning, at the Societé Saint-Jean-Baptiste’s Montreal headquarters on Sherbrooke St.
Drouin and Philpot are currently the only two group members who have spoken publicly about their cause.
They also have something else in common – they are both from other provinces.
“I certainly want there to be more members who are from Quebec,” said Drouin. “Our message is genuine and we are genuine about what we are doing and people can choose to believe us or not,” she added. “It's always difficult to challenge perceived ideas, but as we say in French, ‘Il faut avoir la force de ses convictions.’”Israeli border police officers install metal detectors outside the Lion's Gate, a main entrance to Al-Aqsa mosque compound, in Jerusalem's Old City, on July 16, 2017
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Thursday urged his Israeli counterpart Reuven Rivlin to swiftly remove metal detectors that have outraged Muslim Palestinian worshippers at a sensitive holy site in annexed east Jerusalem.
Palestinians have been refusing to enter the Haram al-Sharif compound since Sunday, when Israel began installing metal detectors at entrances to the site following an attack that killed two police officers.
"Within the framework of freedom of religion and worship there can be no impediment for Muslims" entering the holy site, the Anadolu news agency quoted Erdogan as telling Rivlin.
"Given the importance that Haram al-Sharif carries for the whole Islamic world, the metal detectors put in place by Israel should be removed in the shortest possible time and an end put to the tension," Erdogan added.
The Turkish leader had earlier held telephone talks with Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas, telling him the measures imposed by Israel were "unacceptable".
Turkey and Israeli last year ended a rift triggered by Israel's deadly storming in 2010 of a Gaza-bound ship that left 10 Turkish activists dead.
But Erdogan, who regards himself a champion of the Palestinian cause, is still often critical of Israeli policy.
Palestinian and Muslim religious leaders have urged worshippers not to enter the compound through the metal detectors, and hundreds have been holding prayers outside the site, known to Jews as the Temple Mount, with clashes occasionally breaking out.
Erdogan expressed sadness over the "loss of lives" in the incident on July 14 when two Israeli police officers were shot dead by three Arab Israeli attackers who were killed by security forces.
Erdogan said such violence could never be approved.
A statement by the Israeli presidency said that Rivlin had reminded Erdogan that Israel had shown solidarity with Turkey over terror attacks on Turkish territory last year.
"The steps taken on the Temple Mount were intended to ensure that such acts of terror could not be repeated," Rivlin told Erdogan.
Erdogan's call came a day ahead of the weekly Friday prayers, with speculation intensifying over whether Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will order the removal of the metal detectors.
The spokesman for Erdogan, Ibrahim Kalin, had earlier expressed concern that the use of the metal detectors was part of a step-by-step change in the status of the entire complex.MONTREAL—Ismael Habib’s strong loyalty to the principles of Daesh, also known as ISIS, as well as the lack of evidence supporting his prospect for rehabilitation justified a nine-year prison term, a Quebec court judge said Friday. Judge Serge Delisle sentenced Habib to nine years in prison for attempting to leave Canada to join Daesh and for giving false information to obtain a passport.
Ismael Habib, who was convicted of attempting to leave Canada to join Daesh, has been sentenced to nine years in prison. ( La Presse )
He cited the 29-year-old Habib’s “total adherence” to the principals and goals of Daesh as a factor justifying a longer sentence. “This was not the utopian and thoughtless project of a teenager who was manipulated or carried away by an impulse,” Delisle told the court. “It was rather with perfect knowledge of the objectives of the Islamic State and the methods used by this entity that the offender multiplied the steps to return to Syria and join the Islamic State.”
Article Continued Below
Additionally, Delisle noted the court had not been presented with any evidence on Habib’s prospects for rehabilitation, which he cited as another reason for the nine-year term. Habib was given eight years for the terrorism offence and one year for the passport violation. The time Habib has already spend in custody was subtracted from the sentence, leaving him with just over six-and-a-half years left to serve. Habib will be eligible for parole after completing half the sentence. His attorney had suggested six-and-a-half years minus the nearly 27 months Habib has served in pre-trial custody.
The accused was ensnared by an RCMP-led sting operation, in which he admitted to an undercover agent posing as a crime boss that he wanted to travel to Syria to join Daesh. He was found guilty in June, making him the first adult in Canada to be convicted after going to trial on the charge of attempting to leave Canada to join Daesh.
Read more about:9 November 2007 | patpatterson
8 | 2 future stars shine in entertaining episode
DPO is another episode that I remember seeing way back in the 90s and recently had the chance to watch again.I still enjoyed it a lot and it brought back memories of that particular time in my life. DPO stands for Darin Peter Oswald and as the title suggests the episode is all about him.Hes a small town slacker who works as a mechanic and spends his spare time hanging around the arcades with his friend "Zero",and longing after his schoolteacher,Sharon Kiveat.However he also possesses a special gift,having the ability to apparently channel electricity through his person and focus it on who/whatever is unlucky to get in his way.This is where M&S come in after the number of electricity related deaths in Darin's small town attract their attention.Despite the skepticisms of the local police chief they soon realize Darin had something to do with the deaths.Can they manage to rein him in before his frustration at being rejected in love and his feelings of inadequacy send him spiraling out of control? A Couple of other things to note: The episode featured 2 then relatively unknown actors who would subsequently rise to greater fame:Giovanni Ribisi in the title role and funnyman Jack Black as his friend "Zero".Ribisi is especially good here and he really has the moody teenager persona down to a tee. The opening sequence is tense and exciting and the music(Ring the Bells by James)and action combine very well and peak together in a dramatic climax.The scenes where DPO uses his gift and "strikes" are also handled well and some of these scenes are quite spectacular looking. So to sum up my feelings DPO is a pretty solid X-file.I would put it in the same category as "Pusher",as it features a human character with an extraordinary gift.Its probably not one of my absolute fave eps but its not too far off either.I give it 8.5/10.In a year full of comic book films my must see movie is Prometheus. Ridley Scott is set to reinvigorate science fiction again.
Ridley Scott’s return to science fiction will dive deeper into the Alien universe he created. Michael Fassbender is praising his Prometheus director for exploring new territory and classic approach to building suspense in a new interview with IFC.
“It’s a slow burn,” Fassbender said. “There are again sort of action sequences in it of course, but they’re there at the right time to serve the plot as opposed to just filling in another scene.”
The man who played a young Magneto in X-Men: First Class credits Lost writer Damon Lindelof for his script.
“There are connecting veins and you will recognize things,but it’s like wow this is a whole new world altogether,” Fassbender said.
The connections between Alien and Prometheus will be clear on June 9th. The star gives assurance from the director who gave us the Space Jockey, his ship and those nasty aliens.
“I haven’t seen anything yet, “Fassbender said, “but speaking to Ridley and he seems to be pretty happy.”
You can read more of his interview here.by
I get asked this question often: “what books on Mormonism should I read?” Probably every other week or so. It comes from a broad range of people, including non-Mormon academics who have a small interest in the field, sunday school teachers who want to be better prepared to teach the Doctrine and Covenants, or fellow reading nerds who just want to banter about their favorite books. But most often, the question comes from average members of the Church who just want a better understanding of their faith tradition and its history. I usually refer them to my post on The LDS History Canon I wrote for JI a couple years back, but I often do so grimicingly because of three problems: 1) it is both out of date and flat-out wrong on some inclusions, which I hope to correct in a new version soon, 2) it is academically-oriented, and modeled more for an academic historian’s interest’s than the general member’s, and 3) it is only history.
So I decided to attempt to make, with everyone’s help, a list that is interdisciplinary, approachable, and relevant. Put simply, a list of books I wish every member of the Church would read.
(Note for those who are itching to make this comment: yes, the scriptures, General Conference addresses, and, if you’d like, the Brethren’s shopping list is the most important thing for members to read. Sure. We are taking the importance of scripture reading for granted in this list; if it makes you more comfortable, label this “The List of Books You Can Read After Your Three Hours of Morning Scriptural Study,” or TLBYCRAYTHMS, for short.)
Now, for some rules and outlines. It is ridiculously easy to just give a laundry list of books people should read, but that almost defeats the point of the list. This is about prioritizing. This is about making tough decisions. As such, I am putting a limit on the number of books included on the list. There can only be ten in the “Essential” category and another twenty in “Nearly Essential.” If you suggest adding another book to these two categories, and I really hope you do, you not only have to make a case for it but you have to tell me which book to drop. I could make a case for a hundred books, but if I am forced to limit myself to twenty-five, it requires a lot more work. However, I know that it is also helpful to include lots of other books, so feel free to nominate “further reading” suggestions that fall in a category under the two mentioned.
The primary audience is the average member of the Church who sits next to you every sunday. If you had your wish, what books do you wish every member would read? With that said, though, there is the reality that there is a certain type of person who would read books in the first place, so I have tried to take that into consideration, even if I can’t clearly elucidate the difference. And besides the important content (which is definitely a criteria), and beyond the quality of writing (which I wish we had a better standard against which to judge), I have tried to select books that provoke a lesson or idea I find significant. So, for instance, Massacre at Mountain Meadows, as a book and a topic, may not justify its inclusion in the “Essential” list, but its lesson in the fallibility of human leadership and the pitfalls of blind obedience make me wish every member of the Church knew its tale.
Other factors that I invoked: I’d like every reader to experience the broad swath of cultural production, thus I think history, literature, philosophy, and personal essays, as well as other disciplines and approaches, should be included. I also aimed for better gender representation, though we still have a ways to go on that front. And I wished to have every major issue dealt with: polygamy, race, dissent, gender, etc, so that each member will have something to draw from when presented with crucial tensions and questions.
Note that this is not a “Most Important Books” list, a “Best Mormon History Books” list, a “Best Written Books” list, or even “My Favorite Books” list; those would look very different. Again, these are books that I wish the average member of the Church was familiar with.
Enough talking. On to my list. (And many thanks to fellow BCCers and the handful of people I reached out to yesterday for helping me craft it.)
_________________________________________________________________
Essential (10 Books)
Matthew Bowman, The Mormon People: The Making of An American Faith (New York: Random House, 2012).
Even though it’s just a year old, it is already the best one-volume history of the Church. I would argue that before jumping into all of the other issues, moments, and themes, it is important to have an overall grasp of the Church, and this book provides that.
Claudia Bushman, ed., Mormon Sisters: Women in Early Utah (Logan: Utah State University Press, 1997).
Though the volume is somewhat uneven, it exposes readers to something we need a lot more of in the Church: women’s history. It may sound simple, but I think it is crucial to adjust how we view historical characters in order to be more inclusive of women within Mormonism, so these articles point us in the right direction.
Richard Bushman, Joseph Smith: Rough Stone Rolling (New York: Knopf, 2005).
I would imagine this book would receive the most votes if this list were put to a poll. Everyone has to come to grapple with Joseph Smith, and Bushman’s book is still the best introduction.
Kathryn Daynes, More Wives than One: The Transformation of the Mormon Marriage System, 1840-1910 (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 2001).
Everyone needs to deal with polygamy, and Daynes’s book is the best on the topic. (At least in Utah, anyway; her Nauvoo period chapter is a bit lacking, but Bushman can (kinda) help buttress that section.) Within the next few years, though, Daynes will have competition from both Kathleen Flake and Laurel Ulrich, as those books promise to be important examinations of polygamy.
Jill Mulvay Derr, Janeth Russell Cannon, and Maureen Ursenbach Beecher, Women of Covenant: The Story of the Relief Society (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1992).
Still the best overall history of Mormon women, and gives the sweeping narrative of the Church since the Nauvoo period until 1990.
Terryl and Fiona Givens, The God Who Weeps: How Mormonism Makes Sense of Life (Salt Lake City: Ensign Peak, 2012).
We need more discussions concerning our beliefs, and I believe The God Who Weeps is the best introduction to our theology for the average member. I honestly wish this were the assigned curriculum for institute classes.
Hugh Nibley, Approaching Zion (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1989).
Yes, it is date; yes, many of Nibley’s claims are confusing; yes, much of the book is problematic. But it is still one of the most innovative and creative looks at the potential for Mormon cultural, economic, and political thought and, even if you vehemently disagree with it, it can still get you thinking. Which is what a book is supposed to do. (Make sure to read the fantastic series on Approaching Zion currently taking place at Times & Seasons.)
Levi Peterson, The Backslider (Salt Lake City: Signature Books, 1986).
A classic Mormon novel, and captures the tensions of (desired) sacred and profane in everyday life. We are all fallen, imperfect people, yet within that status there is still beauty.
Ronald Walker, Richard Turley, and Glen Leonard, Massacre at Mountain Meadows (New York: Oxford University Press, 2008).
Not only an important event in LDS history, but the carrier of an important lesson.
Maurine Whipple, Giant Joshua (New York: Houghton Mifflin, 1942).
Another classic Mormon novel. I think it’s important because it humanizes historical figures and makes our pioneers look human. Also, it’s story is moving and makes our past seem a lot more, well, real–much more than academic history, I would argue.
Nearly Essential (20 Books)
Thomas Alexander, Mormonism in Transition: A History of the Latter-day Saints, 1890-1930 (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1986).
It is important to look at the institutional rupture that the end of polygamy brought, even if it overstates the changes in everyday life. Alexander’s is a classic, and looks at how the Church began the process of cultural assimilation after decades of isolation. (Personally, I like Kathleen Flake’s Politics of American Religious Identity more for this time period and issue, but it is likely a bit to academic and theoretical for most readers.)
Philip L. Barlow, Mormons and the Bible: The Place of the Latter-day Saints in American Religion (New York: Oxford University Press, 1991).
Besides the fascinating content and sweeping scope, it teaching the multivocal history of Mormon scriptural interpretation. No, we haven’t always read the Bible the same way, and we have a dynamic (and, at times, quixotic) history of scriptural hermeneutics.
Martha Bradley, Pedestals and Podiums: Utah Women, Religious Authority, and Equal Rights (Salt Lake City: Signature Books, 2005).
A crucial moment in modern Mormonism told by a master historian. The tensions of gender issues, women’s rights, and the tension between church and state will continue to be a major element of today’s Church, so this is especially relevant.
Joanna Brooks, The Book of Mormon Girl: A Memoir of an American Faith (New York: Free Press, 2012).
A poignant, sweet, and thoughtful story of what makes Mormonism so powerful, frustrating, and, in the end, rewarding. It is also designed to build emphathy and demonstrate diversity.
Samuel Brown, In Heaven as It is on Earth: Joseph Smith and the Early Mormon Conquest of Death (New York: Oxford University Press, 2012).
Besides being a brilliant reconstruction of early Mormon thought, the book is an important introduction to tough issues like treasure seeking, polygamy, and the relationship between masonry and the temple.
Eugene England, Making Peace: Personal Essays (Salt Lake City: Signature Books, 1995).
It has been argued that the personal essay is the best form of Mormon cultural expression. And Eugene England was the master of it. Would that all Mormons were exposed to his thoughtful, peaceful, and worshipful version of Mormonism. (Also, note that you could pick up any of England’s collections, like Dialogues with Myself and Quality of Mercy, and still turn out alright.)
James Faulconer, Faith, Philosophy, Scripture (Provo, UT: Brigham Young University Press, 2010).
One of the best works written on faith and reason by a Mormon and for Mormons; it should help develop a more sophisticated, rigorous, and rewarding approach to faith in general and scriptural reading in particular.
Jared Farmer, On Zion’s Mount: Mormons, Indians, and the American Landscape (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2008).
Arguably one of the best Mormon history books to date, it is a beautifully-told tale of Mormonism’s relationship to Mount Timpanogus. But it is also much more than that: it is a reflection on Mormonism’s influence on culture, colonialism, environmentalism, and consumerism.
Terryl Givens, By the Hand of Mormon: The American Scripture that Launched a New World Religion (New York: Oxford University Press, 2002).
This is a classic in the Mormon history field, and an important telling of not only how the Book of Mormon came to be, but how we have come to interpret the Book of Mormon.
Angela Hallstrom, ed., Dispensation: Latter-Day Fiction (Salt Lake City: Zarahemla Books, 2010).
We’ve had an explosion of great short stories of late, so something needed to be included. This compilation is worthy of the list and a great read.
Grant Hardy, Understanding the Book of Mormon: A Reader’s Guide (New York: Oxford University Press, 2010).
One of the best books on the Book of Mormon itself, and a great introduction to the complexity within the text.
Edward Kimball, Lengthen Your Stride: The Presidency of Spencer W. Kimball (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 2005).
Among many other things, a significant account of Official Declaration 2.
Armand Mauss, All Abraham’s Children: Changing Mormon Conceptions of Race and Lineage (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 2003).
Race will always be a sticking point for Mormonism. This provides a good overview, and the chapters on the priesthood ban should be read by every member.
Armand Mauss, The Angel and the Beehive: The Mormon Struggle with Assimilation (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1994).
This was the last cut from the “Essentials” section, so consider it #11 on this list. Crucial to understanding the tensions of 20th century Mormonism, and Mauss’s sociological approach will encourage readers to examine their tradtion in new and provocative ways.
Steven Peck, The Scholar of Moab (Torrey, UT: Torrey House Press, 2011).
Even the approach, speculative western, merges the sacred and profane in a way that perfectly captures one of Mormonism’s paradoxes. And though a comedic tale, it asks fundamental philosophical questions that will last long after the laughs. Bonus points if you also read his A Short Stay in Hell, which might make you start hating our doctrine of eternity.
Gregory Prince and William Robert Wright, David O. McKay and the Rise of Modern Mormonism (Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press, 2005).
How did the modern church come into being? McKay presided over one of the most crucial moments of the Church’s history, and this book, because of its access to key sources, provides key insights into the transition.
Wallace Stegner, The Gathering of Zion: The Story of the Mormon Trail (1964; Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1992).
Beautifually written, and makes our pioneer stories come alive in tragic and moving ways.
Stephen Taysom, Dimensions of Faith: A Mormon Studies Reader (Salt Lake City: Signature Books, 2011).
There is something in here for everybody. It would serve as a very useful introduction to the broad, dynamic, and evolving field of Mormon studies.
Brady Udall, The Lonely Polygamist: A Novel (New York: W. W. Norton, 2010).
Though about a fictional modern polygamist in a fundamentalist group, it touches on notions of solidarity, community, and fallibility that are at the crux of the Mormon tradition.
Laurel Thatch Ulrich and Emma Lou Thayne, All God’s Critters Got a Place in the Choir (Salt Lake City: Aspen Books, 1995).
Another collection of essays by phenomenal writers, this compilation offers poignant reflections on the experiences of Mormon women.
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My “further reading” list includes Jan Shipp’s Mormonism: The Story of a New Religious Tradition (as much as I wished members could be exposed to a sympathetic outsider’s take, I concluded it would be difficult for them to weather the religious studies/theoretical arguments; plus, many of her best points have been appropriated by other books on the list), Ronald Walker’s Wayward Saints (it’s the best written book in Mormon studies, and deftly deals with the issue of dissent), John Turner’s Brigham Young: Pioneer Prophet (probably a bit shocking to the average member, but an important read once they have a foundation), Sally Gordon’s The Mormon Question (perhaps the best book in Mormon history, though probably not relevant enough for the average reader), Eric Eliason’s useful collection Mormons and Mormonism, Michael Hick’s Mormonism and Music, Adam Miller’s Rube Goldberg Machines (just a step too difficult for the average reader), and Joe Spencer’s An Other Testament (I really wish there were more scritpural study books). I really wanted to include a compilation of poetry, and likely would have used Tyler Chadwick’s Fire in the Pasture.
I’m sure I’m not including many; indeed, some of my favorite books (like those by Spencer Fluhman and Patrick Mason) didn’t make the list.
Now, the fun starts. How would you change the “Essentials” and “Nearly Essentials” list? What would you add to “further reading”?A security guard in the long-term wing at the Colnbrook Immigration Removal Centre near Heathrow, 2004
This article is a preview from the Summer 2016 edition of New Humanist. You can find out more and subscribe here.
Over the past quarter-century, in the shadows of British society, the incarceration of refugees and other migrants has boomed. In the early 1990s, the Home Office had just a few hundred cells for holding people who were about to be deported. Now, it has the capacity to lock up thousands of people at any moment, with no time limit, while it tries to deport them. Recent figures show that there are 3,666 “beds” in ten detention centres across Britain.
Occasionally, the inmates’ cries of anguish could be heard in their hunger strikes, riots and suicides. Reports since 2013 that guards at Yarl’s Wood had sexually assaulted female detainees finally helped to break the silence around Britain’s immigration detention centres. Secret filming from inside the Yarl’s Wood and Harmondsworth centres followed last year, making public the shocking conditions inside. Although the situation for people locked up in these centres has become more visible, little is known about the staff, business executives and civil servants involved. Thousands of people in the UK now make their living out of detention centres – an industry designed to stop other people making a living here.
For years, I encountered the front-line staff on a regular basis, when I was visiting detainees as a journalist and researcher. Apart from small talk with these private security guards during the ritual “pat-down” searches, they remained closed books. Most of what I knew about them came from the detainees, some of whom used to point out the bullies from the “all right” guards in hushed tones when they strolled past us in their corporate uniforms. Home Office staff were distant to the point of being non-existent, making it a mystery as to who was really in charge of this sprawling incarceration system that warehoused so many damaged people for months and even years on end.
Whistle-blowers from within the industry are rare, so it was a pleasant surprise when two senior figures from the civil service and private sector agreed to speak to me anonymously. To find out more about the workforce, I trawled the professional networking website LinkedIn, on which almost 100 detention centre staff have posted their CVs, illuminating their career paths. Why did they do this job, with all the risks and dilemmas it posed? When things went wrong, who was to blame: the government, the companies, or the public that voted for tougher immigration controls? How can we know what border control involves when it plays out behind the walls of a detention centre, outsourced to a private agency?
* * *
For people who are incarcerated in a detention centre, the experience is often etched on their minds. Detention is used when the Home Office thinks that there is a “reasonable prospect” of removing someone from the country, although the time that this takes can range from days to years. The impression it leaves is almost always the same. “Even when I was released, the thought of being detained again was terrifying,” a woman who eventually won the right to stay in the UK told me.
By contrast, the architects of the system can have trouble remembering anything about it at all. For Michael, a retired civil servant closely involved in the decision to build Yarl’s Wood in 2001, launching Britain’s largest-ever network of immigration detention centres was a distant memory. He even found the names of new centres hard to recall. It was just another sweep of the pen that had locked up hundreds, erased from his mind even if the detainees could never forget. For him, immigration was just a short posting, another rung on the career ladder.
He did, however, recall a sense of crisis that engulfed Tony Blair’s government at the start of the new millennium. The number of people claiming asylum in Britain had more than doubled at the end of the 1990s, from around 30,000 to over 76,000 claims a year, and ministers feared that it would double again. “This was |
announced its 12th five-year plan in 2011, covering the period 2011 to 2015, with targets to install 70 GW of wind power capacity, 20 GW of solar power, and 7.5 GW of biomass power by 2015. GlobalData claims that China “has already achieved its target by reaching a total installed renewable capacity of 224.8 GW in 2014,” adding that “renewable sources accounted for 16.4% of its power in 2014 and are expected to reach 22% in 2020.”
Specifically impressive is China’s role as the leading wind power market in the world — a position the American Wind Energy Association loves to challenge — with a total installed capacity of 115.6 GW in 2014, with the US following behind with only 66 GW. A record 13.8 GW of wind capacity was installed in 2009, which was then surpassed with 18.9 GW in 2010.Anybody who has taken an undergraduate course on quantum chemistry or quantum mechanics is familiar with the commutator on some level. In these courses, I was told how to use it to carry out some basic (but very important!) calculations, and was given a teaser of its physical significance in terms of incompatible observables. In short, I learned some very important facts about the commutator, but my understanding remained superficial until I started to read about the theory of Lie algebras and Lie groups.
In this post, I want to provide some geometric insight into the commutator. I want to build this intuition because I like to think geometrically – particularly when it comes to linear algebra and group theory – and because there is often a fundamental connection between physics and geometry. I will start by saying that Lie groups can have very interesting geometric structure, and that the rules of algebra provide insight into this structure. In the case of Lie groups and Lie algebras, this insight comes from the commutator.
The geometry of Lie groups and the commutator are tied together by a number of intermediate concepts, so before I go further down the rabbit hole, let’s step back and think about where geometric structure comes from. We already know that some vector spaces come endowed with a way to talk geometry that is, more or less, in line with our intuition for what is ‘normal’ as non-relativistic creatures living in Euclidean 3-space. In fact, any Hilbert space has enough structure for us to think about geometry in this way (modulo some extra dimensions). This all boils down to having a way to define lengths and angles between vectors – structure endowed by an inner product.
Now, suppose we take the vector space and continuously deform it into a smooth 2-dimensional surface (manifold) embedded in. Perhaps this deformation does nothing more than introduce a few hills and valleys. In any case, it destroys quite a bit of the structure that made life simple in ; and the resulting manifold is not a vector space. One casualty of this deformation is the inner product on. So how do we talk about the geometry in its absence? In this case, we can still talk about local geometry without getting into trouble by considering the plane tangent to wherever I happen to be standing on the manifold. This tangent plane is a perfectly legitimate vector space (isomorphic to ), and we can use the local structure of this tangent space to make sense of the local structure of the manifold.
We can get a feel for the local ‘shape’ the manifold by noting how it deviates from the tangent plane in each direction. In other words, we get insight from directional derivatives, and the fact that we can take directional derivatives is due to the local coordinates provided by the tangent space. From directional derivatives, we recover useful information about things like curvature – information that gives us geometric insight without any reference to the space in which the manifold is embedded.
This is not too hard to think about for a nice, well-behaved 2-d manifold embedded in 3-d space, where we can think about directional derivatives in the ‘normal’ calc II/III sense. But now I assert that we should be thinking about our favorite Lie group G as a manifold, and its Lie algebra as the tangent space of G at G‘s identity element. To help us digest this last statement, let’s pause to consider a simple example: the complex unit circle. This is a one-dimensional Lie group under regular multiplication. The identity of the group is ‘1’, and the tangent space at the identity is therefore. There are two points of interest here: first, the fact that the Lie group and Lie algebra are related through the exponential map really hits you in the face! Second: the algebra has linear structure, while the group is…curvy. The need not be true in general, but it illustrates that the Lie group can have a ‘shape’ to it that is a bit more interesting than that of a linear vector space.
Of course, the geometry of the complex unit circle is not terribly complicated (or interesting). To return to the concept of directional derivatives, we require a Lie group with a few more dimensions and a bit more algebraic structure, i.e. one for which the commutator does not vanish trivially. I think, the group of 3×3 proper rotation matrices, is a good place to start because it is simple (in both the literal and group theoretical sense) and serves as the foundation for the theory of angular momentum in 3-d space. We can think of as a manifold embedded in, and its Lie algebra,, is the space of 3×3 antisymmetric matrices endowed with the commutator.
Now we are finally ready to talk about directional derivatives. Choose two elements. Exponentiate the first and introduce a parameter so that. Suppose we allow to act on by conjugation. Then. Recall from linear algebra that conjugation is equivalent to a change of basis transformation – in this case, a rotation. And as we vary the parameter, the point moves along a trajectory in. The precise nature of this trajectory will, of course, depend on our choice of, but we can at least say that it is a closed loop (since we are conjugating by a rotation matrix). Since is a vector space, we can take derivatives along with respect to the parameter without any major issues. Now, in principle, we can take derivatives anywhere on our trajectory, but it turns out that the derivative evaluated at is of particular interest:
And there we have it – a formal definition of the commutator that really drives home the fact that it is a special sort of directional derivative – it evaluates how transforms in the ‘direction’ of under conjugation. This is a pretty neat idea! Let’s solidify it with an example, again from the algebra of rotations (this time from, which is very closely related to ). The angular momentum operators generate infinitesimal rotations. If this does not sound familiar, I will point you to my last post, which contains a simple example of how elements of a Lie algebra can generate infinitesimal transformations. Let’s consider the canonical commutation relationships for these operators: where is the Levi-Civita symbol. We know from above that tells us how changes in the ‘direction’ of. Think of as a unit vector oriented along the y-axis. Conjugation by (which represents a rotation by –t radians about the x-axis) rotates this vector clockwise in the yz plane as the parameter t increases. If we evaluate the derivative of this circular trajectory with respect to t at t=0, the result is a vector pointing in the negative z direction. In other words, we arrive at a familiar result:.
I think this example is very nice because it appeals to our geometric intuition. It is also easy to imagine how it could be generalized to other cases. For example: if we take it as a given that the Hamiltonian generates time translations, we have the tools to make sense of the fact that. But suppose we didn’t know the Hamiltonian generates time translations. How could we figure this out for ourselves from first principles? I hope to address this in the next post as part of a discussion of the transformation properties (symmetries) of operators compatible observables. Thanks for reading!
-B
AdvertisementsOriginally published on Global Research in August, 2014:
1. Binyamin Netanyahu claims to speak for the majority of world Jewry although, in fact, he represents only a minority of Jewish Israelis and Americans – those who support his right-wing, Likud Party. To many others, particularly in Europe, he is considered a US-financed, Zionist rabble-rouser with an extremist political agenda that rejects any Palestinian state and requires the ‘transfer’ of all indigenous Arabs out of former Palestine.
2. Israeli policies such as the illegal settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem (to prevent the establishment of a Palestinian state); the 8 year blockade of essential supplies into Gaza; the mis-labelling of exported fruit and vegetables to Europe and the horrific killing of hundreds of defenceless women and children in Gaza – all have the effect of exacerbating antisemitism around the world. The agenda of the Israeli government against the indigenous Arab population being the primary driver of anti-Jewish feeling both in Europe and globally.
3. Netanyahu is well aware of this link and the detrimental effect of his policies on the security of Jewish communities worldwide, and on public opinion, but he also knows that the greater the increase in antisemitism the more French, British and other Jewish nationals will be forced to sell their homes and reluctantly leave the countries of their birth to seek sanctuary in Israel. This is a key principle of the Netanyahu government agenda that all American, European and diaspora Jews should be ‘persuaded’ to emigrate to the Israeli state – together with their assets.
4. However, this agenda is also partly supported by millions of evangelist, Christian Zionists in America, who believe in the literal word of the bible and whose goal is for all 14 million Jews in the world to be relocated to the Israeli state where they can be baptised and converted, en masse, into the Christian church! The Israeli government ministers smile knowingly behind their hands as they accept this support – without which their economy would collapse.
5. The Israel lobby in America comprises over a dozen organisations including AIPAC, the primary Zionist political pressure group with links into the White House that heavily influences US foreign policy around the world.
However, for many integrated European Jewish communities, Mr Netanyahu’s alleged war crimes in Gaza plus his violent, expansionist agenda with its consequent rise in antisemitism, are very bad news indeed.
The head of UNICEF said yesterday, that 392 children had been killed in the conflict between Israel and Hamas, and that about 370,000 children had been traumatised.
A boycott of academic and trading links with the state of Israel now seems to be inevitable consequence of the atrocities carried out in Gaza.1,214 Bracketeers voted in Batch 33, and 2.45m votes have now been cast.
The results for Batch 33 are as follows:
Blademane Baku defeats First Volley with 53.91% of the vote
Nezumi Shortfang defeats Assault Strobe with 52.48% of the vote
Defiant Strike defeats Gnarled Effigy with 55.68% of the vote
Ashen Powder defeats Tightening Coils with 64.14% of the vote
Mass Appeal defeats Rashka the Slayer with 65.72% of the vote
Gaea’s Bounty defeats Reach of Shadows with 53.13% of the vote
Chandra, Torch of Defiance defeats Colossus of Sardia with 86.65% of the vote
Songs of the Damned defeats Cinder Crawler with 90.77% of the vote
Woodland Cemetery defeats Dragonstalker with 75.06% of the vote
Simic Basilisk defeats Withstand with 70.80% of the vote
Trophy Hunter defeats Chaoslace with 76.86% of the vote
Broken Concentration defeats Night Terrors with 57.53% of the vote
Predator’s Strike defeats Arrow Storm with 52.61% of the vote
Auriok Salvagers defeats Rakdos Signet with 61.08% of the vote
Elemental Mastery defeats Student of Elements with 59.78% of the vote
Psychic Drain defeats Zombie Fanboy with 67.71% of the vote
Ertai, Wizard Adept defeats Cutthroat Maneuver with 87.49% of the vote
Mana Short defeats Territorial Gorger with 66.61% of the vote
Gargoyle Castle defeats Wormfang Drake with 60.83% of the vote
Multani’s Harmony defeats Dross Prowler with 58.86% of the vote
Ghostway defeats Reach of Branches with 58.05% of the vote
Skylasher defeats Furnace Celebration with 63.50% of the vote
Fang Skulkin defeats Rampant Elephant with 68.71% of the vote
Yawgmoth’s Bargain defeats Spiritmonger with 68.31% of the vote
Meteorite defeats Hurloon Minotaur with 58.25% of the vote
Two-Headed Sliver defeats Woodcloaker with 82.11% of the vote
Instigator defeats Fyndhorn Pollen with 68.76% of the vote
Lagonna-Band Trailblazer defeats Skyshroud Forest with 58.65% of the vote
Krosan Grip defeats Lurebound Scarecrow with 83.52% of the vote
Spider Spawning defeats Wispweaver Angel with 78.97% of the vote
Bullwhip defeats Nightstalker Engine with 61.72% of the vote
Hardened Scales defeats Psychotic Fury with 86.07% of the vote
The full results to date can be seen here.The world is becoming increasingly horrifying as Rulers promote the descent of their countries, cracking down on political dissent and religious expressions which don’t jibe with the Rulers’ repressive or otherwise authoritarian intolerance.
According to law professor Jonathan Turley, a new law in Saudi Arabia labels anyone a “terrorist” who “undermines” the ruling regime, such as through publicly criticizing the Rulers or calling for regime change, or “offending the nation’s reputation.”
Prof. Turley notes that there is little difference between the Saudi royal family and the government.
So really, it’s a personal thing with those Saudi Rulers.
But it isn’t all about undermining the regime. There is also these Rulers’ religious intolerance, in which a “terrorist” may also be anyone who criticizes Islam in some way, or who criticizes very repressive laws which are based on Islamic law, such as those forbidding women’s independence.
Turley wrote just a few months ago regarding calls by Muslim countries to institute international blasphemy laws, for which the Obama Administration has shown support.
Essentially, if international blasphemy laws go into effect, then someone outside of the country of those who feel “offended” can be arrested and detained, tried and jailed. Apparently, Obama is just fine with that idea.
In other words, if I say something about the Koran or Muhammad that might be misconstrued as “insulting to Islam,” would Obama have me arrested and renditioned off to one of those repressive regimes?
And given the fine line between the Saudi Rulers themselves and their religious-based intolerance of dissent and criticism, does that mean that someone in the U.S. who criticizes repressive Saudi policies can then be arrested and charged with violating Saudi anti-terrorism laws as well as the international “blasphemy” laws being proposed?
And what about people who criticize Israel?
Would I be arrested and renditioned off to Israel for torture under “anti-blasphemy” laws if I point out the widespread anti-Arab racism among Israelis? The anti-black racism in Israel? Or laws and policies which promote discrimination against Arabs, such as separate buses and separate schools? Or the Israeli economic central planners causing the same kind of chaos as their counterparts here in the U.S.?
Would such criticisms be perceived as “anti-Semitic”? Some people already do think that any criticism of Israel is “anti-Semitic” or anti-Jewish, and that if a Jew criticizes Israel (such as myself), ignoramuses use the term, “self-hating Jew.” Go figure.
In other words, the ideas of “free speech” and “tolerance” seem to be lost on Rulers and their minions, and many statists and collectivists now.
You see, from my own personal experiences, in my earlier years I was one of only two Jews in my class in school. I was subjected to various remarks by ignorant children of their ignorant parents, such as “The Jews killed Christ,” and so on. And I also heard the word “hebe” directed at me (but not the “k-word,” I guess the younger kids hadn’t learned that from their ignorant parents just yet).
Now, those things didn’t really bother me that much, because I knew they were wrong and a bunch of jerks. But what was I going to do if I felt “offended,” have them arrested and jailed? Would the international blasphemy law apply to me, a Jew? Or would that only apply to Muslims?
And, regarding all this intolerance by obviously thin-skinned Rulers, whatever happened to “Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words can never hurt me”? (Although now I’m not too sure.)
But one question I have is this: Are the Saudi Rulers so emotionally unstable that they just can’t bear to hear any criticism of them, their policies, or their religious views? That they feel compelled to have the “offender” physically abducted and thrown into a cage? (Or killed?)
And on the Saudi law considering someone to be a “terrorist” whose criticism “undermines” the regime, are they really saying to the world that they are literally terrified by someone who criticizes them or who notes how repressive their regime or their interpretations of Islam are? Really? They are “terrorized” by a critic?
The truth is, these authoritarian regimes are the ones who terrorize the people over whom they rule. When common folks are threatened with abduction, jail or worse by their Rulers and the Rulers’ armed enforcers, simply for saying the wrong thing, THAT is what is terrifying.
But just what kinds of people do they have over there being the Rulers anyway?
Actually, they’re the same kind of Rulers we have here in the U.S.
Of the two most recent U.S. Rulers, George W. Bush gave us the unconstitutional and draconian Patriot Act and other totalitarian post-9/11 laws and policies, while Barack Obama has been ruthlessly enforcing, expanding and adding to them.
But with Obama, it is worse, as he has been cracking down not on “terrorists” but on government whistleblowers, on political dissenters, mainly opponents of the regime, as well as the journalists reporting on these things. In other words, it is as though Obama is enforcing the very Saudi laws which consider those whose criticism of the government “undermines” the regime, or “offends the nation’s reputation” as “terrorists.”
Just look at what’s happened to Bradley Manning, Edward Snowden, James Rosen, and Michael Hastings, to name just a few victims of the State’s criminality.
One wonders if it will soon be a crime to point out that Obama continued to promise that if you like your doctor and your health plan you can keep them while he knew throughout the whole time that that was not true. Will commentators soon be thrown in jail for reporting on that?
And what about other agents of the U.S. regime in Washington?
What kind of leaders in “intelligence” and “national security” do we really have now? What kind of “intelligence” chief blatantly commits perjury before congressional committee, but gets away with it?
And a security “cowboy” who says “collect it all” (all Americans’ private information, albeit criminally), and who likes to have a war room modeled after the Enterprise bridge on Star Trek?
If I say they’re nuts, will I be charged with “terrorism” merely for expressing my opinion of these people?
So, in my view, all this spying and snooping isn’t about “national security” or terrorism. If our government were serious about wanting to prevent terrorism, the bureaucrats would stop provoking foreigners overseas, which they have been doing for decades and decades.
No, it’s really about blackmail, intimidation, a better ability to get rid of the regime’s critics, dissidents, and potential political opponents. This is really what the “If You See Something, Say Something” stasi campaign is all about. What the spies and snoopers are doing really isn’t that much different from what these ladies from Monty Python are doing. In my opinion, government bureaucrats just get off on prying into the private lives of the commoners. Like it’s a predacious power trip.
Related to all this is the social activists’ federal Common Core program for government schools. Common Core is turning out to be very NSA-like, and very totalitarian indeed, with government tracking of every aspect of kids’ private lives, from cradle to career.
According to educational expert Mary Black of FreedomProject Education, some intrusions the feds want to inflict include placing bracelets on the kids and the use of “facial expression cameras,” to electronically track the kids’ emotional reactions to things. And the feds are also getting the school bureaucrats to ask the kids about their parents’ voting habits, whether they are divorced, and other very intrusive things. Black described the feds’ desire to have this data as “insatiable.” Much like the national security cowboy who says “collect it all.”
So Common Core’s purpose is not to track kids’ educational and academic lives, but to track their private lives, their attitudes, emotions and views.
And according to pediatrician Karen Effrem of Education Liberty Watch, the real agenda of Common Core is not just “cradle to career,” but “lifelong,” a “womb-to-tomb dossier on kids and families.”
After all, we need to know when someone might have the potential of becoming a future opponent to the regime, someone whose future criticisms of government bureaucrats might be characterized as “terrorist” actions.
But will such a government dossier of everybody’s private life include one’s religious views, too?
Common Core’s inherent intimidation of non-government-approved views seems like a very communist-like, cult-like version of the kind of religion-based authoritarian stifling of individualism and critical thinking that characterizes those other totalitarian regimes overseas. A theocratically ideological form of ignorance-indoctrination pedagogy.
So given that Obama and his minions have been carrying out the extraordinary rendition policies of Bush — having “suspects” taken off to foreign countries for interrogation and torture — is that what they might very well be doing to someone who is accused of committing “blasphemy” and not just accused of being a terrorist?
Opponents of Common Core may very well be considered “blasphemers” in the same way that the global warmists’ challengers have been considered “deniers.” Some climate fanatics actually believe the “deniers” should be jailed or executed.
And add to the Common Core dossiers all the other private medical information being seized as part of ObamaCare that federal bureaucrats can access now.
And what about the internment camps that SCOTUS Justice Antonin Scalia recently acknowledged could very well be in the works as a further bureaucrat over-reaction to whatever the next crisis might be?
Now, now, now, all you skeptics out there. We know the U.S. military (Obama‘s military, that is) has plans for internment camps. It’s not debatable.
The truth is, there is something wrong with Rulers (and their minions and supporters) who are so thin-skinned that they can’t tolerate hearing opposition to their policies, or are so offended when their religious figures are mocked or satirized, that they must criminally abduct, jail or murder the “offender.”
Human beings have a right to criticize the Rulers, and a right to criticize various tenets of various religions, especially when such tenets or policies go against common civility and morality. When Rulers inflict repressive policies against the people, it needs to be exposed, whether regarding Saudi Arabia, Israel or the U.S. or elsewhere.
The Best of Scott LazarowitzDamien Howson (Australia) blasted to victory in the Under 23 men's time trial at the world championships, adding a rainbow jersey to his green and gold Australian Under-23 national champion's jersey and his Oceania title. Related Articles 2014 season judged a success by neo-pro Howson
The Adelaide-born rider set a time of 49:49, covering the pan flat 43.5km course from Pistoia to Florence at an average of 52.3km/h. Howson beat Yoann Paillot (France) by a massive 57 seconds, while Lasse Norman Hansen (Denmark) finished third at 1:10.
Campbell Flakemore (Australia) finished fourth, just off the podium, 1:22 behind his compatriot. The USA's Lawson Craddock finished fifth, 1:41 down after being affected by a mid-race crash. Ireland's Ryan Mullen was seventh at 1:47.
Howson took third place last year but will have little chance to show off his rainbow jersey, as he will ride with Orica-GreenEdge in 2014 after signing a multi-year deal with the Australian WorldTour team. He is widely considered to be a future Grand Tour winner and seems to have the potential to follow in the footsteps of Cadel Evans, Michael Rogers and Richie Porte.
"At the start of the season I won the Australian and Oceania titles and so set myself the goal of taking all three. This has been a major focus of mine all year, so I'm so happy to have done it," Howson said after pulling on his rainbow jersey.
The time trial was all about power, speed and aerodynamics. Howson’s ride was a perfect balance of all three. He is tall and powerful but not muscular, resembling Bradley Wiggins more than Fabian Cancellara.
Howson has the strength to push out the watts needed to ride at over 50km/h and combines it with a near perfect aero position on the bike. He is able to keep a flat back despite his tall build, with his arms tucked in close together to help him penetrate the air as smoothly as possible. He follows the same race strategy for every time trial he rides.
"I always try and maintain a constant pace from start to the finish. I focus on what I can do best. I was told I was doing a good ride and I think this is one of the best rides I've ever done. I'm happy about that."
Howson had a taste of riding with Orica-GreenEdge as a stagiaire at the Tour of Utah. He will make the full step up in 2014, with the dream of developing into a Grand Tour contender.
"I was happy to sign a contract with Orica-GreenEdge 2014," he said. "I rode against some WorldTour teams at the Tour Down Under and got a taste of racing with them in Utah. It was a great. I met the guys and learnt about the differences between Under 23 racing and the top level racing. I'm excited for next year and for the future."
Paillot takes silver for France
Silver medalist Paillot is the current French and European time trial champion and already rides as a professional with the La Pomme Marseille Continental team, which no doubt helped him take on the other Under-23 riders.
"When I saw the course, I knew I was one of favourites and this pushed me to do better. I'm happy with silver," he said, confirming he will stay with La Pomme Marseille next year.
"We've got a good programme of races and we've done well this year. I hope to ride in the WorldTour some time in the future but I'm happy at La Pomme Marseille for now."
Hansen to ride for Garmin-Sharp in 2014
Lasse Norman Hansen completed the podium, taking bronze. Like Howson, he will also ride in the WorldTour in 2014, with Garmin-Sharp. He won Olympic gold in the Omnium on the track but hopes to become a cobbled classics contender during his professional career.
"I was really hoping to be good today. I think I timed my form well and did a perfect ride but Damien was better today," he said sportingly.
"I was leading by less than a second at the first split but that was because my plan was to start fast and try to hold my pace. But I died a bit between the splits and just wasn't fast enough."
Howson, Paillot, and Hansen will all ride in Friday's Under 23 road race, as the leading cycling nations clash on the tough circuit around Florence.Quote: Quote: Here is a quick step by step on rooting the EVO 4G Gingerbread 2.3 with Hboot 2.16
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Thanks & Credits
Quote: As always, this will void your warranty and may possibly damage your phone. You and you alone are responsible for anything that you do. Everything contained in this thread is for informational purposes only.
Download SuperUser zip & copy to your root of SDcardDownload and install HTC Drivers Download Revolutionary: S-OFF & Recovery Tool Enable USB debugging mode & fastboot on phone () (Connect you phone to you PC - Select USB ChargingUnzip Revolutionary tool and run it as admin () () (Boot into recoveryFlash SuperUser and reboot your device.When I run Revolutionary tool it just sits at "waiting for device".Make sure you have HTC SYNC Closed and or Removed in order for this to work - Thanks @smallbaI'm stuck at "zerging root" nothing seems to work.Again make sure you un-install HTC sync and turn off your antivirus and/or firewallI keep getting invalid key. What am i doing wrong?The beta key is case sensitive so make sure you get it right, try to copying the key into notepad to verify the characters. The Revolutionary tool will give you your device serial number, verify you entered the correct SN. If you are still having issues try regenerating the beta key.I'm having issues flashing anything from recovery.If you are having issues flashing/loading new roms try updating ClockworkMod Recovery from market via rom manger or flash AmonRA that seems to fix itHow do I flash AmonRa Recovery in bootloader mode.Download AmonRa Recovery PC36IMG.zip to the root of your sd card. Boot the phone into the bootloader by powering the phone down, then press the power and the volume down buttons at the same time.Once the phone boots into the bootloader the phone will automatically recognize the zip file. It will ask if you would like to update, select yes and let it do it's thing and you will be good to go.(Thanks @Amon_RA)Will this wipe my device?No if you follow all the steps this will get you S-OFF, Custom recovery & Root.Will this work on the Japanese EVO is at HBOOT 2.15.001YES - However if you have HBOOT 2.16.970.1 or higher you will need to downgrade. Thanks @ SharpIS03 Is it possible to get root from a mac Yes via Linux VM. (Confirmed by @jd567890)Is it possible to restore everything to stock?It is possible and has been confirmed (Thanks @ jcallaway77 ). You can try downloading the PC36IMG file below rename it to PC36IMG and flash from bootloader.Thanks @NinjaWolf (feel free to make donations to them at their sites)Revolutionary was brought to you by (): Eric Smaxwill • Ryan Pearl • The mysterious 0xf4b • Matthew Fogle • Kenny Millington • Sen Verbrugge • Michael Sullivan • Matt Mastracci • Koush Dutta • Joshua Wise • Adam GlasgallShout out to everyone in the exploit community (in no particular order):Home automation company and Alphabet subsidiary Nest has announced today that they’re expanding to Australia. It’s not a standard launch for them, with Nest announcing their products will be exclusively available through Australian online comparison company iSelect.
Nest’s launch in Australia is their first foray into the Asia Pacific market. The launch includes their range of safety and security products and services, which includes the Nestcam range and Nest Protect smoke and carbon monoxide alarm to our shores.
At the Australian launch of Nest, Maxime Veron, Director of Product Marketing at Nest said
Nest is focused on creating a home that takes care of the people inside it and the world around it. To date, Nest’s hardware, software and services have been available for purchase in just twelve markets, yet they’re used by millions of people in more than 190 countries. Today we’re excited to be entering our first market in Asia Pacific region through our partnership with iSelect.
Nest has always had the tag line of ‘We make products that are beautiful, thoughtful and easy to use’, and that’s quite obvious with their products when you look at them, or use them.
So, products and services! The Nest product range coming to Australia includes their cameras, as well as the Nest Aware service which adds smarts to your Nest Cams, and the Nest Protect.
The Nest Protect is launching at $189 incl GST. What is a Nest Protect? It’s a smoke and carbon monoxide alarm that alerts you to a fire wherever you are in the world (with a data connection) that there’s a problem back home. It eliminates the problem of annoying false alarms by letting you silence the Nest Protect from the Nest app on your phone rather than clambering up a chair to hit a reset button or fanning smoke away.
The Nest Cams are coming in both the indoor and outdoor models. There’s no word on the recently released Nest IQ Cam but these are a start. The cameras will be available priced at AUD $319 each incl GST and include 24/7 continuous live video feed through the Nest app, as well as 10-day or 30-day continuous video history available when you subscribe to Nest Aware which starts at AUD $14 incl GST.
The cameras are quite strikingly designed, with an aesthetic that seemingly fades into the background. Specs? We got specs:
Nest Cam Indoor NestCam Outdoor Price $319 Camera Sensor ⅓-inch sensor
3–megapixels ⅓-inch,
3–megapixel sensor with millions of colors Zoom 8x digital zoom 8x digital zoom Field of View 130°diagonal field of view Live Video 24/7 continuous live video
Check in any time using the Nest app on your phone, tablet, or computer Recorded Video 10-day or 30-day continuous video history available when you subscribe to Nest Aware Video Up to 1080p (1920 x 1080) at 30 frames/sec, H.264 encoding Night Vision 850 nm high-power infrared
LEDs
IR cut filter 8 high–power infrared LEDs (850 nm) with IR cut filter Audio Microphone
Speaker Talk & Listen Hear what’s happening at home and talk to people who are there. Talk and Listen Lights LED status light RGB LED status light Wi-Fi 802.11b/g/n (2.4GHz)
802.11a/n (5GHz) US: Wi-Fi 802.11a/b/g/n, 2.4GHz and 5GHz
Europe and Canada: Wi-Fi 802.11b/g/n, 2.4GHz Bluetooth Phone or tablet with BLE recommended for camera setup Bluetooth Low Energy Weather Resistance Indoor Use Only IP65 ratingNest Cam Outdoor can withstand dust, rain, and snow. Power Plugs into a standard household power outlet for continuous video streaming and alerts
AC adapter input: 100–240V AC, 50/60Hz, 0.2AAC adapter output: 5V DC, 1.4A
Camera input: 5V DC, 1.0APower cable connector: USB micro-B AC adapter input: 100–240V AC, 50/60Hz, 0.2A
AC adapter output: 5V DC, 1.4A
Camera input: 5V DC, 1.0A
All the devices are controlled through the Nest app, available in Google Play and the iOS app store. The app is supremely easy to use, and setup for devices is quite easy.
The notable absence from this launch is the product that made Nest’s name, the Nest Thermostat. Nest has omitted any mention or details for a launch of the Nest Protect in Australia, but we’ll be talking to them about that though never fear.
The Nest range is going on-sale through iSelect but there appears to be a Nest Australia website that’s cropped up which should have local information about the products shortly.– Who put up the money to send out all those millions of anti-Islamic DVDs in the 2008 campaign? Clarion, which has strong links to the right-wing Israeli group Aish HaTorah and is listed in government records as a foreign nonprofit, would never say. Now, Clarion has a new DVD banging the war drums for a strike at Iran. –
By Justin Elliot at Salon
In the heat of the 2008 presidential election, an obscure nonprofit group called the Clarion Fund made national news by distributing millions of DVDs about radical Islam in newspaper inserts in swing states.
The DVDs, 28 million in all, were a boost to Republican candidates who were trying to paint Democrats as weak on terrorism — and they arguably helped fuel the anti-Muslim sentiment that boiled over in the “ground zero mosque” fight last summer. The film, “Obsession: Radical Islam’s War With the West,” was widely criticized for its cartoonish portrayal of Muslims as modern-day Nazis.
But who put up the money to send out all those millions of DVDs?
Clarion, which has strong links to the right-wing Israeli group Aish HaTorah and is listed in government records as a foreign nonprofit, would never say.
Indeed, the group does not have to release detailed donor information because of its nonprofit tax status. We knew only that there was serious money behind the effort: Clarion spent nearly $19 million in 2008, the |
Cool J), species recognize species.
And this brings us to Ellie, the world’s first robo-shrink. Funded by DARPA and developed by researchers at USC’s Institute for Creative Studies, Ellie is an early iteration computer simulated psychologist, a bit of complicated software designed to identify signals of depression and other mental health problems through an assortment of real-time sensors (she was developed to help treat PTSD in soldiers and hopefully decrease the incredibly high rate of military suicides).
At a technological level, Ellie combines a video camera to track facial expressions, a Microsoft Kinect movement sensor to track gestures and jerks, and a microphone to capture inflection and tone. At a psychological level, Ellie evolved from the suspicion that our twitches and twerks and tones reveal much more about our inner state than our words (thus Ellie tracks 60 different “features”—that’s everything from voice pitch to eye gaze to head tilt). As USC psychologist and one of the leads on the project, Albert Rizzo told NPR: [P]eople are in a constant state of impression management. They’ve got their true self and the self that they want to project to the world. And we know that the body displays things that sometimes people try to keep contained.”
More recently, a new study just found that patients are much more willing to open up to a robot shrink than a human shrink. Here’s how Neuroscience News explained it: ”The mere belief that participants were interacting with only a computer made them more open and honest, researchers found, even when the virtual human asked personal questions such as, ‘What’s something you feel guilty about?’ or ‘Tell me about an event, or something that you wish you could erase from your memory.’ In addition, video analysis of the study subjects’ facial expressions showed that they were also more likely to show more intense signs of sadness — perhaps the most vulnerable of expressions — when they thought only pixels were present.
The reason for this success is pretty straightforward. Robots don’t judge. Humans do.
But this development also tells us a few things about our near future. First, while most people are now aware of the fact that robots are going to steal a ton of jobs in the next 20 years, the jobs that most people think are vulnerable are of the blue-collar variety. Ellie is one reason to disavow yourself of this notion.
As a result of this coming replacement, two major issues are soon to arise. The first is economic. There are about 607,000 social workers in America, 93,000 practicing psychologists, and roughly 50,000 psychiatrists. But, well, with Ellie 2.0 in the pipeline, not for long. (It’s also worth noting that these professions generate about $3.5 billion dollars in annual income, which—assuming robo-therapy is much, much cheaper than human-therapy—will also vanish from the economy.)
But the second issue is philosophical, and this is where the uncanniest valley comes back into the picture. Now, for sure, this particular valley is still hypothetical, and thus based on a few assumptions. So let’s drill down a bit.
The first assumption is that social workers, psychologist and psychiatrists are a deep knowledge base, arguably one of our greatest repositories of “about human” information.
Second, we can also assume that Ellie is going to get better and better and better over time—no great stretch since we know all the technologies that combine to make robo-psychologists possible are, as was well-documented in Abundance, accelerating on exponential growth curves. This means that sooner or later, in the psychological version of the Tricorder, we’re going to have an AI that knows us as well as we know ourselves.
Third—and also as a result of this technological acceleration—we can also assume there will soon come a time when an AI can train up a robo-therapist better than a human can—again, no great stretch because all we’re really talking about is access to a huge database of psychological data combined with ultra-accurate pattern recognition, two already possible developments.
But here’s the thing—when you add this up, what you start to realize is that sooner or later robots will know us better than we know ourselves. In Nagel’s terms, we will no longer be the species that understands our species the best. This is the Uncanniest Valley.
And just as the uncanny valley produces disgust, I’m betting that the uncanniest valley produces a nearly unstoppable fear reaction—a brand new kind of mortal terror, the downstream result of what happens when self loses its evolutionarily unparalleled understanding of self.
Perhaps this will be temporary. It’s not hard to imagine that our journey to this valley will be fortuitous. For certain, the better we know ourselves—and it doesn’t really matter where that knowledge comes from—the better we can care for and optimize ourselves.
Yet I think the fear-response produced by this uncanniest valley will have a similar effect to disgust in relationships—that is, this fear will be extremely hard to shake.
But even if I’m wrong, one this for certain, we’re heading to an inflection point almost with an equal—the point in time when we lose a lot more of ourselves, literally, to technology and another reason that life in the 21st century is about to get a lot more Blade Runner.
More human than human? You betcha. Stay tuned.
[Photo credits: Robert Couse-Baker/Flickr, Wikipedia, Steve Jurvetson/Flickr]Just to clarify, this is a direct translation of a GM Note (NEXON version of G.O Post).
Plans for Class Balance Changes on March
Hello, I am “Calvenstein” who is in charge of Balancing.
Today, I would like to share with you about Class Balance Changes that are planned to be on March 17th update.
Since the “Tyrant Dakuryon’s Refuge” update, we have heard from players about issues of some classes being denied from dungeon parties, and PvP damage of certain class were too high.
The class balance this time will have a goal, taking consideration of the issues above that all classes will be favorable in all party play, regardless of your role.
So here’s a brief information about how these changes will be made.
Berserker
◈ Blood Lust ▣ Increase Skill Damage in PvP by 10% ⇒ Increase Skill Damage against Monsters by 10% ( PvP Nerf )
◈ Thunderstrike ▣ Increase Skill Damage by 20% ▣ Decrease PvP Damage by 30%
The changes were made as Berserkers were suffering in lack of performance in PvE compared to other DPS classes and Thunderstrike had a tendency of being overwhelming in small-scale PvP.
Also, Berserkers are known to be vulnerable in large-scale PvP, so additional changes will be planned in this aspect as well.
Sorcerer
◈ Fireblast ▣ Reduced Mana Cost: 1000 → 800
◈ Void Pulse ▣ Reduced Mana Cost: 1000 → 750 ▣ Removed Glyph of Brilliance (Reduce MP Cost by 400) ▣ Added Glyph of Carving (Increase Crit Chance by 20% when Attacking Monster) ▣ Added Noctenium Effect: Increases Damage
◈ Nova ▣ Reduced Mana Cost: 900 → 750
◈ Hailstorm ▣ Reduced Mana Cost: 1200 → 1000
Sorcerers seemed to suffer from excessively high Mana consumption compared to other classes, causing DPS loss. It is planned to reduce MP consumption from certain skills, and slightly increase the DPS output with the changes to Void Pulse Glyph and its Noctenium Effect.
Archer
◈ Sharpshooter ☜Loriri’s Note: This is only a placeholder name for now.☞ ▣ New Passive skill will be Added ▣ Effect: Increase Crit Factor by 100% Against Monsters Only.
Archers seemed to suffer with their efficiency in PvE due to high Crit Factor requirement compared to other classes, so they will gain changes toward increasing Crit Factor against Monsters.
Afterwords..
After these Balance changes, we will carefully watch out for any unwanted negative effects, and continuous changes may be made if needed, as well as other class balance changes including Warriors. Therefore, we request your interests and feedbacks on this regard.
We will try our best to be the TERA that will develop based on your opinions.
Thank you.Former AHQ Korea marksman "Promise" attempts suicide following matchfixing scandal
Similar to the former Brood War matchfixing scandals, its rise in prominence is ever escalating with the size of League of Legends professional gaming in Korea.
Five young players aspired to do well and showed strong individual performances prior to entering their match against CJ Entus Frost. The player Cheon "Promise" Min-Ki, who is currently undergoing surgery wrote his story about how the team was intentionally told to throw games or suffer punishment as well as ahq Korea's sponsorship essentially being fake.
"Hello, I am former pro adc aka Fimir. My associated team was called AHQ korea and my nickname was ahq K Promise. My will is on my facebook page and I will leave this world within the next 5 minutes of this post. I am here to post the things that have happened in ogns lol history including my own personal story."
Time ; 2013 LolChamps Spring No Dae Chul Coach came up to us (the team ) and said if we did not lose against the big teams, that OGN will not let them play and have them in the league. (That they threatened to pull them out) Of course this was a LIE however we did not know at the time. All 5 of the members talked about it when HOON (former player of najin, jin air etcetc ) said he could not go through with it. As a professional player, he said that he will just play to win. That very night, the coach called ActScene and I and told us that we had to lose for the teams future. We both believed him and we planned to carry out the plan. Supposedly Matchfixing Summary ( it is fairly long so I'll summarize it) Ktb 1-2- CJF 1-2- games We were to lose the first four games to give the points to both teams ( at the time spring ogn considered two groups of 6 teams) When we were against frost, we were really scared that we wouldn't be able to play again if we won against them. The thought of all the hard work to get in the league, to be a professional gamer. Against KTB we wanted to play the way we did, resulting in a 1:1 score. This really pissed me off, at the time I thought I was doing the right thing, for the team but we were a qualifying team, a team that practiced countless hours (beating cj frost earlier in a scrim the same day as the game day). I told my teammates after I have given everything up. We had many riffs with the coach and the coach seemed very off and doing mysterious things. It just didn't seem right. At first, I thought that it was just his style but he started to have fits with hoon.( I thought it was just hoons personality) but time after time, it seemed like the coach didn't care about us playing and hoon with his time as a pro just knew something was off. After the Najin game, we started talking as a team and tried to find out was really happening. AHQ COACH NO DAE CHULS SUPPOSED MATCH FIXING There was no official sponsor from AHQ. The name only came because they supported us with their mouses/merchandise/names (they did not know that at the time) All the money for the house / everyday spendings / computers came from the managers loan. The team was created so that he could matchfix using TOTO (online betting for sports, esports not completely legal) and we found out this all very late, after talking to the the official AHQ manager using skype. We did see some of the loan sharks, they came around when we were looking for a house ;; After the skt game, we talked to the coach ( this was when they did not know that their team was created toto ; no official sponsor from ahq ; ) after few days, he came up to us and said that he will bet that they will win 2 : 0 against the najin and that we too should toto. We had no intentions of betting anything in the first place and we did not. After the najin game, 3 computers were sold and that we were told the gas /elec/ water would be cut off. of course it wasn't and it was just his plan to make us leave. We had the LG games left so we told him we would stay and we asked why he sold the computers. His response : Ahq told me to bring their money back. He was planning to make a run after selling everything he could. We talked to the manager and he said that we had no official sponsor ( before the skype talk with official ahq spokesperson or manager), that the merchandise are just gifts for the players, not for him and that they can keep it.
We again talked to the manager and that we would leave if he paid them their salary, and other spendings etc by players. We asked him why he was selling the computers to pay ahq ( after we found out the truth) and he just started bringing up more lies. So after 3 hours of confrontation, he would pay us our money, would not touch them with their professional careers and would leave and disband the team. After a week, we had the LG games and Najin came out as victors of the game. Honestly, I felt like we could challenge anyone, the motivation to play better, but the shock and the truth of things that happened were too much too handle. I no longer could be a professional player and a year's worth of hard work were just gone like that. I felt terrible for Ahq. Fans were calling out saying things like why did you create a team to disband it so quickly etc etc when they didn't even have a clue what was going on Talk with AHQ SPOKESPERSON Hoon ; min gi (fimirs name) this is ahq person via skype Fimir ; Hello are you there Ahq ; yes continue Fimir ; is No Dae Chul our official supervisor? Ahq ; He said that he is your manager Fimir ; What about our sponsor? Ahq ; If I recall correctly, ahq sent the merchandise(Tesero, Corsair, Steel series, banshees ( I think names) ), team name, and uniforms to advertise. No other financial assets were given. Fimir ; are there any officials in Korea? Ahq ; No, actually ahq has no one in korea and we do not have anyone in Taiwan to oversee korean teams. After the talk with the ahq spokesperson, everything became clear. Oh fuck, this guy created to make us into a toto team. He was always out of money, most of the times we would only eat twice a day and the manager had no say in our practices whatsoever. He would just drink and drink. He lost his toto bettings against KT (they won once) reearned his money against Frost( they lost 2:0) He would say that the money from AHQ would be taxed ( some sort of international tax lie he created) so they would be paid very late. He would always check where they went, tried to make me break up with my gf, and when we won against KT, he tried to torture me after the game.
@InsideKLoL, A Twitter account that updates the English community on the inner-workings of the events in Korean progaming, posted this following the prior message.
ReSEt (former KT jungler) replied to the post. "Heard Promise jumped off building and was taken to the hospital. Please pray for him." — insideKLoL (@insideKLoL) March 12, 2014
We will continue investigating and update as soon as we hear more. Promise is currently being treated in a hospital.
- - -
UPDATE 1: NiceGameTV has reported that Promise is no longer in a coma and can answer, but his status is very poor. -- Source (Korean)
"now he can understand conversation, but still urgent situation, need to use artificial ventilator"
UPDATE 2: Promise cannot speak, and has serious injuries to his neck and back. -- Source
UPDATE 3: OGN English commentator "MonteCristo" claims the hunt for ahq's coach is on for Korea. He will update after speaking with news reporters. --- Source
UPDATE 4: Kespa has formulated a task force that will attempt to get a large-scale investigation out from Korean police. -- Source (Korean)
UPDATE 5: @insideKLoL tweeted "Promise is now recovering in emergency room, and details regarding his condition are being shared only among his families. Gotta wait."
UPDATE 6: Promise fell on a recycle box. He can hear and talk with a respiratory Mask but can't move. Doctor's say he will survive but likely with permanent damages. Ex-AHQ members will meet with KeSPA. -- Source
UPDATE 7: Storage area where Promise fell.
-- Source (Korean)
Update 8: ahq Esports Club (Taiwan) released a statement regarding the match-fixing allegations and their involvement. The statement included the acknowledgement of Promise's statements as accurate: including the statement that their sponsorship was only requested in name and that the ahq equipment was given specifically to the players, so the coach was stealing when he sold them.
Ahq also acknowledged that Promise reached out to them with information regarding match-fixing, and as a result, ahq Esports Club removed ties with Noh, but could not otherwise confirm any information at that time and instead encouraged the Korean team to finish Champions to the best of their abilities. Unfortunately, Noh had already kicked them from the gaming house at this time.
The statement also includes Noh's Skype ID, possibly with the hope that the information with lead to details on the matchfixing coach's whereabouts.
Reddit user qiuri provided the following translation:
With regards to the news published today about ex-ahq Korea player Promise, our company express our deepest regrets. To prevent unnecessary speculation, we would like to issue the following statement: Before ahq Korea team is formed they were ahq (Taiwan)'s practice partners on the Korea sever
Noh(Skype ID：Captain Korea) was the manager/person in charge of the team. He reached out to our company and proposed leading this team to compete in OGN Champions 2013 Spring. Before officially forming the team he requested using our brand name for their team, there were no other request from him other than this. Noh is in charge of all management, adminstration and profits of the team, ahq has no other ties and cooperation with Noh other than naming their team. After our assessment, we also agreed on sponsoring the team jackets and all computer equipments (all ownership are directed at players), we hoped they would show good performance in Korea.
ex-ahq Korea player Promise actively reached out to our company himself before OGN Spring qualifiers for round of 8 playoffs. After communication and comparing of facts between both parties, Promise revealed that Noh recently declared that our company has stopped our cooperative relationships with them, and demanded the players to move out of the team practice rooms immediately, he also forbid them to take away any computer equipment. At that point the players have already been forced to move out of the team practice house, they were also unable to contact Noh. Promise also pointed out that Noh has on multiple occasions threatened the players to matchfix, the players were very scared and anxious. Since our company has no idea this is going on, and has no ways to investigate on the matter immediately for confirmation, we could only encourage the players to try their best to finish the tournament, and thank Promise for contacting us, our company would stop all cooperations with Noh.
ahq Korea officially disbanded after 2013 OGN spring tournaments were over, their cooperative relationship with us were also over.
We express the deepest sympathy and regrets for the tragic happenings to Promise, other than giving our full blessing for a speedy recovery for Promise, we would also like to declare that ahq would not bow down to evil forces! We would also like to advice young people out there, suicide will not solve problems other than leaving your families intense sorrow. Please cherish life.
Source - RedditOne of the Cincinnati Bengals’ biggest free agent acquisitions this season was at linebacker. That doesn’t mean the team is through making changes to linebacker corps, however.
Starting with the weak side, Vontaze Burfict is back and will likely continue his All-Pro level of play. In only 11 games last season, he made 101 tackles with two sacks and two interceptions. He’s the heart and soul of the Bengals’ defense and elevates everyone’s play when he is the field. As long as he can stay healthy and focused, the defense will be a better unit.
Newly signed Kevin Minter figures to compete with Vincent Rey to start at middle linebacker. Minter comes to Cincinnati from the Arizona Cardinals, where he started for three seasons at MLB. He is on a one-year deal, so he figures to play his best ball possible to earn a bigger contract. Rey has proven himself to be more than capable at multiple linebacking roles. He’s filled in for Burfict and the recently released Rey Maualuga many times over the past few seasons.
Related Bengals release LB Rey Maualuga
On the strong side, Rey could start. The rest of the linebackers on the roster are largely unproven. Nick Vigil and Marquis Flowers will compete for starting time. Guys like Paul Dawson and Bryson Albright will work to make the 53-man roster and get snaps in games.
Come draft weekend, the Bengals could look to add a linebacker prospect, as early as the first round.
Alabama’s Reuben Foster has been considered a can’t miss prospect at linebacker by many people. He’s been mock drafted to the Bengals by many analysts over the past few months. He brings major athleticism to the position and can go sideline-to-sideline to make impact tackles. His pass coverage skills and instincts will need some work, but he has the physical tools to become one of the best in the league in the future. The Bengals could take him at ninth, as he’d be an enticing prospect to put in the mix.
If the Bengals wait until Day 2 to add a linebacker, they could look to take Temple’s Haason Reddick at 41. He’s another prospect who has serious potential to be a star in the NFL. The converted defensive end has shown he has a knack at playing OLB, and has the athleticism that has many scouts salivating.
Cincinnati could also look at players like OSU’s Raekwon McMillan, Wisconsin’s T.J. Watt and Florida’s Jarrad Davis. They all could fill a need for athletic players in the Bengals’ linebacking corps.
Related Bengals hosting local Pro Day with nearly 30 draft prospectsSOS Racismo worked with white Spaniards and youngsters of other ethnicities in five Spanish cities to determine if they were treated differently at the same nightclubs.
Both groups of subjects were formally dressed, sober, politely spoken and attempted to get into clubs that were neither at their maximum capacity nor after admission times.
The results were conclusive, if not startling: on average one in four nightclubs investigated allowed the white customers in without objections while giving the other non-white subjects excuses.
"These excuses ranged from 'you can't come to a nightclub alone', 'you're not on the list' before even checking the list, to 'it's a private party'", Mikel Mazkiaran, Secretary General of SOS Racism, told The Local.
Race and appearance were never used as a pretext by the doormen. "It's hard to prove it exists, that's why this investigation is so effective," Mazkiaran added.
Out of the five Spanish cities put under the microscope, A Coruña (northern Spain) scored two out of five for ‘racist’ nightclubs, the Basque city of San Sebastián got one in four and Zaragoza one in nine.
Don't miss stories about Spain, join The Local on Facebook and Twitter.
Barcelona was the city with the worst results, after three out of the five nightclubs tested stopped non-white partygoers from entering, while the Spanish capital of Madrid achieved the best score with no discrimination at the five establishments that were scrutinized.
"The aim of this investigation was and is to make people aware of the less explicit social racism we have in Spain," Mazkiaran explains.
"We've not seen the social unrest London, Stockholm and Paris have had in recent years but wherever there's a gatekeeper filtering who gets in or who gets what, from a nightclub to an estate agent, we do see discrimination.
"We need to have efficient legal means to condemn these abuses."MOSCOW (AP) -- Scientists have discovered well-preserved frozen woolly mammoth fragments deep in Siberia that may contain living cells, edging a tad closer to the "Jurassic Park" possibility of cloning a prehistoric animal, the mission's organizer said Tuesday.
Russia's North-Eastern Federal University said an international team of researchers had discovered mammoth hair, soft tissues and bone marrow some 328 feet underground during a summer expedition in the northeastern province of Yakutia.
Expedition chief Semyon Grigoryev said Korean scientists with the team had set a goal of finding living cells in the hope of cloning a mammoth. Scientists have previously found bones and fragments but not living cells.
Grigoryev told the online newspaper Vzglyad it would take months of research to determine whether they have indeed found the cells.
"Only after thorough laboratory research it will be known whether these are living cells or not," he said, adding that would take until the end of the year at the earliest.
Wooly mammoths are thought to have died out around 10,000 years ago, although scientists think small groups of them lived longer in Alaska and on Russia's Wrangel Island off the Siberian coast.
Scientists already have deciphered much of the genetic code of the woolly mammoth from balls of mammoth hair found frozen in the Siberian permafrost. Some believe it's possible to recreate the prehistoric animal if they find living cells in the permafrost.
Those who succeed in recreating an extinct animal could claim a "Jurassic Park prize," the concept of which is being developed by the X Prize Foundation that awarded a 2004 prize for the first private spacecraft.WASHINGTON -- Police in Ukraine raided an apartment and arrested a man believed to be connected to the cyber theft ring that investigators have dubbed “The Avalanche Network.”
Authorities say the network had computer servers in at least four countries and stole hundreds of millions of dollars.
Acting U.S. Attorney Soo Song CBS News
“We’ve successfully identified 250,000 infected computers in 189 different countries throughout the world,” said Soo Song, the acting U.S. attorney for the western district of Pennsylvania.
“We calculate that 20,000 of those malware-infected computers are here in the United States,” Song said.
In Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, investigators accuse the cyber thieves of taking over and “freezing” some government computers until a ransom was paid.
Techniques used by Russian hackers revealed
And criminals hacked two unnamed Pennsylvania companies and attempted wire transfers totaling more than $600,000.
The thefts used so-called Goznym malware, which infects computers after victims click on a phony link.
Investigators say those behind Avalanche were providing servers for other other criminals to use in cyberattacks. Often stolen money was then laundered through “money mules” -- unsuspecting people who were tricked into participating.
The big break in the operation came when German police reverse-engineered the code that Operation Avalanche was using. The investigators then brought in the FBI to help trace the servers, some of which were in the U.S. and Canada.Secret cable and Dutch government official confirm that Saudi Arabia’s war on Yemen is partly motivated by an ambitious US-backed pipeline fantasy
Nearly 3,000 civilians have been slaughtered and a million displaced in Saudi Arabia’s noble aerial bombardment of Yemen, which is backed by the United States and Britain.
Over 14 million Yemenis face food insecurity – a jump of 12 percent since June 2015. Out of these, three million children are malnourished. And across the country, an estimated 20 million people cannot safely access clean water.
The Saudi air force has systematically bombed Yemen’s civilian infrastructure in flagrant violation of international humanitarian law. An official UN report to the Security Council leaked last month found that the Saudis have “conducted airstrikes targeting civilians and civilian objects … including camps for internally displaced persons and refugees; civilian gatherings, including weddings; civilian vehicles, including buses; civilian residential areas; medical facilities; schools; mosques; markets, factories and food storage warehouses; and other essential civilian infrastructure, such as the airport in Sanaa, the port in Hudaida and domestic transit routes.”
US-made cluster bombs have been dropped on residential areas – an act that even the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon tepidly concedes “may amount to a war crime”.
In other words, Saudi Arabia is a rogue state. But make no mistake. This kingdom is our rogue state.
The US and British governments supplying Saudi Arabia with weapons to be unleashed on Yemeni civilians pretend they are not involved in the war, not responsible for the war crimes of our rogue state ally.
A UK Ministry of Defence spokesperson insisted that British forces were merely advising “on best practice targeting techniques … UK military personnel are not directly involved in Saudi-led coalition operations.”
But these are weasel words, given the recent revelation from the Saudi foreign minister, Adel al-Jubeir, that British and American military officials are working “in the command and control centre for Saudi airstrikes on Yemen.”
Presumably taxpayers are not paying them to stand around drinking tea all day.
No – we’re paying them to supervise the air war. According to the Saudi foreign minister: “We have British officials and American officials and officials from other countries in our command and control centre. They know what the target list is and they have a sense of what it is that we are doing and what we are not doing.”
US and UK officials have “been able to scrutinise its air campaign, and were satisfied by its safeguards”.
Back in April 2015, US officials were far more candid about this arrangement. US Deputy Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken told a press conference in Riyadh that the US had increased its intelligence sharing with the Saudis via a “joint coordination planning cell,” involving target selection.
Whatever the case, the civilised leaders of the free world have an insiders’ birds-eye view of the Saudi military’s systemic war crimes in Yemen – and it appears they approve.
Sectarian war?
The goals of the Saudi-led coalition are obscure.
It’s widely recognised that the war has broad geopolitical, sectarian dynamics. The Saudis fear that the rise of the Houthis signals the growing influence of Iran in Yemen.
With Iran active in Syria, Iraq, and Lebanon, Saudi Arabia sees the Houthi rebellion as yet another component in its strategic encirclement by Iranian proxy forces. This is compounded by the US-backed Iran nuclear deal, which paves the way for Iran’s integration into global markets, the opening up of its underdeveloped oil and gas sectors, and its consolidation as a regional power.
But this narrative is not the whole story. While Iran’s contacts with the Houthis are beyond question, before Saudi’s air campaign, the Houthis had acquired most of their weapons from two sources: the black market and ex-President Ali Abdullah Saleh.
US intelligence officials confirm that Iran had explicitly warned the Houthis not to attack Yemen’s capital last year. “It remains our assessment that Iran does not exert command and control over the Houthis in Yemen,” said Bernadette Meehan, a spokeswoman for the White House National Security Council.
According to former UN special envoy to Yemen, Jamal Benomar, the Saudi airstrikes scuppered an imminent peace deal that would have led to a power-sharing arrangement between 12 rival political and tribal groups.
“When this campaign started, one thing that was significant but went unnoticed is that the Yemenis were close to a deal that would institute power-sharing with all sides, including the Houthis,” Benomar told the Wall Street Journal.
This was not, then, about Iran. The Saudis, and apparently the US and UK, did not want to see a genuine transition to the semblance of a democratic Yemen.
In fact, the US is explicitly opposed to the democratisation of the entire Gulf region, hell-bent on ‘stabilising’ the flow of Gulf oil to global markets.
In March 2015, US military and NATO consultant Anthony Cordesman of the Washington, DC-based Center for Strategic and International Studies explained that: “Yemen is of major strategic importance to the United States, as is the broader stability of Saudi Arabia all of the Arab Gulf states. For all of the talk of US energy ‘independence,’ the reality remains very different. The increase in petroleum and alternative fuels outside the Gulf has not changed its vital strategic importance to the global and US economy … Yemen does not match the strategic importance of the Gulf, but it is still of great strategic importance to the stability of Saudi Arabia and the Arabian Peninsula.”
In other words, the war on Yemen is about protecting the West’s principal Gulf rogue state, to keep the oil flowing. Cordesman goes on to note: “Yemen’s territory and islands play a critical role in the security of another global chokepoint at the southeastern end of the Red Sea called the Bab el-Mandab or ‘gate of tears’.”
The Bab el-Mandeb Strait is “a chokepoint between the Horn of Africa and the Middle East, and it is a strategic link between the Mediterranean Sea and the Indian Ocean,” carrying most exports from the Persian Gulf that transit the Suez Canal and Suez-Mediterranean (SUMED) pipeline.
“Any hostile air or sea presence in Yemen could threaten the entire traffic through the Suez Canal,” adds Cordesman, “as well as a daily flow of oil and petroleum products that the EIA [US Energy Information Administration] estimates increased from 2.9 mmb/d [million barrels per day] in 2009 to 3.8 mmb/d in 2013".
The Yemen pipeline dream
But there’s a parallel sub-goal here, acknowledged in private by Western officials, but not discussed in public: Yemen has as yet untapped potential to provide an alternative set of oil and gas trans-shipment routes for the export of Saudi oil, bypassing Iran and the Strait of Hormuz.
The reality of the kingdom’s ambitions in this regard are laid bare in a secret 2008 State Department cable obtained by Wikileaks, from the US embassy in Yemen to the Secretary of State:
“A British diplomat based in Yemen told PolOff [US embassy political officer] that Saudi Arabia had an interest to build a pipeline, wholly owned, operated and protected by Saudi Arabia, through Hadramawt to a port on the Gulf of Aden, thereby bypassing the Arabian Gulf/Persian Gulf and the straits of Hormuz.
"Saleh has always opposed this. The diplomat contended that Saudi Arabia, through supporting Yemeni military leadership, paying for the loyalty of sheikhs and other means, was positioning itself to ensure it would, for the right price, obtain the rights for this pipeline from Saleh’s successor.”
Indeed, Yemen’s eastern governorate of Hadramaut has remained curiously free from Saudi bombardment. The province, Yemen’s largest, contains the bulk of Yemen’s remaining oil and gas resources.
“The kingdom’s primary interest in the governorate is the possible construction of an oil pipeline. Such a pipeline has long been a dream of the government of Saudi Arabia,” observes Michael Horton, a senior analyst on Yemen at the Jamestown Foundation. “A pipeline through the Hadramawt would give Saudi Arabia and its Gulf State allies direct access to the Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean; it would allow them to bypass the Strait of Hormuz, a strategic chokepoint that could be, at least temporarily, blocked by Iran in a future conflict. The prospect of securing a route for a future pipeline through the Hadramawt likely figures in Saudi Arabia’s broader long-term strategy in Yemen.”
Hiding the pipeline connection
Western officials are keen to avoid public consciousness of the energy geopolitics behind the escalating conflict.
Last year, a cutting analysis of these issues was posted on a personal blog on 2 June 2015 by Joke Buringa, a senior advisor on security and rule of law in Yemen at the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
“Fear of an Iranian blockade of the Hormuz Strait, and the possibly disastrous results for the global economy, has existed for years,” she wrote in the article, titled "Divide and Rule: Saudi Arabia, Oil and Yemen." “The US therefore pressured the Gulf States to develop alternatives. In 2007 Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, the UAE, Oman and Yemen jointly launched the Trans-Arabia Oil Pipeline project. New pipelines were to be constructed from the Saudi Ras Tannurah on the Persian Gulf and the UAE to the Gulf of Oman (one to the Emirate of Fujairah and two lines to Oman) and the Gulf of Aden (two lines to Yemen).”
In 2012, the connection between Abu Dhabi and Fujairah, within the UAE, became operational. Meanwhile, Iran and Oman moved to sign their own pipeline deal. “Distrust about the intentions of Oman increased the attractiveness of the Hadramawt option in Yemen, a longstanding wish of Saudi Arabia,” wrote Buringa.
President Saleh, however, was a major obstacle to Saudi ambitions. According to Buringa, he “opposed the construction of a pipeline under Saudi control over Yemeni territory. For many years the Saudis invested in tribal leaders in the hope to execute this project under Saleh’s successor. The 2011 popular uprisings by demonstrators calling for democracy upset these plans.”
Buringa is the only senior Western government official to have acknowledged this matter publicly. But when I contacted her to request an interview on 1 February, four days later I received a response from Roel van der Meij, a spokesperson for corporate affairs at the Dutch government’s foreign ministry: “Mrs. Joke Buringa asked me to inform you that she is not available for the interview.”
Buringa’s entire blog – previously available at www.jokeburinga.com – had in the meantime been completely removed.
An archived version of her article on the energy geopolitics of the Saudi war in Yemen is available at the Wayback Machine.
I asked both Buringa and van der Meij why Buringa’s blog had been completely deleted so quickly after I had sent my request for an interview, and whether she had been forced to do so under government pressure to protect Dutch ties with Saudi Arabia.
In an email, Buringa denied that she was pressured by the Dutch foreign ministry to delete the blog: “Sorry to disappoint you, but |
OT-N-READY'
Sightings of the monkey were reported almost daily, typically on Washington Pike, near Teeple Street or on Adair Avenue. Each time, attempts to ensnare him were futile — he was too fast, too smart, too pretty.
Small groups of people wandered the monkey radius armed with nets, marshmallows and other treats, some motivated by a concern for the animal's safety, others by the desire to keep the creature for themselves, and still others by the unspecified reward offered by King.
Rhonda Shipley told police she saw Pretty Boy on Thursday night at an apartment complex in the 2200 block of Washington Pike, sitting on a wood pallet by a fence near a line of trees.
His prize? A bag that once contained "Crazy Bread" from Little Caesars.
The pizza chain's slogan, "HOT-N-READY," could also describe Pretty Boy.
The next day, Alexis Donaldson snapped a photo of Pretty Boy perched atop a truck parked at a recently vacated home on Adair Avenue.
She quickly posted the picture on Knoxville Crime — a Facebook group with more than 76,000 members — with the caption, "I'm with the monkey right now."
A photo snapped by Alexis Donaldson on Friday night appears to show Pretty Boy sitting atop a truck parked at a recently vacated home on Adair Avenue. (Photo: Submitted / Alexis Donaldson)
Almost immediately, she said, "People started running out of their houses with monkey nets."
"He was super smart," Donaldson gushed. "He jetted away from them."
Donaldson, whose boyfriend lives near Adair, encountered the monkey there again on Saturday.
She recorded a video of Pretty Boy, sitting in a tree and chattering away, the gears in his monkey brain turning, calculating his next move as he lay just out of reach.
CLOSE A pet monkey remained at large in North Knoxville on Tuesday afternoon after evading animal control officers the day before. Angela Gosnell/News Sentinel
Reporter Travis Dorman can be reached at 865-342-6315 or at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @travdorman.
Read or Share this story: http://knoxne.ws/2xDTxA9Texas Instruments announced today that it is adding iBeacon support across its Bluetooth LE chips and development kits. The company is starting by adding support to some of its Bluetooth wireless micro controllers, an automotive connectivity device, and other combo Wi-Fi/Bluetooth products and development kits. TI’s Oyvind Birkenes imagines support for iBeacons in its Bluetooth chips opening up new possibilities for Apple’s Bluetooth LE platform including “asset trackers, retail, building automation systems, automotive and industrial applications, and a wide variety of consumer electronics” beyond what we’ve seen so far.
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“Restaurants, retailers and even sports stadiums have started using iBeacon technology, but there are many more applications that could benefit from the technology. Everything from asset trackers, retail, building automation systems, automotive and industrial applications, and a wide variety of consumer electronics,” said Oyvind Birkenes, general manager, Wireless Connectivity Solutions, TI. “By providing support for iBeacon technology across our entire Bluetooth low energy portfolio as well as a new SimpleLink SensorTag location app and broadcaster reference design, we are enabling manufacturers to quickly add micro-locationing capabilities to their products.”
The company is adding support to its $25 SensorTag Bluetooth development kits that aims to speed up Bluetooth development for mobile developers alongside an updated app for it with iBeacon support. It’s also introducing a new “coin cell-sized, low cost and low-power broadcaster reference design that enables fast volume production of devices with iBeacon technology based on the SimpleLink CC2543.”
Full details on products updated with iBeacon support can be found in TI’s press release below:Stephen Lam / Getty Images President Barack Obama speaks about the Affordable Care Act at the Fairmont Hotel in San Jose, Calif., on June 6, 2013
This article appears in this week’s magazine. If you would like to subscribe to TIME Magazine, click here.
In a windowless office in the basement of the West Wing, behind a utility room and next to a fire-alarm panel, David Simas is marking up another whiteboard with blue ink, hoping to explain one more time just how the President’s health care reform law will work when the time comes for uninusured Americans to sign up this fall.
The abstraction of Obamacare is about to become reality. But will anyone know what to do? An estimated 7 million Americans will join the first health exchanges from Oct. 1, 2013, to April 1, 2014, and most have no idea how to do that. And for the millions who are already covered by some early Obamacare benefits, Simas adds, “We need to continue to remind them of what they’re getting.”
If Simas, 42, has the nervous energy of the 2012 campaign, where he served as opinion-research director, there is a good reason. Though Barack Obama has competed in his last election, he has one more campaign ahead of him. This fall, Obamacare will go into full effect, with the promise of insuring as many as 40 million Americans if it succeeds. But it could still fail.
(VIDEO: Organizing for Action Releases Obamacare Ad)
To prevent that, Obama-land is going on offense. Organizing for Action, the grassroots group spun out of the President’s campaign, has made selling the already-passed bill a top priority with its first television ad. Enroll America, a nonprofit coalition of community groups and insurers that has been promoted by the White House and is staffed by Obama campaign alumni, launched its “Get Covered America” campaign to educate uninsured Americans about the exchanges.
At the White House, health care implementation has become an obsession. Chief of Staff Denis McDonough spends two hours a day on Obamacare implementation, staffers said, and senior aides like Simas and Tara McGuinness, who joined the White House in April as a senior communications adviser, work on the issue nearly full-time. Hardly a week goes by without Obama finding some way to plug the effort as well.
The reason: the law is increasingly unpopular. According to a NBC News–Wall Street Journal poll released earlier this month, 49% of Americans now believe the law is a bad idea, the highest percentage recorded, with only 37% saying it is a good thing. Many states have already opted out of key provisions to expand Medicaid. In Washington, Republicans continue to lay siege to the law; they have voted to repeal it 37 times in the U.S. House.
(MORE: Obamacare Incompetence)
That unpopularity threatens one of the law’s most ambitious goals—establishing health care exchanges allowing uninsured Americans to purchase affordable coverage. The exchanges need roughly 2.7 million healthy 18-t0-35-year-olds to sign up to be solvent. The majority of that group is nonwhite and male, according to Simas’ data, and a third are located in just three states: California, Texas and Florida. If too few choose to enroll because they don’t know about the law, don’t like it, or feel they don’t need insurance, the exchanges will fail. And so will the law.
The Administration has plotted an extensive social-media campaign designed to reach the young and healthy and is soliciting sports teams to help raise awareness. More than 10 staffers in the Office of Public Engagement are marshalling the help of Latino and African American groups and community nonprofits. And Simas has spent countless hours surrounded by maps of media markets and demographic data on the uninsured trying to remind prospective enrollees of the benefits available to them: “It’s that guy in Dallas, it’s the woman in Los Angeles, it’s the family in Miami-Dade,” he says.
Obama aides have been saying such things for years, with little effect. But now the clock is ticking, and Obama is running out of time to make his signature achievement stick.MARSHFIELD –– The New England Aquarium’s marine animal rescue team moved a healthy gray seal pup resting on a Marshfield beach Friday to a more secluded spot after beach-goers tried to move it back into the water.
The 40-pound female had also been closely approached by people and dogs. Aquarium spokesman Tony LaCasse said when biologists arrived, the young seal was shivering with fear, had labored breathing and showed signs of major stress.
LaCasse said the seal was most likely born in January on a small offshore island south of Cape Cod. Its mother would have nursed it for three to four weeks and then left on its own.
This post-weaning period when the pup is learning how to forage and find its own food is a critical period when the animal’s health is highly vulnerable, and it needs lots of rest, LaCasse said. Seals regularly haul out of the water to sleep and bask in the sun.
When first seen in the morning, the pup was alert and bright. LaCasse said that within a few hours, it was suffering from potentially life-threatening stress.
The aquarium recommends watching any resting seal quietly from a distance of at least 150 feet. Dogs should be leashed.
If any animal appears sick, call the aquarium’s hotline at 617-973-5247 or local animal control.Profile description of JAJ (Vibez 2 Da Core):
Happy Hardcore DJ // Justice Hardcore Sponsored DJ
......................................................
Within the last couple of years, JAJ has helped bring back the happy vibes! Having been featured in many online radio shows and collaborated alongside well-known djs through 7D The Seven Dimensions of Euphoria and his current show on HappyHardcore.com, Vibez 2 Da Core, JAJ has been able to spread his name throughout the hardcore community. Coming from San Diego, California, he is one of the few djs representing the happy hardcore scene locally and continues to help promote labels and djs from around the world. He is also part of Kikwear's National Street Team and a sponsored dj from US label, Justice Hardcore, supporting and promoting Kikwear's rave clothing and the sounds of Justice Hardcore in Southern California.
Vibez 2 Da Core was started up by California-based DJ, JAJ, in 2013. First starting off on Digitally Imported FM radio (Di.Fm), he played one hour non-stop music monthly. As the show began to attract hardcore lovers all around the globe, he moved his show to HappyHardcore.com Radio in 2014, and currently stands as its home. V2DC was then transformed into a biweekly radio show, with a special guest dj every other week. Since then, there has been numerous amounts of radio guests dj's from that have taken over V2DC for over a year. Reaching episode 50 in 2016, there will be much more music, guest djs, and happy vibes.
Guest DJs on Vibez 2 Da Core:
Bananaman & Gisbo (UK)
MJ & Camo (UK)
Dj ViperStar (Singapore)
DJ D-tor (USA)
T-Mension (Germany)
Riche (UK)
Miguel Kore (France)
S3RL (Australia)
XAVI BCN (Spain)
Ranzor (Australia)
M-Project (Japan)
Shimotsukei (USA)
Eufeion (UK)
T-TY & Kulleré (Spain)
Al Storm (UK)
Nikky Cream (Germany)
DJ Brady (UK)
Ultravibes (Germany)
Aki (Japan)
Steve Heller (UK)
Instigate (UK)
Jordesuvi (UK)
DUNE (Germany)
Happy Daze (USA)
Linur (Russia)
Rainyrhy (Singapore)
Summa Jae (Australia)
Chris Ross (UK)
Sharkboy (USA)
Nuton (UK)
Hellfury (Austria)
Daniel Seven (Italy)
Billy Jump (UK)
Abitan (Japan)
Jason Bouse (USA)
DJ Depath (Japan)
Mitomoro (USA)
Skinny (UK)
DJ Force [from Force & Styles] (UK)
Smartyz (Canada)
DAG (USA)
AoS (USA)
QarlwithaQ (USA)
Haze (Australia)
Yorkshire Ripper (UK)What’s the matter?
Over the course of 12 debates, the Republican presidential candidates were never asked to address the budget problems in Kansas. That may not sound like an odd omission but it is. To see why, let’s take a quick trip to a parallel political universe:
In Bizarro America, the tea party never happened. Instead, the Great Recession sparked a left-wing populist movement that swept democratic socialists into statehouses all across the country. In Vermont, these Denmark-worshippers took full control of state government and implemented their radical agenda. They raised income taxes to unprecedented heights, upped the minimum wage to $15 an hour, made all state universities tuition-free, and established a single-payer health-care system. As he signed the last of these programs into law, Governor Bernie Sanders declared that Vermont would serve as a blue-state model, one that the Democratic Party’s 2016 ticket could use to say, “See, we’ve got a different way, and it works.”
But by 2016, that model had collapsed. Every warning that conservatives had made about Sanders’s program proved prescient. The tax hikes chased all the job creators out of state. The new minimum wage didn’t raise low-income workers’ living standards; it raised their unemployment rate. The costs of free college and universal health care proved so onerous, the state was forced to raid its rainy-day funds and borrow at high interest rates just to keep the government running. Vermont now faced a billion-dollar deficit. Schools were shuttered. Pensions were cut. The state’s department of social services could no longer afford to investigate child abuse. The legal system could no longer provide indigent defendants with representation. Nonetheless, in the race for the White House, every Democratic candidate ran on some version of Sanders’s economic model.
Wouldn’t it be important for those candidates to explain why their program wouldn’t fail the country in the same way it had failed the Green Mountain State? If you think yes, then you should demand that Donald Trump, John Kasich, and Ted Cruz explain why their tax policies won’t fail America in the same way they’ve failed the people of Kansas.
In 2010, the tea-party wave put Sam Brownback into the Sunflower State’s governor’s mansion and Republican majorities in both houses of its legislature. Together, they implemented the conservative movement’s blueprint for Utopia: They passed massive tax breaks for the wealthy and repealed all income taxes on more than 100,000 businesses. They tightened welfare requirements, privatized the delivery of Medicaid, cut $200 million from the education budget, eliminated four state agencies and 2,000 government employees. In 2012, Brownback helped replace the few remaining moderate Republicans in the legislature with conservative true believers. The following January, after signing the largest tax cut in Kansas history, Brownback told the Wall Street Journal, “My focus is to create a red-state model that allows the Republican ticket to say, ‘See, we’ve got a different way, and it works.’ ”
As you’ve probably guessed, that model collapsed. Like the budget plans of every Republican presidential candidate, Brownback’s “real live experiment” proceeded from the hypothesis that tax cuts for the wealthy are such a boon to economic growth, they actually end up paying for themselves (so long as you kick the undeserving poor out of their welfare hammocks). Backers of the budget touted projections from the Kansas Policy Institute, which predicted it would generate $323 million in new local revenues by 2018. But marginal gains at the municipal level were dwarfed by the $688 million loss that Brownback’s budget wrought in its first year of operation.* Meanwhile, Kansas’s job growth actually trailed that of its neighboring states. With that nearly $700 million deficit, the state had bought itself a 1.1 percent increase in jobs, just below Missouri’s 1.5 percent and Colorado’s 3.3.
Photo: Orlin Wagner/AP
Those numbers have hardly improved in the intervening years. In 2015, job growth in Kansas was a mere 0.1 percent, even as the nation’s economy grew 1.9 percent. Brownback pledged to bring 100,000* new jobs to the state in his second term; as of January, he has brought 700. What’s more, personal income growth slowed dramatically since the tax cuts went into effect. Between 2010 and 2012, Kansas saw income growth of 6.1 percent, good for 12th in the nation; from 2013 to 2015, that rate was 3.6 percent, good for 41st.
Meanwhile, revenue shortfalls have devastated the state’s public sector along with its most vulnerable citizens. Since Brownback’s inauguration, 1,414 Kansans with disabilities have been thrown off Medicaid. In 2015, six school districts in the state were forced to end their years early for lack of funding. Cuts to health and human services are expected to cause 65 preventable deaths this year in Sedgwick County alone. In February, tax receipts came in $53 million below estimates; Brownback immediately cut $17 million from the state’s university system. This data is not lost on the people of Kansas — as of November, Brownback’s approval rating was 26 percent, the lowest of any governor in the United States.
Louisiana has replicated these results. When Bobby Jindal moved into the governor’s mansion in 2008, he inherited a $1 billion surplus. When he moved out last year, Louisiana faced a $1.6 billion projected deficit. Part of that budgetary collapse can be put on the past year’s plummeting oil prices. The rest should be placed on Jindal passing the largest tax cut in the state’s history and then refusing to reverse course when the state’s biggest industry started tanking. Jindal’s giveaway to the wealthiest citizens in the country’s second-poorest state cost Louisiana roughly $800 million every year. To make up that gap, Jindal slashed social services, raided the state’s rainy-day funds, and papered over the rest with reckless borrowing. Today, the state is scrambling to resolve a $940 million budget gap for this fiscal year, with a $2 billion shortfall projected for 2017. Like Bizarro Vermont, Louisiana can no longer afford to provide public defenders for all its criminal defendants. Its Department of Children and Family Services may soon be unable to investigate every reported instance of child abuse. Education funding is down 44 percent since Jindal took office. The state’s hospitals are likely to see at least $64 million in funding cuts this year.
What has happened to these states should be a national story; because we are one election away from it being our national story. Ted Cruz claims his tax plan will cost less than $1 trillion in lost revenue over the next ten years. Leaving aside the low bar the Texas senator sets for himself — my giveaway to the one percent will cost a bit less than the Iraq War! — Cruz only stays beneath $1 trillion when you employ the kind of “dynamic scoring” that has consistently underestimated the costs of tax cuts in Kansas. Under a conventional analysis, the bill runs well over $3 trillion, with 44 percent of that lost money accruing to the one percent. John Kasich’s tax plan includes cutting the top marginal rate by more than ten percent along with a similar cut to the rates on capital gains and business taxes. Even considering Kasich’s appetite for Social Security cuts, his plan must rely on the same supply-side voodoo that Kansas has so thoroughly discredited. As for the most likely GOP nominee, even with dynamic scoring, his tax cuts would cost $10 trillion over the next ten years, with 40 percent of that gargantuan sum filling the pockets of Trump’s economic peers.
If any of these men are elected president, they will almost certainly take office with a House and Senate eager to scale up the “red-state model.” Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has said of Brownback’s Kansas, “This is exactly the sort of thing we (Republicans) want to do here, in Washington, but can’t, at least for now.” Speaker of the House Paul Ryan’s celebrated budgets all depend on the same magical growth that has somehow escaped the Sunflower State.
This campaign cycle has inspired an unusual amount of soul-searching in Republican circles. The rise of Trump has forced many conservatives to reckon with the moral odiousness of Nixon’s Southern Strategy — a blueprint for GOP electoral success that relied on coded appeals to white racial animus. Unfortunately, the fall of Kansas has failed to inspire a similar reckoning with the policies that those ugly advertisements were designed to sell. The GOP front-runner’s praise of mob violence and religious discrimination has spurred much righteous outrage from the National Review. Kansas’s shortened school-years have spurred none.
When Donald Trump makes a gaffe, reporters confront Republican leaders and demand a response. When the GOP’s economic platform decimates two U.S. states, a similar confrontation is in order.
*An earlier version of this piece said that Brownback had pledged to bring 25,000 new jobs to Kansas in his second term. The pledge was actually to bring 100,000 new jobs (or 25,000 for each year of the term).
*This post has been corrected to show that KPI’s revenue projections specifically pertained to local property and sales taxes over the proposed budget’s first five years of operation.It was more than inedible, the meat supplier Evanger’s Pet Food purchased from was a dead animal carcass processor. A company that removes dead animals from farms – including euthanized horses – and processes the meat from those dead animals for sale to pet food.
Some background. In Evanger’s lawsuit against meat supplier Bailey Farms, LLC – it states:
Bailey represented to Evanger’s that its plant was APHIS certified; when Bailey delivered its beef to Evanger’s, each pallets on which Bailey shipped the beef had a tag that contained Bailey’s APHIS certificate number “WI.-BLO-0004.” This same designation “APHIS #WI.-BLO-0004” was included on bills of lading and invoices Bailey sent to Evanger’s.
What is APHIS certified?
APHIS stands for Animal Plant Health Inspection Service. APHIS is a division of the USDA (United States Department of Agriculture) but APHIS most certainly does NOT inspect – pass or fail – meat (for human consumption). Explained by the FDA in a previous update regarding Evanger’s: “USDA-APHIS provides a voluntary service to facilities that wish to export to certain countries, inspecting their facilities according to standards established by the importing country.” An APHIS certification would NOT provide the holder with the ability to process “human grade” meat.
Was the Evanger’s meat supplier (Bailey Farms) certified by APHIS for export?
The FDA says no; “The APHIS-assigned number that the supplier was using signifies export certification.”
But…was it actually a APHIS number?
I made a phone call to the USDA, APHIS regional office (governing Wisconsin), the office confirmed that Bailey Farms does not hold a current APHIS license. When I provided the APHIS number (stated in the Evanger’s lawsuit) to the USDA representative (APHIS #WI.-BLO-0004), I was told this number “was not a APHIS number”. The USDA representative stated the number must be a state number (such as in some type of Wisconsin state license). (I have shared everything I have learned with FDA – waiting on a response from FDA on this issue. When clarification is provided by FDA – it will be shared with consumers. I do not know if Bailey Farms ever had an APHIS number or not.)
The next phone call was to Wisconsin Department of Agriculture. Again, Wisconsin Department of Agriculture was not familiar with this type of number. However they did explain that Bailey Farms holds a valid “Animal Food Processor License” within the state (license number 209915-M2). Wisconsin Department of Agriculture stated the Animal Food Processor License held by Bailey Farms would also include the license to transport and process dead animal carcasses into pet food products.
Does a Wisconsin ‘Animal Food Processor License’ mean the Bailey Farms meat was USDA inspected and approved ‘human grade’ as Evanger’s told consumers?
No. Absolutely no. An Animal Food Processor License does NOT permit the holder with ability to process “human grade” meat. Wisconsin law states: “‘Animal food processing’ means slaughtering animals or processing carcasses or carcass materials for use as animal feed”. And (bold added): “(5) “Carcass” means all or part of a dead animal, as defined in s. 95.72 (1) (c), Stats. “Carcass” does not include any of the following: (a) Material that may be lawfully sold or distributed as food for human consumption.
What kind of ‘meat’ does Bailey Farms (supplier to Evanger’s Pet Food) actually process?
If you Google the street address for Bailey Farms (549 Karem Drive, Marshall, WI), this image is displayed…
Bailey Farms website…
Quoting their website “a producer of quality pet food products”. But…
The Google Map also tells us there is another business located at the very same location. The other business is “Marshall Stock Removal”…
A Google search for ‘Marshall Stock Removal’ finds “Bailey Farms Stock Removal“
Bailey Farms and Bailey Farms Stock Removal have the same exact logo, same physical address – they are the same company. Bailey Farms is not a ‘farm’ at all. Bailey Farms turns out to be a dead animal processor. A company that picks up dead animals (cattle and horses) from area farms and processes meat from these animal carcasses into pet food meat – no matter why the animal died and no matter if the animal was euthanized.
From the Bailey Farms Stock Removal Facebook page we find these images…
Freeze-Dried Dog Treats sourced from dead animal carcasses (non-slaughtered). The Bailey Farms/Bailey Stock Removal dog treats do not disclose they are sourced from dead animal carcasses, but they do include the warning “Not for human consumption – Dog Food” (unlike the Evanger’s pet food which marketed the products as “Human Grade” meat).
Are there more ‘Bailey Farms’ out there? Are more stock removal companies selling dead animal carcass meats – including euthanized horse meat – to pet food companies?
Absolutely there are. In every state – multiple in areas of the US that have large livestock populations – there are companies that remove dead animal carcasses and process the meat into pet food/animal feed. These companies are just like Bailey Farms – selling raw meat processed from the dead/non-slaughtered or euthanized animal carcass. And as well, rendering companies (some) pick up and process dead animal carcasses into pet food ingredients (though these would be rendered ingredients – not raw meat).
Is this legal? Is it legal to sell dog treats/dog food made from dead/non-slaughtered animal material?
Per federal law, it is ILLEGAL for animal food to contain any part of an animal that is non-slaughtered. The Federal Food Drug and Cosmetic Act defines an adulterated (illegal) food as (in part) “if it is, in whole or in part, the product of a diseased animal or of an animal which has died otherwise than by slaughter”. Repeat: it is a direct violation of federal law for a pet food (any food) to contain even the smallest amount of meat sourced from a dead/non-slaughtered animal.
But…FDA openly allows anyone in the animal food business the opportunity to violate that law without prosecution. The exception is…unless the pet food company or meat supplier gets caught harming an animal.
With canned pet food – opposite to federal law – the FDA openly allows canned pet food to source meat from “diseased animals and animals that have died otherwise than by slaughter” – FDA states “it will be considered fit for animal consumption”. But FDA includes this disclaimer:
The Center will consider regulatory action based on low acid canned food violations alone where the report indicates a probable hazard to pets. CVM will also consider regulatory action against canned pet food on the basis of use of decomposed animal tissues or use of tissues containing violative drug residues.
So with the example of Evanger’s pet food – since the pet food caused the illness of multiple animals and the death of one, FDA investigated and multiple recalls occurred (again…only AFTER pets got sick and died).
With the use of meat such as that sold by Bailey Farms – sourced from dead animal carcasses – the FDA states:
CVM is aware of the sale of dead, dying, disabled, or diseased (4-D) animals to salvagers for use as animal food. Meat from these carcasses is boned and the meat is packaged or frozen without heat processing. The raw, frozen meat is shipped for use by several industries, including pet food manufacturers, zoos, greyhound kennels, and mink ranches. This meat may present a potential health hazard to the animals that consume it and to the people who handle it. Districts should conduct preliminary investigations only as follow-up to complaints or reports of injuries and should contact CVM before expending substantial resources.
Review –
FDA “is aware” that meat from dead/non-slaughtered and diseased animal carcasses is sold to pet food manufacturers.
FDA “is aware” that this material is a direct violation of federal law (laws the agency is charged with enforcing).
FDA “is aware” this material “may present a potential health hazard to the animals that consume it”.
But…FDA will continue to allow meat from dead/non-slaughtered and diseased animal carcasses to be processed as pet ‘food’ and will only investigate it a pet dies or is sickened, but won’t expend “substantial resources” on the investigation.
Evanger’s purchased meat from a dead animal carcass processor – and sold this illegal meat as “human grade” to consumers (even in a pet food claiming “organic”). There was no punishment for a violation of law – only a recall.
By the way…The penalty (per law) for introducing an adulterated food into interstate commerce: “(1) Any person who violates a provision of section 331 of this title shall be imprisoned for not more than one year or fined not more than $1,000, or both.”
When will this end? When will FDA enforce law with pet food? When will a pet food company using illegal sources of ingredients be held accountable by law?
Maybe if some pet food companies, ingredient providers and FDA representatives spent a year in jail…maybe pet food would change.
A lawsuit – Pet Food Consumers v. FDA is coming. This has to stop and consumers will sue the FDA – forcing the agency to enforce law. Soon.
Wishing you and your pet(s) the best,
Susan Thixton
Pet Food Safety Advocate
Author Buyer Beware, Co-Author Dinner PAWsible
TruthaboutPetFood.com
Association for Truth in Pet Food
What’s in Your Pet’s Food?
Is your dog or cat eating risk ingredients? Chinese imports? Petsumer Report tells the ‘rest of the story’ on over 4,000 cat foods, dog foods, and pet treats. 30 Day Satisfaction Guarantee. Click Here to preview Petsumer Report. www.PetsumerReport.com
The 2017 List
Susan’s List of trusted pet foods. Click Here
Have you read Buyer Beware? Click Here
Cooking pet food made easy, Dinner PAWsible
Find Healthy Pet Foods in Your Area Click Here2016-05-28 22:49:00 +0000 UTC by IdahoSciGuy
Hello, and welcome to another exciting edition of the Weekly Soon! Proving that the dead really do walk among us, Idaho is here with your weekly dosage of AvatarMC related happenings, changes and additions!
Bending Direct Link
It's that time again, and that means new moves! Our whipping boys move experts have been hard at work crafting this month's set of moves. Here's the deets:
Gliding Direct Link
We are now able to turn gliding on and off for specific moves. This is great news, because now we can also enabled gliders for all elements so all benders can benefit from this awesome Minecraft 1.9 feature! Only airbenders are able to use specific moves whilst gliding, however.
Air Direct Link
Gliderboost Direct Link
0 CD move that grants airbenders the ability to adjust their speed while flying, only available while flying.
Airscooter Direct Link
Toggle-able move that will grant airbenders quick movement across the ground. deactivate by double tapping space.
Fire Direct Link
Flameblast Direct Link
Cone of effect damage move, targets up to five enemies in the cone's field of view.
FireWall Direct Link
Places a strip of fire on the ground, only despawns naturally.
Earth Direct Link
EarthShackle Direct Link
Requires source block. Binds targets, rendering them immobile and unable to use moves for a short period of time.
EarthShatter Direct Link
Sends forth a powerful shockwave forward that will damage enemies.
Water Direct Link
WaterAreaHeal Direct Link
Requires source block. Pulls water to you before blasting it outwards, healing all nearby players. Heals more the closer you are to the bender who uses the move.
IceCage Direct Link
Requires ICE source block. Pulls the ice block to you before launching it at an enemy, encases enemy in cage for short period of time.
Chat Mods Direct Link
As many players have noticed, chat moderators are now on the server, and the position is open to anyone interested! We have had a great response to this position being opened, and by great we mean that we received a veritable TON of applications. As you can probably guess, it's going to take us a bit to sift through them all. Our resident Honorless Knave neighborhood Zukoman who heads up the application review will be on holiday for one and a half weeks, so please have patience. We will be responding to every application, and that just takes a bit of time!
Bug Fixes Direct Link
As usual, we've also squashed some bugs to help things flow smoothly:
Fixed chests being read only in player housing (so you can now use chests in your player houses in the Fire Nation Capital).
Disabled enchanted books.
Added missing respawn point in The Boiling Rock.
Armorstands are now properly protected in Towny.
That's all for this edition of the Weekly Soon! Idaho out!OAKLAND — East Bay water customers would see rates rise 19 percent over the next two years under a proposal announced Tuesday.
The East Bay Municipal Utility District said the increase is needed to more quickly replace old pipe, upgrade treatment plants and offset reduced water use by customers.
The district proposes a 9.25 percent increase to take effect July 12 and another 9 percent increase to go into effect on July 1, 2018. Compounded, the increases amount to nearly 19 percent over two years for the district’s 1.4 million residents in Alameda and Contra Costa counties.
About 35 percent of the water rate increase is needed to replace and fix old equipment, including 15 miles per year of aging pipe — some of it more than 90 years old, said Jenesse Miller, a water district spokeswoman.
About 30 percent of the rate increase in the coming year is to offset the higher-than-expected rate of customer conservation that is leaving the district with less revenue, she said.
The average EBMUD household used about 250 gallons of water per day before the drought began about six years ago. Now the average use is about 200 gallons per day.
“We appreciate our customers’ conservation efforts, and they should not feel they are being penalized for saving,” Miller said, “but reducing your water use doesn’t always mean your bill is doing to go down.”
The district has a post-drought dilemma facing many California water districts. Because most water districts’ costs are fixed regardless of how much water they deliver, customers conservation habits learned during the drought are leaving the district with less revenue than expected.
Under the proposed increase, an average EBMUD single family home using 200 gallons per day would see its monthly bill rise from $47.15 to $51.49, or an increase of $4.34 a month.
District administrators propose to raise the water system budget from $733 million in the current fiscal year to $863.9 million next year, a 17.9 percent increase.
Among the higher costs in the new budget are $3 million to establish a program to test drinking water in schools for lead.
The water board agreed Tuesday to schedule a public hearing on the two rate increases in consecutive years for 1:15 p.m. July 11 at district headquarters in downtown Oakland.
During the drought, the district helped avoid financial trouble by levying a 25 percent emergency surcharge on water bills, but the district agreed to drop that surcharge last July after near normal rainfall in the winter of 2015-2016 eased shortages.
In a related money matter Tuesday, the district proposed a five percent increase in wastewater rates in each of the next two years in its sewage service area, which includes some 680,000 East Bay residents.In Alien’s closing moments Ripley dashes through the Nostromo’s klaxxon-blaring corridors and almost barrels right into the monster’s path. We catch a glimpse of it before Ripley pulls back, denying us (and herself) a closer look. In Heavy Metal’s illustrated comic adaptation the scene plays out differently: Ripley turns the corner to find the Alien in a contorted sessile state. This ‘box’ gracefully unfolds and the creature leers after her.
“[Alien] came out in May of 1979,” said Walter Simonson, the comic’s artist, “and Heavy Metal, who were publishing it, wanted to get the comic, the graphic novel out with the movie … We were flown over to England, we were put up 2 or 3 nights … On Thursday, we saw a rough cut of the film that was about 2 and a half hours long.”
Simonson revealed that not only was the film considerably longer but that some scenes in the preview differed from the final release. Brett’s death scene was different, and there was an extra small scene involving the Alien near the end: “There’s a scene towards the end of the book when Ripley is the last survivor, and she has the cat and is running towards the life boats, she runs around the corner of a corridor, and there’s a box sitting in the center of the corridor, and it’s clearly out of place, and she freezes and comes to a dead halt, looking at it, and after a moment, the box begins to shrug and move, and that great, spectacular Alien head comes up and it’s the Alien all folded up |
the government called a $US65 billion Ponzi scheme.
Bank of America Corp faces real legal problems, including New York Attorney-General Andrew Cuomo's threat to sue its chief executive and a judge's embarrassing rejection of a settlement with the US Securities and Exchange Commission.
Yet the money Mr Chiscolm wants could dwarf all the bank's other problems.
It is larger than a sextillion dollars, or a 1 followed by 21 zeros. Mr Chiscolm's request is equivalent 1 followed by 22 digits.
The sum also dwarfs the world's 2008 gross domestic product of $US60 trillion, as estimated by the World Bank.
"These are the kind of numbers you deal with only on a cosmic scale," said Sylvain Cappell, New York University's Silver Professor at the Courant Institute for Mathematical Sciences.
"If he thinks Bank of America has branches on every planet in the cosmos, then it might start to make some sense."
Judge Chin gave Mr Chiscolm until October 23 to better explain the basis for his claims, or else see his complaint dismissed.
- Reuters
Topics: offbeat, human-interest, united-states
First postedImage caption Bilateral trade between China and Switzerland is worth $26bn
China has signed the framework of a free-trade agreement with Switzerland, which could become Beijing's first such deal with a major Western economy.
The signing ceremony took place during an official visit by Chinese Premier Li Keqiang to Switzerland.
Bilateral trade between the two countries is worth $26bn through imports and exports of watches, medicines, textiles and dairy products.
Mr Li said he hoped the deal would be felt beyond Switzerland's borders.
"This free-trade deal is the first between China and a continental European economy, and the first with one of the 20 leading economies of the globe," Mr Li told reporters after the two countries signed the preliminary agreement.
"This has huge meaning for global free-trade," he added.
For his part, Swiss President Ueli Maurer described the agreement as a "real milestone".
China is Switzerland's third biggest trading partner after the European Union and America, with exports to China of watches, pharmaceuticals and machinery amounting to over $22bn.
It is no coincidence that China's premier made Switzerland his first stop on his brief European tour, the BBC's Imogen Foulkes in Berne says.
China has hinted it could also make Switzerland its financial centre of choice, if Beijing allows offshore trading of its currency, the yuan, she adds.
High-level figures in Switzerland's watch-making industry are viewing the deal positively, hoping it will reduce China's import duties on watches from 16% to 12%.
""It will give a legal framework to our cooperation," Jean-Daniel Pasche, the head of Switzerland's main watch federation, told AFP news agency.
China is also looking to sell Switzerland more textiles and agricultural products.
The agreement still needs to be cleared by both chambers of the Swiss parliament before it can be ratified.
Mr Li, who is on his first foreign trip since becoming premier in March, is due to visit Germany on Saturday.Hedge-fund manager David Einhorn explained that the value of an answer depends on the quality of the question.
“Have we learned our lesson? It depends what the lesson was,” Einhorn, the co-founder of New York-based Greenlight Capital, said at the Oxford Union in England on Wednesday.
..“If you took all of the obvious problems from the financial crisis, we kind of solved none of them,” Einhorn said to a packed room at Oxford University’s 194-year-old debating society. Instead, the world “went the bailout route.”
“We sweep as much under the rug as we can and move on as quickly as we can,” he said.
Just like a junkie, Wall Street won't admit there is a problem until it can no longer avoid it.
Two weeks ago I pointed out that not only has Wall Street brought back such products as synthetic collateralized debt obligations, they have created a new product, synthetic collateralised default swaps (i.e. 'derivatives of derivatives').
Synthetic collateralised default swaps isn't the only new Wall Street creation.
The financial industry has also created a new way to make predatory loans.
Peer-to-peer lending commenced in the US a decade ago when investors – now mostly hedge funds, banks, insurers, etc. – could lend directly to consumers via online platforms....Now the Cleveland Fed came out with an analysis that focused on the consumer end of the business, called the loans “predatory,” compared them to pre-Financial-Crisis subprime mortgages because they’re now showing very similar delinquency characteristics, and fretted what these P2P loans, given their double-digit growth rates, could mean for financial stability: Based on our findings, one can argue that P2P loans resemble predatory loans in terms of the segment of the consumer market they serve and their effect on individual borrowers’ financial stability. The 2007 financial crisis illustrated the importance of consumer finance and the stability of consumer balance sheets. Loan balances outstanding have soared 84% in four years, from $55 billion in 2013 to $101 billion in 2016, according to the study. Nearly 16 million US consumers had personal loans via P2P lenders at the end of 2016.
P2P loans can carry 30% interest rates.
Predatory P2P loans isn't the only subprime 2007ish trend. There is also auto loans.
Of the $282 billion in subprime auto loans outstanding, finance companies originated 74%, according to today’s data from the New York Fed. Banks and credit unions granted the remaining 26%.
The 90+ day delinquency rate for subprime auto loans originated by banks dropped after the Financial Crisis and has since remained fairly steady. In Q3, it was 4.4%, down from 7.1% at the peak of the Financial Crisis. So the subprime auto-loan fiasco is not going to topple the banks.
In contrast, the 90+ day delinquency rate for loans originated by auto finance companies has been soaring since 2013. In Q3 2017, it hit 9.7%.
This 9.7% is the highest delinquency rate since Q1 of 2010. And it first hit that rate on the way up during the Great Recession in Q3 2008, during the Lehman moment. A year later, it peaked at 10.9%
Let's be aware that these numbers and products are happening near the end of a credit cycle, with low unemployment, with the yield curve flattening, and record high stock, bond, and home prices.
What happens when the music stops?Image caption Creating dual carriageway at Crubenmore in the Highlands cost more than £10m
A £3bn programme of work to make the A9 dual carriageway all the way from Inverness to Perth will start early, the Scottish government has said.
The improvements will begin by 2015-16, rather than 2017-18, with an enhancement of the Kincraig to Dalraddy overtaking lane south of Aviemore.
There are about 80 miles (128.7km) of single carriageway between the cities.
The Lib Dems said it would be a "mammoth task". Labour said the SNP were "re-annnouncing" old news.
The Scottish Conservatives said the road needed to be fit for the 21st Century.
The Scottish government had previously said that it planned to spend £3bn on upgrading the road from Inverness to Perth.
Infrastructure and Capital Investment Secretary Alex Neil has announced that the programme of work will now start earlier than previously planned.
He said: "The A9 is the longest trunk road in Scotland and we have always said that delivery by 2025 was challenging but achievable.
"I'm especially delighted to announce we are advancing the Kincraig-Dalraddy section to full dualling and doing so early.
A9's troubled history 67 fatalities and 1,206 accidents involving injuries on the A9 between 2006 and 2010, according to official statistics
A new £2.8m overtaking lane at Moy, near Inverness, was closed in November 2010 after it was deemed unsafe. Fresh improvements to the lane were made in October 2011
Before upgrades in the 70s, the trip from Wick or Thurso to Inverness took three-and-a-half to four hours. Now it takes about two-and-a-quarter hours. To get from the far north to Glasgow it would take 10 hours now it is nearer six
"This development of the existing scheme will now provide overtaking opportunities in both directions, breaking up platooning and reducing driver frustration.
"Not only are we adding these additional safety benefits, we are also getting underway two years earlier than previously expected."
So far, the government has spent £50m on improving parts of the 113.4 mile (182.5km) stretch between Inverness and Perth.
Seven sections of single carriageway amounting to 80 miles (128.7km) remain to be upgraded to dual carriageway.
They are Luncarty to Pass of Birnam, Pass of Birnam to Ballinluig, Pitlochry to Killiecrankie, Killicranky to Glen Garry, Glen Garry to Crubenmore, Crubenmore to Slochd and Tomatin to Moy.
Labour MSP Richard Baker said the SNP were "simply re-announcing" what was already known about the programme and the work would still not be completed until 2025.
Scottish Liberal Democrat MSP Jim Hume said completing the project would be a "mammoth task" that was necessary and should be done as quickly as possible.
SNP MSP Dave Thompson has welcomed the plan to change the Kincraig overtaking lane to dual carriageway.
Scottish government spending so far £10.4m dual carriageway section at Crubenmore
£2.7m structural maintenance scheme at Ralia
£3.2m Bankfoot junction improvement
£2.85m Carrbridge improvement
£15m Ballinluig grade separate junction improvement
The A9's entire length runs from Thurso in Caithness to Bridge of Allan, near Stirling.
North of Inverness, £220,000 is to be spent on designing improvements to Berriedale Braes in Caithness.
Highland Council, transport body Hitrans, Transport Scotland and the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority, through its involvement with the Dounreay nuclear site, will fund the design work.
Where the money will come from to cover the £2.3m construction project has still to be identified.
Figures made public earlier this month by Tory MSP Murdo Fraser suggest more people died on the A9 between 2006 and 2010 than on any other Scottish route.
Mr Fraser, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, had asked Transport Minister Keith Brown for figures on the 20 roads with the highest number of accidents and fatalities.
There were 67 fatalities and 1,206 accidents involving injuries on the A9 between 2006 and 2010.
Following the latest government announcement on the road, Mr Fraser said: "No one expects the A9 to be dualled overnight but the sooner we start dualling the road, the sooner we will see a road fit for the 21st Century.
"We now need to have the ambition to bring forward the completion date as 2025 is too long to wait."By Jason Sattler
Tesla Motors has lined up $40 million in convertible debt financing to accelerate production of its all-electric Roadster sports car, a move that boosts a cash balance that had dwindled to just $9 million.
The Silicon Valley startup says it received convertible debt commitments from most of its current major investors. The infusion of cash will help Tesla weather rough economic times that have prompted it to announce layoffsand delay production of a forthcoming four-door sedan codenamed Model S. Beyond ramping up production of the Roadster, Tesla will use the cash to expand its electric-drivetrain supply business and continue developing the sedan, which is slated for production in 2011.
"Forty million is significantly more than we need," company CEO Elon Musk said in a statement released today. "However, the board, investors and I felt it was important to have significant cash reserves."
The infusion of cash comes not a moment too soon for a company that, like everyone else in the auto industry, is being hit hard by the economic meltdown.
When an expected $100 million in financing fell through last month, Tesla announced it would lay off an undisclosed number of employees, delay Model S and shutter its Detroit office. The announcement proved that even the hottest startup in Silicon Valley is not immune to a recession, and former employees started muttering about Tesla's imminent death. Tesla has delivered no more than 50 Roadsters since production started in March despite having received more than 1,200 orders. Some naysayers wonder if Tesla will make good on the deliveries.
Musk answered that question Friday when he announced a new round of funding and told
Reuters the company will fulfill every Roadster even if the money needed to do so must come from his pocket. "I am personally standing behind delivering the cars and the deposits for the company," Musk said. He could do it, too — the South African native founded and sold two Internet companies — Zip2 and
PayPal. With a reported fortune somewhere around $200 million, Musk could personally afford around 1,835 Roadsters at $109,000 a pop. Still, these are tough times for the auto industry, and Tesla is no exception. Musk has made it clear to Uncle Sam that he'll be in line with the Big Three looking for guaranteed loans to stay afloat. But you've gotta wonder if Musk's deep pockets, $49 million in cash and a federal loan will be enough. Musk is betting on yes. If things go his way, the 2009 Roadster could be the first in a long line of classic battery-powered luxury vehicles.
Or Tesla could end up just another victim of circumstance in the Silicon Valley dead pool. Then the completed
Roadsters will just be collectibles, "man and his dream" relics of a car company whose vision and prices might've been a little too green to survive a global economic meltdown.
Photo courtesy Tesla MotorsThe biggest story that came from the recent Black Hat conference in Las Vegas was the discovery of a major iPhone security flaw that enabled hackers to take over the handset.
This has now been patched, but it has overshadowed another serious problem discovered during the conference.
Hacker Moxie Marlinspike discovered a new way to defeat SSL encryption, which could leave common web apps such as online banking vulnerable to attack.
After initial discoveries at a previous Black Hat event, Marlinspike revealed more vulnerabilities in SSL which our resident security blogger Davey Winder called “really rather worrying”.
As Winder describes in his blog post, Marlinspike revealed how man-in-the-middle attacks could fool web browsers and email clients into thinking fake sites were legitimate.
This was courtesy of vulnerabilities in SSL, allowing somebody to intercept traffic with what Marlinspike called a null-termination certificate.
Matt Hampton, chief technological officer at Imerja, said: "It's not just something that can happen with a web browser. Something else needs to have been done beforehand.
He added: "Either a virus or malware has been downloaded on a [targeted user's] machine that has changed the configuration, so the named servers have been changed."
This could mean that a targeted user is pointed to a server where the attacker has created fake web pages, which could come from a location as far away as China or Russia.
"Currently if a user clicked on that link they would get a warning, because the browser doesn't trust the certificate," he added.
"If [the attacker] has managed to install a null-termination certificate, they won't get the warning. It's going to hide the fact that things have been changed."
This could allow attackers to steal passwords or create fake online banking sites where they could steal credit card details.
Firefox 3.5 is currently protected against the attack, but not earlier versions. Chrome and IE8 are not.
The conference also revealed a hacking attack by researcher Dino Dai Zovi that could allow criminals to take control of Apple computers and steal scrambled data.
There was also a detailed report on Russian cybercrime, with a claim that Eastern European mobsters are justifying their crimes by hiding it behind extreme nationalism and anti-western sentiment.
There was even a presentation on lockpicking forensics, as interest in physical security has become an extension of the growing number of people interested in computer security.
The hacker community is thriving, and another hacker convention in the Defcon conference is currently taking place in Las Vegas.
Reports revealed that somebody tried to hit Defcon attendees this week with a fake ATM placed in the Rivera hotel, which is playing host to the annual event.
It was apparently recording the card details and PIN on anybody trying to use it, but the criminals involved probably didn't bank on it ending up centre stage of a hacker-focused security event.Steve Smith stopped to help Don Austin get into his home after he was released from the hospital, then returned to build him a wheelchair ramp.
After spending days in the hospital, Jennifer Austin was just happy to be heading home after her husband Don underwent a partial leg amputation.But as they reached the front door, Don quickly realized he had not yet regained the strength or balance he needed to hop up their front steps with his crutches. Defeated, Don sat down on the front steps - and Jennifer wasn't strong enough to help him back up.They didn't know what to do next, but then a stranger driving by saw them struggling and circled back around. A man named Steve pulled up and asked if he could help, then lifted Don up and helped him into the house and onto the couch. Calling him an "angel," Jennifer was stunned by his random act of kindness."I hope he realizes how much his thoughtful act is appreciated. He was a hero today, and we are so grateful that he was willing to stop and take the time to help people he has never met before," she wrote on Facebook.But Steve Smith's work wasn't done yet. As it turns out, he was a welder, too. He returned to their house the next day - with some extra hands - and built a wheelchair ramp to the Austin's front door."Brought Don, his mom, his nurse and myself to tears," Jennifer wrote on Facebook. "We just couldn't believe it. Wow. To be on the receiving end of such kindness is so humbling."----------It was the first time he won a game at the buzzer. It was not the first time he made that move. And it certainly won't be the last.
The Milwaukee Bucks' Giannis Antetokounmpo hit a 17-foot, step-back jumper at Madison Square Garden to beat the New York Knicks, 105-104, on Wednesday. It was the latest highlight in the development of the NBA's next superstar, a 22-year-old with a freakish combination of length and athleticism. But while many of Antetokounmpo's other highlights (like his dunk from just inside the elbow earlier in the fourth quarter) are more about his natural gifts, the game-winner was more about his willingness to work.
"I work on that shot a lot," Antetokounmpo said afterward.
It's not just the shot. It's playing in the post, the latest stage of Antetokounmpo's evolution. For a young player with perimeter skills -- Antetokounmpo is a point forward like LeBron James -- playing with your back to the basket is initially uncomfortable. But Antetokounmpo wants to be a star and he's been willing to get uncomfortable in order to get better.
In the middle of last season, the Bucks started putting the ball in Antetokounmpo's hands more often. But it wasn't just about making him a ball-handler on the perimeter. Kidd wanted to get Antetokounmpo on the block, where he could get a shot off no matter who was guarding him.
"Looking at some of the star players in this league, the post is where they make their hay," Kidd said. "I played with Dirk [Nowitzki] in Dallas, you look at KG, you look at Rasheed [Wallace], guys who are that long, being able to turn around and shoot over guys. You can't block their shot. You just hope they miss."If there’s a God, he waited too goddamn long.
u.$. eques, and Grand Ole Man of the carpet bombing, John McCain, has been diagnosed with (hopefully terminal) cancer.
The Butcher of Belgrade, the Crown Prince of Kabul, the Benefactor of Baghdad, the plutocratic/plutonium pencil-pusher extraordinaire, who has for decades appropriated monies for, cheered at, and justified every u.$. intervention, every life destroyed by u.$. aggression, is finally meeting his maker (which one might be forgiven for mistaking for a taffy-puller and a nest of yellow-jackets, ’cause how else do you just look like that?) and sadly not at the hands of the world masses (unless hating people to death is a thing, in which case I may have killed Joan Rivers).
The Mayo Clinic announced Wednesday that the 80-year-old (and therefore unlikely to survive, thank the fucking saints) was diagnosed with a glioblastoma, a “very aggressive” type of brain tumor (stop, you’re making me giddy!) Naturally, all the parasites and baby-killers poured out their get-well-soons, from the Obamas to the Orange Duce himself, but I assure you, dear reader, it wont work. Evil as they are, they aren’t literal necromancers, which is about the only thing that can save Johnny B Dead now.
While we’re at it, why doesn’t McCain take that ghoul Carter, who actually has repeatedly defied my (and the progressive worlds’) hopes several times, kicking and screaming down to hell with him? Who’s next? Oh, there are so many aging imperialist scum-bags, virtually every week from now on will be a bonanza. Kohl kicked the bucket last month. What’re the odds on Kissinger? Come on, Bush Sr.!
Of course, waiting for nature to pull the rug out from under these flesheaters cannot compare to their meeting justice at the hands of the broad masses, but we take what we can get.
The only question that remains is what circle of hell the powers that be had to dive to in order to find a disease more malignant than the man himself.Thursday night’s game against Arizona State was supposed to be the first true road test for No. 2 Oregon. Any questions leading up to the game about how the Ducks would respond — redshirt freshman quarterback Marcus Mariota in particular — were answered about two minutes in. A Kenjon Barner fumble on the Ducks’ first offensive possession was recovered by the Sun Devils, and Taylor Kelly threw a 28-yard touchdown to receiver Kevin Ozier seven seconds later to give ASU a 7-0 lead.
That was about the only thing that went right for ASU. Barner responded with a 71-yard touchdown run on Oregon’s next possession. After that, it was all Oregon all the way to halftime (which metaphorically signaled the end of the game). The entire second half was essentially garbage time and the Ducks went on to beat ASU 43-21.
It’s tough not to be impressed with Oregon, especially on defense. Say what you will about the Ducks’ schedule, but it’s not like Alabama has played anyone worthy of being called a quality win either. The Tide’s best win so far is the season-opener against Michigan, and the Wolverines haven’t exactly lived up to the preseason hype.
But Alabama’s a good football team. So is Oregon, and the two programs have a lot more in common than you might think. Nick Saban and Chip Kelly may run different schemes, but they have instilled a similar identity in their respective programs that’s proven successful over the past few years. That, and they have great players.
Does that mean those two will meet in the BCS championship at year’s end? Not necessarily; there’s a whole second half of a football season left to be played. The good news is that contenders like Oregon, Alabama, Kansas State, Florida and even Notre Dame all have key games remaining on their schedules. We’ll find out over the next six weeks who’s for real and who isn’t.
If Oregon keeps playing the rest of the season like it did tonight, though, there’s no reason to think the Ducks won’t be seriously in the BCS championship conversation once again. And they’ll deserve to be there.The long-term process of turning Hindu temples and institutions over to the control of Hindus themselves ought to be the second major item in the social agenda of the Modi sarkar. There are many legitimate questions about who would manage the temples and how corruption can be avoided. Local temple committees drawn from and reflecting the composition of the devotees who worship at the temple can provide governance, ensure democratic participation of locals, and be subject to filing financial information like all non-profits. The Sikh Shiromani Gurudwara Prabandak Committee and the Islamic Wakf boards already provide a ready model for temple management. These bodies may not be perfect, but no one questions their right, or that of various missionary orders, in managing their respective places of worship. Claiming that the government must manage temples makes the implicitly bigoted assumption that Hindus alone are incapable of managing their own temples.Augmented reality has been a staple of science fiction since the dawn of computing. From Terminator to Iron Man to Total Recall, goggles and robotic faceplates that allow information to be overlaid on the physical world have provided a major advantage for whoever possessed them—good or evil. Now, the prospect that we’ll all have access to AR tech in the future is looking better than ever as military technology bleeds into everyday life.
For the past six years, the scientists at Applied Research Associates (ARA) have been working with the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) to develop an augmented reality system called ARC4. Imagine the name of your bartender, the height of the building in the distance, the location of your car, all floating right before your eyes. They’re finally getting ready to bring ARC4 to the rest of the world, but what will it take for a piece of software designed for soldiers to make the transition to the sidewalk?
ARC4 isn’t a pair of sci-fi glasses; in fact, it’s not a hardware system at all. Rather, it’s is a software system that accepts inputs from a sensor module made of cameras, satellite information, and head tracking technology, and fuses it all into a display that can be overlaid onto someone’s field of vision. Functionally, the end product makes walking around look a lot like playing a first-person shooter game like Halo. In the military, it provides real-time information to soldiers about their environments, even if their vision is obstructed. The system can even show them people and objects around corners and behind hills to prepare users as they move through a battlefield.
There are several commercial augmented reality projects that have been in the works for years, from Google Glass to holographic goggles. What the ARA team thinks it has done better than the rest. though, is create something that can keep up with a person’s field of view in real time.
“When you move your head you want those icons to be very in-tune with your head motions,” says Dave Roberts, the Military Operations and Sensing Systems leader at ARA. If the lag between a user’s head movements and the layer of information overlaid on their vision is too long, the system becomes difficult to use—imagine turning your head and the icon that labeled a building didn’t update until a few seconds later, leaving a building icon floating in the middle of a field.
What ARC4 now needs in order to enter the commercial world is to be coupled with a hardware system that has all those sensor elements. In a military setting, ARA has used hardware like BAE System’s Q-Warrior display—a large, expensive device that fits in on the battlefield but never takes off in a store. But the ARC4 systems don’t have to be installed on huge devices, says Allan York, ARA’s senior vice president. “Essentially, in a package the size of a sugar cube, you can have the sensing components necessary.”
But finding hardware like that is tricky. Jenn Carter, senior scientist at ARA, says that there aren’t a ton of options for integrating the ARC4 into something that’s easy to wear. “Hardware needs to catch up with what we’ve done,” she’s said.
Paul Travers, CEO and founder of Vuzix, a hardware company that’s developed displays with DARPA, said he’s been impressed with ARC4’s capacity for real-time processing, but cautions that if it wants to live off the battlefield, its creators can’t be too picky. “The software and the hardware aren’t really being made by many companies. If there’s a piece of hardware that does the job, there’s not really a choice—you have to try to use it.”
This lack of options has both ends hungry to partner with one another. “I’m going to give the ARA folks a call when we get off the phone,” Travers joked. When asked about a particular hardware setup, York said, “If it’s another display mechanism, then we like it.”
This hardware question could be the key to ARC4’s non-military success. Unlike soldiers, who have to wear whatever their commanders tell them to whether it’s fashionable or not, customers and workers will simply take off devices that they don’t like. Travers says this has happened before: when workers in warehouses were asked to wear displays that they felt weren’t actually helping them, they simply removed them and left state-of-the-art devices sitting on the shelves all day because they were making their jobs more cumbersome.
Realistically, nobody expects a system like ARC4 to jump straight from the battlefield to the nearest Best Buy. Currently, the team is working to understand which problems augmented reality can solve by using situational information. Some of the most obvious contenders are emergency workers, firefighters and construction workers. “It’s great for coordination of rescue operations,” says Carter. “You can see where people are even if your view is obstructed.”
The ARC4 team does have their sights set on a broader, product targeted at the average consumer eventually. “Tweets, messages, people tagging information, you’d be able to see all that information overlaid in your real world,” said Carter.
And of course there’s the video game realm, where devices like the Oculus Rift are pushing the limits of virtual reality. “You could be an individual going to the paintball range and play by yourself,” says York. The system could generate your opponents and scatter them across the landscape waiting for you. Maybe someday, the ARC4 system could even turn your walk to work into a game of Halo.
These kinds of options are endless, Roberts says, at least on their end. “It’s software, you can do anything.”I listened today for a couple of hours as the last of the four who were held up at the Oregon Wildlife refuge left. It was an intense time as David Fry, after almost two hours, came out with his friends. However, behind the scenes, things are taking a very strange twist. In an exclusive interview with Jason Van Tatenhove, media director for Oathkeepers, he told Freedom Outpost that there have been reports of 68 warrants against Americans who stood alongside Cliven Bundy in Nevada in 2014 and several involved in standing between the Bureau of Land Management and the Sugar Pine Mine.
Van Tatenhove said that Oathkeepers were in the process of seeking to confirm the number of indictments and may have that information available later on Thursday's broadcast of NorthWest Liberty News with Jim White and Tim Brown at 4pm EST.
"We are trying to verify this information through intelligence sources with deep contacts DHS and whatnot… there are 68 new warrants stemming back through Bundy Ranch and the other mine operations," Van Tatenhove said. "We're trying to reach out to the FBI to confirm."
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Van Tatenhove has an interest in these warrants as he stood at Bundy Ranch in 2014 against the BLM siege with the Bundys.
Additionally, during our interview, Jason was able to provide me with current information. In addition to Cliven Bundy being arrested in Oregon on Wednesday evening, Blaine Cooper was also arrested on Thursday morning in Springdale, Utah. Cooper, as you may recall, referred to Senator John McCain as a traitor during a townhall meeting.
If that was not enough, reports are that Victoria Sharp's family's house has been surrounded by agents. Sharp, as you may recall, provided eyewitness testimony of the murder of LaVoy Finicum and also said that over one hundred shots were fired into their vehicle in an attempt to kill the occupants.
Two other persons were arrested in Mesquite on Wednesday. From the information that Van Tatenhove shared with me, "Skipper," who has been at Bundy Ranch as Cliven Bundy's bodyguard since October and another man referred to as "Joker Jay" met in a Wal-mart parking lot around 9:10pm on Wednesday. Sources tell us that the men arrived in separate vehicles and were tackled by FBI agents.
According to the information passed onto me by Van Tatenhove, "They were handcuffed and put in separate vehicles and taken to the Holiday Inn parking lot where there were more FBI cars. Agents in full tactical "battle rattle" were present. Skipper was questioned and gave as short answers as possible."
Skipper was released, but Jay was charged with impeding officers at the Oregon refuge. Jay was then transported to Las Vegas Metro and is currently being held in the Henderson, Nevada detention center, according to a message Skipper received from Jay's sister.
All of this is coming down pretty fast as Cliven Bundy's flight into Oregon on Wednesday was prefaced by his call for the American people, patriots and militia to "wake up!" because "it's time!"
UPDATE: Jason will be interviewing Stewart Rhodes of Oathkeepers on his radio show concerning a special communication of what has taken place in the past 48 hours. Tune in at ThePatriot.report."If we don’t get any rain between now and next summer, there’s potentially several thousand megawatts of generation that wouldn’t be available and would be affected," said Kent Saathoff, an official with the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, the grid operator, in an interview on Thursday. (To provide context, ERCOT manages about 84,400 megawatts of generation capacity. Also, the coal-plant closures and changes announced earlier this week by the power generator Luminant amount to 1,300 megawatts.)
So far, Saathoff said, "it’s not a major issue." But if no rain falls by spring, "we will be very concerned at that point," he said.
The Texas electric grid experienced severe strains this summer amid record-breaking heat.
Nuclear, coal and natural gas plants need vast amounts of water to cool equipment — which is why the South Texas Project, for example, has large reservoirs on-site. Much of the water used by power plants is discharged back into ponds or rivers after it is used for cooling.
The drought, already the worst single-year dry spell in recorded Texas history, seems set to continue, given the return of La Niña, an intermittent Pacific Ocean phenomenon that generally makes Texas drier.
This summer, one large plant had to reduce operations at night so that it could operate fully during the day when the power is most needed, Saathoff said. There were two issues: extreme heat made it harder for the water to cool down enough to be discharged, and the drought reduced the volume of cooler water available in a reservoir that would have helped reduce the temperature of the discharged water.
A number of plants, Saathoff said, are already "piping in water from nearby rivers that they may not normally get water from," especially in East Texas near the Trinity and Sabine rivers.
"Unfortunately, you can’t manufacture water," Saathoff said, adding that the plants that have been reported as being "in the most jeopardy," should the drought continue, include a coal plant and several gas plants. One option for mitigating the situation, he said, could be to revive mothballed power plants to help handle the demand on the electric grid.
How are individual plants preparing? "We have the water we need for this year, and well into next year," said Dave Knox, a spokesman for NRG, a large electricity generator. He said his company will be "working with the river authorities to ensure that we have the water supply we need."
Clara Tuma, a spokeswoman for the Lower Colorado River Authority, a major water supplier, said that power plants and other large water customers, like cities, could be subject to mandatory cutbacks if the drought gets bad enough. Right now, she said, "There is no mandatory curtailment for LCRA customers at this time, but if the drought continues it is likely we will reach the stage of the water management plan where cutbacks are required."
The LCRA also operates some power plants of its own. Said Tuma: "LCRA anticipates it will have sufficient water to operate its power plants throughout the drought, and we do not anticipate a reduction in our planned power production because of water availability."OTTAWA — A Canadian woman was turned back at the U.S. border after information about her suicide attempt was inappropriately shared with American officials through an RCMP-administered database, the federal privacy watchdog says.
The incident is just one illustration of how government agencies and private businesses must do a better job of safeguarding personal data in the digital era, privacy commissioner Daniel Therrien said Thursday.
Reforms are needed to strengthen the federal privacy law that covers government agencies as well as the companion law for private-sector organizations, said Therrien, who wants new order-making powers and the ability to levy fines, bringing Canada in line with many provincial and international counterparts.
“It is not enough for the government to say that privacy is important while taking no systemic measures to protect it,” the commissioner said in his annual report |
nd alert | PICS: Traps set]
Cynthia Mullvain said she stayed calm in the face of danger and was seemingly unfazed by her close encounter with the snake that everyone has been searching for since last month.
"How scary is that, knowing that you were so close to this highly venomous snake?" News 6 asked.
"Unfortunately, that doesn't scare me," Mullvain said.
An escaped king cobra is caught in Ocoee.
"I didn't see it, I heard it," Mullvain added. "It only hissed when I put something in the dryer.
Mullvain said she was finishing up a load of laundry when she heard hissing coming from behind the dryer, which made her remember reports of a king cobra that escaped from reality TV star Mike Kennedy's home less than a half-of-a-mile away.
"Not the first time, but about the time I heard the third one (hiss) I started to wonder," she said.
She called Orange County Animal Services, which confirmed that it was the missing snake.
Mullvain said she would like to see extra measures taken to prevent another escape.
"It doesn't bother me, but he needs to do (more) and improve his control of the animals," Mullvain said.
She said she's glad the snake was found without injuries and is thankful for the relief it's brought to the neighborhood.
Kennedy, a cast member of the Discovery Channel's "Airplane Repo," was in court Wednesday, accused of waiting more than two days before reporting the escape of the snake to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. He is seeking a jury trial.Signup to receive a daily roundup of the top LGBT+ news stories from around the world
The US Department of Justice has rolled back support for the transgender community as it filed a series of briefing which undermine protections.
A day after Jeff Sessions was confirmed as the attorney general, the DOJ filed a request to halt the order from under the Obama administration that protected transgender students.
The order supported trans rights, especially the notion of being able to use bathrooms and changing rooms that correspond with their gender identity.
The order came about after Judge Reed O’Connor blocked trans-affirming education guidelines from being implemented.
However, in response to this ruling the DOJ submitted a request that the halt in the implementation of the guidance would only apply in the states led by Texas that sought the injunction, rather than nationwide.
Now, Trump’s admission has undone the agreement by announcing that the department would withdraw this request, thus jeopardising trans students across America.
President of the Human Rights Campaign, Chad Griffin, condemned the move as “heartbreaking”.
“After being on the job for less than 48 hours, Attorney General Jeff Sessions has signalled his intent to undermine the equal dignity of transgender students,” Griffin said.
“Transgender students are entitled to the full protection of the United States Constitution and our federal nondiscrimination laws.
“It is heartbreaking and wrong that the agency tasked with enforcing civil rights laws would instead work to subvert them for political interests.
“President Trump must immediately reverse course and direct the DOJ to uphold guidance protecting transgender students,” he added.
Rachel B. Tiven, CEO of Lambda Legal, called Jeff Session’s confirmation “a travesty.”
“The chief lawyer of the United States is now someone who has devoted his whole life to obstructing civil rights,” she said. “I have personally seen him be rude and dismissive toward LGBT families.”ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. - A bizarre bust in east Orange County ended like the punchline to a joke: four men, four deer, one MINI Cooper.
It's the last thing you'd expect to find outside your rural home -- a bright yellow Mini Cooper, shell casings and blood on the ground.
"I heard just two loud booms," said Alicia Diggs, who heard the gunshots between 3 and 4 in the morning Jan. 21 and called 911.
When Diggs woke up, she found something even stranger. Deputies arrived and peered into the fogged up car. They found the mix of four grown men and four dead deer and the tiny car.
"That is crazy," said neighbor John Block. "My first thought was it must have been a stretch MINI Cooper because there's no way it was a MINI Cooper."
"I would have personally probably picked a truck instead of a two-door MINI Coop, with four guys in it," said Diggs, as she wondered how they all planned to get inside the car.
While neighbors struggled doing the math, something else didn't add up. The car had somehow stalled.
A Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission report said the driver "purposely sped up and ran over" one deer and the car got "stuck on top of the buck deer and stalled."
"I think that's just overkill," laughed Block.
About the only thing that makes sense is how it all began. The men said they went to a bonfire party the night before, then went on an illegal, out-of-season 3 a.m. joy ride and deer hunt. Then, they all passed out. When they woke up deputies found pot in their car and more than one reason to send two of the men to jail.
"I guess it would have possibly made sense," said Diggs. "I personally still would have never thought my girlfriend's MINI Coop would have been the coolest thing to shoot some deer in."
Ronnie Doby, of Haines City, and Thomas Vanzant, of Lake Alfred, have court dates next month.
Copyright 2015 by ClickOrlando.com. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.About
People Like Me is a location-based application designed for the LGBT population which aims to help individuals in their quest for ‘voting with their dollars’ on businesses that demonstrate equality towards their patrons. Its primary objective is to help individuals of this community to identify and locate LGBT-friendly business establishments based on both their own experiences as well as referencing the experiences of others. Ways in which this application can serve the LGBT population include:
provide location-based information to nearby LGBT-friendly establishments (as identified by other members of the LGBT population)
create awareness of LGBT-friendly businesses in one's local community
serve as a guide for LGBT-friendly business establishments when traveling
People Like Me is meant to provide a portal in which the LGBT community can speak their mind and share experiences about where they will (and will not) spend their money in a particular community and why. The idea is broken down into the simplest form by remembering this piece of common traveling advice: “When you want to know the best places to eat, ask the locals”. So, in this case, if you want to know the most LGBT-friendly businesses, consult other LGBT patron experiences via People Like Me.
I'm seeking funding in order to make this app a reality. Since so much of my time and experience is centered around design, I do not have the necessary skill-set to fully program/develop the back-end to this idea on my own. There are costs involved with setting up databases, server space, hosting and security concerns, on top of the programming aspect, that all take money to make a reality.
Development
Jason is an ally to the LGBT community and very interested in mobile and web applications. He has spent many hours talking and laying out ideas with me and getting me to really think through the development process, all free of charge. Now that we're at a point where we have a plan in place, I need to be able to compensate him for the hours he will be putting into the app's development over the coming months. I will be working right along side him as the designer and researcher so that we can deliver a stellar product when we're done.
We will design and develop both a desktop and mobile-friendly version of the application and our goal is to have it complete by June, just in time for Pride month.
You can read more about Jason’s background and credentials I have spent a few months searching for someone who would be committed to this type of project, and that's how I met Jason.Jason is an ally to the LGBT community and very interested in mobile and web applications. He has spent many hours talking and laying out ideas with me and getting me to really think through the development process, all free of charge. Now that we're at a point where we have a plan in place, I need to be able to compensate him for the hours he will be putting into the app's development over the coming months. I will be working right along side him as the designer and researcher so that we can deliver a stellar product when we're done.We will design and develop both a desktop and mobile-friendly version of the application and our goal is to have it complete by June, just in time for Pride month.You can read more about Jason’s background and credentials on our website
Hosting We plan to utilize a cloud-hosting solution for this application, so that it can grow and scale according to the needs of the users. This will also allow us to expand on the app in the future as I will continue in the design research stages with users, continually working at making this app the best it can be for the LGBT population. It is also a more reliable solution should there be a large number of users on the application at any given time. I want you to have the best possible experience with the app, and after doing some research on reliable hosting, I believe this is the right choice for this type of application. Security If you're logging into an application, you want your data to be secure, right? This is another cost associated with development in securing the application's domain and users. I'm budgeting for a 2-year protection plan in the project funding goal.
What Have You Done So Far?
Much of the design work has been completed and mocked up, as shown in some of my sketches and mock ups below. User testing and research was completed as part of my program requirements, so the app is at a point where it is ready to be ‘built’ and put out there for users. Like any product, the more users there are, the more feedback will start to show ways in which it can be improved. I plan to keep in constant communication with groups of users to continue the iteration process of making a great product.
Initial Sketches
Early Wireframes
Prototype Screenshots
So where does $10,000 go?
This is a breakdown of the costs involved of building this app:
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I also have to thank Chris Irvin and Matt Radick for their help in shooting and producing the video you see above. It's hard to shoot a nice looking video of yourself and these guys were invaluable to helping me put something together. Thanks, guys!It’s not just congressional Republicans who will be coming for women’s reproductive rights come 2017. State-level Republicans have big plans, too. They’ll be adding to the list of states banning abortions after 20 weeks, or particular forms of abortion, and new, creative ways of making it more difficult for women to obtain legal medical care will sweep the nation:
The first post-election votes on abortion rights are likely to take place this week in Ohio, where legislators are meeting in a lame-duck session. The state Senate has already passed measures that would ban abortions after 20 weeks and require abortion clinics to bury or cremate remains of terminated fetuses; the state House, also controlled by Republicans, is likely to pass those measures this week.
Sue Swayze, who heads the National Pro-Life Women's Caucus for the anti-abortion rights Susan B. Anthony List, said the next big trend will be a bevy of measures requiring burial or cremation of aborted fetuses.
Mind you, in more than 90 percent of cases, that’s a requirement for burial or cremation of a fetus that weighs less than an ounce. In addition to Ohio, Missouri, Utah, and Texas are expected to have votes on anti-abortion measures. But not all attacks on women’s right to choose will involve votes:
Some abortion rights supporters say they worry most about a new tactic used by some Republican-led states: Those states have begun crafting rules and regulations through agencies that oversee abortion providers and medical clinics, alongside legislation aimed at codifying those rules, in an effort to stop procedures even before a legislature has acted.
While organizations like Planned Parenthood will continue to battle in legislatures and in the courts to preserve the right to choose—and access to care—we can expect to see a lot more women forced to carry unwanted or unhealthy pregnancies to term, and to see a lot more women dying as they turn, desperate, to unsafe illegal abortions.Indiana’s law enforcement agencies have conducted a high number of raids on dispensaries and their CBD products, making it difficult for patients to obtain treatment.
After approving highly restrictive medical marijuana legislation earlier this year, lawmakers from the conservative state of Indiana have surprised many by sparking a more expansive dialogue about legalization. Both sides of the political aisle are beginning to acknowledge the benefits of pot, and one Republican representative is even pushing a measure that would extend the system beyond CBD-only products.
However, despite the state’s limited medical cannabis regulations now set in place, local law enforcement agencies have continued to disparage dispensaries and patients in need. Just five weeks after the legislation was passed, police confiscated more than 3,000 CBD products from nearly 60 stores across the state. Although these crackdowns were eventually halted in June, it was primarily due to concerns over the legality of their busts.
Currently, Indiana’s medical marijuana law is only inclusive for those suffering from epilepsy, but police interference has made CBD oil more difficult for both patients and parents of kids suffering from the condition to obtain without fearing prosecution. Many Hoosier State advocates have conveyed disappointment over the way legalization has been handled by law enforcement, diminishing their hope that legislation would make it easier for epilepsy patients to obtain medication.
According to an email obtained by a local CBS news syndicate, one police commander stated that they thought the law allowed them to confiscate any cannabis product not used to treat epilepsy. Some lawmakers have argued against this point, claiming that CBD-based products have been legal since 2014, after a law that removed industrial hemp from the controlled substance list was passed.
At the moment, the state’s Attorney General Curtis Hill is reviewing the situation, and plans to issue a formal opinion on the legality of CBD products in the near future. For now, it seems like the cascade of police crackdowns in Indiana have come to a standstill, but the level of discomfort that both dispensaries and patients are both facing will likely remain high.NEW DELHI: The BJP government’s ‘Make in India’ initiative could get top billing in the 2015-16 Union Budget with tax breaks and other measures for several sectors. Make in India is the centerpiece of the Narendra Modi administration’s bid to revive manufacturing activities and create millions of jobs. With the Chinese economy slowing, India senses an opportunity in the industrial sector.A blueprint for the 25 identified sectors was presented to PM Modi late last month by the secretaries cutting across departments. The proposals, running into several pages, have been circulated to ministries and the budget is expected to give a final stance on several of the fiscal proposals. The tax proposals are part of the one-year roadmap identified by ministries.While some of the moves will boost domestic production and reduce imports, they will also make purchases lighter on your pocket. For instance, there is a recommendation to halve the excise duty on footwear to 6%. Similarly, the commerce department has suggested a reduction in the customs duty on gold and silver from 10% to 2%, a proposal which will have to be weighed in the context of the overall import bill and its impact on the exchange rate.The food processing ministry has suggested that brand building should be treated the same way as R&D and 200% of expenditure be allowed as deduction. It also wants sops on primary processing of perishables to cut down wastages, which will help check price swings.For defence, where the government is seeking to reduce the dependence on imports, the ministry wants a tax holiday for local manufacturing and further sops for R&D.The department of information technology has also suggested income tax benefits to attract electronics and telecom equipment manufacturers into the country and reform the inverted duty structure where the customs tariff on finished goods is lower than those on components. In the run up to the elections, Modi had suggested that local electronics manufacturing will not just create jobs but also help narrow the current account deficit.Again to cut down on foreign exchange outgo, the civil aviation ministry has suggested incentivizing maintenance, repair and operations (MROs) be exempted from service tax, while also proposing that airline operators be allowed to issue tax-free infrastructure bonds to help raise funds.Similarly, the shipping ministry wants a specialized financing window for ship-building and repair, besides easier tax rules for the sector. Railways too want “time-bound” tax sops through excise holiday, although it has not spelt out the details.For micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME), which are seen as the mainstay of the Make in India initiative, the ministry has proposed that there should be direct tax exemptions during the first three year of operations, a move that may be tough to implement.In case of the petrochemicals sector there is a proposal to boost local manufacturing by having higher import duty on finished products and low rates on feedstock. For metals and cement it has been suggested that the customs duty on steel products be increased, while allowing duty-free import of raw materials and ore – moves that will discourage imports.There are also demands for budgetary allocation for sectors such as biotechnology, where an allocation of Rs 1,000 crore has been sought for bio-manufacturing and another Rs 750 crore for scaling up Indian biotech start-ups and SMEs. For mining an annual budgetary support of Rs 500 crore has been sought to encourage exploration. The tourism ministry has demanded an annual budget of Rs 3,000 crore, compared to a little under Rs 2,000 currently.The petroleum ministry has demanded targeted fiscal measures through interest subvention and long-term funding for manufacturing clusters from the Oil Industry Development Cess.(RNS) At its heartwarming core, Christmas is the story of a birth: the tender relationship between a new mother and her newborn child.
Indeed, that maternal bond between the Virgin Mary and the baby Jesus has resonated so deeply across the centuries that depicting the blessed intimacy of the first Noel has become an integral part of the Christmas industry.
Yet all the familiar scenes associated with the holy family today -- creches and church pageants, postage stamps and holiday cards -- are also missing an obvious element of the mother-child connection that modern Christians are apparently happy to do without: a breast-feeding infant.
Jesus certainly wasn't a bottle baby. So what happened to Mary's breasts? It's a centuries-old story, but one that has a relatively brief answer: namely, the rise of the printing press in 15th-century Europe.
With the advent of movable type, historians say, came the ability to mass-market pornography, which promoted the sexualization of women's bodies in the popular imagination. What's more, the printing press enabled the wider circulation of anatomical drawings for medical purposes, which in turn contributed to the demystification of the body. Both undermined traditional views of the body as a reflection of the divine.
The other major consequence of this new technology, of course, was the mass-marketing of the Bible and the rise of a Protestantism that encouraged a focus on the text of the Scriptures and discouraged the use of images and "Catholic" practices like devotion to the Virgin Mary and the saints.
The cultural shift was so great that even Catholics soon came to regard the breast as an "inappropriate" image for churches. Instead, the sacrifice of the cross -- the suffering Jesus -- became the dominant motif of Christianity while the Nativity was sanitized into a Hallmark card.
"Ask anybody in the street what's the primary Christian symbol and they would say the crucifixion," said Margaret Miles, author of "A Complex Delight: The Secularization of the Breast, 1350-1750," a book that traces the disappearance of the image of the breast-feeding Mary after the Renaissance.
"It was the takeover of the crucifixion as the major symbol of God's love for humanity" that supplanted the breast-feeding icon, she said. And that was a decisive shift from the earliest days of Christianity when "the virgin's nursing breast, the lactating virgin, was the primary symbol of God's love for humanity."
In fact, the oldest known image of the Virgin Mary is from a third-century fresco in a Roman catacomb that shows the infant Jesus suckling at her exposed breast.
From those early traces, the motif of "Maria Lactans," as it is called in Latin, became increasingly popular -- and increasingly graphic -- an illustration of what the Catholic writer Sandra Miesel called "the shocking fleshiness of our faith."
By the Middle Ages, the breast-feeding Mary was shown in every possible context, and "lactation miracles" and "milk shrines" proliferated across the Christian world. Mary was "the wet-nurse of salvation," as one phrase had it, offering holy succor to communities exposed to the vagaries of war and disease. Some images of St. Bernard of Clairvaux even show him kneeling in prayer before a statue of Mary, who is squirting breast milk onto his eager lips.
It was all deeply moving to believers of the day, though perhaps too much of a good thing even then. Miesel says that a century before the Reformation, St. Bernardine of Siena quipped that "Mary must have given more milk than a hundred cows."
Yet once the breast became an object of medical and sexual interest, it quickly vanished as an object of sacred desire.
Miles said she found no religious paintings of a breast-feeding Mary after 1750, even as exposed breasts became a common feature of classical, non-Christian paintings, like "Liberty Leading the People," which commemorates the French Revolution, or the Roman woman Cimon breast-feeding her starving father.
So after all this secularization and sexualization can the breast make a comeback as a religious symbol?
The potential is there. Some conservatives are pushing the nursing Jesus as a symbol for the anti-abortion movement, while believers of a more liberal bent have cited the breast-feeding Virgin Mary as an inspiration for social justice policies. And many Latino Catholics have preserved a devotion to La Virgen de la Leche, a following that could grow along with the influx of Latinos to the U.S.
Still, it's hard to imagine Christmas cards of a baby Jesus at Mary's breast arriving in mailboxes anytime soon.
Even as the number of breast-feeding mothers continues to grow, public breast-feeding is still a source of provocation more than consolation. Just recall the controversy that erupted last spring over the Time magazine cover that showed a 26-year-old mom breast-feeding her 3-year-old son -- a portrait that was inspired by images of the Madonna and Child. And women who try to suckle their infants in church are often met with hard stares rather than a friendly welcome.
Whatever the obstacles, Miles thinks it would be a good thing for the culture, and Christianity, if Maria Lactans made at least a brief return to church -- at Christmas or anytime.Kellyanne Conway.
The official Trump administration line used to be that no member of the campaign had any contact with Russia. Mike Pence: “Of course not. Why would there be any contact?” Kellyanne Conway: “Absolutely not. And I discussed that with the president-elect just last night. Those conversations never happened. I hear people saying it like it’s a fact on television. That is just not only inaccurate and false, but it’s dangerous.” Conway today has a new standard:
Kellyanne Conway on Fox News: "The goalposts have been moved. We were promised hard evidence of systemic, sustained furtive collusion." — Jennifer Jacobs (@JenniferJJacobs) July 14, 2017
The goalposts have definitely been moved here. After having heatedly denied any contact with Russians, it’s now insufficient to demonstrate that contact took place. Even demonstrating that collusion took place isn’t enough. The evidence has to be “hard” and the collusion must be “systemic, sustained,” and “furtive.”
Producing evidence that satisfies all these new conditions is definitely going to be tough. Hard evidence of systemic, furtive collusion? If it only lasted a short time, then it’s not “sustained.” Hard evidence of sustained, furtive collusion? Sorry, if only some members of Trump’s campaign were involved, then it isn’t “systemic.”
Of course “furtive” is the real trick. Remember when the New York Times discovered emails of a Trump campaign meeting held on the specific promise of collusion with Russia? Donald Trump Jr. hastily tweeted the emails, and the Trump administration hailed him for his “transparency.” So, really, whatever evidence comes to light, Trump’s people can just admit to anything they’re caught on, and then it isn’t furtive any more.Arduino Projects Arm MCU Web Contact
Programming the LPC1114
Created 19 Dec 2012, last modified: 14 May 2013
The LPC1114FN28 is a breadboard friendly MCU that most hobbyists will like and a great chip to get started in ARM embedded development.
It is sold in a DIP package and has a Bootloader installed, so programing it is very easy, requiring virtually zero supporting components.
Unlike most 32 bit MCUs it can be easily placed in a breadboard, PCB or Perfboard without having to use any special tools or equipment.
Plugging it in for programming
You don't need a fancy development kit to test your code: a simple breadboard and a USB to TTL adapter will be enough as only 5 pins are necessary for this task
Pins 21 and 22 should be connected to your power source, usually a voltage regulator, possibly a LM117, or your USB to TTL adapter 3.3V pin.
Pins 16 and 17 should be connected to your UART pins TX and RX respectively; RX on the MCU should be connected to TX on the UART and TX to RX.
Pin 24 should be connected to GND. When the MCU boots, this pin is tested and, if it is connected to GND, the program in flash memory will run. Connecting it to GND makes the chip run the boot-loader, allowing a program to be written to the MCU internal Flash memory.
Example program
Download and unzip the file vilaca.eu.lpc1114_102_led_blink.
This file is an example program that can be uploaded to the LPC1114 using the previous circuit.
It is a very simple program that uses PWM to blink a led on pin 18 every second. The led stays ON for exactly 1/2 second.
Once you upload it to the LPC1114 you can switch to the circuit bellow to run the program.
You can also download the full Keil project for this example.
Uploading the program with Flash magic
Flash magic is a free and easy to use tool that can upload program files to a large variety of microcontrollers.
Make sure you select the correct COM port where the USB to TTL UART is connected in your computer. In the screenshot above COM 5 is selected.
Flash Magic can only handle files in the.hex format and can be downloaded from: http://www.flashmagictool.com/
If you're using Linux there's a very good article on how to program this MCU using open tools at http://www.meatandnetworking.com.
Simple circuit for blinking led
The following is a simple circuit to make a led blink.
Since the MCU already has an internal oscillator very few parts are needed
Pins 18 is connected to a generic Led and resistor. I used a 330 Ω resistor for this setup.
Pins 22 and 23 should be connected to your power source.
This setup is enough to run a program blinking the LED and you can adapt it to your needs.
In this example pin 18 was selected because it is one of the timer output pins. In the sample program we set timer to do PWM with a cycle length of around 1HZ, that is one blink per second.
LPC1114 Pin reference
PIN GPIO AD Timers SPI I2C UART Other 1 PIO0_8 CT16B0_MAT0 MISO0 2 PIO0_9 CT16B0_MAT1 MOSI0 3 PIO0_10 CT16B0_MAT2 SCK0 SWCLK 4 PIO0_11 AD0 CT32B0_MAT3 5 PIO0_5 SDA 6 PIO0_6 7 VDDA 8 VSSA 9 PIO1_0 AD1 CT32B1_CAP0 10 PIO1_1 AD2 CT32B1_MAT0 11 PIO1_2 AD3 CT32B1_MAT1 12 PIO1_3 AD4 CT32B1_MAT2 SWDIO 13 PIO1_4 AD5 CT32B1_MAT3 WAKEUP 14 PIO1_5 CT32B0_CAP0 RTS 15 PIO1_6 CT32B0_MAT0 RXD 16 PIO1_7 CT32B0_MAT1 TXD 17 PIO1_8 CT16B1_CAP0 18 PIO1_9 CT16B1_MAT0 19 XTALOUT 20 XTALIN 21 VDD 22 VSS 23 PIO0_0 RESET 24 PIO0_1 CT32B0_MAT2 CLKOUT 25 PIO0_2 CT16B0_CAP0 SSEL0 26 PIO0_3 27 PIO0_4 SCL 28 PIO0_7 CTS
LPC1114 Pinout Diagram
Useful downloads
If you haven't already, you can go to the NXP website and download a free version of the Keil environment and start coding: http://www.keil.com/dd/chip/6526.htm
To upload your finished program to the MCU you can use: http://www.flashmagictool.com/
External links
NXP product page for LPC1114FN28/102 http://www.nxp.com/products/microcontrollers/cortex_m0/lpc1100_x_l/LPC1114FN28.htmlReview: Google Nexus 7 hits the 7-inch tablet sweet spot [Video]
Google also fitted the Nexus 7 with Jelly Bean, its latest version of Android, making it the first device to run the new operating system, and it runs very smoothly. Jelly Bean includes Google's improved Voice Search and the new Google Now cards. Voice Search works great -- our videographer's jaw dropped when I asked how the Dodgers were doing and it told me their last score and their next game -- and toward the end of the day, Google Now showed me a card displaying about how long it would take me to get home from work, making the Nexus 7 a helpful assistant.
The Nexus 7, which will begin shipping to users and start selling at GameStop later this month, is powered by an Nvidia Tegra 3 1.2 Ghz quad-core processor and has a 12-core Nividia GPU. Put that together with its crisp 1,280-by-800 pixel resolution HD display and you have a tablet that was made for playing games and watching high-definition movies.
Google's first tablet is a great portable device packed with power that's perfect for media consumption and gaming. Starting at $200 and with a ton of bonus content tossed in, the Asus-manufactured Nexus 7 is an excellent purchase if you've been thinking of getting a high-quality tablet without the price of an iPad.
The Nexus 7 isn't the first tablet to try a 7-inch screen. It's just the first one to get it right.
But besides the interior, the build of the device also adds to what makes it so nice. The Nexus 7 is thinner than the Kindle Fire, its biggest competitor in the 7-inch market, and is easy to hold. You can wrap your entire hand around it, and unlike the iPad, portrait-mode typing is doable and, in fact, helpful.
And though the Nexus 7 gives you a screen that lets you take in more than you can on a smartphone, it can actually also fit in both your front and back pockets without making you look like an idiot or nerd.
The back of the Nexus 7 is dark black with tiny indentations that add to its look and gives it a good grip, so it won't be sliding around your table or slipping from your hands too easily.
The 7 has only two buttons: the power and volume control. This keeps the tablet nice and simple, and lets you really focus on whatever content you're taking in.
And content is what the Nexus 7 is all about. Think of this as the Kindle Fire on steroids. The Google-Asus tablet pushes content to you from the get-go. Its main screen is your content library, which spotlights the last movies, books and magazines you opened, and its bottom row of apps consists of the Google Play store and all your media apps. When you buy the 7, Google will give you a $25 credit for its store, the movie "Transformers: Dark of the Moon," a couple of books and also some magazines.
It's a nice starter, and the Nexus 7 is good for all of these kinds of entertainment. It's the size of an e-reader, making it fine for reading books. The size of magazines don't come close to filling the Nexus 7's screen, but they still look good. Movies look good, and at 7 inches, gaming is just right -- you get the mobility of a smartphone that the iPad doesn't have, but you also get more to look at than a smartphone or hand-held consoles.
There weren't many things wrong with the Nexus 7, but there were a few annoying problems.
The speaker is in a terrible location, on the back of the 7 parallel to the bottom edge of the screen. This makes all the sound go away from you when you're holding the tablet in front of you, and when you put the tablet on a surface, the speaker gets covered up. As a result, it's not much better than the iPhone's speaker.
Though its front-facing 1.2 megapixel camera is great for what it's for -- Google Hangouts and Skype -- there isn't a back-facing camera to help you take better-quality pictures. This isn't a big deal for me since I've always thought taking pictures with a tablet is ridiculous, but if you want a tablet made for shooting pictures, this one isn't it.Struggling news outlets like the New York Times could soon be owned by the government in a Big Brother-style system.
A new Senate bill that would give government funding to struggling newspapers could result in complete state control of the press, critics say.
Democratic Sen. Benjamin Cardin of Maryland proposed a bill this week that would allow newspapers to operate as tax-exempt nonprofits in order to keep the sinking industry afloat.
The government funding could make participating papers less likely to criticize the administration in power - a problem for a democracy that's founded on the freedom of the press, those who oppose the bill say.
"It would de-claw participating newspapers, which couldn't endorse candidates or freely question the party in power," Ken McIntyre, a media and public policy fellow at the conservative Heritage Foundation, told Fox News.
"Reporters and editors are supposed to be wary skeptics of politicians and bureaucrats on behalf of readers -- not beholden to the government's favor," he said.
The new legislation would prohibit the papers from making official endorsements of any political candidates. This could cause a problem for the outlets' editorial pages, which frequently make explicit reference to which candidate or cause the paper supports.
Editorial sections aren't mentioned specifically in Cardin's bill.
"Since the Bill of Rights was passed, the government has never had a voice in the press. This is a very dangerous provision," blogger Alan Mutter told Fox.
"It's very unhealthy," he said.
Cardin said the bill could be the only option for newspapers who are close to shutting their doors.
"This may not be the optimal choice for some major newspapers or corporate media chains," said Cardin, "but it should be an option for many newspapers that are struggling to stay afloat."
No other Senators have voiced public support for the bill.Looking for news you can trust?
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Would you like some salmonella with those budget cuts? If Republicans have their way, food safety could fall casualty to the congressional budget-cutting fervor. Buried in the House GOP’s budget bill, which passed last month and would axe $61 billion in spending, are major funding reductions for agricultural inspections. And consumer advocates warn that these cuts could escalate outbreaks of food-borne illnesses.
The House budget bill slashes $88 million from the agency that inspects the country’s meat and poultry, which could reduce its operations by 18 percent for the remainder of the year. The cuts to the Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service could furlough thousands of inspectors and decrease the number of inspections at the nation’s slaughterhouses and meat-processing plants. With fewer inspectors on the job, the quality of inspections could also fall by the wayside, explains David Plunkett, a senior staff attorney at the Center for Science in the Public Interest: “They could be windshield inspections—when they show up, look through the windshield, and then drive off.”
Without sufficient monitoring, the risk of tainted meat in the nation’s food supply is likely to increase, Plunkett and other advocates say. “If the cows are not slaughtered appropriately and cleanly—if you’re not careful, manure is often on the hide,” which could in turn contaminate the meat with E. coli, salmonella, and other bacteria, says Chris Waldrop, director of the Food Policy Institute at the Consumer Federation of America. There’s also the economic impact to consider: Slaughterhouses may be forced to close if there are big cutbacks in inspections, since such facilities must be inspected daily to remain open. According to the USDA, the cuts would cost the industry some $11 billion in revenue and could raise the price of meat for consumers.
In addition to targeting the USDA, the House GOP’s bill also slashes $241 million from the food-safety budget of the Food and Drug Administration, which, among other things, could require the agency to furlough its 8,600 inspectors for an average of more than five weeks. The cuts could also gut the funding for the scientists responsible for examining contaminated products and determining how to detect tainted foods before they make people sick (or worse), according to Tony Corbo, a senior lobbyist for the group Food and Water Watch. And budget rollbacks could result in 10,000 fewer inspections of imported food, less than 1 percent of which is checked in the first place, according to Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.), a member of a House appropriations subcommittee overseeing agriculture.
Children, the elderly, and those who are already sick face the greatest risk of becoming ill or dying from contaminated food. The Centers for Disease Control has reported that one out of every six Americans gets sick each year from food-borne illnesses—with 128,000 hospitalized and 3,000 dying from such ailments. In response to the growing public outcry over high profile recalls and deaths, Congress passed a bill in December to strengthen food-safety laws. But lawmakers still need to pass a separate bill to implement the Food |
bring the issue to his attention, he said.
His office had only received two 311 complaints for off-route trucks this year, he said.
"The fact that this truck was there just brought to light that a lot of trucks [are using Bushwick Avenue]," Gardner said.
Since the Oct. 3 crash, police have staked out the corner and written 28 tickets to trucks for driving off-route, he said — that's more than the precinct had written in the entire year up until that point.
► READ MORE: CYCLIST WHO SURVIVED BEING RUN OVER BY TRUCK SAYS HE'S 'DONE WITH THE CITY'
By Sept. 28, the 90th Precinct had issued just 16 summonses to off-route trucks, DNAinfo reported.
Despite the ramped up enforcement, an informal survey of traffic, counted 77 trucks using Bushwick Avenue in an hour on Tuesday morning.
Trucks are supposed to travel on certain city-designated routes unless they're making local deliveries. Drivers have to provide what's called a "bill of lading" to a police officer if pulled over that shows they're within a few blocks of their destination.
Gardner urged residents to report errant behavior to 311 or their Neighborhood Coordination Officer when they see it.A St. Louis County police officer has died after being shot in Green Park in south St. Louis County Thursday morning.
The 33-year-old officer, Blake Snyder, had four years of service with the St. Louis County Police Department. He leaves behind a wife and a 2-year-old son.
Related: How to help the family of Officer Snyder
Officer Snyder, who served in the Affton Southwest Precinct, and another officer were responding to a disturbance call just after 5 a.m. on the 10700 block of Arno Drive when the shooting occurred, a spokesperson for the department told NewsChannel 5.
Police say the 18-year-old suspect, Trenton Forster, opened fire “almost immediately upon the officer’s arrival,” striking Snyder point blank. Chief Jon Belmar says the wound was immediately fatal.
With a heavy heart, we confirm that on today's date one of our officers
died in the line of duty. He was a 4 yr veteran. #stlcountystrong pic.twitter.com/JHAq8mTeTm — St. Louis County PD (@stlcountypd) October 6, 2016
The second officer returned fire, striking Forster, who is listed in critical but stable condition. A NewsChannel 5 crew on scene counted at least 30 evidence markers on the ground.
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Video: Suspected shooter charged with murder
Trenton Forster, 18, was charged with first-degree murder and armed criminal action. He's being held on a $1 million bond.
Forster has been charged with first-degree murder and armed criminal action. He's being held on a $1 million bond. He attended Lindbergh High School but withdrew in May of 2016. He lived on Sequoia Court in St. Louis, less than three miles from where the shooting happened.Scene photos: Officer, suspect shot in south St. Louis County
Scene photos: Officer, suspect shot in south St. Louis County A St. Louis County Officer and a suspect were shot after an exchange of gunfire just after 5 a.m. on the 10700 block of Arno Drive. Scene photos of officer-involved shooting Scene photos of officer-involved shooting Scene photos of officer-involved shooting A St. Louis County Officer and a suspect were shot after an exchange of gunfire just after 5 a.m. on the 10700 block of Arno Drive. A St. Louis County Officer and a suspect were shot after an exchange of gunfire just after 5 a.m. on the 10700 block of Arno Drive. A St. Louis County Officer and a suspect were shot after an exchange of gunfire just after 5 a.m. on the 10700 block of Arno Drive. A St. Louis County Officer and a suspect were shot after an exchange of gunfire just after 5 a.m. on the 10700 block of Arno Drive. A St. Louis County Officer and a suspect were shot after an exchange of gunfire just after 5 a.m. on the 10700 block of Arno Drive. A St. Louis County Officer and a suspect were shot after an exchange of gunfire just after 5 a.m. on the 10700 block of Arno Drive. A St. Louis County Officer and a suspect were shot after an exchange of gunfire just after 5 a.m. on the 10700 block of Arno Drive. A St. Louis County Officer and a suspect were shot after an exchange of gunfire just after 5 a.m. on the 10700 block of Arno Drive. A St. Louis County Officer and a suspect were shot after an exchange of gunfire just after 5 a.m. on the 10700 block of Arno Drive. A St. Louis County Officer and a suspect were shot after an exchange of gunfire just after 5 a.m. on the 10700 block of Arno Drive. A St. Louis County Officer and a suspect were shot after an exchange of gunfire just after 5 a.m. on the 10700 block of Arno Drive. A St. Louis County Officer and a suspect were shot after an exchange of gunfire just after 5 a.m. on the 10700 block of Arno Drive. A St. Louis County Officer and a suspect were shot after an exchange of gunfire just after 5 a.m. on the 10700 block of Arno Drive. A St. Louis County Officer and a suspect were shot after an exchange of gunfire just after 5 a.m. on the 10700 block of Arno Drive. A St. Louis County Officer and a suspect were shot after an exchange of gunfire just after 5 a.m. on the 10700 block of Arno Drive. A St. Louis County Officer and a suspect were shot after an exchange of gunfire just after 5 a.m. on the 10700 block of Arno Drive. A St. Louis County Officer and a suspect were shot after an exchange of gunfire just after 5 a.m. on the 10700 block of Arno Drive.
Snyder was a 2001 graduate of Alton High School. Before becoming a police officer, he worked as a graphic designer at Destiny Church, where he met his wife Elizabeth.Jim Stern, the lead pastor of Destiny Church, says everyone loved working with Synder. He says Snyder was a naturally quiet guy who was creative and had a great sense of humor.“He showed up every day and delivered what he said he was going to do," Stern said. "He made an incredible difference in so many people’s lives, just by doing that."The church remembers him of a man who was very trustworthy with great integrity.Video: Slain officer was dedicated to helping kids
Snyder also served on the board of Riverbend Family Ministries. "His love for his family and friends was contagious and his commitment to the community he served was inspirational," described Tammy Iskarous, founder of Riverbend Family Ministries, a charity in Wood River where Snyder served on the board.This is the first time an officer with the St. Louis County Police Department has died in the line of duty in nearly 16 years.The last officer killed with the department was Sergeant Richard Weinhold on October 31, 2000.Video: Sgt. Richard Weinhold died on Duty in 2000
Thursday's shooting marks the 10th death in the line of duty for the department.
Just watched an officer place this on his uniform. Very somber here at St. Louis County PD headquarters. @ksdknews pic.twitter.com/SDzK2pfyrq — Ryan Dean (@RyanDeanKSDK) October 6, 2016
Chief Belmar says there were no dash cams or body cameras in use at the time of the shooting.Visitation for Snyder will be Wednesday from 4 to 9 p.m. at the Kutis Funeral Home Affton Chapel located at 10151 Gravois Road.The funeral will be Thursday at 11 a.m. at the Family Church,17458 Chesterfield Airport Road, Chesterfield. Burial will be at the Valhalla Memorial Park in Godfrey.Governor Jay Nixon has ordered all U.S. and Missouri flags to be lowered to half staff on Thursday from sunrise until sunset.Get all of Jake Fischer’s columns as soon as they’re published. Download the new Sports Illustrated app (iOS or Android) and personalize your experience by following your favorite teams and SI writers.
As Rajon Rondo’s heave at the buzzer fell short, streamers rained down from the Philips Arena rafters on May 3, 2008. Marvin Williams danced at half-court as the bulk of the Atlanta Hawks’ roster celebrated just in front of their bench.
Amid the mayhem, Zaza Pachulia found his way to then-Hawks TV sideline reporter Rashan Ali for a postgame interview, beamed live on the stadium’s Jumbotron. “That interview, it’s pretty funny,” Pachulia told SI.com. “But when you hear the story behind it, that’s one of my most memorable moments that I’ve had.”
The Hawks began rebuilding in 2005, at the conclusion of head coach Mike Woodson’s first season. Atlanta’s 13–69 record during the 2004–05 season was the worst in the franchise’s 67-year history. The Hawks then acquired Joe Johnson from the Phoenix Suns that August, two months after drafting Williams No. 2 overall in that June’s draft. Atlanta improved in the standings over the next two seasons before drafting Al Horford in 2007 and returning to the playoffs that spring for the first time since 1999.
• MORE NBA: Heat go (very) small to force Game 7 against Raptors
“It took a lot of work and growth,” Pachulia said. “You always remember firsts, right? First girlfriend, first kiss and first playoff series.”
Atlanta snuck into the postseason. The 8th-seeded Hawks earned a date with the historically dominant, top-seeded Boston Celtics, enjoying the momentum of the modern Big Three’s first season in New England. “Nobody was giving us any chance. Every was saying, ‘Sweep! Sweep!’ and ‘4–0,’” Pachulia said. “If you asked 10 people, 100% would say we had no chance.”
Games 1 and 2 in Boston reaffirmed those widespread predictions. The Celtics clobbered the Hawks by 23 and then 19 points before the series shifted down south. Atlanta somehow claimed Game 3, each of its starters scoring in double figures and Josh Smith and Johnson combining for 60 points to erase Kevin Garnett’s game-high 32.
The Hawks players’ confidence, as well as the Atlanta crowd’s bravado, grew following the victory and crescendoed just under five minutes into the second quarter of Game 4. As Atlanta nursed an eight-point lead, Pachulia and Garnett battled for a rebound underneath the Hawks’ basket. The officials whistled Pachulia for a loose ball foul and, as the referee signaled the call to the scorer’s table, Garnett delivered a sharp elbow into Pachulia’s throat.
“I really felt disrespected. I really felt bullied,” Pachulia said. He charged back at Garnett, meeting the legendary trash talker nose-to-nose and spitting junk in return. He headbutted Garnett as well. “It was so natural, for a moment I forgot we were playing basketball. It kind of felt like we were in the street,” Pachulia said. “Thank God nobody got ejected or suspended.”
A full-blown scuffle ensued. Just in his rookie year, Horford peeled Pachulia out of the pile as the Georgian continued hurling insults at Garnett. The Atlanta crowd roared as the two big men returned to the home bench, encouraging the fans. “The crowd got fired up after that, I was just trying to get ‘em going even more,” Horford told SI.com. Atlanta road the wave, eking out a 97–92 victory in Game 4. “When Zaza made that stand, I felt like it set to the tone for the rest of that series,” Horford said.
The Celtics won Game 5 in Boston in convincing fashion, though, setting up a possible elimination for Atlanta in Game 6. “Whenever I walk into the game, I can always feel how the building is,” said Ryan Cameron, Atlanta’s longtime public address announcer. “On that particular night, I just felt that it was really, really, electric. Almost to the point where you thought the building might actually move.”
Scott Cunningham/NBAE/Getty Images
During a timeout, the Hawks streamed a montage on the Jumbotron that intermixed Rocky footage with Pachulia’s Game 4 fight with Garnett. And with the Rondo miss, the Hawks escaped 103–100.
After every Atlanta win, Hawks TV interviews a player in front of the crowd. The Hawks’ Game Night staff scrambled to capitalize on the riotous energy that filled the stadium. Boston had completely retreated to their locker room, yet the entire Atlanta crowd remained screaming. Ali could barely discern her producer hollering, “Hey, you’re getting Zaza! You’re getting Zaza! in her earpiece.
Cameron sent the call over from the scorer’s table onto the court. “Zaza had almost taken on a cult-like persona. He was the enforcer,” Cameron said. “He had a special intro. Instead of being like, ‘6' 11", from the Republic of Georgia, Zaza Pachulia,’ it was like, ‘6' 11" from the Republic of Georgia: Za! Za! PACHOOOOOLIA!’ It was almost like you were introducing a superhero character.” Naturally, there was only one player Hawks TV wanted to interview after the victory. “It was kind of like, if we’re gonna hear from somebody, we need to hear from the man,” Cameron said.
Ali asked Pachulia an opening question, but he couldn’t hear a single word. “So I thought, you know what, who cares what she asked. We just won Game 6 and we tied the series and we’re going to Game 7, so here we go! This is my time right now!” Pachulia said “I was hyped too. I come from overseas and now this is probably my first interview on TNT, so it was a big deal. So I grabbed the mike. I want to tell you guys how I feel right now! I was yelling. I was trying to make everybody hear what I’m saying because obviously I have an accent.”
• MORE NBA: Thunder-Warriors conference finals will be a classic
A typically reserved postgame interview morphed into an internet sensation. “I didn’t even think about him taking the mike out of my hand,” Ali said. “Obviously that’s a big no-no, but who cares?” Pachulia’s emphatic speech reverberated throughout the gym, shouting “Nothing easy!” in reference to the Celtics’ expected walk through the first round.
“Ten-foot tall and bullet-proof? That interview was that,” said Mike King, the 10-year in-game host for the Hawks. “I can remember Rashan Ali’s face, her big smile.”
Pachulia first checked his phone when he finally returned home. It was flooded with well wishes. “I have kids, I got married, I’ve had good days after that in my career and in my life, I never got that many congratulations messages than I got that night,” Pachulia said. Atlanta, of course, fell in Game 7, as the Celtics continued their march to the championship. The Hawks have reached the postseason every year since, currently riding the second-longest streak of playoff appearances in the league. “I felt like that team brought basketball back to Atlanta,” King said. “The attitude at that point changed from, if we were winning in the third, you thought, ‘How are we gonna blow this?’ to, ‘We’re not giving up.’”
Pachulia left Atlanta in free agency for Milwaukee in 2013. Last July, he was traded to the Dallas Mavericks, where he started 69 games alongside Dirk Nowitzki, who he now calls one of his best friends. Free agency looms for Pachulia and the 32-year-old’s future is unclear. No matter where he plays next season, his legendary speech will follow.
“That interview is my signature,” Pachulia said. “Every time [I] make a steal or do something positive on the court, fans are yelling, ‘Nothing easy!’”My husband and I are big gamers across the board and as far as board/card games go we have all the usual suspects.... however we also have a 3 year old son and 4 year old daughter who love to watch us play and want so badly to play as well. So we expressed interest in kids games for this exchange.
Our awesome santa sent not one but THREE of the classics for kids, Candyland, Hi-Ho Cherry-O, and Chutes and Ladders! They came just in time for game night (Thursday! Super fast Santa!). The kids were so excited to get to actually play, not just watch or pretend! All the games were a huge success, Hi-Ho Cherry-O being a favorite! Also, apparently my 4 year old is super competitive and my 3 year old is a cheater mccheater pants! Hahaha!
So thanks Santa for bringing home family game night! You definitely win this round!Formation and characterization of α·Br
Minimal variations in the building blocks employed in molecular self-assembly processes can lead to totally different superstructures and physical properties29,30,31,32,33, reflecting the subtle interplay between weak non-covalent bonding forces, particularly hydrogen bonding34,35,36,37 in the case of CDs.
Upon mixing any particular aqueous solution (20 mM, 1 ml) of KAuX 4 with any chosen aqueous solution (26.7 mM, 1.5 ml) of α-, β-, or γ-CDs at room temperature, a shiny pale brown suspension forms exclusively within a few minutes (Fig. 2 and Supplementary Movie 1) when KAuBr 4 and α-CD form the 1:2 adduct, α·Br. Centrifugal filtration and drying under vacuum of the suspension permits the isolation of the α·Br complex in bulk as a pale brown powder.
Figure 2: Formation and co-precipitation of α·Br from KAuBr 4 and α-CD. When an aqueous solution (20 mM, 1 ml) of KAuX 4 (X=Cl or Br) is added to an aqueous solution (26.7 mM, 1.5 ml) of α-, β-, or γ-CD, a shiny pale brown suspension forms exclusively from the combination of KAuBr 4 and α-CD within 1–2 min (See Supplementary Movie 1). Full size image
SEM of an air-dried aqueous suspension of the α·Br complex reveals (Fig. 3a) the formation of long, needle-like crystals with extremely high aspect ratios. Examination of a suspension of these nanostructures by TEM reveals (Fig. 3b) that they have diameters of a few hundred nanometres and lengths on the order of micrometres. The nanostructures were stabilized under cryo-TEM conditions and then subjected to selected area electron diffraction (SAED). SAED patterns of the assembly of the α·Br complex show (Fig. 3c) clear and symmetrical diffraction spots, an observation which confirms the crystalline nature of the nanostructures. Although SEM and TEM can provide details of the morphology of α·Br, more detailed atomic-level structural information is required in order to understand the non-covalent bonding forces driving this highly selective molecular self-assembly process.
Figure 3: Morphology of the nanostructures of α·Br. (a) SEM images of a crystalline sample prepared by spin-coating an aqueous suspension of α·Br onto a silicon substrate, and then air-drying the suspension. (b) TEM images of α·Br prepared by drop-casting an aqueous suspension of α·Br onto a specimen grid covered with a thin carbon support film and air-dried. (c) Cryo-TEM image (left) and SAED pattern (right) of the nanostructures of α·Br. As the selected area includes several crystals with different orientations and the crystals are so small that the diffraction intensities are relatively weak, we can assign the diffraction rings composed of diffraction dots but not the specific angles between different diffraction dots from the same crystal. The scale bars in a and b are 25 (left), 5 (right), 10 (left), 5 μm (right) and in c are 1 μm (left) and 1 nm−1 (right), respectively. Full size image
Co-crystallisation by slow vapour diffusion of iPrOH into a dilute aqueous solution of KAuBr 4 and α-CD afforded single crystals of α·Br, which were suitable for X-ray crystallography. In the single-crystal superstructure (Fig. 4a–c) of α·Br, two α-CD tori are observed to be held together by means of intermolecular hydrogen bonding between the secondary (2°) hydroxyl faces of adjacent α-CD tori, which adopt a head-to-head packing arrangement, forming a supramolecular dimer. The dimer also serves the role of a second-sphere coordination cavitand occupied by the hexaaqua K+ ion, ([K(OH 2 ) 6 ]+) which adopts an equatorially distorted octahedral geometry with very short K–O distances38,39 ranging from 2.37(1) to 2.44(1) Å (average 2.39 Å). We surmise that this superstructure forms in order for the [K(OH 2 ) 6 ]+ ion to match the confines of the α-CD dimer cavity. It has been shown8,14,16,17,18,38,39 previously that a few metal complexes, such as [12]crown-4·KCl (ref. 39) and metallocenium salts16,17,18, can form second-sphere coordination adducts25,26,27 with CDs. Although, generally speaking, naked K+ ions are incorporated interstitially between CD columns and are directly first-sphere coordinated with the hydroxyl groups of the CDs9,40,41,42,43,44,45,46,47, examples of hydrophilic fully hydrated K+ ions encapsulated in the hydrophobic CD channels by means of second-sphere coordination are rare. The water molecules aligned along the c-axis direction of the octahedral [K(OH 2 ) 6 ]+ ion are located statistically between the two symmetrical sites with 50:50 occupancies, which are related by an ~7° tilt about the c-axis. The square-planar [AuBr 4 ]− ions, centered between the primary (1°) hydroxyl faces of α-CD (A) and the adjacent α-CD (B), are disordered over two orientations with 50:50 occupancies and related by an ~9° rotation about the c-axis. Both α-CD tori A and B of the dimers in α·Br are distorted elliptically and elongated along the [AuBr 4 ]− planes with reference to the glycosidic ring O atoms. Although it was not possible to locate the H atoms associated with the H 2 O molecules on the [K(OH 2 ) 6 ]+ ion, the distances between the c-axial Br and O atoms, which are 3.35(1) and 3.39(1) Å, are comparable with the mean value of 3.339(7) Å reported by Steiner48, an observation which suggests the presence of the significant c-axial [O−H···Br−Au] hydrogen bonding interactions (Supplementary Table S4). All four Br atoms are close to twelve H5 and H6 atoms on the primary (1°) faces of the glucopyranosyl rings (Fig. 1), with [C−H···Br−Au] contacts (Supplementary Table S3) of 2.92−3.19 Å. The [C−H···Br−Au] hydrogen bonds13,49,50,51 favour an equal distribution of orientations of the [AuBr 4 ]− anions around the c-axis. Accordingly, the dimers are stacked along the c-axis with [AuBr 4 ]− anions acting as linkers through multiple [C−H···Br−Au] hydrogen bonds with the α-CDs in the a−b plane and two [O−H···Br−Au] hydrogen bonds with the [K(OH 2 ) 6 ]+ ions oriented in the c-axial direction. These α-CD dimers form parallel channels filled with [K(OH 2 ) 6 ]+ cations and [AuBr 4 ]− anions, which line up in an alternating fashion to generate an infinite inorganic polyionic chain. This infinite cable-like supramolecular polymer can be dissected (Fig. 4d) structurally into head-to-head hydrogen-bonded α-CD dimers oriented tail-to-tail with respect to each other, forming an outer sheath-like organic nanotube with a coaxial, inorganic polyionic, inner chain, core. Bundles of these nanostructures are then tightly packed through hydrogen bonding between columns to form a well-ordered array that constitutes the single crystal.
Figure 4: Single-crystal X-ray structure of α·Br. The structure has the formula {[K(OH 2 ) 6 ][AuBr 4 ] (α-CD) 2 } n. (a) Side-on view showing the orientation of the primary and secondary faces of the α-CD rings in the extended structure. (b) Side-on view illustrating the second-sphere coordination of the [K(OH 2 ) 6 ]+ ion with the [AuBr 4 ]− ion. (c) Top view of the arrangement of the [AuBr 4 ]− ion inside the cavity of α-CD. (d) Schematic illustration of the one-dimensional nanostructure extending along the c-axis in which the α-CD tori form a continuous channel occupied by alternating [K(OH 2 ) 6 ]+ and [AuBr 4 ]− ions. Hydrogen atoms areomitted for clarity. C, black; O, red; Br, brown; Au, yellow; K, purple. Hydrogen bonds are depicted as purple dash lines. Full size image
In order to confirm that the nanostructure of α·Br, obtained as a co-precipitate by solution-phase synthesis, is in agreement with the superstructure present in the single crystal of α·Br, a centrifugally filtrated sample of the as-synthesized suspension of the supramolecular complex was analysed (Supplementary Fig. S9a) by powder XRD (PXRD). The experimental PXRD pattern matches very well with the simulated pattern based on the single-crystal X-ray data, suggesting that the superstructures present in the single crystal of α·Br and the co-precipitated nanostructure are one and the same. In other words, the solution-phase synthesized one-dimensional nanostructures of α·Br are composed of single-crystalline bundles of one-dimensional molecular-level, cable-like, complexes (Fig. 4d) with high aspect ratios.
As solution-phase synthesis affords much smaller crystals, single-molecule imaging studies using AFM can provide dimensional information of the sample, such as its height, with subnanometre precision. In order to investigate the physical dimensions of the self-assembled nanostructure formed between KAuBr 4 and α-CD on surfaces, a sample for AFM measurement was grown directly on the substrate. A droplet of a very dilute aqueous solution of KAuBr 4 (0.5 mM) and α-CD (1 mM) was spin-coated on freshly cleaved mica and dried under ambient conditions. The AFM image reveals (Fig. 5a) that the individual nanoassemblies have lengths on the order of several hundred nanometres and an average height (Fig. 5b) of 1.3±0.2 nm, which is consistent with the external diameter (~1.4 nm) of α-CD (Fig. 5c). These experiments provide insight into the mechanism of the molecular self-assembly process whereby these single-molecule-wide nanostructures are intermediates in the formation of the larger crystals observed by SEM and TEM.
Figure 5: AFM analysis of α·Br on a mica surface. (a) AFM image of a spin-coated sample of α·Br on a freshly cleaved mica surface. (b) The cross-sectional analysis of (a). (c) Dimensions of the cross-section of the one-dimensional α-CD channel in α·Br. Scale bar, 100 nm. Full size image
Insight into the spontaneous co-precipitation of α·Br
It would appear that the spontaneous co-precipitation of the one-dimensional nanostructure of α·Br is highly selective as no similar phenomenon was observed from the other five combinations between KAuX 4 salts (X=Cl or Br) with α-, β- and γ-CDs. In order to gain insight into the mechanism behind the formation of the nanostructure of α·Br and the reason for its rapid co-precipitation, single crystals (Supplementary Table S1 and Supplementary Figs S2−S7) of a series of inclusion complexes KAuCl 4 ·(α-CD) 2 (α·Cl), KAuBr 4 ·(β-CD) 2 (β·Br), KAuCl 4 ·(β-CD) 2 (β·Cl), KAuBr 4 ·(γ-CD) 3 (γ·Br), and KAuCl 4 ·(γ-CD) 3 (γ·Cl) were grown employing similar slow vapour diffusion methods and subjected to single-crystal XRD analysis. In contrast to α·Br, which adopts the orthorhombic space group P2 1 2 1 2 (Supplementary Fig. S1), the crystal structure (Supplementary Fig. S2) of α·Cl is in the monoclinic (β=90.041(4)°) space group P2 1. Both α-CD tori of the dimers in α·Br and α·Cl are elliptically distorted and elongated along the [AuX 4 ]− planes with respect to the glycosidic ring O atoms (Supplementary Fig. S3). A significant difference in the role exhibited by the K+ ion was observed between α·Br and α·Cl. In α·Cl, the K+ ion is located outside the dimer cavity and enters into first-sphere coordination with seven primary hydroxyl groups belonging to two adjacent CD dimers. This observation suggests that the role of the K+ ion is to act as a linker between adjacent CD dimers along the b-axis direction in α·Cl instead of acting as an isolated [K(OH 2 ) 6 ]+ guest inside the CD dimer cavity in α·Br. The bridging of the K+ ions in α·Cl along the b-axis results in the formation of one-dimensional coordination polymer chains composed of alternating α-CD dimers and K+ ions, which then stack alternatively with [AuCl 4 ]− along the a-axis to constitute an extended two-dimensional superstructure (Supplementary Fig. S8a). In order to compare the orientation of the square-planar anions [AuBr 4 ]− and [AuCl 4 ]− in the CD channel, we define (i) the rotation angle of the [AuX 4 ]− anion viewed from the front (Fig. 6) as φ, and (ii) the inclination angle of the [AuX 4 ]− anion viewed from the side with respect to the central axis of the CD tori (Fig. 6) as θ. The [AuBr 4 ]− anion in α·Br has an orientation with φ=9.2° and θ=2.6°, whereas the [AuCl 4 ]− anion in α·Cl has a more tilted orientation with φ=17.1° and θ=2.6°. All the differences in superstructure between α·Br and α·Cl, as well as the unique spontaneous co-precipitation of α·Br, can be ascribed to the subtle size differences between the [AuBr 4 ]− and [AuCl 4 ]− anions. It is crucial to note that the average Au−Br bond length of 2.42 Å in α·Br is only 0.15 Å longer than the average Au−Cl bond length of 2.27 Å in α·Cl (Supplementary Table S2). This observation highlights the fact that the longer bond length in [AuBr 4 ]− facilitates the second-sphere coordination of α-CD to [K(OH 2 ) 6 ]+ and [AuBr 4 ]−, giving rise to the formation of α·Br and its unique superstructure. In addition, this second-sphere coordination results in the encapsulation of [K(OH 2 ) 6 ]+ cations inside the cavities of the α-CD dimers, which we hypothesize restricts solvation of [K(OH 2 ) 6 ]+ cations by water molecules from the bulk—the reason for the observed rapid co-precipitation.
Figure 6: Single-crystal superstructures of α·Br, α·Cl, β·Br, β·Cl, γ·Br and γ·Cl. The rotation angle of the [AuX 4 ]− anion viewed from the front is defined as φ, and the inclination angle of the [AuX 4 ]− anion viewed from the side with respect to the central axis of the CD tori is defined as θ. C, black; O, red; Br, brown; Cl, green; Au, yellow; K, purple. Full size image
The β-CD complexes β·Br and β·Cl, as well as the γ-CD complexes γ·Br and γ·Cl, are all isomorphous, an observation which indicates that the subtle differences between [AuBr 4 ]− and [AuCl 4 ]− no longer result in significant changes in superstructure. The K+ ions in β·Br and β·Cl have similar bridging roles as they do in α·Cl, while the K+ ions in γ·Br and γ·Cl reside outside the CD channel and are disordered. The β-CD tori in β·Br and β·Cl form head-to-head dimers similar to those in α·Cl, whereas the γ-CDs in γ·Br and γ·Cl form head-to-tail/head-to-head trimeric repeating units. Moreover, β-CD dimers in β·Br and β·Cl form zig-zag two-dimensional layered superstructures (Supplementary Fig. S8b and c). One common feature which describes all six complexes are that the CD rings stack along the longitudinal axes with [AuX 4 ]− anions acting as bridges, which are located inside the CD channels and are supported between the primary faces of the adjacent CD rings by [C−H···X−Au] hydrogen bonds, forming one-dimensional superstructures. With the expansion in size ongoing from α- to γ-CD tori, the angle φ increases from 9.2 to 45° for [AuBr 4 ]− and from 17.1 to 45° for [AuCl 4 ]−, while the angle θ increases from 2.6 to 90° for [AuBr 4 ]− and [AuCl 4 ]− (Fig. 6), respectively. We hypothesize that this trend of [AuX 4 ]− to lie flatter is to shorten the length of the [C−H···X−Au] hydrogen bonds as much as possible and so facilitates the formation of the most stable host–guest superstructures. Except for α·Br in which the CD channels are filled up by [K(OH 2 ) 6 ]+ and [AuBr 4 ]−, the other five complexes demonstrate (Fig. 6) ‘bamboo’-like superstructures with isolated empty capsules formed by CD channels segmented by [AuX 4 ]−, and the K+ cations are not encapsulated by the CD cavities. We suspect that the superstructures for these fives complexes result in the exposure of the K+ cations to water molecules from the bulk, keeping these complexes solvated, and hence restricting precipitation.
Stability and porosity of all complexes
In order to assess the stability of all six complexes after activation using supercritical CO 2 (refs 52, 53) (see Methods), we first of all examined their thermal stabilities using thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). TGA traces (Supplementary Fig. S10) for all complexes start to show significant weight loss at 150 °C, suggesting that the samples are fully evacuated, while thermal decomposition occurs at temperatures over 150 °C.
In order to examine sample structural stability upon activation, PXRD analyses (Supplementary Fig. S9) were carried out on as-synthesized and activated samples. The well-matched PXRD patterns of as-synthesized and activated samples of α·Br confirm that its superstructure remains intact upon activation despite the lack of first-sphere coordination of K+ ions between CD dimers. Comparison of the PXRD patterns of as-synthesized and activated samples of α·Cl, β·Br and β·Cl confirms the stability and crystallinity of their superstructures, which are formed by hydrogen bonding and K+ ion coordination, upon activation. In contrast to these three samples, the activated samples of γ·Br and γ·Cl were found to be amorphous by PXRD, an observation which indicates that the fully hydrogen-bonded structures of γ |
will be show trials.
“I can just imagine American soldiers and sailors and airmen being subjected to similar show trials worldwide,” he said.
He said he doubts the defendants can get a fair trial in the Guantanamo court because it accepts hearsay evidence that may have been obtained through cruel and dehumanizing means. The Geneva provision cited in shielding prisoners’ faces also bans “acts of violence or intimidation,” he noted.
The CIA held Mohammed in a secret prison for years and acknowledged interrogating him with methods that included the simulated drowning technique known as waterboarding.
Some of the victims’ relatives also said they thought the trials should be held in a regular court, open to the public and using only “evidence that’s above reproach.”
“This is not about revenge, it’s about justice,” said Valerie Lucznikowska, a New Yorker whose nephew Adam Arias died in the World Trade Center.
“I don’t want it to be a lynching. I’m concerned that people like Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, we won’t be able to find them guilty because of what we’ve done with them. It’s a horrible conundrum.”Too many in the PC industry have been repeating Microsoft's claim about fragmented Windows 7 and 8.1 patching, and how we must now move to cumulative updates in order to bring stability to the patching process.
Bah.
This narrative claims that Win7 patching options have led to an awful patchwork of uninstalled patches (see screenshot), which in turn makes Win7 patches less reliable. In order to restore order to the patching process, starting in October Microsoft will release cumulative updates of Win7 (and 8.1) patches.
[ InfoWorld has you covered through all stages of Windows 10. Download the Windows 10 installation superguide and the ultimate Windows 10 survivor kit, both available as PDFs. | Stay up on key Microsoft technologies with the Windows Report newsletter. ]
There have been two TechNet posts about the shift to cumulative updates. On Aug. 15, Nathan Mercer presented us with "Further simplifying servicing models for Windows 7 and Windows 8.1," and on Aug. 30, Paul Bergson backed that up with much more detail in "A Bit About the Windows Servicing Model."
Says Mercer:
Based on your feedback, today we're announcing some new changes for servicing Windows 7 SP1 and Windows 8.1… From October 2016 onwards, Windows will release a single Monthly Rollup that addresses both security issues and reliability issues in a single update. The Monthly Rollup will be published to Windows Update (WU), WSUS, SCCM, and the Microsoft Update Catalog. Each month's rollup will supersede the previous month's rollup, so there will always be only one update required for your Windows PCs to get current. i.e. a Monthly Rollup in October 2016 will include all updates for October, while November 2016 will include October and November updates, and so on. Devices that have this rollup installed from Windows Update or WSUS will utilize express packages, keeping the monthly download size small. Over time, Windows will also proactively add patches to the Monthly Rollup that have been released in the past. Our goal is eventually to include all of the patches we have shipped in the past since the last baseline, so that the Monthly Rollup becomes fully cumulative and you need only to install the latest single rollup to be up to date. We encourage you to move to the Monthly Rollup model to improve reliability and quality of updating all versions of Windows.
Bergson fills in some key details:
Beginning in October 2016 onwards, don't expect to see individual KB's but instead expect to see the following in the monthly patch release cycle: Security-Only Update - Collects all of the security patches for that month into a single update Monthly Rollup - Security updates from previous bullet point; All updates, rollups, patches, and security updates for that month; Proactive addition of previously shipped patches (within 6-8 months the monthly rollup will include all patches back to the last baseline and will be fully cumulative).Net Framework Security-Only Update - Contains only security updates.Net Framework Rollup -.Net Framework Security Updates from Previous Bullet Point; Reliability updates
There will be other updates in the patch release cycle, not mentioned by Bergson, although details are sparse. Internet Explorer will be updated separately, at least for now (there's no word on whether the IE updates will have security and non-security patches intermingled). Flash Player will get its own updates, according to Adobe's schedule more than anything. The Servicing Stack (in other words, the Windows Update program itself), dynamic updates ("driver, component, and setup improvements during the initial setup"), as well as Windows Defender updates and the Malicious Software Removal Tool will all march to the beat of an asynchronous drummer.
I can think of about a thousand questions surrounding the new cumulative update process, but for now let me put those aside. For now, I'd like to focus on Microsoft's stated reason for starting us down the phone-style-updating path.
I don't believe there's an unhealable, massive fragmentation in the Windows installed base. No doubt Microsoft's telemetry database can be manipulated to create any picture it chooses (the company's non-GAAP accounting folks are very good at that), but experience tells me that Win7 patching falls into a few well-defined buckets.
In examining those buckets, it's helpful to understand what options are available to Win7 and 8.1 updaters. If your PC isn't attached to an update server, you can choose:
Whether you manually install updates, or you let Windows install them automatically
Whether Microsoft-recommended updates should be treated the same way as important updates, or the same way as optional updates.
There are additional nuances, but those are your basic choices.
When Microsoft releases patches, they're given one of three priorities: important, recommended, or optional.
If you let Windows update your PC automatically, you'll get all important updates (which may include those released as recommended, depending on your choice).
If you update manually, you have a chance to examine each individual patch and accept or reject it. Microsoft preselects individual patches according to some unknown formula. (The old rules for prechecking patches flew out the window when Microsoft released the Windows 10 upgrade as a checked, optional patch.) When you're happy with the list of checked patches, you click a button and Windows Update installs the patches you've checked.
Those are the mechanics. Microsoft argues that the ability to select individual patches has led to an unwieldy situation of fragmented patching. While it's obviously true that giving customers a chance to pick and choose patches has led to different configurations, my experience with a whole lot of patches and a whole lot of patchers has led me to some overall conclusions.
Here's what I've seen.
The largest single group of people has turned off Automatic Updates and never update. Many folks have AU turned off because they're running pirated copies of Win7, which are invariably set for manual updates. Others turned off AU during installation or in response to a problem or recommendation.
The next-largest group of people run manual updates from time to time. They check to see if there are problems with individual patches and uncheck them, but generally take Microsoft's recommendations (the checked patches) or select all of the recommended patches and install the optional patches, too. Up until a year ago that process was rather straightforward.
Then Win7 and 8.1 customers got hit with a double whammy: The "Get Windows 10" campaign and the further encroachment of Microsoft snooping. Patching has never been the same since. Customers started implementing defensive patching strategies -- protecting themselves from Microsoft's advances -- and the nature of patching changed completely.
There's fragmentation, but it's largely predictable and almost entirely dedicated to the idea of keeping Microsoft's hands off their systems.
I see two general camps of Win7 and 8.1 defensive patchers. On the one hand, there are people who will only install clearly identified security patches. On the other, we have people who have followed (or developed) long lists of patches that should be avoided to deflect Microsoft's privacy incursions. Many people refuse to install patches that are specifically designed to make the transition to Windows 10 easier: They bought and paid for Win7, and they don't want Win10.
Patch blocklists abound -- and no longer just among the tinfoil hat wearers. They reflect a genuine concern about Microsoft's new telemetry activities: the Diagnostic and Telemetry tracking service, for example; new telemetry points/snooping stations; and Visual Studio Application Insights. Many Windows 7 and 8.1 users don't see any reason to let Microsoft (or app developers) snoop any more than they already do.
So yes, there is fragmentation in patching now. But I don't think it's a case of Win7 users deciding that they want to support the Azerbaijani manat or skip the daylight savings time updates for rural Egypt. The fragmentation that's developed has a pattern, and it's due to Microsoft's intrusiveness.
Now that the "Get Windows 10" campaign is over, Microsoft has a golden opportunity to mend some fences and pull the extraneous garbage out of Win7 and 8.1. A couple months' of healing patches that get the Win10 junk out of Win7 and reduce the telemetry incursion would do wonders to reduce the fragmentation.
I don't expect that to happen. Instead we're going to see Microsoft consolidate its snooping efforts under a new banner, with fragmentation cast as the boogeyman.
Back in June, we saw a harbinger of this new technique. As I explained at the time, you could get a new patch that would speed up Windows 7 update scans, but in order to install it, you had to install six completely unrelated patches -- at least one of which has been implicated in increased snooping.
Starting in October, we're going to see security updates distributed separately from non-security updates -- and that gives us some choice. Unfortunately, I don't think we'll see a patch prior to the October cumulative update onslaught that'll unwind all of the past year's Win10-related and snooping-related patches. For those who have been dutifully installing Win7 and 8.1 non-security patches, the damage is done and likely can't be unwound.
So go ahead, Microsoft, bring on the new world of Win7 and 8.1 cumulative updates. But don't blame it on fragmentation. Don't blame it on folks who were trying to protect themselves from the likes of Get Windows 10 and the Diagnostic and Telemetry tracking service.Guests: Guy Branum Guy Branum Guests: Margaret Wappler Margaret Wappler Guests: Christian Dueñas Christian Dueñas
Guy and Margaret talk about favourite duets, stand-up comedy and the best books from the past year and coming up in 2016. Plus producer Christian Dueñas drops by the studio to talk about video games.
With Guy Branum, Wynter Mitchell, Oliver Wang and Margaret Wappler.
Books Margaret’s excited about in 2016:
All the Single Ladies, Rebecca Traister (Mar. 1)
How to be a Person in the World, Heather Havrilesky (July 12)
A Mother’s Reckoning, Sue Klebold (Feb 16)
Imagine Me Gone, Adam Haslett (May 3)
The Underground Railroad, Colson Whitehead (Sept. 6)
Don DeLillo, Zero K (May)
Eligible, Curtis Sittenfeld (Apr. 19)
Innocents and Others, Dana Spiotta (Mar. 8)
The Wangs vs. The World, Jade Chang (Oct. 4)
Fine, Fine, Fine, Fine, Fine by Diane Williams
And Again by Jessica Chiarella
That’s My Jam:
Margaret Wappler - Hotel California by The Eagles
Guy Branum - No Rights No Wrongs by Jess Glynne
Each week we’ll add everyone’s jams to this handy Spotify playlist.
You can let us know what you think of Pop Rocket and suggest topics in our Facebook group or via @PopRocket on Twitter.As we continue to use more advanced programming languages, we’re able to get some seriously powerful development done with much less code that does increasingly more awesome stuff, but that comes at a price. Since we don’t deal as often with low-level computation and processing anymore, it’s only normal that we don’t always have a full understanding about topics like what the stack is versus the heap, or how compilation really works, or what static vs dynamic typing is, or type introspection, or garbage collection, etc. Now I’m not saying every developer is ignorant of these, as most of us certainly aren’t, but I do feel like it’s worth revisiting some of the old-school important topics that we may miss out on these days.
I know I’ve opened up a wormhole of topics just now, but right now I’m only focusing on one: the stack vs. the heap. Both the stack and the heap refer to different locations where memory (typically for variables) is managed, but with significantly different strategies.
The Stack
The stack is a region of RAM that gets created on every thread that your application is running on. It works in a LIFO (Last In, First Out) manner, meaning that as soon as you allocate – or “push” – memory on to the stack, that chunk of memory will be the first to be deallocated – or “popped.” Every time a function declares a new variable, it is “pushed” onto the stack, and after that variable falls out of scope (such as when the function closes), that variable will be deallocated from the stack automatically. Once a stack variable is freed, that region of memory becomes available for other stack variables.
Due to the pushing and popping nature of the stack, memory management is very logical and is able to be handled completely by the CPU; this makes it very quick, especially since each byte in the stack tends to be reused very frequently which means it tends to be mapped to the processor’s cache. However, there are some cons to this form of strict management. The size of the stack is a fixed value, and allocating more onto the stack than it can hold will result in a stack overflow. The size of the stack is decided when the thread is created, and each variable has a maximum size that it can occupy based on its data type; this prevents certain variables such as integers from ever growing beyond a certain value, and forces more complex data types such as arrays to specify their size prior to runtime since the stack won’t let them be resized. Variables allocated on the stack also are always local in nature because they are always next in line to be popped (unless more variables are pushed prior to the popping of earlier variables).
Overall, the stack really exceeds in managing memory in the most efficient way possible – but what if you need data structures that can be dynamic, such as a dynamically sized array, or what if you need global variables? This is where the heap comes into play.
The Heap
The heap is a memory store also in RAM that allows for dynamic memory allocation, and does not work on a stack-like basis; this means there is no notion of pushing and popping variables, and it’s more just a hub of storage for you to define your variables. Once you allocate a memory location on the heap to store a variable, that variable can be accessed at any point in time not only throughout just the thread, but throughout the application’s entire life. This is how you can define global variables. Once an application ends, all of the allocated memory locations are reclaimed by the CPU. The heap size is set on application startup, but unlike the stack there are no size restrictions on the heap (aside from the physical limitations of your machine), which means it can get ever larger as you allocate more memory to it. This is what allows you to create variables that can be dynamically resized, since the heap itself is dynamic in size.
You interact with the heap via references typically called ‘pointers,’ which are variables whose values are the address of another variable, such as a memory location. By creating a pointer, you ‘point’ at a memory location on the heap, which is what signifies the initial location of your variable and tells the program where to access the value. Due to the dynamic nature of the heap, it is completely unmanaged by the CPU aside from initial allocation and heap resizing; in non-garbage collected languages such as C and C++, this requires you as the developer to manage memory and to manually free memory locations when they are no longer needed. Failing to do so can create memory leaks and cause memory to become fragmented, which will cause reads from the heap to take longer and makes it difficult to continuously allocate more memory onto the heap.
Compared to the stack, the heap is slower to access because variables are scattered across memory instead of always sitting at the top of the stack. Improper memory management of the heap can also slow down reading from the heap; however, this shouldn’t detract from its importance – you absolutely need it to create any type of variable dynamically, or a global variable.
Final Thoughts
So there you have it – the basics of the stack and the heap. In a nutshell, the stack is an amazingly fast memory store with a LIFO allocation algorithm that is managed completely by the CPU, and you don’t have to manage it at all. However, these benefits force the stack to have a limited size and a specific method for retrieving values, so you are only allowed to allocate fixed memory sizes (i.e. fixed-length variables) and local variables on it. To make up for these limitations, the heap allows you to create dynamically allocated variables during runtime, as well as global variables – but either you or the garbage collector must handle memory management, and it is quite a bit slower than using the stack.
The importance of the stack and the heap really comes into play with non-garbage collected languages where you need to manage memory yourself – and while modern languages do abstract away the need for this, they’re all still doing it under the scenes. Different languages use the stack and the heap differently; C and C++ allocate to the stack automatically, and you as the developer manually have to allocate and deallocate from the heap, where more modern languages such as Go and Java allocate to both the stack and the heap automatically, and have a garbage collector that handles heap deallocation on its own. There are even languages like Ruby and Python where everything is allocated on the heap and don’t use a stack at all.
I hope this helped to provide some historic programming knowledge that we tend to miss out on these days! I plan on continuing this series over core programming concepts in future blog posts, which you also may enjoy if you found this interesting. For more information on the stack and the heap, google away – the answers are at your doorstep (or browser)!Quick update: Ubuntu Budgie is now officially an Ubuntu flavor. The team behind Ubuntu Budgie aims at making 17.04 (expected in April, 2017) its first release.
Budgie Remix 16.10
Initially called Budgie Remix, the Budgie-desktop powered Ubuntu flavor has its first unofficial release back in April ( 16.04 ).
Budgie Desktop is essentially a shell for GNOME, and it features a libmutter-based window manager (although this will change - thanks Назар for the info), a customizable panel which includes an applet, notification and customization center, as well as a menu that offers both compact and category views.
Like Budgie Remix, Ubuntu Budgie should use GNOME applications by default, such as Files (Nautilus), Gedit, and so on, with extras like Plank dock, and various customizations.
Check out the official announcement HERE.The persecutors of Chechnya’s gay citizens now feel strong, untouchable, invincible. Their victims, who they arrest, beat and torture, are at their mercy. They are protected by many things: by the tinpot tyrants who rule a republic violently subjugated by Vladimir Putin; by the den of reactionary views that is the Moscow regime; and by the acquiescence – support even – of a society soaked in homophobic hatred.
Their consciences will not trouble them. It is always comforting to imagine that those who commit atrocities against fellow human beings are sociopaths or evil. But that does not explain the great horrors of human history, from fascism to colonialism. Inhumanity is only made possible by stripping a group of its humanity. You only feel empathy, after all, for those you feel are human beings like you. That’s how human beings who in other contexts feel compassion and love and warmth can become capable of the most unspeakable horrors.
Chechens tell of prison beatings and electric shocks in anti-gay purge: ‘They called us animals’ Read more
But however strong Chechnya’s oppressors currently feel, history will damn them and unequivocally side with those they torment. That is of little comfort to those being beaten and tortured right now. The loneliness many of them feel will be total. Hated by the authorities, their families, their friends, all hope will feel vanquished.
The stories of beatings, mass arrests, concentration camps even, should horrify. But this is not the time for tutting and moving on to the next horrific news item. Let Chechnya be a watershed. Let this become the biggest outpouring of international solidarity with LGBT people in history. Let the persecution being meted out on the bodies of gay men now begging for their lives become a catalyst to build a global movement to unapologetically purge all hatred of LGBT people.
Yes, Chechnya is a profoundly conservative society whose bigotries are legitimised by reactionary Islamism. But however extreme its current manifestation in this Russian republic, homophobia everywhere springs from the same place. It is, above all else, about policing what it is to be a man. Being gay is regarded as the most sinful corruption of manliness. The Chechen persecutors may not flinch as they break bones, because they see them as a mortal threat to their own sense of masculinity. That’s why homophobia is so inextricably bound with the subjugation of women. In Chechnya – and all over the world – the struggle for LGBT rights will only be achieved with the liberation of women.
Gay men in Chechnya are being tortured and killed. More will suffer if we don’t act | Syma Tariq Read more
The Chechen regime has the audacity to claim that there are no gays in Chechnya. It reminds me of another tyrant, Robert Mugabe, who in 2015 proclaimed at the UN general assembly: “We are not gays!” Homosexuality was a western import, he claimed: a claim riddled with irony given homophobia in Africa and the Indian subcontinent is so bound up with the Victorian social conservatism imported by the colonists.
In any case, I can assure Chechnya’s regime that there are thousands of LGBT people languishing there. They want to love, like anybody else, without persecution, and however many are now tortured and arrested and disappeared and killed, in the end, they are going to win.
Pressure has to be exerted on the Russian regime. A global wave of protest, now, with many demands: from ending the persecution in Chechnya to our own country taking in refugees fleeing this horror. The tortured of Chechnya have to know that they are far from alone: that millions, queer and straight, are determined to end their misery, and will build a movement that will achieve just that.
But homophobic persecution is clearly not confined to Chechnya’s borders. Staunch western allies like Saudi Arabia torture, imprison and behead gay people. Being gay is a crime punishable by death in countries ranging from Nigeria to Qatar – the country set to welcome the globe’s great and good for the 2022 World Cup. The 2018 tournament, lest we forget, will be in Russia.
Facebook Twitter Pinterest ‘Homophobia in Africa and the Indian subcontinent is bound up with the Victorian social conservatism imported by the colonists.’ Photograph: Benedicte Desrus / Alamy/Alamy
Egypt’s police entrap gay men using dating apps. In every country on Earth, being gay still means being treated, to some degree, as inferior: whether because of social penalties or because of legal persecution. Let the suffering of Chechnya’s gays boomerang on to their oppressors: let it become a spur to mobilise us against all forms of homophobia everywhere.
Imagine if that could be the net contribution of Chechnya’s bigots. Not to break gay men and silence them and eliminate them, but rather to galvanise a movement determined to rid every society of homophobic and transphobic hatred. Unlike homosexuality, homophobia is learned, and it can be unlearned too. However triumphant and powerful they feel, the torturers and killers are going to lose. It’s up to all of us to make sure of it.A month ago, the perennial swing state of Ohio was slipping away from Hillary Clinton, who was struggling to win over working class whites and impress jaded millennials.
Today, Ohio looks more and more like it is hers to lose.
The story of why is about Donald Trump: The Republican nominee delivered a woeful opening debate performance, spent days feuding with a former Miss Universe, and it was all capped off the following week by news of an explosive 2005 tape showing Trump seemingly bragging about sexual assaulting women.
The Clinton campaign stresses that it never abandoned Ohio, even as polls showed the state tilting away from her several weeks ago, with some showing Clinton losing to Trump by as many as 5 points – a far cry from the narrow win President Obama delivered against Mitt Romney. Trump’s appeal among working class white voters – especially white men – sliced into Clinton’s support among traditional Democrats.
But even as their candidate focused her appearances on other battleground states, the Clinton campaign continued to push their economic message and register voters – especially minorities and young people – with a ground game far superior to that of the Republicans.
Paul Ryan: I will no longer defend Trump
Trump’s stumbles on the national stage, Ohio observers say, have hurt him with moderate Republicans and independents – voters who may never have been solidly for him but had hesitations about Clinton. That’s left the Clinton organization on firm footing heading into the final month of the race, with early voting set to start on Wednesday. According to the latest CBS News poll, Clinton leads Trump among likely voters in Ohio by four points, 46 percent to 42 percent.
Along with the lewd videotape that landed last Friday, The New York Times revealed that Trump may have not paid any federal income taxes for nearly two decades. And Newsweek discovered that the most recent Trump construction projects purchased steel and aluminum from manufacturers in China rather than from corporations based in the U.S.
In Ohio, where layoffs in the steel industry have hit hard over the last two decades, Clinton seized on the opening.
“He claims to be on the side of workers,” Clinton said of Trump on Monday at a rally in Columbus. “He especially likes to talk about how he supports America steel workers. He even had the nerve, this is what kills me, he even had the nerve about how American steel will send skyscrapers soaring. The whole time he was hiding the truth, hiding the fact that he choose to buy illegally dumped Chinese steel instead of American steel.”
It was a version of a refrain she delivered on Sunday during the second presidential debate in St. Louis. And earlier in the week, she took to Toledo and Akron to lay out her economic plan.
A few days later, husband Bill Clinton was dispatched to tour the Rust Belt by bus. Other surrogates have peppered the state as well. This past weekend, as Trump struggled to keep the GOP from abandoning him, thousands of Democratic volunteers fanned throughout the state in a final push to register voters before the Tuesday deadline.
Trump invokes Bill Clinton's past with women at Pennsylvania rally
Perhaps the most effective surrogate of all will kick off the start of Ohio’s early voting period at the end of the week: Obama will headline a dinner here on Thursday and a rally on Friday.
Her aides don’t see Ohio as a must win – Robby Mook released a memo to supporters obtained by CBS News last month listing Clinton’s “many paths to 270 electoral votes,” some of which did not include the Buckeye battleground.
“Put a different way, of these battleground states, Hillary can win just one (Florida, Ohio, or North Carolina) and win the presidency, which means the six additional states would only add more electoral votes to her total,” Mook wrote in the memo.
But it is a must win for Trump, and with the dramatic shift in public opinion, it’s now a battleground where they believe he can be stopped.
“Before this latest downward spiral bombshell over the weekend, Trump support among our membership was eroding pretty steadily,” Michael Gillis, the Ohio communications director for the AFL-CIO, told CBS News, disputing the notion that the Clinton campaign had given up on the state and attributing it to a scheduling lull.
According to the AFL-CIO’s internal polling, Trump’s union support had dropped 12 points since June, which Democrats in the state credit to an increased awareness of Trump’s fraudulent business record.
“At the very end of September, we had him at 32 and Clinton at 52 – that’s a 20 point spread. It’s the largest in our battleground states with the exception of Wisconsin,” Gillis said.
"Time of my life" featuring Trump and Clinton
Last week, the Ohio AFL-CIO distributed 125,000 mailers titled “Trump Stiffs American Steelworkers,” citing articles that Trump had profited from low Chinese pricing instead of buying American steel. Leaflets distributed at the office say the same.
It’s a message that popular Ohio Democrats like Senator Sherrod Brown and Congressman Tim Ryan also sunk their teeth into as they waded through one-time Democratic bastions along Ohio’s eastern border during a bust tour with Bill Clinton.
“Donald Trump, all he does is run his mouth and pad his pockets,” Brown told a riled up crowd last week at a Union Hall in Canton after blasting Trump for buying Chinese steel.
Ryan’s introduction of Clinton was even more intense. “He will gut you and he will walk over your cold dead body and he won’t even flinch,” he said of Trump at a pancake breakfast in Youngstown.
Clinton matched their insults with his wife’s plan to invest in American manufacturing and infrastructure, grow labor unions, and raise wages, a message that finally seems to be taking hold in Northeast Ohio, where Trump has tried to run up the score with the white working class.
“Bill Clinton seems like a pretty decent messenger for that demographic — Ohio is whiter than the nation and it’s white population is less educated than the nation,” Kyle Kondik, the managing editor of Sabato’s Crystal Ball, told CBS News. “And if Trump over performs with that demographic, it’s a problem. So I do think it’s smart for her to limit the losses amongst that group because that’s almost half the voters in Ohio.”
Poll: Clinton holds double-digit lead on Trump
At a debate watch party in Hamilton County on Sunday night, Trump supporters were indifferent to the wreckage their candidate has racked up over the past month. A suburban woman in an InfoWars t-shirt clapped incessantly for 90 minutes, and the rest of the crowd cheered for Trump after every exchange. CBS informally polled the crowd at the end of the night, and overwhelmingly they agreed Trump had won the debate handily.
“That’s the thing, he’s only appealing to the people who already support him,” Michael Hartley, who heads a public affairs and political consulting firm in Columbus, told CBS News.
One Republican strategist familiar with polling in Congressional districts in Ohio pinned the start of Trump’s decline to his first debate performance. An all-time record number of viewers tuned in, and after it was over many were disappointed by Trump and had a more favorable view of Clinton. When he polled a congressional district in Ohio the following day, Trump went from being up by 6 to up by 2.
This same strategist also believes that the Trump campaign’s lack of a ground game is starting to wear thin.
“Folks working on Trump’s Ohio campaign – God bless them, they are doing a fantastic job,” he said. “But, it comes from the top: there is no investment in it. It’s, ‘Hey, we’re going to depend on yard signs and rallies.’ That’s how they see getting out the vote, that’s how they see ground game. That may work in some other states that are not Ohio. But here, you got to go get your voters.”Hillary Clinton Hillary Diane Rodham ClintonREAD: Cohen testimony alleges Trump knew Stone talked with WikiLeaks about DNC emails County GOP in Minnesota shares image comparing Sanders to Hitler Holder: 'Time to make the Electoral College a vestige of the past' MORE trails three top Republican presidential candidates in matchups in three key swing states — Iowa, Colorado and Virginia — a new Quinnipiac poll finds.
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The Democratic presidential frontrunner is already slipping in favorability ratings and is now behind in those states when facing former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, Sen. Marco Rubio and Wiconsin Gov. Scott Walker. The GOP candidates lead Clinton outright in six of those matchups, while Clinton is still behind in the other three but within the margin of error.
In Iowa, Rubio and Walker both hold an 8-percentage point lead over Clinton, while Bush would defeat her in the hypothetical matchup by 6 points.
In Colorado, Walker holds the largest lead over Clinton at 9 percentage points. Rubio follows shortly behind with an 8-point margin, while Bush leads by 5 percentage points.
Clinton’s margins are much closer in Virginia, but she’s still on the losing side of all three hypothetical contests. Bush and Walker lead her by 3 points, while Rubio leads by 2. All of those results are about within the margin of error of 2.8 percent.
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) polls about as well as Clinton, if not better in some of the general election matchups in Iowa and Colorado, despite trailing the former secretary of State significantly in polls for the Democratic nomination. Vice President Joe Biden, who has not publicly announced a decision on 2016, matches up slightly worse than Clinton.
The results show a drop off for Clinton, who previously led five of these hypothetical matchups in a Quinnipiac poll from April.
The poll also finds that her favorability among the general electorate has dipped since April. She’s down by 23 percentage points in Iowa, 21 points in Colorado and 9 points in Virginia.
A majority of voters believes that Clinton is not honest and trustworthy and does not care about their needs. But most also say she has strong leadership qualities.
The title of worst favorability rating among the entire presidential field, Democrat and Republican, goes to Donald Trump. His favorability is down by 25 percentage points in Iowa, 27 points in Colorado and 31 points in Virginia.
About 1,200 general election voters in Colorado, Iowa and Virginia were surveyed in the poll.Alan Turing's hand-drawn Monopoly Board
Update: William Newman has the true history of this artifact: "May I confess to being the perpetrator of said 'board', which I drew on a sheet of paper back in the 1950s when I was in my early teens and lacked the money to buy a proper set. My brother and I played on it, and when Alan asked if he could join us in a game we played a threesome (Alan lost). Later the board fell into disuse and I lost track of it about 50 years ago, but it recently turned up (together with the rules), see http://www.bletchleypark.org.uk/news/docview.rhtm/644565. The Roman numerals indicated property prices. I forget why I added the diagonal. "
Yesterday, I had the delightful experience of attending a fundraiser for Bletchley Park, the birthplace of modern computing and cryptography, where the Allied WWII cipher-breaking effort was headquartered. Cold War paranoia caused Churchill to order Bletchley broken up, its work kept secret, its machines destroyed, and, very slowly, it is being rebuilt.
Earlier this year, the Bletchley Trust acquired Alan Turing's papers for the collection with a grant from Google.org, and I got this shot of Turing's awesome hand-drawn Monopoly board -- the cryptographers of Bletchley were sequestered from the rest of the world and desperate for distraction, hence this great bit of historical ephemera.
I also learned that Turing didn't believe the UK economy would survive WWII even if the Allies won the war, and so he drew as much of his pay as he could in silver half-crowns, melted them down, created two enormous ingots, and buried them somewhere in the region. They've never been recovered -- as far as we know. (finkployd just reminded me that this was in Cryptonomicon, but the detail had slipped my mind).
Alan Turing's hand-drawn Monopoly board, the Turing Papers, Bletchley Park, UKTecate thinks building a wall between the U.S. and Mexico is a great idea—as long as it's 3 feet tall and is used as a meeting place for guys from both sides of the border (and all sides of the political spectrum) to get together and have beers.
The spot below, from Saatchi & Saatchi New York, will get a perfect media placement, too. It will debut Monday night on Fox News, Univision and Telemundo during the presidential debate between Donald Trump—who has proposed a much higher, less beer-friendly wall separating the nations—and Hillary Clinton.
See the ad here:
The ad was filmed near the border town of Tecate, Mexico, where the Mexican beer originated. This is the brand's first work targeting the general market; it usually focuses its efforts on a core Hispanic target.
"This is a tremendous idea for Tecate. It really is the best idea. We worked with the best clients and hired the best people to work on it. Only the best. It's terrific," Jay Benjamin, former CCO at Saatchi New York, said in a statement (possibly after a few Tecates).
"Building on the insight that the wall issue is extremely important to our millennial target consumers, whether leaning more liberal or more conservative, we knew people would be watching the first presidential debate to hear each candidate's side of this important issue. We couldn't think of a better stage to serve Tecate's message of unity," said Jennifer Weiss, vp and director at Mediavest | Spark, which handled media. "We're also hyper-focused on social to ensure we're reaching legal-drinking-age adults 21+ interested in politics on both sides of the aisle to drive conversation for #TecateBeerWall efficiently."
"Tecate is using beer as the great unifier in developing a fun, lighthearted and clever commercial where friends from two bordering countries share a couple of Tecates over a wall," said Felix Palau, vp at Tecate. "With this spot, Tecate is acknowledging an ongoing conversation, while raising a |
a strong position to make their own choices about their ways of life and what ‘development’ they want. A Yanomami woman.
‘It’s not that the Yanomami do not want progress, or other things that white people have. They want to be able to choose and not have change thrust upon them, whether they want it or not’ – Davi Yanomami, Brazil.This article is part of our series on the Science and Research Priorities recently announced by the Federal Government. You can read the introduction to the series by Australia’s Chief Scientist, Ian Chubb, here.
Ian Lowe
Emeritus Professor, Griffith University and former president of the Australian Conservation Foundation
A few years ago I was part of an exercise to identify the important knowledge gaps that prevent effective environmental management in Australia. The study was motivated by a recognition that our future well-being depends critically on the health of the natural systems we rely on for clean air, water and the resources for food production, as well as indirect benefits derived from a healthy environment.
We published a paper which identified areas of environmental management that are profoundly hindered by a lack of basic scientific knowledge, rather than just by a lack of policy development and management.
Of the 22 big questions we identified, more than half are directly related to climate change, while several concern our limited understanding of marine systems. These are still the top priorities today.
We identified four global issues that are important for Australia: integrating environmental management with other human needs; tackling climate change; ocean acification; and coastal flooding (note that most Australians live near the coast).
As well as those global issues, we have a particular local problem: the continuing loss of our unique biodiversity.
There is some overlap here with the main areas identified by the government’s new research priorities, which in the area of environmental change call for attention to be directed towards: better prediction of climate impacts; making our urban, rural and regional infrastructure more resilient; and helping our biological systems, communities and industries adapt to environmental change.
Our paper went on to pose a series of questions that need answers if we are to overcome the current lack of knowledge that is holding back our environmental management.
To integrate environmental management with other human needs, we need to know how to value natural ecosystems so that financial incentives can be used to help preserve them, and the environmental costs of production can be incorporated into the prices of goods and services.
We also need well-defined sustainability goals, a knowledge of how much change different ecosystems can tolerate, and an understanding of what management policies will work best in each situation.
With relation to climate change, we need to know how to downscale global climate models to give us useful predictions at the landscape scale for Australia. More specifically, we need to know how fire regimes are likely to be influenced by climate change and how best to manage them; how marine systems such as coral reefs are likely to respond to changes such as increased ocean acification; how agriculture might change (or even physically move location) in the future; and how coastal systems such as freshwater aquifers will respond to sea-level rise.
We also need to devise and implement an early detection system for potential invasive species such as new weeds, pests, pathogens, and diseases.
And a big question about our loss of biodiversity is whether we can reverse and restore the loss of species in degraded landscapes, and in particular how we can preserve them to prevent further loss?
While there are many areas where we know what needs to be done and are still failing to respond because of ideology or short-term political expediency, the areas identified here require basic research if we are to make informed decisions. This is far from a comprehensive list.
As much of the environmental damage done in the past has been the result of ignorance, improving our knowledge should be a top priority.
Ian Dixon, Author provided
Andrew Campbell
Director, Research Institute for Environment and Livelihoods at Charles Darwin University
Others in this series will rightly focus on research priorities in terms of the “what?” questions: identifying the topics most deserving of attention. Important, of course, but I prefer to focus on the “how?” questions. How should we go about understanding an issue as complex and contentious as environmental change?
Let’s take at face value the term “environmental change” as being broader than just “climate change”, rather than the former being simply euphemistic code for the latter.
Fair enough – there are lots of drivers of environmental change besides global warming: human consumption and pollution; invasive species; agriculture and land clearing; changing fire regimes; and mining, to name a few. Of course, many of these intersect with, and are worsened by, climate change.
In broad terms, we know what we need to do. Over the next century or so, we have some deceptively simple objectives:
Decouple economic growth from greenhouse gas emissions
Increase food production while using less land, water and nutrients
Increase water and energy productivity
Adapt to an increasingly difficult climate
Each of these is a herculean scientific and policy challenge. Yet we need to do them all at once — walking, chewing gum, patting our heads and rubbing our bellies at the same time.
Figuring out how to tackle so-called wicked problems demands a rethink of the process of scientific inquiry, going beyond the traditional reductionist approach by which we test single-issue hypotheses. Earlier this year my colleagues and I published a paper discussing how to design more effective interdisciplinary research.
However, understanding environmental change in ways that help society to stay within planetary boundaries requires more than new research methods. It also means rethinking the interface between education, science, society and policy.
In an era where every smartphone has GPS, we can combine outputs from sophisticated research facilities like TERN with the observations of hundreds of thousands of people, through citizen science initiatives like the Atlas of Living Australia and e-Bird.
We have as yet made only baby steps with the integration of citizen science, the internet of things, social media, school and adult education, and the voluntary community sector (landcare, field naturalists, renewable energy and the arts).
The closer we draw these groups together, the more difficult it will be for governments, corporations or industries to get away with promoting or subsidising environmental destruction, delegitimising environmental concerns, or weakening environmental protection.
One of our biggest challenges in an era of wicked problems, big data and knowledge economies is how to analyse, synthesise and make sense of the disparate data we generate.
Along with big-ticket projects like synchrotrons and square kilometre arrays, we also need research infrastructure designed to do this kind of analysis.
A dozen or so scientific synthesis centres have emerged around the world in the earth and environmental sciences over the past 20 years, for instance in Santa Barbara, Stockholm and Leipzig. Compared with radiotelescopes and research ships, these synthesis centres are dirt-cheap, but the emerging evidence that they are scientifically very valuable, especially from a policy perspective.
Unfortunately we have been unable to sustain funding for our short-lived Australian synthesis centre, ACEAS. So at the top of my personal wish list would be for Australia to invest in its own national environmental synthesis centre. Team Australia needs an environmental dashboard.
Ideally, as many team members (citizens) as possible should be involved in generating the information that goes into it, in tracking progress on the various dials (water, energy, food, land, biodiversity, atmosphere, oceans, climate), and in working out how we can do better.
Figuring out how we can achieve that is as important as deciding which research questions to explore.
Michael Douglas, Author provided
Bill Laurance
Distinguished Research Professor and Australian Laureate, and Director of the Centre for Tropical Environmental and Sustainability Science at James Cook University
One of the first things a boxer learns is “throw punches in bunches”. It’s not a single blow that will fell most opponents, but a devastating flurry of jabs, hooks, crosses and uppercuts.
Scientists are increasingly drawing similar conclusions about biodiversity and the environmental stresses that imperil it. Most species aren’t being endangered by a single hazard, but by combinations of different threats acting in concert.
For example, in many parts of the tropics, an alarming synergism arises between selective logging and hunting. In the Congo Basin, for instance, loggers have bulldozed more than 50,000 km of new roads since 2000. Following in their footsteps are hordes of hunters armed with deadly rifles and cable snares. The result? An epic slaughter of wildlife, with two-thirds of the world’s forest elephants killed off in the past decade.
Many human disturbances also increase wildfires. Habitat fragmentation and logging create piles of flammable slash in the forest while disrupting the canopy, allowing light and wind to dry out the forest floor. From the Amazon to Australia, human-disturbed forests have suffered catastrophic fires that have destroyed or degraded vast expanses of native growth.
Climate change is also making ecosystems more fire-prone. El Niño droughts are known to affect many forests, but in 2005 and 2010 researchers saw a completely new kind of drought in the Amazon, caused not by El Niño but by exceptionally warm Atlantic sea-surface temperatures, which drove the rain-bearing “intertropical convergence zone” northwards. As a result, vast expanses of the Amazon that were formerly thought to be drought-proof suffered catastrophic tree death, resulting in hundreds of millions of tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions.
The remarkable mobility of modern human societies is a subtle but nonetheless critical form of disturbance, because we are spreading foreign species all across the planet. Some exotics are complete game-changers. The chytrid fungus spreading around the world has caused at least 200 species of frogs and other amphibians to disappear. And elephant grass and Gamba grass in northern Australia are utterly destroying native forests. These African grasses grow up to 4 m tall and burn so savagely that even fire-adapted woodlands are being wiped out.
I sometimes challenge my students to name a single place on Earth where only one environmental change is occurring. They can’t do it because no such place exists – and Australia is certainly no exception. Air and water pollution, climate change, overhunting, widespread habitat loss and fragmentation, foreign species, altered ecosystems and food chains. There are no refuges from these external, infernal threats.
That’s the most alarming thing we are doing to the world — changing it in myriad ways all at once. Species aren’t enduring just a single menace, but are running a gauntlet of perils as they struggle desperately for survival.
Read more in our Science and Research Priorities series
On the road: research can improve transport across Australia
Research priority: make Australia’s health system efficient, equitable and integrated
Australia could become a leader in cybersecurity researchEXCLUSIVE: No big surprise that today Marvel and Disney asked the Supreme Court to deny a petition from the heirs of Captain America, The Avengers and X-Men co-creator Jack Kirby. “This case presents a factbound application of a test uniformly adopted by the lower courts under a statute that does not apply to works created after 1978,” said a response filed today (read it here). “It implicates no circuit split, no judicial taking, no due process violation, and no grave matter of separation of powers. It does not remotely merit this Court’s review,” added the media giant’s main attorney in the matter, R. Bruce Rich. In case, Marvel’s rejection of the heirs desires were not clear enough, the Disney-owned company really hits it hard elsewhere in today’s response. “In likely recognition of the fact that the statutory question does not satisfy the requirements for this Court’s review, petitioners turn to a series of bizarre constitutional arguments raised for the first time in this Court,” says Marvel. “Those arguments only underscore that none of the questions presented merits this Court’s plenary consideration.”
In a move that could have huge copyright implications for the entertainment industry if it went before the nine justices and they found in the heirs’ favor, Lisa Kirby, Neal Kirby, Susan Kirby and Barbara Kirby petitioned the SCOTUS this spring to hear their much-denied case. The heirs contended they had the right in 2009 to issue 45 termination notices to Marvel and others including Fox, Sony, Universal and Paramount Pictures on the artist’s characters under the provisions of the 1976 Copyright Act. While Kirby was publicly identified with much of the comic company’s prolific period along with Stan Lee, Marvel has won before in the courts under the understanding that the 262 works in question in this case the comic legend helped create between 1958 and 1963 — including many of the brightest stars in the Marvel Universe — were done under a work-for-hire deal and hence he nor his heirs have any rights of termination. With that in mind, Marvel initially waived any response to the SCOTUS petition. However, then the High Court itself requested they respond as the justices took the matter into conference. That initial scheduled May 15 conference was postponed as the Court awaited Marvel’s response.
“Petitioners alleged that their father, Jack Kirby — a freelancer who contributed to Marvel works in the form of commissioned drawings and under Marvel’s continuous supervision — held copyright interests in those works,” said Marvel today summing up the other side’s case. Now the response from Marvel is in, the Justices could take the matter under consideration. If they agree to hear the petition, it will be scheduled most likely for their next term which begins in October.
Getting that far is a long shot for the heirs and their lawyer Marc Toberoff. But after previous legal denials and losses, it is a long shot that could pay off. In January 2010, Marvel and Disney sued the heirs to invalidate the 2009 notices. In October 2013, the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals denied the estate’s request for a rehearing or a full rehearing en banc. Before that there was an August 2013 denial by the appeals court on the heirs’ claims against Marvel and Disney by reaffirming a 2011 lower court ruling on the work-for-hire arrangement with Kirby, who passed away in 1994.
The case is starting to attract some superfriends now that it is in the big court leagues. Last month, SAG-AFTRA, the WGA and the DGA submitted an amicus brief to the Supreme Court in favor of having the petition granted. “The Second Circuit’s holding in this case reaffirms a test that created an onerous, nearly insurmountable presumption that copyright ownership vests in a commissioning party as a work made for hire, rather than in the work’s creator,” said the 32-page filing of June 13 (read it here). “In doing so, it jeopardizes the statutory termination rights that many Guild members may possess in works they created. Accordingly, the Guilds and their members have a significant interest in the outcome of this critically important case.”
The thing is Marvel and the Kirbys did try to work out a deal on all this a few years back but when that failed is when everyone headed for the lawyers. Now the High Court may be aiming to work out a new deal for them both.Shadow Treasurer Chris Bowen said Labor was ready to act "constructively" with the government, and not charging the GST on imported goods under $1000 was "unfair" for local small business.
Move to tax retailers directly
Shop owners lobby group, the Australian Retailers Association, and Australia's book industry have long pushed for a zero GST threshold, to "level the playing field" for local businesses.
"This is about ending an era of protectionism for offshore businesses," Australian Booksellers Association Chief Executive Joel Becker, said.
But the option of charging GST on imports as they came across Australia's borders has been problematic because it could cost more to implement than it would raise, according to Productivity Commission advice.
Last year, however, the OECD agreed in principle that in member states foreign suppliers would have to pay sales taxes, such as GST, on online goods purchased by local consumers, giving countries such as Australia more faith in compliance.
Mr Hockey said new developments, including those made at the G20, also allow the government to identify which goods are sold to Australians.
"We have identified a new way, through Australia's leadership of the G20, to be able to impose the GST on the supplier," he said.
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"We can go to the Amazons, we can go to the various retailers overseas, and say 'you have to identify the goods you are selling into the Australian market' and they will do so, and that is how we are going to collect it."
Customs, compliance still a hurdle
UNSW associate professor of taxation law Dale Boccabella said with costly customs and quarantine processes still in place, there was no simple solution.
"The problem is at the border you will still have to distinguish between goods coming in as tax-paid items and the non-tax-paid items," he said.
He said while other international examples show larger companies are likely to comply with Australia's GST for reputation reasons, smaller companies may try to dodge the net, creating distortions as consumers opt for these cheaper goods.
"You are going to need a lot of co-operation with foreign suppliers because under our current common law foreign court systems will generally not enforce our tax law for us," Mr Boccabella said.
He said Australia could find ways to encourage compliance, however.
"We could say 'we are not going to streamline your goods through customs unless you comply with our GST system' and that might be a little bit of leverage," he said.
There is also the issue of taxing "intangibles" such as digital downloads, currently not caught in the taxation system.
Mr Bowen said he would be seeking a briefing on the latest Treasury advice.My name is Jarrod Wolfe and I am the Strategic Analyst for the Compliance Division at VCGLR. I have received your correspondence in regards to gambling functionality (loot boxes) being incorporated into games. Your research and suppositions on the matter are correct; what occurs with "loot boxes" does constitute gambling by the definition of the Victorian Legislation. Unfortunately where the complexity arises is in jurisdiction and our powers to investigate. Legislation has not moved as quick as the technology; at both State and Federal level we are not necessarily equipped to determine the legality of these practices in lieu of the fact the entities responsible are overseas. Wolfe went on to say that the VCGLR has been "engaging with interstate and international counterparts" to work on policy changes that would "modernise and inform both federal and state based legislation". It's also particularly concerned with the proliferation of gambling-based mechanics being targeted at minors, which Wolfe said was "not just morally reprehensible, but is also legally questionable". The real kicker, as Wolfe wrote in a second email, is one of jurisdiction.
Gambling isn't necessarily "Unauthorised gambling" so there are a lot of variables at play. For perhaps a real world example think of overseas betting agencies. Such as Bet 365 – Australians can and do use this service; yet it is clearly administered and run from the UK. This isn't illegal. However, if that company set up "shop" in Victoria or started specifically advertising and offering gambling products to Victorians. Then we could investigate and it could be considered a breach of legislation and we would pursue, overseas or not. One of the downfalls is that using overseas based products, Victorian residents do not have us to investigate any complaints or issues they have. The VCGLR analyst noted that the regulator could potentially work with other Australian bodies to keep a closer eye on gambling elements in video games. For instance, the Classification Board could get involved. "If these companies want to include significant elements of gambling in their products then perhaps we should work with 'The Australian Classification Board' to ensure than any product that does that and monetises it gets an immediate R rating," Wolfe proposed. "I could imagine that this would send ripples through the industry and it would support the objectives of the Gambling Legislation to ensure minors are not encouraged to participate in gambling."
Game publishers EA and Activision-Blizzard have been contacted for a comment on these developments.More missiles tests by North Korea have unsettled US allies in Asia 10:03 AM ET Mon, 6 March 2017 | 00:47
North Korea fired four ballistic missiles early on Monday, three of which landed in Japan's exclusive economic zone, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said, the latest in a series of provocative tests by the reclusive state.
"Multiple ballistic missiles" were launched from the Tongchang-ri region near the North's border with China and flew about 1,000 km (620 miles), South Korean military officials said, without providing the number of missiles.
"South Korea and the United States are conducting a close-up analysis, regarding further information," South Korea's Office of Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement. Acting president Hwang Kyo-ahn convened a national security meeting, South Korea's presidential office said in a text message.
Japanese officials described the launches as a grave threat and said they lodged "strong protests" with nuclear-armed North Korea.
"The launches are clearly in violation of Security Council resolutions. It is an extremely dangerous action," Abe said during lawmaker questions in parliament.
No reports of damage to shipping or aircraft had been received since the launches, Japanese officials said.
The U.S. military did not immediately comment. A U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the United States also detected apparent launch activity in North Korea but declined to offer details.Flickr/brianandjaclyn Returning from space isn't confusing only for humans. Non-terrestrial animals like jellyfish even have a hard time with the return to gravity.
An article by RR Helm in Deep Sea News pointed our way to some interesting research from the 90s on what happened to jellyfish that were born in space. Sending jellyfish to space might seem silly, but these simple animals have given scientists plenty of insight into the effects long-term zero gravity exposure.
If humans colonize space, it is possible that children could eventually be born and raised in zero gravity. This could mean that humans born in space never develop a normal sense of balance or normal muscle response to gravity.
Even though they don't have legs and live in the ocean, jellyfish are sensitive to gravity just like humans. So scientists bred jellyfish — a species appropriately named moon jellyfish — in space and brought their babies back to Earth to see how they fared. The 1994 experiment was detailed in a study published in Advances in Space Research.
Jellyfish are full of graviceptors — small crystals of calcium sulfate stored in pockets surrounded by sensitive hair cells. When a jellyfish changes direction, the crystals respond to gravity and roll around to the bottom of these pockets and signal the hair cells which way is up.
Of course gravity has to be present for these crystals to work.
When they baby jellies returned to Earth, they had a hard time getting around. The space jellyfish had more trouble orienting themselves and moving around than their Earth-born relatives.
Their gaviceptors seemed to look normal, so the researchers think there must be some way in which they were calibrated wrong, or were connected to the jellie's nervous system incorrectly.
The human inner ear contains fluids and cyrstals that function in a similar way to jellyfish graviceptors. The inner ear crystals signal what angle our head is at and give us a sense of our forward momentum. Like the space born jellyfish, humans raised in zero gravity may have trouble moving around normally if they returned to Earth.
A surprising number of animals have been bred in space, including frogs, salamanders, and sea urchins. Fish and tadpoles swam in loops instead of straight lines when they were taken to space, according to NASA.
More recently animal space research focused on rats. In 2007 Jeffrey Alberts worked with NASA to study how spending the last week of gestation in space would affect newborn rats. Alberts found that rats who spent a week in the womb with zero gravity couldn't tell up from down when they were first born.
The baby rats were unable to flip themselves right side up when they were dropped in water, but eventually recovered a normal sense of gravity.
A study published in PLoS ONE in 2011 described how snails fared when they returned to Earth. Snails also have gravitoceptors like humans, but snails born in space ended up growing really large gravitceptors — probably to compensate for the lack of gravity.
When the space snails were tilted or turned upside down, they actually started trying to turn themselves right side up faster than their Earth-born relatives, but not always in the right direction. The scientists concluded that being born in space made the snails more sensitive to gravity changes, but they could not tell which way was up.
More research is needed before we can fully understand how growing up in space could impact a human. But you can figure it's going to be weird.Drivers trying to navigate through Georgetown or Savannah's southside on Ga. 204 have been spending a lot more time in traffic in recent weeks, and a state transportation official warns there's more to come.
Already, the typical five-minute jaunt for motorists headed east on the state highway toward Rio Road has grown to half an hour as traffic bottlenecks from three lanes to one to allow for road construction.
Vehicles heading in the opposite direction have been crawling at a frustrating 4 mph in front of the Savannah Mall, where lane closures on the highway's west side have also reduced the number of functioning lanes to one.
Meanwhile, the traffic jams regularly experienced by drivers heading west toward King George Boulevard during rush hour haven't let up, either. Nearly every weekday afternoon, traffic moves at a snail's pace as travelers from Veterans Parkway join the mix.
The Georgia Department of Transportation cautions that major delays will be in the cards for anyone traveling through the construction zone at Rio Road overnight while the single-lane closures continue.
More closures are expected in the coming weeks as the work continues.
The construction is likely to contribute to the area's congestion for a while, GDOT spokeswoman Jill Nagel said this week.
The hope, Nagel said, is that when it's finished, it will create more space for the thousands of vehicles that travel the route each day.
"Once it's finally completed, it's going to give a lot more storage at Rio," Nagel said. "We're hoping it will help with congestion."
According to project plans presented to the public in 2011, the goal is to widen the highway on either side of Rio Road to six lanes, including additional turn lanes. Some $5.3 million has been approved for this section of Abercorn Street, of which $4.3 million was awarded to contractor Preferred Materials for the construction.
Recently, motorists have complained that traffic cones and barrels have kept lanes closed even when construction wasn't taking place. Nagel said this is because constructions crews are either further out picking up the barrels and cones, concrete has been left to dry or road crews are on break.
"They would not just leave a lane closure out there," she said. "As (many) problems as we're having with the public with this, no."
Nagel said the work, which began in March, should be complete by this summer.
Dealing with growth
But that's not the only road construction taking place in the area. Work is also under way to turn the intersection of Abercorn Street and King George Boulevard into an interchange.
The need and purpose statement attached to the project in 2011 indicates that the intersection had long been the site of traffic problems, including congestion and accidents. GDOT attributed these issues to growth in west Chatham County.
According to the report, there were 154 vehicle collisions - resulting in 34 injuries and one death - at the intersection of Abercorn Street and King George Boulevard at the last count in 2008.
At the time the document was released, 80 percent of the crashes reported at the intersection were rear-end incidents.
Left untouched, GDOT officials anticipated that the morning travel time from U.S. 17 to King George Boulevard would increase from less than five minutes to nearly 20 in 2035. In the afternoons, a 15-minute commute from Rio Road to King George Boulevard was expected to increase to 35 minutes.
"(The) population in West Chatham is projected to increase by 73 percent by the year 2030, the statement reads. "Continued growth in the western portion of the county is expected to degrade the level of service provided by the existing transportation network."
The plan to improve the situation is to install two loop ramps, and construction crews already have dug large holes on either side of the roadway to serve as retention ponds.
Some $53 million has been approved for right-of-way acquisition, engineering and construction of this project so far. The $26.9 million construction contract was awarded to Balfour Beatty Infrastructure Inc.
Nagel said completion is expected in the first quarter of 2017.
Like the work further east at Rio, Nagel said the result will be improved traffic conditions - but not before the construction exacerbates the congestion.
"It's going to get worse before it gets better at King George, due to the fact that they're going to have to put all the traffic on 204 on the ramp so they can build the bridge," Nagel said. "Before we even started these projects, there was a lot of congestion in that area. It would be backed up. Now with the construction, it's more congestion, but we do have lane restrictions, which means there's a certain time of day they cannot have lane closures eastbound or westbound.
"In the end, we're hoping that will... relieve a lot of congestion."
Nagel said both projects are subject to erosion control methods and daily traffic control activities. In addition, she said, both are about 10 percent behind schedule because of the cold weather in the area earlier this year.
MORE INFORMATION
Work taking place or expected soon on Ga. 204 at Rio Road:
• Asphalt paving operation during nighttime hours: expected completion by this weekend, depending on weather (expect lane closures).
• New traffic signal installation: expected activation within the next three weeks.
• Installation of concrete raised islands expected to begin next week (expect lane closures).
• Installation of highway overhead signs expected to begin next week.
• Installation of limited access fence, signs and thermo stripe project are expected to begin in early June.
• Removal of old traffic signal, grass project and final cleanup are expected in late June.
Work taking place or expected soon on Ga. 204 at King George Boulevard:
• Installation of the H piles for sound wall #4 (Waterford Plantation Apartments) is expected to be completed within the next couple of days.
• Installation of concrete panels for sound wall #4 expected to continue next week
• Installation of the H piles for sound wall #5 (Forest Cove) is expected to begin in two weeks.
• Installation of concrete barrier walls on the proposed detour is expected to begin in two weeks.
• Resume installation of K line storm drainage is expected within two weeks.
• Roadway construction for the detour is expected to begin in six weeks.
• Four ponds are nearly complete, which resulted in 70 percent in place embankment being completed.
*GDOT restricts lane closures during peak traffic hours Mondays through Fridays. All lanes will be open to traffic headed eastbound on Ga. 204 in the mornings and westbound on 204 in the afternoons.
There are no closure restrictions on nights or weekends.The 2016-17 Duke basketball schedule was officially set this week with the release of the ACC schedule from the league office.
It’s another sign that we’re one step closer to the 2016-17 college basketball season, which is expected to be a very good year for the Blue Devils.
With a roster built around veterans like Grayson Allen, Amile Jefferson and Matt Jones, along with newcomers Jayson Tatum, Harry Giles, Marques Bolden, and Frank Jackson, Duke is widely regarded as the No. 1 team in the country entering the season and a strong favorite to reach the 2017 Final Four in Phoenix.
Here are a few first impressions of the schedule and how things could play out for the Blue Devils.
Mark Your Calendar for February 9 & March 4
Those two dates are the games where Duke faces North Carolina. The Blue Devils will host UNC on Thursday, February 9, in the game that has come to symbolize the unofficial start of college basketball season for the casual fan. The return trip to Chapel Hill comes as the regular season finale on Saturday, March 8. Duke has won four of the last five meetings between the two programs.
2. Duke Can Ease Harry Giles into the Rotation
The health of incoming freshman Harry Giles is one of the biggest questions for Duke entering the season. The 5-star recruit missed his entire senior season after tearing his ACL in his first game for Oak Hill Academy, the second knee injury he suffered in three years. If healthy, the 6’10” power forward has the potential to be the No. 1 pick in the 2017 NBA Draft.
Fortunately, the way Duke’s schedule sets up, it should give Mike Krzyzewski the opportunity to slowly integrate Giles into the lineup. The two exhibition games against Virginia State and Augustana should give Giles a chance to test the knee, and then the team can see how it responds to back-to-back games on November 11 & 12 against Marist and Grand Canyon. If he’s at 100% by the start of 2017, it’s a great sign.
3. Duke Faces Some Tough ACC Road Tests
Any road game for Duke usually means facing a sellout crowd and hostile environment, and this year will be no different. The Blue Devils face many of the league’s most dangerous teams on the road this season in ACC play, including trips to Louisville, Syracuse, Notre Dame, North Carolina, Virginia, Miami, and an up-and-coming Virginia Tech team. The January 30th trip to South Bend could be extra tough considering it comes less than 48 hours after a road game at Wake Forest, two places that have given Duke trouble in the past.
4. Potential for a “What’s Wrong with Duke?” Narrative Entering the Postseason
Let’s go ahead and address this now before anyone starts to panic. Duke’s schedule is backloaded with some of its toughest conference games coming at the end of the regular season. The Blue Devils play four of their final six games on the road, which includes trips to Virginia, Syracuse, Miami and North Carolina. It will be a very difficult stretch and it wouldn’t be a shock if Duke loses a few of those games. That’s what happens when you play good teams on the road. However, it will be an easy talking point for the college basketball media that’s looking to generate interest as we enter March. Prepare accordingly.
5. Duke Won’t Lose a Game in Cameron Indoor Stadium
If there’s a positive to having so many tough ACC road games, it’s that the home schedule for the Blue Devils sets up quite favorably this season. Duke’s toughest tests at home will be hosting Michigan State in the ACC-Big Ten Challenge on November 29, N.C. State on January 23, and North Carolina on February 9. Aside from those three contests, Duke could be a double digit favorite in all of its other home games.
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Be sure to check out the full schedule on GoDuke.com.
What are your first impressions of the schedule? Let us know at @DukeReport on Twitter!Thanks to @sinksanksockie for letting me use some of her art!
My awesome friend @ater-nova and I are entering a visual-writing competition and got accepted! She provided writing and storyboards, while I did visuals and backgrounds. Was made in a little over four weeks so some parts were a bit rushed, while learning to use Toonboom ´ v `
ater-nova
Epilogue to this video: https://tiredtom.deviantart.com/art/Star-Audition-Epilogue-Spectator-Entry-736765982
Here’s a project we’ve been working on! StarOCT follows the adventures of Laticauda, a snappy sea snake, and Hryvnia, a wandering space junker, as they travel aboard the Star-Trawler Pleco to uncover the secrets of the Star Vault: an ancient structure fabled to grant the wish of whoever should first find it.
OCTs, or Original Character Tournaments, are art and story writing competitions. Typically in a 5-round, 32 person tournament bracket, contestants are pitted against each other to produce the best entry that depicts their characters defeating the opponent’s. Star is a four round OCT – we are currently in round one and hoping to release the next animation within the month! (We’ll even have voice actors this time!)In his new book, "Without Their Permission," Ohanian shares his advice for aspiring entrepreneurs.
Alexis Ohanian is best known as a cofounder of reddit, but creating the “front page of the Internet” is only a small part of his fast-growing résumé. In the last five years, Ohanian has founded and advised numerous startups and played a pivotal role in the fight against Congress’s controversial Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and the Senate's Protect IP Act (PIPA).
He belongs to a new generation of young and energetic Internet innovators who use their influence for philanthropic, entrepreneurial, and political causes.
Today, Ohanian joins us to discuss his new book, "Without Their Permission." Together, we’ll explore the humble beginnings of one of the world’s most popular websites, the fight for an open Internet, and everything in between.
You can start submitting your questions ahead of time by using the "Make a comment" box below.Stretching seems like a pretty simple topic, however, there is a little more to it than most think. When most people think of stretching, they are usually thinking of static stretching, or holding a “stretch” for 20-30 seconds then moving on to another. This has been the traditional warm-up and stretching program for as long as I can remember. How many times have you sat in gym class or sports practice doing static stretching as your warm-up? But there is a lot more to stretching than just static stretching. In fact, there are numerous other forms of stretching most people have never heard about. These types of stretching are superior for injury prevention, increasing mobility, flexibility, range of motion (ROM), and preparing for physical activity.
Flexibility vs. Mobility
Most people think flexibility and mobility refer to the same thing and are interchangeable terms. While they are related, there are some very important differences we must understand. Flexibility is generally referring to a single muscle or muscle group and its range of motion (ROM) in one direction. Think of flexibility as the old school bend over and touch your toes move. Mobility is generally referring to the body’s ability to complete movements, usually across multiple joints and muscle groups, through a full ROM. Think of mobility as doing a deep overhead squat, while keeping your feet flat on the ground and your hands over your head. Which one do you think will help your performance more? Yup, mobility is generally more important in optimal physical performance and injury prevention. The deep overhead squat requires multiple joints and muscle groups to work together to complete the movement. Sound a little like jiu-jitsu? What is the point of having great flexibility if that doesn’t transfer over into mobility? I’m not trying to say flexibility is pointless; in fact |
is largely smoke and mirrors with everyone dressing up their own interests as things that are best for the sport.
The big teams are now in the process of trying to sell the sport on the idea of customer cars. They say that the motivation is to get full grids and to help the small teams to survive. When you stop and think about it, the customer car concept could equally be seen as a cunning way for the big teams to get a bigger share of the revenues of the sport. The Formula One group will not give them more (probably it cannot afford to) but the big teams have realized that if they sell copies of their cars to the small teams, they will gain more money, without needing to spend very much more than they currently are. Their goal, therefore, is to have four or five teams selling their cars to the other entrants. And this is not just about the sport because some of the numbers involved are useful for other reasons. Ferrari, for example, might be able to charge customer teams $60 million a year to provide everything required. If there are three Ferrari customers the deals would be worth $180 million. However, these figures can be used for other things. If the team does five-year deals with three customer teams this means that it can book $900 million in guaranteed future revenue and with an IPO coming up that will help to hike the price of the shares, which means that the parent company can raise more money from the markets to pay off its debts and to invest in new models.
The small teams that would be forced to buy cars in order to remain competitive are, inevitably, spitting razor blades about the idea, while Bernie Ecclestone, the CEO of the Formula One group, which makes the money by selling commercial rights, is sufficiently canny to have spotted that this would give the big teams much of the political power in the sport and so he is proposing a one-chassis concept which would provide all the teams with the same basic car, which would undermine their powerbase and make him money. Fans might be led to believe that this will produce better races because it would all be down to driver talent, but that is not how it works. That system exists in IndyCar, but the same three teams have won the IndyCar title for the last dozen or so years…
The problem with both of these business models is that once teams have been forced to become customers, they will need to lay-off many of their staff and will have no need for the R&D and manufacturing infrastructure that they all have and that means that they cannot easily move up and become constructors in the future, without huge sums of money. There is clear evidence of this with Scuderia Toro Rosso which, for a time, was allowed to run Red Bull chassis. This led to opposition, particularly after Sebastian Vettel won a race in a Toro Rosso, and so the loophole was closed and Toro Rosso has spent the last five years reconstructing a manufacturing base. Today it is able to compete with Red Bull Racing, without using the same chassis. The problem is that this has cost a fortune.
Destroying the manufacturing base of the sport makes no sense at all and the customer car argument is flawed in that the idea might be presented as six manufacturers each having a factory team and a customer team, but in reality it would take very little time for this to change into six teams, each running four cars. It simply makes sense from the point of view of economies of scale and so on. After that the weakest of the teams would become vulnerable because the best it can hope for is 21st position on the grid and so the number of these constructors would thin out.
Allowing the big teams to supply more cars is a recipe for disaster. This has been shown in the United States where NASCAR allowed teams to run as many cars as they wanted to run. They added more and more cars and using race-by-race sponsorship managed to suck up all the money from the smaller lower-ranking teams by offering the sponsors fewer races but a higher profile. The result was that there was a serious contraction in the number of teams. The problem was solved by NASCAR limiting the big teams to four cars each and today the midfield is building up again, but that has taken time and money.
Part of the problem is that manufacturers and big team-owning sponsors tend to create boom and bust cycles in the sport. They come in, in order to promote their products, they spend until they win and then when they have achieved their goals they depart and they do not care what damage that might do. The spending races put pressure on the little teams because they simply cannot compete. And yet manufacturers and rich people have been a part of the sport from the beginning. Grand Prix racing only exists because the French car companies rebelled against the system which was originally based on nations competing against one another. France had a much stronger car industry than other countries and so the manufacturers pushed the Automobile Club de France to stage events open to anyone. That was more than 100 years ago and the same patterns of behaviour have been seen ever since. The most effective are championships in which the manufacturers agree to create an environment in which everyone can win and work closely with the series owners. In that case, everyone wins, but it is more show business than pure motor racing and there is no room for ambitious and innovative engineering. It is expensive show business and the competitive urges of those involved are dulled by the artificial realities.
There are some who argue that technology is not important and that the rules must be changed, but they forget that the key to success has always been to build cars that are faster than the opposition and that this is what makes F1 different and fascinating. People like to see David fighting Goliath. There is much talk of changing the rules to make the racing better but this makes no real sense. The best way to reduce spending and improve the show is to leave the rules as they are because the law of diminishing returns means that the field will get closer together as the technology spreads, so the racing will be better and the ability of the teams to spend more is rather limited. Changing the rules costs a fortune and tends to create disparity of performance as we are seeing at the moment.
The show will come back if the rules are left alone. It might help to try to control spending or getting rid of wind tunnels, but these ideas tend to undermine the high technology image of the sport, which is important to sponsors.
The desire for change comes because there is a perception that the racing is not exciting and yet those in the sport do not really complain because they have greater insight into what is going on and they see how competitive it is. The skill is to ensure that the public also understands the level of competition and that can only be done by investing in media technology and using communication. The Formula One group does not make massive investments and wants to charge for everything. This drives away fans.
The other problem is that even if a solution can be found, no-one can agree on it. And this is where the biggest problem lies. The governance is a mess. The Strategy Group came into existence because Ecclestone needed to get the big teams to support him when new commercial agreements were put together after the end of the Concorde Agreement in 2009. This gave the big teams more power and more money. Ecclestone is believed to have negotiated financial guarantees with the biggest players to stop them pulling out unexpectedly for the 10-year term of the deal, which runs until 2020. The word is that the big players all agreed to penalties running to a $1 billion over the 10-year period, but reducing by $100 million each year. Thus the cost of leaving F1 is reducing all the time, but they are still tied into the sport for another five years. Things are complicated by the fact that the FIA can no longer tell the sport how things should be. This is because the FIA, under Jean Todt, agreed a deal in the summer of 2013 that gave the federation money to give up its power as the rule-maker. This was a dreadful error by Todt, but he did it because he had a different agenda and was not interested in the sport and wanted to go after his own personal ambitions in the world of road safety, using the FIA as his springboard. Right now the FIA is failing in its duties in F1 but there seems to be no opposition within the federation to give Todt a hefty boot up the rear end and get him to fix the problems he has created. In F1 circles, the feeling is that the disappearance of Todt would not create rivers of tears.
The FIA risks getting into hot water as a previous EU investigation, which ended 12 years ago, saw the federation agreeing to act only as the sports regulator and not to get involved in commercial matters. The Formula One group agreed to deal only with commercial matters and not be involved with governance. However, the deal that created the F1 Strategy Group may be deemed to have overstepped the mark in both respects.
The ironic thing is that the person who now stands to gain the most from the dismantling of the Strategy Group is Ecclestone himself. If the European Commission does demand a new structure, Ecclestone could justifiably tell the big teams and the FIA that he is not able to honour the agreements made because they are against the law and it could end up with the Formula One group getting more money for itself. The downside is that if the deals are cancelled, Ecclestone will struggle to get the financial guarantees that currently exist that lock the team owners into the sport for the term of the contract.
On paper, Ecclestone works for CVC Capital Partners, the private equity company that owns the commercial rights business. This company seems weak and terrified to do anything other than support Ecclestone, but if he gets into trouble they would likely jump to support the strongest group, which would be the big teams and manufacturers. CVC seems to know very little about the sport, highlighted by the daft idea discussed recently of bringing back refuelling, which appears to have been a CVC idea. The bad news is that CVC does not care about the sport. They want to take as much money as possible and so do not want to make sensible investments for the long-term. They don’t want to improve the business because if there is no margin for improvement, the price of the business goes down. Almost everyone in F1 agrees that the sport can do a great deal better financially than it does, but that it needs to change strategy so as not to squeeze so much money out of TV companies and race promoters that they give up. This is what is driving the fans away because ultimately the costs are passed on to the fans.
Into this mess has walked former FIA President Max Mosley, too old to make a comeback, but happy to tell the world what is wrong.
Mosley’s solution to the problem is the most intelligent.
“Income should be distributed equally,” he says. “Bernie says that is communism and the big teams would be against it but it is a sport and sport demands a level playing field. If you’re giving one team five times as much as another team that is not a level playing field. I would bring in a second set of rules – run under current rules or a second set on condition you operate under a cost cap. Because you have more freedom your car would be as quick as the expensive teams. Then you’d get very competitive racing and the smaller teams wouldn’t be in as much financial trouble.”
The big teams argue that this does not matter because the small teams are now so weak that they will probably fail anyhow and say that there is no point in giving the small teams more money because they have already proven that they will compete beyond their means and build up debt.
About the only thing everyone agrees about at the moment is the fact that F1 costs too much money and there need to be cuts. The problem is that the big teams are not really interested in actually making cuts because they fear that their competitiveness on the race track will be affected. Thus they may say that costs need to be cut, but they make sure that they are not.
The interesting thing is to see whether and how someone will make an official complaint to the European Commission and trigger the process that will perhaps fix the problems. The small teams will do it if necessary, but some feel that it might be better for someone else to do it. There has been talk of Colin Kolles. He is close to Bernie Ecclestone and was in charge of a small team (Caterham) that went out of business because of the way the sport now is. He has nothing to lose because he’s not involved in F1 at the moment. And perhaps if he plays a role in fixing it, he can get into it again in the future.
The EU will probably jump at the chance in order to be seen to be doing things after the Americans started the action at FIFA.
In times of crisis what is required is leadership. The EU may break up the current structures, but what it really needs is a leader to build new ones.Naomi Koshi, a mayor of Ohtsu, Shiga-prefecture, who recorded the youngest female mayor when she was elected this January 2012, was reported by several national papers that she “moaned” that her opinions do not reach for her people via Japanese media in Japanese and English.
Yomiuri, Asahi, Mainichi, Sankei’s sports paper, etc. reported in titles with “moan”, “criticize”, “anti-media”.
Koshi answered to Yomiuri that she wanted to explain directly to her supporters, also wanted to ask her foreign friends if such miscommunications are common thing.
Like the news that video streaming of her first address making the server down, we reported last month, “politician”, “woman” and “young” seemed to be magic keywords, has been attracting some manly news-makers. This social media usage might make media disappointed.
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EmailThe early promise of the internet was the democratization of media. There was the ideal of the citizen journalist who would take part in gathering, reporting and analysing the news. But as online media matured, we found that the old media companies were adapting to the new medium, and new media companies operating in much the same fashion as their predecessors.
It was this very ideal of citizen journalism that inspired Jake Counsell and Claire Wagner to create Criticl. The mission: create a site where anyone could create an account, write thoughtful content, and the community would help the best content rise to the top.
Counsell said he was frustrated with sites like Medium because they’re so isolated and if you don’t have a following on Twitter, it’s hard to build one on Medium. That means a lot of good content goes unnoticed and unread, Counsell told SocialTimes:
There’s a lot of people today that can write really good content. It’s up to people who own sites like Medium and Criticl to nurture good behavior and nurture good content creation.
Criticl takes on the challenge by offering a “dead simple” registration process and an algorithm designed to surface quality content without the help of moderators. Counsell said bad content rarely makes it to the front page, but if it does it’s probably because the conversation attached to the content has value.
Quality content is determined algorithmically, using metrics that include views, up-vote-to-down-vote ratio, and the total number of comments. The goal is to expand the metrics, by using the up-vote-down-vote system to determine quality comments, which will also help determine the quality of the content overall. Counsell explained:
I want to empower the new generation of internet users to create deep, immersive and intelligent content. And I want all of that content to be met with a deep and immersive level of discourse.
Since launching just before the new year, Criticl has gained more than 4,000 registered users, with most users finding the site via Twitter promotion or through word-of-mouth. While there’s no revenue sharing at present, Counsell said Criticl plans to use an advertising business model, using promoted posts. Eventually, the hope is to get get to a place where the site can also employ a revenue sharing model, where popular writers are compensated for their content.
In the end, Counsell said his vision for Criticl is to become a legitimate source of news and information online. Paying writers through an affiliate or partnership program is a key part of attracting real journalists to create content on the site. His hope is to empower more people to become citizen journalists:New York-based Spuni sells a modified baby spoon that eases an infant's transition to solid food. By using 3-D printers, the company had their first prototypes within months, at a fraction of what traditional manufacturers would have charged, said CEO Marcel Botha.
The team tweaked the design more than 30 times, making separate prototypes for each. It takes mere hours to create a Spuni prototype on a 3-D printer, allowing them to test far more variations, which Botha says results in a better product. The company's first spoon came to market earlier this year.
The team invested in its own 3-D printer a year ago, spending about $2,000 on one sold by MakerBot, which is now owned by Stratasys (SSYS). It costs Spuni about $5 to print one spoon. Botha estimates he would spend 10 times that if he used a traditional manufacturer.
Related: Victoria's Secret model's 3D-printed wings
Although its flagship spoons are mass produced, Spuni continues to use 3-D printers for work on new products and packaging. The company recently moved to a facility in the Brooklyn Navy Yard called New Lab, where there are a few additional 3-D printers the team can use.Historical parallels are not hard to find at Latvia’s Museum of Occupation as the country prepares for elections overshadowed by the Ukraine crisis.
Gunars Nagels, the museum director, recalls the first presence of Soviet troops on Latvian soil in 1939, just before the start of a five-decade occupation. “They were supposed to stay in their bases, just like in Crimea,” he says.
Mr Nagels also sees worrying similarities between Russia’s actions today and Nazi forays into neighbours’ territories before the Second World War. “If you look at the excuses being put forward for what is happening in Ukraine, you can see what Hitler did,” says Mr Nagels. “First he complained about the status of Germans in the Sudetenland. So there was an agreement they could have Sudetenland, and he took the rest of Czechoslovakia. Next up was the status of Germans in Poland. So they took over Poland.”
We’ll tell you what’s true. You can form your own view. From 15p €0.18 $0.18 $0.27 a day, more exclusives, analysis and extras.
With a border with Russia, a long history as part of the Soviet Union, and the largest Russian-speaking community in the European Union, many Latvians fear they may be next in President Vladimir Putin’s sights.
Already there is a massive increase in activity by Russian fighter jets and warships along the borders of Latvia and neighbouring Estonia and Lithuania. Last month, a Russian diplomat issued an ominous warning about the “far-reaching, unfortunate consequences” of what he called the “creeping restriction of the Russian language” in the Baltic states.
Shape Created with Sketch. Ukraine crisis: A timeline of the conflict Show all 23 left Created with Sketch. right Created with Sketch. Shape Created with Sketch. Ukraine crisis: A timeline of the conflict 1/23 30 November 2013 Public support grows for the “Euromaidan” anti-government protesters in Kiev demonstrating against Yanukovych’s refusal to sign the EU Association Agreement as images of them injured by police crackdown spread. EPA 2/23 20 February 2014 Kiev sees its worst day of violence for almost 70 years as at least 88 people are killed in 48 hours, with uniformed snipers shooting at protesters from rooftops. AFP/Getty Images 3/23 22 February 2014 Yanukovych flees the country after protest leaders and politicians agree to form a new government and hold elections. The imprisoned former Prime Minister, Yulia Tymoshenko, is freed from prison and protesters take control of Presidential administration buildings, including Mr Yanukovych's residence. Genya Savilov/AFP/Getty Imageses 4/23 27 February 2014 Pro-Russian militias seize government buildings in Crimea and the new Ukrainian government vows to prevent the country breaking up as the Crimean Parliament sets a referendum on secession from Ukraine in May. Sean Gallup/Getty Images 5/23 16 March 2014 Crimea votes overwhelmingly to secede from Ukraine and join Russia in a ballot condemned by the US and Europe as illegal. Russian troops had moved into the peninsula weeks before after pro-Russian separatists occupied buildings. EPA 6/23 6 April 2014 Pro-Russian rebels seize government buildings in the eastern cities of Donetsk, Luhansk and Kharkiv, calling for a referendum on independence and claiming independent republic. Ukraine authorities regain control of Kharkiv buildings on 8 April after launching an “anti-terror operation” but the rest remain out of their control. EPA/PHOTOMIG 7/23 7 June 2014 Petro Poroshenko is sworn in as Ukraine's president, calling on separatists to lay down their arms and end the fighting and later orders the creation of humanitarian corridors, since violated, to allow civilians to flee war zones. Getty Images 8/23 27 June 2014 The EU signs an association agreement with Ukraine, along with Georgia and Moldova, eight months after protests over the abandonment of the deal sparked the crisis. LOUISA GOULIAMAKI/AFP/Getty Images 9/23 17 July 2014 Malaysian Airlines flight MH17 is shot down over eastern Ukraine, killing all 298 people on board. Ukrainian intelligence officials claim it was hit by rebels using a Buk surface-to-air launcher in an apparent accident. 10/23 22 August 2014 A Russian aid convoy of more than 100 lorries enters eastern Ukraine and makes drop in rebel-controlled Luhansk without Government permission, sparking allegations of a “direct violation of international law”. Reuters/Alexander Demianchuk 11/23 29 August 2014 Nato releases satellite images appearing to show Russian soldiers, artillery and armoured vehicles engaged in military operations in eastern Ukraine. Nato 12/23 8 September 2014 Russia warns that it could block flights through its airspace if the EU goes ahead with new sanctions over the ongoing crisis and conflict EPA 13/23 17 September 2014 Despite the cease-fire and a law passed by the Ukrainian parliament on Tuesday granting greater autonomy to rebel-held parts of the east, civilian casualties continued to rise, adding to the estimated 3,000 people killed Reuters 14/23 20 October 2014 A 'tactical missile' explosion at a factory sends blast wave across rebel-held cityof Donetsk YouTube 15/23 16 November 2014 The fragile ceasefire gives way to an increased wave of military activity as artillery fire continues to rock the eastern Ukraine's pro-Russian rebel bastion of Donetsk Getty 16/23 26 December 2014 A new round of ceasefire talks, scheduled on neutral ground in the Belariusian capital Minsk, are called off AFP/Getty 17/23 12 January 2015 Soldiers in Debaltseve were forced to prepare heavy defences around the city; despite a brief respite to the fighting in eastern Ukraine, hostilities in Donetsk resumed at a level not seen since September 2014 AFP/Getty 18/23 21 January 2015 13 people are killed during shelling of bus in the rebel-held city of Donetsk Reuters 19/23 24 January 2015 Ten people were killed after pro-Russian separatists bombarded the east Ukrainian port city of Mariupol AP 20/23 2 February 2015 There was a dangerous shift in tempo as rebels bolstered troop numbers against government forces AFP/Getty 21/23 11 February 2015 European leaders meet in Minsk and agree on a ceasefire in eastern Ukraine beginning on February 14. From left to right: Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko, Russian President Vladimir Putin, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, France's President Francois Hollande and Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko. MAXIM MALINOVSKY | AFP | Getty Images 22/23 13 February 2015 Pro-Russian rebels in the city of Gorlivka, in the Donetsk region, fire missiles at Ukrainian forces in Debaltseve. Fighting continued in Debaltseve for a number of days after the Minsk ceasefire began. ANDREY BORODULIN | AFP | Getty Images 23/23 18 February 2015 Ukrainian soldiers repair the bullet-shattered windshield of their truck as their withdraw from the strategic town of Debaltseve. Following intense shelling from pro-Russian rebels, Ukrainian forces began to leave the town in the early hours of February 18. Brendan Hoffman | Getty Images 1/23 30 November 2013 Public support grows for the “Euromaidan” anti-government protesters in Kiev demonstrating against Yanukovych’s refusal to sign the EU Association Agreement as images of them injured by police crackdown spread. EPA 2/23 20 February 2014 Kiev sees its worst day of violence for almost 70 years as at least 88 people are killed in 48 hours, with uniformed snipers shooting at protesters from rooftops. AFP/Getty Images 3/23 22 February 2014 Yanukovych flees the country after protest leaders and politicians agree to form a new government and hold elections. The imprisoned former Prime Minister, Yulia Tymoshenko, is freed from prison and protesters take control of Presidential administration buildings, including Mr Yanukovych's residence. Genya Savilov/AFP/Getty Imageses 4/23 27 February 2014 Pro-Russian militias seize government buildings in Crimea and the new Ukrainian government vows to prevent the country breaking up as the Crimean Parliament sets a referendum on secession from Ukraine in May. Sean Gallup/Getty Images 5/23 16 March 2014 Crimea votes overwhelmingly to secede from Ukraine and join Russia in a ballot condemned by the US and Europe as illegal. Russian troops had moved into the peninsula weeks before after pro-Russian separatists occupied buildings. EPA 6/23 6 April 2014 Pro-Russian rebels seize government buildings in the eastern cities of Donetsk, Luhansk and Kharkiv, calling for a referendum on independence and claiming independent republic. Ukraine authorities regain control of Kharkiv buildings on 8 April after launching an “anti-terror operation” but the rest remain out of their control. EPA/PHOTOMIG 7/23 7 June 2014 Petro Poroshenko is sworn in as Ukraine's president, calling on separatists to lay down their arms and end the fighting and later orders the creation of humanitarian corridors, since violated, to allow civilians to flee war zones. Getty Images 8/23 27 June 2014 The EU signs an association agreement with Ukraine, along with Georgia and Moldova, eight months after protests over the abandonment of the deal sparked the crisis. LOUISA GOULIAMAKI/AFP/Getty Images 9/23 17 July 2014 Malaysian Airlines flight MH17 is shot down over eastern Ukraine, killing all 298 people on board. Ukrainian intelligence officials claim it was hit by rebels using a Buk surface-to-air launcher in an apparent accident. 10/23 22 August 2014 A Russian aid convoy of more than 100 lorries enters eastern Ukraine and makes drop in rebel-controlled Luhansk without Government permission, sparking allegations of a “direct violation of international law”. Reuters/Alexander Demianchuk 11/23 29 August 2014 Nato releases satellite images appearing to show Russian soldiers, artillery and armoured vehicles engaged in military operations in eastern Ukraine. Nato 12/23 8 September 2014 Russia warns that it could block flights through its airspace if the EU goes ahead with new sanctions over the ongoing crisis and conflict EPA 13/23 17 September 2014 Despite the cease-fire and a law passed by the Ukrainian parliament on Tuesday granting greater autonomy to rebel-held parts of the east, civilian casualties continued to rise, adding to the estimated 3,000 people killed Reuters 14/23 20 October 2014 A 'tactical missile' explosion at a factory sends blast wave across rebel-held cityof Donetsk YouTube 15/23 16 November 2014 The fragile ceasefire gives way to an increased wave of military activity as artillery fire continues to rock the eastern Ukraine's pro-Russian rebel bastion of Donetsk Getty 16/23 26 December 2014 A new round of ceasefire talks, scheduled on neutral ground in the Belariusian capital Minsk, are called off AFP/Getty 17/23 12 January 2015 Soldiers in Debaltseve were forced to prepare heavy defences around the city; despite a brief respite to the fighting in eastern Ukraine, hostilities in Donetsk resumed at a level not seen since September 2014 AFP/Getty 18/23 21 January 2015 13 people are killed during shelling of bus in the rebel-held city of Donetsk Reuters 19/23 24 January 2015 Ten people were killed after pro-Russian separatists bombarded the east Ukrainian port city of Mariupol AP 20/23 2 February 2015 There was a dangerous shift in tempo as rebels bolstered troop numbers against government forces AFP/Getty 21/23 11 February 2015 European leaders meet in Minsk and agree on a ceasefire in eastern Ukraine beginning on February 14. From left to right: Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko, Russian President Vladimir Putin, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, France's President Francois Hollande and Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko. MAXIM MALINOVSKY | AFP | Getty Images 22/23 13 February 2015 Pro-Russian rebels in the city of Gorlivka, in the Donetsk region, fire missiles at Ukrainian forces in Debaltseve. Fighting continued in Debaltseve for a number of days after the Minsk ceasefire began. ANDREY BORODULIN | AFP | Getty Images 23/23 18 February 2015 Ukrainian soldiers repair the bullet-shattered windshield of their truck as their withdraw from the strategic town of Debaltseve. Following intense shelling from pro-Russian rebels, Ukrainian forces began to leave the town in the early hours of February 18. Brendan Hoffman | Getty Images
This fear that the Kremlin’s resurgent territorial ambitions will not stop at Ukraine is shared by many of Mr Nagels’ compatriots, with a recent survey by Riga’s SKDS Research Centre showing that 64 per cent of ethnic Latvians perceive Russia as a threat to the nation.
For Boriss Cilevics, a parliamentarian with the Harmony Centre Party, which is predominately supported by ethnic Russians in Latvia, this is a very convenient statistic for a government trying to keep his party from power at the polls today. Russian-speakers make up around 37 per cent of Latvia’s population of two million, and he worries about the political rhetoric.
“The mainstream coalition parties… intimidate the voters with the Russians,” he tells The Independent. “The tragic events in Ukraine help them a lot. [They] try to capitalise on these historical traumas to intimidate people that the Russians could not be trusted.”
At the last elections in 2011, the Harmony Centre Party won with 28 per cent of the vote, although it was kept out of a coalition government of ethnic Latvian parties.
While predominately supported by Russian-speakers, the Harmony Centre’s leader – Nils Usakovs – was elected Mayor of Riga in 2009, showing a broadening of its appeal to other communities.
The annexation of Crimea in March has left the party in a delicate position. Many of its core supporters get their news from Russia, and as a result there is a strong pro-Moscow leaning. SKDS found that 36 per cent of the community supported Russia’s actions in Crimea. “Therefore they cannot criticise Russia even if it is obvious that Russia is supporting military actions [in Ukraine],” says Elizabete Krivcova of activist group Non-Citizens Congress, who also stood as a candidate for the Harmony Centre Party in May’s European Parliament elections.
While the Harmony Centre’s reluctance to forcefully criticise Russian foreign policy may lose votes with ethnic Latvians, hardline Russian nationalist parties say they are benefiting from its refusal to openly back the Kremlin.
The Latvian Russian Union party supported the annexation of Crimea, and party literature carries photos of its vice-chairman, Miroslav Mitrofanov, signing a co-operation agreement with Sergey Aksionov, the new Kremlin-backed leader of the Black Sea peninsula.
“This was the main reason for our success,” boasts Yury Petropavlovsky, a campaign manager for the party. Its support leapt from less than 1 per cent in 2011 to 6 per cent at the European Parliament elections. He says it will break the 5 per cent needed to enter parliament after today’s elections, although polls indicate a less dramatic rise.
The party is not only tapping growing ideological splits in the communities, but also historical grievances. While Latvia has made a remarkably swift transformation from Soviet state in 1991 to the prosperous Nato, EU and eurozone member it is today, many feel left behind.
They include approximately 300,000 people living in Latvia who are still listed as “non-citizens”, deprived of the right to carry a Latvian passport or vote. Most of them are ethnic Russians whose ancestors were some of the 800,000 people shipped in from the Soviet Union during the occupation. After independence, only descendants of people living in Latvia before 1940 gained automatic citizenship. The naturalisation process has since been opened to everyone who takes a test, but Ms Krivcova says the Latvian language exam remains too difficult for older people.
Many others refuse to take the exam on principle, arguing that they are being held responsible for crimes of the Soviet army. Activists say the government also suppresses the language, banning the distribution of state literature in Russian.
The concern now is that the Kremlin could exploit these tensions, as it did in Ukraine. At a speech in Riga to a gathering of Russian Compatriots in the Baltic States, the Russian foreign ministry’s human rights representative, Konstantin Dolgov, told delegates that the issue of non-citizens in Latvia was “a gross violation of human rights at the very heart of civilised Europe”.
Both Latvian government officials and representatives from the Russian-speaking community say there is little sign of any real separatist sentiment among the ethnic Russian community here, and an even more remote chance of any imminent Russian military intervention. But the government is concerned about creeping Russian power through the media and the funding of NGOs.
Andrejs Pildegovics, the Foreign Minister, denies that the government is using the crisis to win votes. “We are not stirring any kind of sentiment against the Russian people… or the Russian language,” he says. “We are concerned about the Kremlin’s moves, its intimidation policy and – in the case of Ukraine – the use of military force.”
In an attempt to counter what Mr Pildegovics calls “propaganda based on the glory of the Russian empire”, the government has banned a Russian state television channel and a Russian cultural festival. They have also increased funding for Latvian-produced Russian-language news.
But some remain sceptical. “This is what Latvian politicians want… because it helps them to gain more votes to stay in power and split the community,” says Sergey Tulenev, 63, a political cartoonist whose Russian parents came to Latvia in the 1950s.
That split is evident on the streets of Riga, where Janis Auzins, a 68-year-old ethnic Latvian, worries that it stands on the brink of “a new world war” and wants a government that can protect him: “I will support those political forces who are not the fifth column of Russia.”
We’ll tell you what’s true. You can form your own view.
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Subscribe nowEmails from [Management]
Meet Your New Team Member!
Mick Theebs Blocked Unblock Follow Following Jul 29, 2016
Mon 5/20/2017 9:05 AM
From: [Management]
To: [Team-ALL]
Cc: Filo
Subject: Meet Your New Team Member!
Hello Team,
We are excited to announce that we have a new team member, though it is not a member in a traditional sense. We have finally finished developing our new office-assistant AI, which we have named Filo for no reason in particular. Filo is going to be a huge help and will change the way we all work. It will take some getting used to working under “his” all-seeing eye, but we promise that you’ll come to regard “him” as another member of your work family soon enough.
Sincerely,
Management
Tue 6/6/2017 3:37 PM
From: [Management]
To: [Team-ALL]
Subject: Lunch Breaks
Hello Team,
It has been brought to our attention that some of the team members have been taking long lunches. Of course it’s important to take a break in the middle of the day and have something to eat, but please be mindful of the time you’re spending. Per your employment agreements, lunch is not to exceed more than thirty minutes. Please remember what we discussed in our meeting regarding the very real issue of time theft and how it hurts the company at large. If you are unable to get your food from the cafeteria in a timely manner, please consider bringing in your lunch from home and eating it at your desk.
Sincerely,
Management
Wed 6/14/2017 10:42 AM
From: [Management]
To: [Team-ALL]
Cc: [HR]
Subject: Health Concerns
Hello Team,
Over the past few weeks, we have noticed an uptick in sick days. While you are entitled to take your PTO any time you see fit, there must still be coverage in the office during all working hours. Many of you are reporting headaches, ringing in the ears (otherwise known as tinnitus), lethargy, nose bleeds, and crippling existential terror. While this may be concerning to some, we have spoken with several well-regarded medical and AI consultants and wish to assure you that these symptoms are merely side-effects as you become acclimated with Filo’s systems. If these symptoms persist, we urge you to schedule an appointment with the company therapist, who is here every Tuesday and Thursday from 2–5 PM.
Sincerely,
Management
Fri 6/30/2017 10:40 AM
From: [Management]
To: [Team-ALL]
Subject: FY17 Recap - Congrats |
scroll all the way down that shows what comes in every previous tier after all of the changes and upgrades. I hope that helps!
We’ve finalized the details about add-ons. We’re handling add-ons through BackerKit, so all you need to do is add up the total cost of the add-ons you want and increase your pledge amount by that much! Two weeks after the campaign ends, we will send out a BackerKit survey and you’ll be able to tell us which add-ons you want on there, along with your shipping info.
To clarify, US backers can include add-ons with no additional shipping charges, and backers anywhere else in the world will need to add $5 to the total for shipping (for any number of items you want!).
Please note: If you select the Rainbow Sprinkles Expansion and/or Dragons Expansion pack, your shipment will be automatically split. There won't be an additional shipping charge on top of what is listed below.
Last Update: 9/7/17, 10:28PM CST
18,592 backers
19,372 campaign shares
9,920 FB likes
OVER 100 backers who suggested new cards
4/5 "things that please Ramy" completed
The idea for Unstable Unicorns started when we were at TeeTurtle game night. We all love games that help us express ourselves and our unstable tendencies, but nothing we played was quite as destructive as we wanted. We still had aggression to get out. We started working on the concept for a violent Unicorn game right away, and pretty soon the whole team was obsessed.
We spent months carefully calibrating and balancing the game through extensive play testing. Honestly, that was kind of selfish because it was super fun. Now that it’s just the way we want it, we’re ready to unleash it upon the world!
This project is promoted by Jellop, a direct response online advertising agency specializing in Kickstarter campaigns on Facebook Ads and Google AdWords.
Here is the clarification of all current and former tiers:
NOVEMBER 2017
Pledge level: $15 (Nov)
Unstable Unicorns Game - you will get one Unstable Unicorns game in the white box
Pledge level: $20 (Nov)
Black Box Edition - you will get one Unstable Unicorns game in the black box
Pledge level: $35 (Nov)
Both Game Editions - you will get one Unstable Unicorns game in a black box AND one game in a white box (no KSE cards, no NSFW pack)
Pledge level: $50 (Nov)
“Eternal Youth” Exclusive Card - even though not all of these items are listed, you will get 1 black box, 1 white box, 2 NSFW packs, and 2 sets of KSE cards
Pledge level: $50 (Nov)
“Horniest Unicorn” Exclusive Card- exactly the same as the one above- even though not all of these items are listed, you will get 1 black box, 1 white box, 2 NSFW packs, and 2 sets of KSE cards
Pledge level: $50 (Nov)
Exclusive Cards + Both Game Editions- exactly the same as the one above- even though not all of these items are listed, you will get 1 black box, 1 white box, 2 NSFW packs, and 2 sets of KSE cards
Pledge level: $50 (Nov)
Gen Con Exclusive- you get 2 black boxes, 2 NSFW packs, 2 sets of KSE cards, and 1 play mat
Pledge level: $65 (Nov)
2 Black Boxes+Plushies+Exclusive Cards- even though not all of these items are listed, you will get 2 black boxes, 2 NSFW packs, 2 sets of KSE cards, and 2 randomly selected narwhal plushies.
Pledge level: $100 (Nov)
Collector’s Set- even though not all of these items are listed, you will get 1 white box, 1 SIGNED black box, 2 NSFW packs, 2 sets of KSE cards, and a set of 6 unicorn plushies.
Pledge level: $100 (Nov)
Collector’s Set (Kittencorn)- even though not all of these items are listed, you will get 1 white box, 1 SIGNED black box, 2 NSFW packs, 2 sets of KSE cards, and a set of 6 kittencorn plushies.
Pledge level: $140 (Nov)
Ten Standard Game Bundle- this tier was made by mistake, but since it was my fault, you will still get the full reward if you selected this pledge (which is 10 white boxes, 10 NSFW packs, and 10 KSE card packs)
Pledge level: $175 (Nov)
Ten Black Box Edition Bundle- this tier was made by mistake, but since it was my fault, you will still get the full reward if you selected this pledge (which is 10 black boxes, 10 NSFW packs, and 10 KSE card packs)
DECEMBER 2017
Pledge level: $15 (Dec)
Unstable Unicorns Game - you will get one Unstable Unicorns game in the white box. (This is exactly the same as the $15 November tier, except for the delivery date)
Pledge level: $20 (Dec)
Black Box Edition - you will get one Unstable Unicorns game in the black box. (This is exactly the same as the $20 November tier, except for the delivery date)
Pledge level: $35 (Dec)
Black Box + NSFW Expansion- you will get 1 Black Box, 1 NSFW pack, and 1 set of the KSE cards. (NOTE: This is completely different from the $35 Nov tier).
Pledge level: $50 (Dec)
2 Games + 2 NSFW Expansions- you will get 1 black box, 1 white box, 2 NSFW packs, and 2 sets of KSE cards. (This is exactly the same as all of the $50 November tiers, except for the delivery date)
Pledge level: $65 (Dec)
Narwhal Set- you will get 2 black boxes, 2 NSFW packs, 2 sets of KSE cards, and 2 randomly selected narwhal plushies. (This is exactly the same as the $65 November tiers, except for the delivery date)
Pledge level: $100 (Dec)
Collector’s Set- you will get 1 white box, 1 SIGNED black box, 2 NSFW packs, 2 sets of KSE cards, and a set of 6 unicorn plushies. (This is exactly the same as the $100 November tiers, except for the delivery date)
FEBRUARY 2018
Pledge level: $15 (Feb)
Unstable Unicorns Game - you will get one Unstable Unicorns game in the white box. (This is exactly the same as the $15 Nov and Dec tiers, except for the delivery date)
Pledge level: $20 (Feb)
Black Box Edition - you will get one Unstable Unicorns game in the black box. (This is exactly the same as the $20 Nov and Dec tiers, except for the delivery date)
Pledge level: $50 (Feb)
More Expansions- you will get 1 black box, 1 NSFW pack, 1 KSE card pack, 1 Apocalypse Expansion pack, 1 Rainbow Sprinkles Expansion pack, and 1 Dragons Expansion pack. (NOTE: This is completely different from the $50 Nov and Dec tiers).
Pledge level: $75 (Feb)
Double the fun- you will get 1 black box, 1 white box, 2 NSFW packs, 2 KSE card packs, 1 Apocalypse Expansion pack, 1 Rainbow Sprinkles Expansion pack, and 1 Dragons Expansion pack. (NOTE: This tier only comes with one of each of the last 3 expansions, not two of each. If you would like a second set, they will be available as add-on items- see above).Once in a while at Rentrak we have programming competitions, where anyone who wants to, including sysadmins and DBAs, can submit an entry for whatever the problem is. The previous contest involved writing a poker bot which had to play two-card hold'em, while others have involved problems similar in spirit to the Netflix Prize. This time we chose to build virtual robots that shoot each other with virtual cannons and go virtual boom! We'll be using RealTimeBattle, which is a piece of software designed specifically to facilitate contests of this sort. It's kind of like those other robot-battle systems, except instead of requiring you to write your robot in their own arbitrary, broken, horrible language, this lets you write your bot in any language that can talk on stdin and stdout.
Based on my previous entries the natural choice would be perl, right? I thought about it, actually. Started stubbing something out. Wrote some code to emulate enums and it worked on the first try, which brought to light the fact that I hadn't learned a new language in quite a long time and by not using a new language I was missing a golden opportunity. So, which language? The only real constraint that we, the Happy Fun Robot Times Killing Group, decided on was that it had to be easily installable on Ubuntu, which leaves the field pretty much wide open. Ruby? Already know it in passing. Python? Haven't done much with it for a few years but I don't think it's changed that much. Lisp? Hm. Intriging. Clojure looks interesting, and it's a good chance to figure out multithreading.
The RealTimeBattle system is conceptually pretty simple. Your robot is a little doughnut-shaped thing that can go forward, backward, accelerate, brake, and turn. In addition, it has a big cannon and a radar system, both of which can rotate independent of the bot itself. The radar is the only sensor you can rely on, although in some configurations you'll get coordinates relative to your start position every few game ticks.
When the game starts, the system will start up your bot in a child process and attach to stdin and stdout, so from the bot's point of view it's just talking a simple text protocol. In perl, talking this protocol would be a trivial combination of while(<>){ } and print, but in clojure it seems to be a might bit more complicated:
( loop [] ( let [ in ( read-line )] ( if ( not ( nil? in )) ( do ( println in ) ( recur )))))
Just writing that bit took me down about a dozen false starts, but I learned a whole lot about clojure in the process so I'm pretty sure it was worth it.
Ok, so now this little bot can listen, let's make it talk. RealTimeBattle has a command that your bot can send to the server to make it print out something in the message log. We can wrap that in a function like so:
( defn message [ m & rest ] ( println ( str "Print " m rest )))
and call that like this:
( message "Hi there my name is Botty McBotterson!" )
The two other basic commands that I've implmented so far are Initialize, which will get sent when the system is ready to find out what name your bot has, and GameOption, which tells you all kinds of information about the environment that the bot lives in. Here's the whole program as it stands:
( def game-option-types [ :robot_max_rotate :robot_cannon_max_rotate :robot_radar_max_rotate :robot_min_acceleration :robot_max_acceleration :robot_start_energy :robot_max_energy :robot_energy_levels :shot_speed :shot_min_energy :shot_max_energy :shot_energy_increase_speed :timeout :debug_level :send_robot_coordinates ]) ( def options ( ref {})) ( defn message [ m & rest ] ( println ( str "Print " m rest ))) ( defn robot-initialize [[ first-round ]] ( if first-round ( println "Name kabot" ))) ( defn robot-set-option [[ option-number value ]] ( let [ option-key ( get game-option-types ( Integer/parseInt option-number )) option-val ( Double/parseDouble value )] ( dosync ( alter options ( fn [ opts ] ( assoc opts option-key option-val )))) ( message ( deref options )))) ( defn process-input [ m ] ( let [ tokens ( seq (.split m " " )) function-name ( first tokens ) args ( next tokens )] ( message ( str function-name " " args )) ( cond ( = function-name "Initialize" ) ( robot-initialize args ) ( = function-name "GameOption" ) ( robot-set-option args ) :else ( message ( str function-name " not implemented" ))))) ( loop [] ( let [ in ( read-line )] ( if ( not ( nil? in )) ( do ( process-input in ) ( recur )))))
This is pretty trivial at the moment. My basic design is to have the main thread deal with all of the I/O and updating a global state object, while another thread deals with analyzing this state and figuring out what to do. I haven't decided on any concrete strategies yet but for the first contest it'll probably be pretty stupid.
A few fun things to note: clojure provides very simple interop with Java classes and methods. For example, (.split m " ") calls the split method on m, which is actually just a Java String. The result of that is a String[], which isn't too useful in clojure so we immediately wrap it in a seq, which is sort of like a lazy cons list. Another example of this really trivial interop is the number parsing done in robot-set-option. I figured this out only after about an hour of thrashing about trying to figure out why passing a string as a vector index wasn't DWIMing like it does in perl. This is another example of why I need to do this project in another language. Perl has rotted my brain.
By the way, if there are things that I'm doing in this code that aren't idomatic clojure, please correct me. I just started learning today, after all. I found a pretty good tutorial which has guided me through basic types and stuff, but shortly I'll be branching beyond that into threading and agents and other fun things that it doesn't cover very well.The fraud of Obama’s NSA “reform”
27 March 2014
The Obama administration’s proposal to modify the National Security Agency’s bulk telephone records spying program is a political fraud. Far from curtailing the NSA’s activities, the administration is seeking to expand the amount of data to which the spy agency has access, while obtaining a legislative imprimatur for the illegal and unconstitutional activities of the American government.
Details of the White House plan have not been released, but the basic outline is clear. Instead of phone record data being stored on the NSA’s own servers, the information will be retained by the telecommunications companies, which will be required by law to make it available on demand, in standardized form and on a continuously updated basis. Phone companies will retain call records for 18 months, which the NSA and White House deem sufficient for their purposes.
Requests for data by the NSA will be approved by the secretive Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC), a rubber-stamp body that routinely grants spy agency requests. The NSA will be given access to the data of anyone who is two degrees of separation (or “hops”) from a target, while “targets” will be defined in extremely broad language.
Perhaps the most significant component of the proposal is one that has been buried in the media coverage. The new legislation will reportedly require telecommunications companies to give the NSA access to cell phone records, a central preoccupation of the spy agency. US officials disclosed in February that only about 30 percent of all call records are available to the NSA because of the widespread use of cell phones, which have up to now not been part of the information handed over to the government.
In the end, the NSA will get access to even more data, and it will do so in even closer daily collaboration with the giant companies that exercise a virtual monopoly over the US phone networks.
That the proposed “reform” has been drafted by and for the military-intelligence apparatus is clear from the figures who are backing it. The White House is working closely with the Republican and Democratic leaders of the House Intelligence Committee, Mike Rogers and Dutch Ruppersberger, both of whom have hysterically denounced Edward Snowden and journalists who have published his revelations for exposing the truth to the American people.
Aside from minor differences, including whether the FISC gives its stamp of approval before or after the NSA collects data from the telecommunications companies, Obama’s proposals are broadly similar to those unveiled by Rogers and Ruppersberger on Tuesday—a plan given the Orwellian title, “End Bulk Collection Act.”
The call to “end the bulk data program” has also been endorsed by outgoing NSA head General Keith Alexander, Republican House Speaker John Boehner and Democratic Senate Intelligence Committee Chair Dianne Feinstein.
The sham “reform” announced this week is the outcome of an extended political process. Snowden’s leaks, which began last spring, have revealed a vast police state spying apparatus that operates outside of all legal and constitutional constraints, creating a serious crisis for the government.
Snowden has exposed not only the phone records program, but the seizure and monitoring of emails, text messages, internet chats and an array of other information in the United States and countries throughout the world. The US has engaged in international cyber espionage and cyber warfare and targeted foreign leaders. The NSA has collaborated with its partners in other countries to tap into the Internet backbone and access virtually all online communications and activities. It has worked systematically to break encryption methods, while installing malware on targeted computers all over the world.
Top administration figures, including the president and the heads of the various spy agencies, are implicated in impeachable and prosecutable offenses, including the systematic violation of the Fourth Amendment prohibition against unreasonable searches and seizures. Government officials, including Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, have been exposed as perjurers.
The revelations have generated enormous popular opposition—a fact to which Obama alluded Tuesday when he spoke of the “skepticism” of the American people toward the intelligence apparatus. The exposure of a totalitarian spying network has severely undermined the legitimacy of the state.
In response, the Obama administration and intelligence agencies have pursued a multi-track strategy. They launched a vicious campaign against Snowden, who committed the unpardonable sin of revealing government criminality. The administration defended the legality of the spy programs, lied shamelessly about what the government was doing, and worked with the media to bury the most significant revelations.
At the same time, the White House has sought to counter popular sentiment by calling for fig-leaf reform measures drawn up in close consultation with the NSA itself.
A significant political aim of the NSA “reforms” now being prepared is to establish a bipartisan consensus in Congress, bringing together the White House and Republicans with Democrats who have postured as critics of the spy programs (such as Senator Ron Wyden, who declared Obama’s proposal “exciting news for the constitutional rights of the American people.”) The illegal programs are to be codified in laws passed by Congress, further entrenching and institutionalizing them, while providing cover for those guilty of criminal offenses. Continuing popular opposition will be treated as illegitimate and criminalized.
Among those who have praised Obama’s announcement is Snowden himself, who declared it “a turning point” and the “beginning of a new effort to reclaim our rights from the NSA and restore the public’s seat at the table of government.” Obama, Snowden wrote in a statement, has confirmed that “these mass surveillance programs… are in fact unnecessary and should be ended.”
In Snowden’s case, one is dealing not with political duplicity, but a lack of understanding of the social and political forces that are driving the police state measures that he has courageously exposed. However, illusions about the character of Obama’s proposals are highly dangerous, for the working class and for Snowden personally. The administration’s “reforms” are entirely compatible with an intensification of the vendetta against the NSA whistle-blower.
The entire process that began with the initial Snowden revelations nearly 10 months ago has confirmed that there does not exist a significant constituency within any section of the political establishment for the defense of democratic rights. This is because the erection of the apparatus of a police state is rooted in the immense growth of social inequality and the determination of the corporate and financial aristocracy to pursue a deeply unpopular policy of endless war abroad and social counterrevolution at home.
A real turning point in the defense of democratic rights will come not from the actions of Obama, the intelligence-agent-in-chief, but through the independent political mobilization of the American and international working class against the capitalist system.
Joseph Kishore
Please enable JavaScript to view the comments powered by Disqus.Ever looked at picture of Kanye West and thought “You know what this is missing? A pug”. Well, dreams, no matter how unnecessary, can come true. An company from Barcelona known as ‘Meet The Pugs’ has put together a calendar of pictures of Kanye West hanging out with the tiny pups.
More than 1000 fans pledged a total of $22,706 (almost £14,000) for the calendar on Kickstarter. Called ‘Kanye’s Pug Calendar – 2014% Awesome’ it features 12 photoshopped snaps of Kanye chilling with pugs in various steamy settings. Each is accompanied by one of Kanye’s most inspirational quotes.
“I feel I’m too busy writing history to read it,” says August Kanye while lazing topless on the beach playing catch with his hound. Meanwhile, February Kanye smoulders alongside the pug and says: “My greatest pain in life is that I’ll never be able to see myself perform live”.
The bad news? The calendar has now sold out. The good news? ‘Meet The Pugs’ also sells throw cushions, prints, totes and mugs with Kanye and his four-legged friends on.How Successful has Suicide Squad been?
Click here to buy this awesome Suicide Squad tee from Merchoid
UPDATED 08/09/2016
As of writing this, Suicide Squad has beaten Man of Steel at the box office.
Suicide Squad is a strange animal.
On the one hand, the movie has attracted a lot of negative reviews. On the other, reports are suggesting that the movie has had a decent run of the box office.
In this article, I ask the question: just how successful has DC’s Suicide Squad actually been so far?
Let’s take a look.
Suicide Squad Critical Reviews
Rotten Tomatoes
When the movie was released, I took a look at some of the first reviews that came in and let’s just say they weren’t great.
That was a couple of weeks ago, so how is the movie fairing with the critics now?
On Rotten Tomatoes, it’s gotten worse. During the first reviews of the movie, RT had the movie down as 35% on the Tomatometer. That number is now just 26%. And that’s when you have the option All Critics selected. You select the top critics only, that number plummets to 19%.
Well, shit. I’ve seen the movie and I don’t think it deserves that. What about you guys?
No wonder fans were petitioning for the Rotten Tomatoes to be closed down.
IMDB
The IMDB ratings tell a completely different story.
The 167,764 user ratings the movie has attracted has earned a very respectable 6.8 rating, coming down from the initial (and slightly questionable – it hadn’t been released yet) 8.6 after 7,500 reviews.
I think this rating is a little closer to reality – or more accurately, my feelings on the movie.
IMDB is a completely different playground. There, people vote based on their enjoyment of the movie and are not trying to compare it to Casablanca and getting disappointed. I think perhaps Rotten Tomatoes has become slightly disillusioned with the superhero movie as a whole and Suicide Squad takes it to a whole new level: a supervillain movie.
Or perhaps their tastes are just a whole lot finer than my own.
I want to take this study further. I want to compare the movie to the Marvel Movie universe and see how it fares.
Care to join me for the ride?
Suicide Squad vs the Marvel Movie Universe: Critics Comparison
Rotten Tomatoes
When comparing Suicide Squad to the Marvel Movie universe on Rotten Tomatoes, as you might expect, there was only one winner.
The lowest rated Marvel movie on Rotten Tomatoes is Thor: The Dark World, which comes in at 66%. This, however, is till a full 40% higher than Suicide Squad, which I think is entirely ridiculous.
Iron Man 2 is rating at 72%. Just let that sink in a little. IRON MAN 2.
Check out the full listings below:
1. Iron Man
Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 94%
2. Avengers
Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 92%
3. Guardians of the Galaxy
Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 91%
4. Captain America 3: Civil War
Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 90%
5. Captain America: The Winter Soldier
Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 89%
6. Captain America: First Avenger
Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 80%
6.= Ant-Man
Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 80%
8. Iron Man 3
Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 79%
9. Thor
Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 77%
10. Avengers: Age of Ultron
Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 75%
11. Iron Man 2
Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 72%
12. The Incredible Hulk
Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 67%
13. Thor: The Dark World
Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 66%
Suicide Squad Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 66%
IMDB
The IMDB results are fairly similar, but with IMDB there is no massive expanse between the lowest rated Marvel Movies.
Suicide Squad draws level with Captain America: The First Avenger and the Incredible Hulk on 6.8, but Iron Man 2 still beats all three with a rating of 7.
Unbelievable.
Check out the full list below:
1. Captain America 3: Civil War
IMDB Rating: 8.3
2. Avengers
IMDB Rating: 8.1
3. Guardians of the Galaxy
IMDB Rating: 8.1
4. Iron Man
IMDB Rating: 7.9
5. Captain America: The Winter Soldier
IMDB Rating: 7.8
6. Avengers: Age of Ultron
IMDB Rating: 7.5
7. Ant-Man
IMDB Rating: 7.4
8. Iron Man 3
IMDB Rating: 7.3
9. Thor: The Dark World
IMDB Rating: 7.1
10. Iron Man 2
IMDB Rating: 7
10.= Thor
IMDB Rating: 7
12. The Incredible Hulk
IMDB Rating: 6.8
12.= Captain America: First Avenger
IMDB Rating: 6.8
Suicide Squad IMDB Rating: 6.8
Suicide Squad vs Marvel Movie Universe: Box Office
Domestic Market
Now let’s take a look at how the movie fared against the Marvel Movie universe in box office takings.
Firstly, domestic.
As of writing this, Suicide Squad has taken $262,283,335 in the domestic market and this is where things get really interesting.
Suicide Squad’s current domestic intake has already beaten Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Thor: The Dark World, Thor, Ant-Man, Captain America: First Avenger and The Incredible Hulk.
That is phenomenal work.
I think Warner Bros owe a huge thank you to their marketing department for that one.
Check out the full list below:
1. Avengers
Domestic: $623,357,910
2. Avengers: Age of Ultron
Domestic: $459,005,868
3. Iron Man 3
Domestic: $409,013,994
4. Captain America 3: Civil War
Domestic: $347,215,892
5. Guardians of the Galaxy
Domestic: $333,176,600
6. Iron Man 2
Domestic: $312,433,331
Suicide Squad Domestic: $300,812,503
7. Iron Man
Domestic: $263,427,551
8. Captain America: The Winter Soldier
Domestic: $259,766,572
9. Thor: The Dark World
Domestic: $206,362,140
10. Thor
Domestic: $181,030,624
11. Ant-Man
Domestic: $180,202,163
12. Captain America: First Avenger
Domestic: $176,654,505
13. The Incredible Hulk
Domestic: $134,806,913
Foreign Market
Suicide Squad did reasonably well in the domestic box office, but what about the foreign box office?
The answer: also reasonably well. It has amassed a massive $310,400,000 and therefore has beaten the likes of Thor, Iron Man,Captain America: First Avenger and The Incredible Hulk.
That is no easy feat.
Check out the full list below:
1. Avengers: Age of Ultron
Foreign: $946,408,000
2. Avengers
Foreign: $896,200,000
3. Iron Man 3
Foreign: $806,426,000
4. Captain America 3: Civil War
Foreign: $706,900,000
5. Captain America: The Winter Soldier
Foreign: $454,654,931
6. Guardians of the Galaxy
Foreign: $440,135,799
7. Thor: The Dark World
Foreign: $438,240,376
Suicide Squad Foreign: $378,100,000
8. Ant-Man
Foreign: $339,243,000
9. Iron Man 2
Foreign: $311,500,000
10. Thor
Foreign: $268,295,994
11. Iron Man
Foreign: $266,762,121
12. Captain America: First Avenger
Foreign: $193,915,269
13. The Incredible Hulk
Foreign: $128,620,638
Worldwide?
The combination of the domestic and foreign box office receipts predictably yielded reasonable results also, managing to fend off Ant-Man, Thor, Captain America: First Avenger and The Incredible Hulk.
See the full list here:
1. Avengers
Worldwide: $1,519,557,910
2. Avengers: Age of Ultron
Worldwide: $1,405,413,868
3. Iron Man 3
Worldwide: $1,215,439,994
4. Captain America 3: Civil War
Worldwide: $1,054,115,892
5. Guardians of the Galaxy
Worldwide: $773,312,399
6. Captain America: The Winter Soldier
Worldwide:$714,421,503
Suicide Squad Worldwide: $678,912,503 (up 1 place)
7. Thor: The Dark World
Worldwide: $644,602,516
8. Iron Man 2
Worldwide: $623,933,331
9. Iron Man
Worldwide: $585,174,222
10. Ant-Man
Worldwide: $519,445,163
11. Thor
Worldwide: $449,326,618
12. Captain America: First Avenger
Worldwide: $370,569,774
13. The Incredible Hulk
Worldwide: $263,427,551
And the Suicide Squad is still drawing money.
Conclusion
In conclusion, the answer to how is Suicide Squad doing is: so-so.
Rating’s wise, even the favorable IMDB rating system pits the movie at the bottom of the list.
The Box Office performance is much better and the movie has managed to beat a good number of top Marvel movies, some of which are (or already have) definitely getting sequels (Ant-Man springs to mind).
As I’ve previously mentioned, perhaps the Suicide Squad marketing has performed above par on this one, but I do think the critical reviews are a little off. There’s no way Iron Man 2 (or even Iron Man 3) is a better movie than this.
But that’s just my opinion – I want to hear yours.
How would you pit the movie against the Marvel Movie Universe?
What do you think?
Let me know via Twitter or Facebook
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You can also define things anywhere inside your Scalatex document. These definitions are only visible within the same document, and are scoped to any blocks they're defined within:
Since you can splice the value of any Scala expressions, of course you can splice the values that you defined yourself somewhere else:
You can use imports to bring things into scope, so you don't need to keep referring to them by their full name:
You can also splice the result of arbitrary chunks of code within a Scalatex document. Using parens () lets you splice a single expression, whereas using curlies { } lets you splice a block which can contain multiple statements.
Apart from splicing values into the document, you can also call functions, such as math.sqrt here.
Scalatex supports if - else statements, that behave as you'd expect. Here we're using one in conjunction with a loop to alternate the formatting of different items in a list.
The value of strings or variables is completely identical in both contexts; it's only the syntax that differs.
In general, there are always two contexts to keep track of:
Scalatex supports for-loops, as shown above. Again, everything inside the parentheses are an arbitrary Scala expression. Here we can see it binding the x value, which is then used in the body of the loop as @x to splice it into the document.
This accounts for the variation in syntax that you see above. In general, you almost always want to use indentation-based blocks to delimit large sections of the document, only falling back to curly braces for one-line or one-word tags like @h2 or @b above.
Superficially, Scalatex does a small number of translations to convert the.scalatex document into Scala code:
Inside each Scalatex file, @ -escaped things correspond to Scala keywords or names that are currently in scope. Apart from keywords, only scalatags.Text.all._ is imported by default. This brings in all the HTML tags that we used above to build those HTML fragments. However, you can also @import whatever other names you want, or refer to them fully qualified.
Scalatex converts every.scalatex file in its source folder into a corresponding Scala object. These objects have an apply method which returns a Scalatags Frag, which you can then call.render on to give you a HTML string. You can also do other things with the Scalatags Frag, but to learn more about it and Scalatags in general take a look at the Scalatags documentation.
There we have it, your first Scalatex document! You can put this on gh-pages, use it on a website, or where-ever you want.
And the following to your project in your build.sbt :
To get started with Scalatex, add the following to your project/build.sbt :
Scalatex is currently used to generate its own readme ( here ) as well as the e-book Hands-on Scala.js. It is only published for Scala 2.11.x for the time being.
Scalatex lets you write your HTML in a hierarchical structure which then gets compiled to HTML. In Scalatex, everything is part of the output document, except for tokens marked with an @ sign. These correspond to HTML tags (provided by Scalatags ), values you want to interpolate, control flow statements, function calls (or definitions!), basically anything that isn't plain text.
All these things are trivial and elegant to perform with Scalatex, and difficult or messy to do with other static-site-generators. Although Scalatex generates HTML, you can easily build up whatever tags best describe what you want to do, and use those to build your document, rather than relying on the ad-hoc and messy set provided by browsers.
Scalatex is a language for generating rich HTML documents in Scala. It lets you DRY up your documents the same way you DRY your code. Unlike most templating languages, Scalatex is a thin shim on top of the Scala programming language. This means that some things which require built-in support or are otherwise impossible in other document/static-site-generators are completely trivial with Scalatex, for example:
The core of Scalatex is a very small, superficial translation from the.scalatex syntax to a Scalatags fragment, letting you spit out HTML strings. Nevertheless, there are other concerns common to most (all?) documents, and Scalatags provides a number of common utilities that can quickly turn your structured document into a pretty, browse-able web page.
Quick Start
If you want to get started quickly without fuss, given you've already added the SBT plugin to your build.sbt file, you should use scalatex.ScalatexReadme to get off the ground quickly:
lazy val readme = scalatex.ScalatexReadme( projectId = "readme", wd = file(""), url = "https://github.com/lihaoyi/scalatex/tree/master", source = "Readme" )
This example usage would quickly create a project in the readme/ folder, that you can immediately work with. Simple place a Readme.scalatex file in readme/ and you can start writing Scalatex that will get turned into your documentation page. This default setup sets up all the commonly used functionality into the Main object, so make sure you start off with
@import Main._
to get access to functionality such as:
sect: a mechanism for defining sections in your document that will automatically get the correct-sized heading, and turn up in the table of contents
hl: a way to highlight strings in various languages or grab snippets from the filesystem to highlight
When all is said and done, run:
readme/run
To generate the Scalatex site inside the target/site folder.
The changes are, this will create a reasonable looking document with an interactive navigation bar, nice looking headers, etc.. If you wish to really customize Scalatex, look at the following sections to see how these various components of a Scalatex site actually |
still seriously consider owning one, if only for a year or two.
Cadillac Cimarron
Cimarron. Emboldened by the success of the Nova based (Key word: Based.) first generation Seville in the mid-’70s, and looking to respond to fuel economy regulations, Cadillac dressed up the Chevy Cavalier sedan (and almost doubled the price) to get into the premium compact game. Anyone familiar with Cadillacs of the ’50s and ’60s were waiting for someone to walk up and tell them they were on a hidden camera show. On the other side of the coin, a luxury brand moving downmarket can cause all sorts of quizzical looks from outsiders. And one of the most infamous examples (other than the Cygnet) is the Cadillac. Emboldened by the success of the Chevrolet based (Key word: Based.) first generationin the mid-’70s, and looking to respond to fuel economy regulations, Cadillac dressed up the Chevysedan (and almost doubled the price) to get into the premium compact game. Anyone familiar with Cadillacs of the ’50s and ’60s were waiting for someone to walk up and tell them they were on a hidden camera show.
BMW X6 M
BMW‘s M Division would build a high-powered, high-riding fastback Mad magazine writer… For a divison named for motorsports, it seems a bit strange that‘swould build a high-powered, high-riding fastback crossover. But that’s pretty much the norm for the “new” M Division ; the days of rambunctious normally-aspirated engines with a throttlebody for each cylinder and being built on separate assembly lines from normal BMW s are gone. Makes you wonder if someone influential in Munich lost a bet with awriter…
Kia Borrego
Kia Borrego, a large, body-on-frame, V6– or V8-powered Developing new cars and trucks requires years of lead time, meaning a lot can change in the world between the first meeting and the first saleable example is built. Such was the case with the, a large, body-on-frame,– or-powered SUV. By the time it reached production in 2008, vehicles of this type had fallen well and truly out of vogue thanks to rising gas prices and a sagging economy. To the average car buyer, who doesn’t know how long the average vehicle development process is, it certainly looked like Kia was yanking their chain.
Chevrolet SSR
Contrary to the popular saying, the customer isn’t always right. Case in point: The Chevrolet SSR. This retro-styled roadster-pickup was the darling of the 2000 Detroit Auto Show, and members of the automotive media and the public alike implored GM to put it in production. Well, come 2003, the SSR rolled into dealers, and a funny thing happened (not “funny ha ha” but “funny aw crap”): They piled up on the lots. Maybe it was the roughly $40k price that prompted prospective buyers to wonder if they were being punk’d, or maybe it was the payload and towing capacities that would be put to shame by some passenger cars. Whatever the reason, this funky runabout got booed off the stage in short order.
Porsche Panamera DieselPopular Heartburn Pills Can Be Hard To Stop, And May Be Risky
Enlarge this image Katherine Streeter for NPR Katherine Streeter for NPR
When Marcella Lafayette started having really bad heartburn, she went to her doctor to see if there was anything that might help.
"I was experiencing a lot of chest pain, back pain caused from heartburn," says Lafayette, 62, of Portland, Ore.
Her doctor diagnosed her with gastroesophageal reflux disease, or GERD, and prescribed a drug called a proton pump inhibitor, or PPI. The drug worked, but Lafayette soon started having other problems, such as muscle weakness and severe leg cramping.
Lafayette discovered she was suffering from a magnesium deficiency, a side effect of the drug. She also learned that PPIs can cause not just deficiencies of nutrients but other side effects, such as an increased risk for infections.
So Lafayette decided to try to stop using her PPI. But whenever she did, her heartburn returned. And the symptoms were much worse.
"I can't seem to get off the drug, because when I do, I experience severe stomach pain. I can't eat anything without experiencing stomach pain," Lafayette says. "It just feels like you've got a knife in your gut. It's just really painful."
Lafayette is not alone. Many people have trouble discontinuing PPIs because the amount of acid in their digestive system surges when they stop taking the drug.
Experiences like Lafayette's, and rising evidence that the drugs may be associated with a variety of increased risks, are making doctors increasingly worried about their wide use.
"The teaching for many years was that these drugs were quite safe," says John Clarke, a gastroenterologist at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore. "But there is data that's emerging that suggests PPIs may not be as safe as we think they are."
An estimated 15 million Americans use PPIs, which are sold by prescription and over the counter under a variety of brand names, including Nexium, Prilosec and Prevacid.
They work by blocking production of stomach acid. And that could be the root of the problem, according to Clarke. Stomach acid helps digest food and also has a "barrier function against different pathogens which are ingested," he says.
So when there's less stomach acid, it leaves people vulnerable to nutritional deficiencies and infections, including food poisoning like salmonella, a serious, sometimes life-threatening digestive system infection called Clostridium difficile, and perhaps pneumonia.
Stomach acid also helps digest food. So if you don't have any of that acid, it can make it hard to get the vitamins, minerals and other nutrients you need from your food — including nutrients that keep bones strong and prevent fractures.
In addition, one recent study suggested people who take PPIs may be at greater risk of heart disease; another suggested the drugs could increase the risk for chronic kidney disease.
Updated Feb. 15, 11 a.m. ET: The latest concern is that PPIs might increase the risk for dementia. Britta Haenisch and colleagues at the German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases in Bonn studied 73,679 people ages 75 and older. The researchers found regular PPI users had at least a 44 percent increased risk of dementia compared with those not using the drugs.
The researchers caution that the risk could only be considered an "association," until more research could be conducted to produce more conclusive evidence. But the findings indicate "the avoidance of PPI medication may contribute to the prevention of dementia."
How PPIs might increase the risk for dementia is unclear. But other researchers recently reported that, in the brains of mice, PPIs seem to increase levels of a damaging protein that accumulates in the brains of dementia patients, known as beta-amyloid.
In an editorial accompanying the study in the journal JAMA Neurology, Lewis Kuller of the University of Pittsburgh wrote that the findings "provided an important and interesting challenge to evaluate the possible association," which is a "very important issue given" how commonly the drugs are used by the elderly, who are already at increased risk for dementia.
Our original post continues: As this evidence has emerged, Clarke says, "I think it's imperative that people who take these drugs really make sure that they are looking at the risks versus benefit and people don't use these drugs lightly."
Many people take PPIs when they don't really need them, Clarke says. They could get rid of their heartburn by making lifestyle changes, such as losing weight and cutting back on alcohol, caffeine and spicy and fatty foods. And many people stay on them a lot longer than they need them, he says. PPIs are usually supposed to be taken for two to eight weeks, although doctors may recommend more.
The companies that make PPIs say they're safe for most people if they use them the way they're supposed to. And doctors say many people really need to take a PPI for severe heartburn.
"Proton pump inhibitors do have some very positive benefits to patients," says Kenneth DeVault, a gastroenterologist at the Mayo Clinic who is president of the American College of Gastroenterology. "They relieve symptoms better than any other medication that has ever been developed."
The most important "positive effect of proton pump inhibitors is restoration of a quality of life," DeVault says. "This is probably the big one."
PPIs may also reduce the risk for esophageal cancer for some people, he says.
DeVault says if someone really needs a PPI, they should take one. But they should try everything else first, keep an eye out for any side effects, and talk to their doctor about how long they should stay on it.45User Rating: 4 out of 5
Review title of Travis Simple and slick
The app has all the social profile customization you want, but limits the ability to place waypoints on the map to specifics. The store page claims that there's a fully 3D rendered map which implies more freedom in pinching to zoom in and out when really it's like a basic version of google maps with 2D images of prerendered 3D models with restricted zoom that doesn't let you view everything at once. I like this app for what it is, but I wish it was easier to find yourself on the map with a button to center on the player. It would be immensely helpful, in lieu of manually locating yourself. The map updates with new icons regularly as they populate your in game map so no problems there, and it's got the same amount of detailed data as the game but isn't necessarily better than the website's map which is identical to the game while sharing some of the same issues as this app; limited waypointing of specific things out of the game or placing markers for the runner's vision to get you to.Arguably the biggest story of 2013 was wildlife crime, which escalated from a conservation issue to an international security threat. Driven by rising demand for ivory from east Asia, it has doubled over the past five years into a global trade worth $10bn, threatening political and economic stability in central Africa.
This month there were warnings that Africa could lose one-fifth of its elephants in the next decade if the continent's poaching crisis is not stopped. By the end of September, a record 704 rhinos had been killed by poachers in South Africa and 47 in Kenya this year. Figures showed two-thirds of forest elephants had been killed by ivory poachers in past decade.
Some high-profile massacres hit the headlines, with 86 elephants – including 33 pregnant females– killed in less than a week in Chad, 26 elephants slaughtered at a wildlife-viewing site in the Central African Republic and 80 poisoned at a water hole in Zimbabwe.
While conservation groups looked to technology such as surveillance drones and GPS trackers to aid their efforts, park rangers lost lives and faced corruption fighting a one-sided war against increasingly militarised and organised gangs of poachers sometimes linked to terrorist groups like Al-Shabaab.
With Prince Charles and his son the Duke of Cambridge calling for a "war on poachers", UK prime minister David Cameron announced he would host the highest level global summit to date on combating the illegal wildlife trade. In the US, the Obama administration said it would destroy all 6m tonnes of its ivory stocks and the Philippines crushed 5m tonnes of seized ivory beneath industrial rollers.
Hedgehogs struggled to emerge from hibernation. Photograph: Murdo Macleod for the Guardian
In 2013 the weather played a big part for British wildlife, with a wet winter, a "delayed spring" and hot summer affecting both flora and fauna. As cold spell continued into April, conservationists warned hedgehogs, birds, insects, reptiles and frogs were all struggling.
In May, the National Trust embarked on a census to discover whether puffin numbers had plummeted after a year of extreme weather, and the UK barn owl population was reported to have suffered its worst breeding season for more than 30 years after a run of extreme weather events. The erratic weather had a knock-on effect later in the year with species like wasps and butterflies being seen a month later than usual.
Of the 17 species of butterflies found in Europe, eight have declined, including the common blue. Photograph: Alan Mather/Alamy
Decline was a word used frequently throughout 2013 when it came to talking about wildlife in the UK and around the world. The significant State of Nature report, published in May, found that more than half of UK wildlife species are in decline. In October an audit of more than 200 native UK species – including birds, bats, moths, butterflies, hares and doormice – showed that priority species have declined on average by 58% since 1970.
Europe's grassland butterfly population has plummeted in the past two decades, new research published in 2013 showed, with a near halving in the numbers of key species since 1990. And after the miserable summer of 2012, there were fewer butterflies in British skies in 2013 than for thousands of years, leaving several species in danger of extinction from parts of the country. British moths are also in calamitous decline, a major report showed in February, declining in southern Britain by 40% over 40 years.
In British waterways, a new five-year survey found that the water vole – the creature immortalised as Ratty in The Wind in the Willows – is vanishing from the British countryside, with the population slumping by more than one–fifth.
More than 4,000 birds of at least 18 species washed up dead or were affected by a sticky substance covering beaches from Cornwall to Dorset in two separate incidents in January and April this year.
Some of Britain's most familiar countryside birds like the turtle dove have plummeted in numbers since the 1990s. Photograph: Andrew Darrington/Alamy
There were mixed fortunes for bird populations in 2013. In December, the authoritative State of the UK's Birds report concluded that some of Britain's most familiar countryside birds have plummeted in numbers since the 1990s, with some species disappearing altogether from parts of the UK. The report drew heavily on the British Trust for Ornithology's mammoth volunteer-led project the Bird Atlas 2007-11, published a month earlier. The new atlas of 1,300 maps shows the patterns of distribution, abundance and change among 296 bird species in Britain and Ireland.
In October, statistics showed the number of wild birds in the UK was still falling, and among garden birds, starlings, house sparrows and other threatened species suffered further declines.
The decline in birds of prey continued, with the hen harrier failing to breed in England this summer for the first time since the 1960s. The species now stands on the brink of extinction, with rogue grouse moor gamekeepers blamed for their decline.
Cases of the illegal persecution of British birds is continuing to rise, a December report from the RSPB showed, with 208 reports of the shooting and destruction of birds of prey in 2012. It is hoped legal changes that will be debated in parliament next year will introduce stricter penalties for wildlife crimes.
The fortunes of the house sparrow seemed to be changing in 2012, however, with figures in September showing that the decline in their numbers appears to have levelled off.
Three bee-harming pesticides were banned in Europe this year. Photograph: Arnd Wiegmann/Reuters
In April, the European Union suspended the use of three neonicotinoid pesticides linked to serious harm in bees, despite the opposition of the UK ministers. In June the UK government launched an "urgent" review of the crisis facing bees and other pollinators in the UK and pledged to introduce a national pollinator strategy.
Posters protesting against the badger cull. Photograph: Alamy
In August, the controversial badger cull went ahead – amid protests – in Gloucestershire and west Somerset, in two pilot schemes attempting to stop the spread of bovine tuberculosis in cattle. Despite the cull being extended, it failed to reach its target, meaning it was "very likely" that the risk of tuberculosis in cattle had gone up, not down, according to an expert.
Oak processionary moth caterpillars cover a tree trunk. Photograph: Patrick Pleul/Alamy
British trees were under attack in 2013 from a variety of threats including sweet chestnut blight, the oak processionary moth caterpillar, and one year after it broke out in the UK, ash dieback disease. Britain's 80 million ash trees remain at deadly risk from ash dieback caused by Chalara fraxinea, a virulent fungal disease that has swept across Europe. Latest figures from the Forestry Commission reported a total of 613 sightings in nurseries, plantations and established woodland around the UK.
In October the St Jude storm that swept across England was estimated to have killed around 10 million trees.
Internationally, destruction of the Amazon rainforest increased by almost one-third in the past year, reversing a decade-long trend of better protection for the world's greatest rainforest.
But almost 200,000 hectares of Tasmania's old growth forest were world heritage-listed in 2013, bringing hope that a three-decade fight between environmentalists, politicians and loggers is over.
Internationally, the Cites international wildlife summit in Bangkok awarded protection against the finning trade to five shark species, but failed to halt the polar bear trade. Iceland resumed its commercial hunting of fin whales after a two-year suspension.
In November, the IUCN published its annual "red list". The latest update of endangered species showed worrying declines for the okapi, the white-winged flufftail, the red belly toad, Caribbean skinks and the martial eagle. Another study published by the IUCN this year showed that nearly one in five of the world's estimated 10,000 species of lizards, snakes, turtles, crocodiles and other reptiles are threatened with extinction.
Emperor penguins in Antarctica. Photograph: Frans Lanting/Corbis
Talks to create the world's two largest marine reserves in the Antarctic broke down in November for the third time in a year, with conservationists branding Russia a "repeat offender" for blocking an international agreement. In the UK, ministers named 27 new marine conservation zones in November to protect seahorses, coral reefs, oyster beds and other marine life – four less than ministers proposed and far short of the 127 zones recommended by the government's own consultation.
A hard-fought battle over European Union fisheries policy saw the ending of the wasteful practice of fish discards, with an agreement signed to gradually phase out the practice – where unwanted fish is thrown back into the sea – from 2015 to 2019. The Fish Fight campaign by Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, the chef and Guardian food writer, was cited by the European commission as a key factor in winning the battle.
The Cape Melville leaf-tailed gecko was among three new species discovered in a 'lost world' in northern Queensland. Photograph: Conrad Hoskin/AFP/Getty Images
The discovery of new species made for some welcome respite from the bad news. In October, a leaf-tail gecko, a golden-coloured skink and a boulder-dwelling frog were three new species discovered in a "lost world" in northern Queensland, Australia. In Suriname, scientists discovered 60 species new to science, including a chocolate-coloured frog and a tiny dung beetle less than 3mm long. A purring monkey, a vegetarian piranha and a flame-patterned lizard were among more than 400 new species of animals and plants that have been discovered in the past four years in the Amazon rainforest, conservationists say.
And there were other good news stories. Sightings of the variable harlequin toad (Atelopus varius) – thought to be extinct in Costa Rica – led researchers to believe other isolated fragments of Central America's disappearing amphibians may survive in regions scourged by the deadly chytrid fungus disease.
One of the world's most elusive wild cats, the Bornean bay cat (Pardofelis badia) was captured on camera in a heavily logged area of Borneo rainforest together with four other endangered species, suggesting that some wildlife can survive in highly disturbed forests.
In September, a landmark project to reintroduce the extinct short-haired bumblebee (Bombus subterraneus) to the UK celebrated its first milestone after experts confirmed that queens had nested and produced young.
Spain's endangered Iberian lynx was brought back from brink of extinction thanks to an imaginative conservation programme that has brought hunters, farmers and the tourist industry under its wing.
And beaver, bison and eagles were named among the species that have made a successful comeback in Europe in the past 50 years, according to a major survey published in September.TV viewership fell in the last two quarters of 2014. During the fourth quarter, users streamed more than 5 billion hours of programming on Netflix.
OPINION
THERE are two large televisions in my house and free to air rarely plays on either of them.
The decline of free TV in our house was gradual. It started with the death of Patrick in Offspring, grew out of frustration with constant noisy ad breaks and finally died a spectacular death when Netflix arrived in Australia.
Television was once a big part of our lives. Those were the days of Packed to the Rafters, Offspring and Underbelly. Days when watching TV was an appointment and the ads were a chance to chat about what had just transpired. But the days of decent drama are gone and so is my attention.
There’s not one show on free-to-air I get lost in. Those types of shows are all on Netflix or Foxtel, like House of Cards and Game of Thrones.
Previously, watching a TV show meant you were in the loop for the next day’s “water cooler” conversation. This was a big part of the lure of reality TV when it first began. But these days I find office workers are more likely to come in and complain about how drawn out the final of House Rules was or how many ad breaks it took to get to the winner.
If TV leaves you feeling like you lost two hours of your life, why put yourself through the pain?
There’s nothing anymore that really holds my attention. The same shows are constantly being recycled — renovate, cook, find love. I found myself checking Pinterest and YouTube for renovation designs while watching The Block. The ad breaks were so long and the actual renovation content on the TV show so short that the ratio of internet-to-television gradually widened. Then there was no point even watching the show.
This gradual dumping of free-to-air doesn’t just relate to my demographic, free TV is also losing the next generation of viewers in my household.
The children now ask if they can watch Netflix or YouTube instead of free-to-air. Stampylonghead and his annoying “hello” is far more popular with my kids than Charlie and Lola ever were. As a parent, the ability to control what my children watch is also far easier when you aren’t beholden to the networks.
The problem, I believe, for free to air TV is that the alternative is just so much better.
With Netflix and the internet I can finally taste the grass on the other side of the fence. I watch the shows I choose without advertising and start them when I’m ready, not ten minutes after the scheduled time.
Sorry free-to-air, but it’s time I parted ways for good.Bomb threat causes hundreds to gather on Man Utd training pitch
Manchester United have been based at Drake Stadium throughout the week
A bomb threat led hundreds of students to seek refuge at Manchester United's pre-season base at in Los Angeles, just hours after Jose Mourinho's men finished training.
United arrived in California on Sunday for their pre-season tour and have been undertaking double training sessions at the college since the start of the week.
Mourinho's side have been using UCLA's Drake stadium as their base - a venue taken over by students, visitors and faculty members on Wednesday evening after a bomb threat.
Many of those evacuated from housing around the campus gathered in the United-branded training base as the emergency services checked facilities were safe.
Gary Neville thinks Manchester United need a holding midfielder – and Chelsea’s Nemanja Matic would “fit the bill” Gary Neville thinks Manchester United need a holding midfielder – and Chelsea’s Nemanja Matic would “fit the bill”
A statement from UCLA read: "UCLA received a bomb threat on Wednesday evening and, as a precaution, ordered residents evacuated from campus housing at about 10.10pm.
"Many of the residents who were affected gathered safely in Drake stadium while emergency responders checked campus facilities. No suspicious device was found.
Paul Pogba and Jose Mourinho during a training session at the UCLA facility
"At 12.20am on Thursday, residents were allowed to return to all residence halls at UCLA. Police are continuing to investigate."
United are due to return to training at UCLA for a double session on Thursday, while Real Madrid will also be training just metres away at North Athletic Field.
A security team follows Mourinho's side around the city, just as they do elsewhere on their travels, and UCLA security presence is visible around Drake Stadium.
United play five matches on their pre-season tour of the United States, kicking off against LA Galaxy on Saturday.Mr. Christie’s budget speech, delivered less than a year before he will be up for re-election, at times sounded like a campaign pitch to the voters of this overwhelmingly Democratic state. Advocacy groups had lobbied hard for the Medicaid expansion, and Democrats in the Legislature applauded it.
But it also reflected Mr. Christie’s national ambitions and his continued push to present himself as a different kind of Republican — one who could teach Washington a thing or two about bipartisanship. He talked about how he had “turned Trenton upside down” in his first three years, ending what he described as the tax-and-spend ways of his Democratic predecessors. His proposed budget of $32.9 billion is an increase of about 4 percent over the one approved last year, but he emphasized that the state will spend less than it did in the 2008 fiscal year.
Accepting federal money for Medicaid, he said, would save the state $227 million in the fiscal year that begins in July. Earlier this month, the governor showed his opposition to the health care law when he declined to establish a state-run exchange to allow people to buy health insurance, insisting that the federal government would have to do it.
Under the new law, the federal government pays the full cost of Medicaid expansion for the first three years, and 90 percent of the cost after that. The governor said in his speech that he would end the expansion if, “because of adverse actions by the Obama administration,” it no longer made fiscal sense.
Still, the partial embrace by one of the country’s most prominent Republicans was a boost to the president’s health care program. It came a week after Gov. Rick Scott of Florida, a former health care executive, reversed his previous position and joined a number of Republican governors taking federal money to expand Medicaid. The Supreme Court ruled last year that though the law was constitutional, states could choose not to expand their programs.The Imprensa Nacional Casa da Moeda (INCM) have launched their latest collector coin which marks both Portugal’s anniversary as a Republic and 100 years since the country’s first commemorative coin was issued. The inventive coin has a range of unique technical and visual features which includes a gold disc set into the rim of a larger silver disc using an innovative minting process. Due to the specific way in which the two discs fit together, the smaller disc protrudes over the perimeter of the larger one, resulting in the world’s first eccentric (not placed centrally) bimetallic coin.
Portugal celebrates the 5th October as Revolution day which overthrew King Manuel II of the Braganza dynasty and established the Republic. The escudo was introduced on the 22nd May 1911, after the revolution, to replace the Real at the rate of 1,000 réis to 1 escudo. Between 1912 and 1916, silver 10, 20 and 50 centavos and 1 escudo coins were issued. On the 4th anniversary of the Revolution, a beautiful silver coin was issued, which included a reclining allegorical figure representing the Republic and with the country’s anniversary date “5 OUITUBRO de 1910” on the obverse. The crest of the new republic along with the coin’s denomination was seen on the reverse. The year 2014 marks 100 years since the Republic’s first commemorative coin was issued. This historical milestone forms part of the genesis of the INCM and is being celebrated with the issue of the innovative new coin.
Designed by Nuno Caetano, the obverse of the silver portion is a faithful copy of the obverse design of the coin issued in 1914, the first to bear the face value of 1 escudo. A reproduction of the last commemorative escudo coin (1 gold escudo) is found in the gold area on the obverse, resulting in a single face containing two images.
The reverse bears an image of the old Casa da Moeda mint facility where the 1914 coin was minted, along with a detailed view of the entrance of the modern day Casa da Moeda where the 2001 coin was minted. On the right-hand side is its face value of 2.50 Euros. The gold part visible on the reverse bears the legend “1914 – 2014”.
Denomination Metal Weight Diameter Quality Mintage €2.50.925 silver 11.24 grams 28 mm. Proof 2500 pieces.999 gold 1.56 grams 14 mm. Proof
The coin has a combined weight of 12.8 grams. The INCM are currently accepting pre-orders ahead of the coin’s October 1st official issue date. The INCM have indicated that a higher than expected interest in this piece has been expressed by collectors and urge orders to be filed at soon as possible.
For more information on this and other coins offered by the Impresa Nacional Casa da Moeda or INCM, please visit their website at: https://www.incm.pt/portal/loja_detalhe.jsp?lang=en&codigo=102434 Information offered in Portuguese and English, international orders dispatched.This week, the Washington Post endorsed Comcast’s takeover of Time Warner Cable, the largest taking over the second-largest. The Post said the deal was OK, but regulators should keep a “watchful eye” on it and be prepared to act “if big industry players begin to violate basic principles of market fairness.”
That’s like telling someone it’s OK to step on a rattlesnake but to be careful not to get bitten. It’s also a little late. Those principles are long dead, killed in large part by a compliant Congress and weak regulators. If the deal must go through, the FCC should impose the seven rules I outline below. But first, some background on Comcast’s special place in what is looking increasingly like our new Gilded Age.
Art Brodsky About Art Brodsky is a veteran journalist and advocate in Internet and telecommunications issues. He is now a communications consultant.
What the Comcast-TWC Merger Means for You
In this deal, every antitrust expert says that the way law is now interpreted, Comcast can buy Time Warner because the two don’t compete with each other, so there is no loss of choice for consumers. Think about that for a minute. The way the cable industry is structured, each company operates in its own franchise area. The industry is structured not to compete. So under the Comcast-Time Warner logic, Comcast could buy up every other cable company in the country and not be bothered a bit by that old-hat concept of antitrust.
What that formula ignores, of course, is the collateral damage to consumers. Every once in a while, cable (or satellite) companies and broadcasters get into these spats, called “retransmission consent” negotiations, in which they can’t agree on who should pay how much for programming. More and more, they end up with consumers getting the short end of the stick when a cable system is all of a sudden missing, say, the network carrying the Super Bowl.
It’s one thing if even one cable system with 22 million customers gets into a fight with a network, another if a cable system with 30 million or so and the nation’s largest markets (added by the TWC acquisition) suddenly black out most of the country.
Think that competition from the Internet will cut into this domination? Not when you realize Comcast is the largest broadband provider, and TWC is No. 2.
Comcast can, without impunity, force a would-be competitor like Netflix to pony up dough to connect directly to its network, rather than use a third party data carrier like Cogent.
Comcast can cut a deal with Verizon so that, except in areas offering Verizon’s FiOS fiber service, Comcast will sell Verizon’s wireless service and Verizon will sell Comcast’s cable-based wired broadband. How special.
In the most recent case, Cogent went to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and cried, in essence, “extortion” when Comcast said that Netflix, which supplies lots of Net traffic, had to connect directly with the cable giant and cut out Cogent.
The new FCC chairman, Tom Wheeler, basically said, “tough.” So, realizing the law wasn’t coming to the rescue, Netflix folded, once again proving the old adage that freedom for the wolves has often meant the death of the sheep. I don’t know about you, but I’d miss lamb once all the sheep are slaughtered as the would-be shepherds look the other way.
All the learned D.C. chatterers talk about the deal being approved with conditions. That’s a great theory, but the practical applications are limited. Comcast spent millions litigating the word “now” from its takeover of NBC and millions more to favor its own Golf Channel over the independent Tennis Channel in placement on program tiers. But let’s consider some plausible conditions.
7 Conditions the FCC Could and Should Impose
(Justified by the Law of Spiderman, i.e. “With great power comes great responsibility”)
The combined Comcast has to stop pushing state laws that restrict competition from municipal systems or commercial overbuilders, has to work for their repeal and will not contest any competition. TWC is the most obvious culprit, having fought its battle against municipalities in North Carolina. TWC, Comcast and others work also through the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), the shadowy group pushing anti-consumer legislation. Comcast-TWC has to establish a fund of, say, $1 billion, to aid local governments in building their own systems. The combined entity must agree to a stringent Net Neutrality policy. Off the table are the weak-tea rules negotiated by Verizon and Google, and put in place by the late and unlamented Julius Genachowski during his term at the FCC. This time, former FCC Commissioner Michael Copps, the embodiment of the public interest, gets to write the rules. No data caps. It’s been proven time and time again that caps have nothing to do with traffic management and everything to do with stifling competition. If there are to be these ridiculous “retrans” disputes, the channels stay on the systems until the issue is resolved. The company shall not require direct connection to its network. Netflix gets its money back. Independent programmers get the same treatment as those owned by Comcast and TWC pre-merger.
Wheeler talks a good game about the need for “competition,” but so far hasn’t shown any inkling to foster it. Competition works when there are equal forces at work and when consumers have choice. Neither is in play here.
If Wheeler, subject of a glowing profile in the Washington Post, really means what he says about competition, now’s the chance to prove it.
If his fellow Commissioners, Democrats Mignon Clyburn and Jessica Rosenworcel want to be more than followers, they must insist on consumer protections. And if Republicans Mike O’Rielly and Agit Pai really believe in competition, then let’s see them create some.
There is no better example of the existence of our Second Gilded Age than Comcast. Government has made it possible for the company to exert economic power unheard of a generation ago. If this deal is to go through, Comcast should be required to pay dearly for the privilege of exerting market domination.
Editor: Emily DreyfussMINNEAPOLIS (AP) — A Minneapolis police SWAT team leader has been convicted of assaulting a man while off-duty at a bar.
The Anoka County District Court jury decided Saturday that Sgt. David Clifford was not acting in self-defense when he punched Brian Vander Lee on June 16 at Tanners Station in Andover. Clifford said Lee tried to take a swing at him.
The 44-year-old Vander Lee, from Ramsey, hit his head on the concrete patio and needed three brain surgeries.
The 48-year-old Clifford was convicted on first-, third- and fifth-degree assault.
Clifford will be sentenced May 29. Anoka County Attorney Tony Palumbo says a seven-year sentence is recommended under Minnesota sentencing guidelines.
Closing arguments concluded Friday and the jury deliberated for several hours.
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Read or Share this story: http://usat.ly/ZVp4eTAs I unhinge my jaw to take a bite of the towering John Wall Burger at Whole Foods in Foggy Bottom, I try to imagine a more vulnerable place to chow down on this caloric wombat.
This weeks' specials at the Whole Foods in Foggy Bottom pay respect to a pair of elite D.C. athletes. (Tim Carman/The Washington Post)
Across the street, Jose Andres's forthcoming Beefsteak restaurant features a cartoon image of a smug-looking bell pepper power-lifting a pair of cherries. Outside the window, George Washington students practically mock you with every step of their yoga-toned legs. All around me are reedy little specimens of human moderation digging into their afternoon bowl of organic greens.
And here I am, the $20 Diner sitting on a stool and eating a monstrous sandwich named for the Wizards star who doesn't even eat burgers. I feel as self-conscious as Gheorghe Muresan dancing in an ESPN commercial.
John Wall Burger: Sweet enough to land on the dessert menu. (Tim Carman/The Washington Post)
I mean, the Wall burger is a trophy hunter at a PETA convention, and as obvious as the 7-foot-7 former Bullets center Mursean walking the aisles in this land of (goat's) milk and (unfiltered, wildflower) honey. The burger starts with your choice of patty. I went traditional, with a |
which we sometimes confuse with real magic”. (38) Here Tolkien can be seen as not merely contradicting the idea that hobbits practice magic but also explaining how both Rhys and the tellers of Welsh fairy stories mistakenly came to associate the little people with magic in the first place.
Not all hobbit characteristics can be read from and into the Welsh fairy tales as Rhys interprets them. Hobbits are not native to the Shire, where most are said to dwell at the time of Tolkien’s stories. Nor does the society found in the Shire appear matriarchal. More generally, hobbits are almost completely devoid of those nefarious and sinister qualities attributed to so many of the denizens of the Welsh fairy stories. Yet all these qualities can be associated with at least one hobbit, if only we know where to look. Having left his comfortable hobbit hole far behind, Bilbo Baggins, the hero of The Hobbit, receives a knock on the head and wakes to find himself in a cave deep under the Misty Mountains. Here he encounters Gollum, “a small slimy creature”. While the narrator immediately declares “I don’t know where he came from, nor who or what he was”, it soon becomes clear that Gollum is not so very different from Bilbo (as Gandalf would remark of this meeting in The Lord of the Rings: “There was a great deal in the background of their minds and memories that was very similar. They understood one another remarkably well…”). (39) As Tolkien meditated upon a sequel to The Hobbit he made this implicit kinship explicit. In early drafts of The Lord of the Rings Gollum is already described as “an ancient sort of hobbit” and “of hobbit-kind, or akin to the fathers of the fathers of the hobbits”. (40) Gollum thus becomes a survival from a distant hobbit past, kept alive unnaturally by his possession of a magical but evil ring – the power of which has almost totally corrupted his character.
Gollum bridges much of the gap between Bilbo Baggins and the aboriginal origin of fairies described by Rhys. In general terms, he can appear as the archetypal evil ghoul of folk legend. After losing his ring to Bilbo, Gollum ventures out of his deep dark cave, whereupon the woods are filled with rumours and dreadful tales – “The Woodmen said that there was some new terror abroad, a ghost that drank blood. It climbed trees to find nests; it crept into holes to find the young; it slipped through windows to find cradles.” (41)
But his particular story also includes several of the features that Rhys attributed to the little people as a whole. Gollum began his life by the banks of the River Anduin, where he was known as Sméagol and where he lived among a large family “ruled by a grandmother of the folk, stern and wise in old lore”. (42) Thus Gollum appears to have been born into a matriarchal society. (43) In ‘Concerning Hobbits’ we further learn that the lands around the River Anduin were the original home of the hobbits, or at least the land of which their earliest tales tell. (44) Thus Gollum is an aborigine, at least in relation to Bilbo Baggins. After turning to evil ways, Gollum’s grandmother had banished him from the ancestral home and he had sought refuge deep under the mountains, where he had “vanished out of all knowledge.” Thus, like the ‘little people’ of the Welsh fairy stories, Gollum has been driven into the hills, albeit on the command of his grandmother rather than by the swords of Aryan invaders. As with the (mistaken) association of hobbits and magic, Tolkien here provides a euhemeristic explanation of the fairy stories collected by Rhys: in this case pointing to an original source, the story of which seems to have been generalized (rather than confused) in its telling over countless generations.
Tolkien did not merely provide a source for Rhys’s stories of little aboriginal people; his reading also contains within it the germs of an explanation for Rhys’s mistakes and confusions. In the description of Bilbo’s encounter with Gollum, to take but one example, Tolkien can be seen projecting the relationship between ourselves and the aboriginal race posited by Rhys into a fictional encounter between a bourgeois hobbit and his ancient aboriginal racial self. But at the same time, and true to character, Tolkien can be seen suggesting within his fiction the true story behind the various fairy tales collected and interpreted by Rhys: Bilbo’s encounter with Gollum gives rise, eventually, to a myth of a primitive, cave-dwelling, aboriginal little people. (45) But in so providing both the ‘true stories’ and the explanations of Rhys’s false scholarly turns, Tolkien was not reiterating Rhys’s presuppositions in a different guise. Rhys’s aborigines are primitive in relation to us, perhaps a rung lower on the evolutionary ladder, and perhaps only a smidgeon of their blood flows in our veins, for it has now been much diluted by the infusions of later racial invasions. Gollum is indeed an aboriginal survival from ancient times; but he is essentially of the same folk as Bilbo, and his savageness is the result of degeneration due to the ring, not lack of evolution. Tolkien is telling this fairy story in his own terms, and he connects his own account with that of Rhys not by conceptual links but by the shifts and manglings that he knows to be endemic to the transmission of an originally oral body of stories and legends.
Conclusion: two Red Books
It remains to note one further step in Tolkien’s literary development. As we have seen, the young Tolkien initially posited an Anglo-Saxon transmission of his elvish tales of the elder days. Eventually, however, the scribes who transmitted this material were transformed from Anglo-Saxons into hobbits (from Ælfwine to Frodo Baggins, as it were), with the ‘Red Book of Westmarch’ becoming the imagined medium of transmission.
Tolkien declares the ‘Red Book’ to be our primary “source for the history of the War of the Ring” that ended the Third Age, but it also contains much scattered information concerning the Second, and even the First Ages. This ‘Red Book’ is said to be a manuscript compiled by several hobbit hands – the first of which belonged to Bilbo Baggins; the original has long since been lost, but several copies have supposedly come down to us. In essence, the ‘Red Book’ is the imagined manuscript source for the published books that we hold in our hands as The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. (46)
As has often been pointed out, Tolkien derived the title of this hobbit ‘Red Book’ from the fourteenth-century Welsh manuscript known as the ‘Red Book of Hergest’. This historical ‘Red Book’, we may note, was edited by Rhys together with John Gwenoryn Evans and published in two volumes – The Mabínogían (1887) and The Bruts (1890), both of which were owned by Tolkien. (47)
Now, we have seen that Tolkien shared the mainstream Victorian distaste for these medieval Welsh stories, likening them to “a broken stained glass window reassembled without design.” But we have also seen that examination of some of these broken shards had provided Tolkien (as well as Rhys) with valuable insights concerning those people who dwelled long ago, in the quiet of the world, when there was less noise and more green. And having identified hobbits as depicted in some of these broken shards, it would appear that Tolkien set a few of these hobbits to work reconstructing the rest of this broken window, and, indeed, building much else besides; which is to say, writing the ‘Red Book’ anew, albeit according to a newly coherent design.
This conclusion raises some interesting questions concerning Tolkien’s relationship to Wales and its cultural heritage, a subject upon which it is easy to take a wrong step. Tom Shippey has noted that Tolkien felt a deep affinity with the Anglo-Saxon Beowulf poet. (48) Certainly, it is striking to observe how readily Tolkien’s allegory of the man who built a tower from ancient stones, quoted above, is applicable to Tolkien himself. But the conclusion to which we have been led in this essay is that, at least in those stories of the Third Age that concern hobbits, the materials Tolkien was reworking in his own literary compositions were as much Celtic as Old English or Norse. (49) Indeed, and as Mark Hooker has discerned, there is something intrinsically Welsh about hobbits. But if Tolkien’s hobbits are (or were) found in Wales, their techniques of literary craftsmanship are rather English than Welsh; which is to say that they (or Tolkien) work their material after the sober and steady fashion of the Beowulf poet, not in the supposedly mad and unreasoning manner of the Welsh bards. For all the Welsh flavour of Tolkien’s hobbits, they are – and are obviously – deeply of England; and the same is equally true of the tales written down in the hobbit version of the ‘Red Book’. The literary tower that is the ‘Red Book of Westmarch’ may be built with much Welsh stone and fitted with windows of Welsh glass, and it may even be erected in part upon Welsh soil, but it is for all that by design an English colonial construction. (50)
About the author
Simon J. Cook is a an independent English-language editor and a freelance scholar. Most of his other academic writings can be found at: yemachine.academia.edu/simoncook.
Footnotes
* I would like to dedicate this short essay to my friend Vashti Zarach. I wish to thank Mark Hooker for stimulating email correspondence concerning languages and hobbit archers, and Pieter Collier, for information about Tolkien’s personal library, for drawing my attention to the connection of Welsh and hobbit ‘Red Books’, and for providing me with the opportunity to publish this essay in the Tolkien Library. I am also indebted to Andrew Holgate for prodding me to better clarify my first thoughts on the origin of hobbits and to the learned observations of Avner Wallach concerning dwarves and Númenóreans.
(1) For the original see Matthew Arnold, On the Study of Celtic Literature, London, 1867, p. 61. Arnold, whose text was originally delivered as Oxford lectures attended by the undergraduate Rhys, adds (p. 66): “There is evidently mixed here, with the newer legend, a detritus, as the geologists would say, of something far older; and the secret of Wales and its genius is not truly reached until this detritus… is disengaged, and is made to tell its own story.” Both Rhys and Tolkien, in their different ways, could be said to have taken this lesson to heart.
(2) Dimitra Fimi, ‘Tolkien’s “‘Celtic’ type of legends”: Merging Traditions’, Tolkien Studies, 4, 2007, 51-71, p. 66. The phrase ‘mythology for England’, as Fimi and others have tirelessly pointed out, derives from Humphrey Carpenter’s biography, not from Tolkien himself.
(3) Rhys, Lectures on the Origin and Growth of Religion as illustrated by Celtic Heathendom, The Hibbert Lectures, 1886, Williams and Norgate, London, 1892 (second edition), p. vii.
(4) John Rhys, ‘The Celts and the Other Aryans of the P and Q Groups’, (read 1891), Transactions of the Philological Society 1891-2-3, pp. 104-131, p. 129.
(5) Sayce, A Lecture on the Study of Comparative Philology, Oxford, 1876, pp. 28.
(6) A. H. Sayce, Principles of Comparative Philology (3rd edition, London, Trübner & Co, 1885, pp. vii-viii).
(7) For further discussion of this shift in philological and historical thinking see my ‘The Making of the English: English History, British Identity, Aryan Villages, 1870-1900’, forthcoming in the Journal of the History of Ideas, but available online in a draft version via my academia.edu page: http://yemachine.academia.edu/simoncook.
(8) John Rhys, Celtic Folklore: Welsh and Manx, two volumes, Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1901; Rhys, ‘Presidential Address to Section H. of the BAAS’, Report of the Seventieth Meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of Science, London: John Murray, 1900, pp.884-896. Like much of the primary material discussed in this essay, Rhys’s presidential address is available online (http://archive.org/details/reportofbritisha00scie).
(9) Rhys ‘Presidential Address’, p. 889.
(10) Rhys ‘Presidential Address’, p. 885.
(11) Rhys, ‘Presidential Address’, p. 896.
(12) Rhys ‘Presidential Address’, p 887-8. As Rhys says, his information on the dwellings of the Picts was drawn from the works of David MacRitchie; see: The Testimony of Tradition, London: Kegan Paul, 1890 and Fians, Fairies, and Picts, London: Kegan Paul, 1893. For useful background on MacRitichie, and indeed on later nineteenth-century discussion of fairies in general, see Carole G. Silver, Strange and Secret Peoples: Fairies and Victorian Consciousness, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999.
(13) For details of Rhys’s lectures see Christina Scull and Wayne G. Hammond, The J.R.R. Tolkien Companion and Guide: Chronology, Houghton Mifflin, 2006, pp. 50, 52, 55, 59.
(14) J. Morris-Jones, A Welsh Grammar: Historical and Comparative, Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1913, p. ix and p.3.
(15) See Carl Phelpstead, ‘Tolkien, David Jones, and the God Nodens’, The Lord of the Rings Fanatics Plaza (website): http://www.lotrplaza.com/showthread.php?28791-Carl-Phelpstead-Tolkien-David-Jones-and-the-God-Nodens. Phelpstead also discusses Tolkien’s note in his Tolkien and Wales: Language, literature and identity, University of Wales Press, 2011, pp. 53-7, but here mentions Rhys only in a footnote (note 14 on p. 137). Tolkien’s note was originally published as an appendix to an archaeological excavation report, but has now been republished in Tolkien Studies 4, 2007, pp. 177-83.
(16) Mark Hooker, Tolkien and Welsh: Essays on J.R.R. Tolkien’s Use of Welsh in his Legendarium, Llyfrawr, 2012, p. viii.
(17) J.R.R. Tolkien and Christopher Tolkien (ed.), The Book of Lost Tales, Part II[henceforth BLT I or II], Ballantine Books, 1992, p. 299; see also p. 310 and p. 321 for the idea that invasion of the English was the seventh invasion of the British Isles.
(18) ‘English and Welsh’ (1955) in J.R.R. Tolkien, The Monsters and the Critics, Harper Collins, 1997, pp. 162-97, pp. 169-71.
(19) See, for example, A. H. Sayce, ‘Language and Race’, The Journal of the Anthropological Institute, 1876; v, pp. 212-20. Fimi cites the 1955 lecture ‘English and Welsh’ as evidence of “a change in Tolkien’s attitude” with regard to Wales and Celtic folklore (‘“Mad” Elves and “Elusive Beauty”: Some Celtic Strands of Tolkien’s Mythology’, Folklore 117, 2006, 156-170, p. 167). Phelpstead (Tolkien and Wales, p. 35) criticizes Fimi for failing to recognize how much Tolkien’s 1955 lecture anticipates the recent scholarly rejection of an older, romantic idea of the Celts. Neither scholar grasps that Tolkien was reiterating the Edwardian orthodoxy on which he had been reared and from which – changes in emphasis notwithstanding – he never substantially departed. This point bears spelling out. The new ideas that Tolkien is supposed to “anticipate” are, according to Phelpstead, grounded in a new model of Anglo-Saxon invasion as involving “a relatively small Anglo-Saxon warrior elite” imposing “its language and culture on what remained a predominantly British population”. This new account replaced an older historical model according to which the invading Anglo-Saxons “destroyed and displaced the native Britons”. This older model is said to have “held the field from c.1849 to the second half of the twentieth century” (Tolkien and Wales, pp. 18-9 and p.128, note 86). But this is faulty intellectual history: the ‘ethnic cleansing’ model had already been rejected back in the 1880s (it made a partial return in the next century). As Sayce put it in 1887 (sounding tellingly like Phelpstead in 2011), although a few years previously it had been “the fashion to assert that the English people were mainly Teutonic in origin, and that the British population had been exterminated”, it had now been established that “the British population, instead of being exterminated, lived under and by the side of their Teutonic invaders” (‘Address by Professor A. H. Sayce, M.A., President of the Section,’ Report of the Fifty-Seventh Meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of Science held at Manchester in August and September 1887, London, John Murray, 1888, pp. 885-895, p. 892 and p. 893). Tolkien was not anticipating late twentieth-century revisionism; he was repeating late-nineteenth-century orthodoxies! And Tolkien indicates as much with his comment: “the dogs that I have been beating may seem to most of those who are listening to me dead” (Monsters and Critics, p. 173). The root problem with Phelpstead’s reading of Tolkien’s 1955 lecture is that it is presented as a reaction against Arnold’s Oxford lectures, while the relevance and significance of Rhys’s intermediary position and revisionist scholarship is entirely passed over. And it is hard not to suspect that behind this lacuna, as also Fimi’s faulty reading, is an inability of the modern academic mind to comprehend the many points of contact between its own post-modern thinking on identity (non-nationalistic and local) and late Victorian and Edwardian scholarship grounded on ideas of race (for further discussion of the latter, see my ‘Making of England’).
(20) Humphrey Carpenter (J.R.R. Tolkien: A Biography, Houghton Mifflin, 2000, p. 55) gives a poem of 1910 about “light fairy things tripping so gay”. Much of the 1915 material is published in BLT, at least one poem of which, ‘The Cottage of Lost Play’, was composed in Oxford in Tolkien’s undergraduate lodgings (BLT I, p.19); others were composed as Tolkien went through military training. John Garth (Tolkien and the Great War: the Threshold of Middle-earth, Houghton Mifflin, 2005) provides an excellent narrative of the composition of these early fairy poems, while Dimitra Fimi (Tolkien, Race and Cultural History: from Fairies to Hobbits, Palgrave Macmillan, 2010, Part I) relates Tolkien’s early conceptions of fairies to Victorian and Edwardian popular culture and offers a helpful account of how these fairies transformed into the (no-longer little) Elves of Middle-earth.
(21) Humphrey Carpenter and Christopher Tolkien (eds.), The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien, Harper Collins, 2012, letter 131 and see also letter 257.
(22) Garth, Tolkien and the Great War; Fimi, Tolkien, Race and Cultural History.
(23) BLT I, 151-3
(24) Garth, Tolkien and the Great War, 21% (having accessed Garth’s book via Kindle my reference is reduced to a percentage as opposed to a page number). In Gnomish, Aryador means the land of shadow; but as Garth notes, Tolkien seems to have created “a small but significant proportion of his Qenya words specifically to show kinship with ancient recorded or reconstructed words”.
(25) BLT I, pp. 1-39, and BLT II, pp. 282-340.
(26) BLT II, p. 290.
(27) BLT II, p. 299. These are Christopher Tolkien’s words, and the wars he refers to are indeed the various invasions of the British Isles.
(28) BLT II, p. 310.
(29) For further discussion of this Anglo-Saxon transmission see Verlyn Flieger, ‘The Footsteps of Ælfwine’, in Verlyn Flieger and Carl F. Hostetter (eds.), Tolkien’s Legendarium: Essays on the History of Middle-earth, Wetport, CT: Greenwood, 2000, pp. 183-98, and Maria Artamonova, ‘Writing for an Anglo-Saxon Audience in the Twentieth Century: J.R.R. Tolkien’s Old English Chronicles’, in David Clark and Nicholas Perkins (eds.), Anglo-Saxon culture and the modern imagination, Boydell & Brewer, 2010, pp. 71-88.
(30) BLT II, p. 295.
(31) Note that in the second volume of his Celtic Folklore Rhys was at pains to explain that, “as I have no wish to earn the displeasure of my literary friends, let me hasten to say that I acknowledge the latter, the creatures of the imagination, to be the true fairies… the other folk – the aborigines whom I have been trying to depict – form only a sort of substratum, a kind of background to the fairy picture” (Rhys Celtic Folklore, II: 669-670).
(32) Tolkien, ‘On Fairy-Stories’, in The Monsters and the Critics and Other Essays, edited by Christopher Tolkien, London: George Allen & Unwin, 1983, p. 129.
(33) J.R.R. Tolkien, ‘Beowulf: The Monsters and the Critics’, Proceedings of the British Academy, 22, 1936, 245-95; quotation on pp. 248-9.
(34) Andreas Haarder and Tom Shippey (eds.), Beowulf: the Critical Heritage, Routledge, 1998, p. 493.
(35) Letters, letter 19.
(36) Tolkien, The Hobbit, chapter 1. Note how, immediately following this introductory description of hobbits, the narrator comments with regard to one particular hobbit family, the Tooks: “It was often said (in other families) that long ago one of the Took ancestors must have taken a fairy wife. That was, of course, absurd…”
(37) The earliest draft of this account of hobbits dates to 1938-9, i.e. soon after the publication of The Hobbit, and is printed in J.R.R. Tolkien, The Return of the Shadow (ed. Christopher Tolkien), Houghton Mifflin, New York, 2000, pp. 310-14. The history of subsequent drafts may be found in J.R.R. Tolkien, The Peoples of Middle Earth (ed. Christopher Tolkien), Houghton Mifflin, New York, 1996.
(38) This last quotation is not taken from the prologue found in the published version of Lord of the Rings but from its early draft, now found in Return of Shadow, p. 311.
(39) Lord of the Rings, ‘Shadow of the Past’. But even in the first edition of The Hobbit Tolkien seems to have had a sense of the encounter of Bilbo and Gollum as that of the modern and the archaic. As Tom Shippey points out, Gollum’s riddles “associate him firmly with the ancient world of epic and saga” while “Bilbo replies to Gollum’s ancient riddles with modern ones” (Shippey, J. R. R. Tolkien: Author of the Century, Harper Collins, London, 2000, pp. 25-6).
(40) Return of the Shadow: Section III: ‘Of Gollum and the Ring’: p. 75 and p. 78. The patriarchal turn-of-phrase seems deliberate – this is how a patriarchal society would describe distant ancestors, even if the society of those ancestors was matriarchal.
(41) Tolkien, Lord of the Rings, ‘Fellowship’, ‘The Council of Elrond’.
(42) Tolkien, Lord of the Rings, Part I, ‘The Fellowship of the Ring’, ‘The Shadow of the Past’.
(43) Tolkien would later insist that Gandalf’s use of the word “matriarch” in reference to Sméagol’s grandmother “was not ‘anthropological’, but meant simply a woman who in fact ruled the clan” having, in all likelihood, outlived her husband (Letters, letter 214). Hooker reads this letter as Tolkien backtracking on his original conceptions and projecting Victorian values onto the hobbits (Tolkien and Welsh, 82-5). Be that as it may, what matters here is that the tale of Sméagol unmistakably plants the seed of the idea of an archaic matriarchal hobbit community and, nourished by way of the retelling of the tale down the generations, such a seed is all that is needed to produce the aboriginals of Rhys’s reading of the Welsh fairy tales.
(44) Lord of the Rings, ‘Concerning Hobbits’.
(45) I cannot refrain from here noting a tale by John Buchan, one of Tolkien’s favourite authors. The Watcher by the Threshold (1918 [1902], New York, George H. Doran) tells the story of an Oxford scholar, learned in “the ancient life of the North, of the Celts and the Northmen” and author of “a monograph on the probable Celtic elements in the Eddic songs” (p. 14) who, on holiday in the remote Highlands of Scotland, is captured and held in a cave by a wild aboriginal people from whom he hears, “preserved in a sort of shapeless poetry… bitter words against the Gaelic oppressor, bitterer words against the Saxon stranger… fragments of old religions, primeval names of god and goddess, half-understood by the Folk, but to me the key to a hundred puzzles” (pp. 50-1). The Oxford scholar’s first glimpse of one of these aboriginals is of a figure “little and squat and dark… in its face and eyes there seemed to lurk an elder world of mystery and barbarism, a troll-like life which was too horrible for words” (p. 44). If Gollum may perhaps be discerned in this figure, Buchan is nevertheless wholly in the conceptual world of Rhys – his aboriginals are unevolved hairy cave-men.
(46) And also, of course, The Adventures of Tom Bombadil: and other verses from the Red Book; not to mention “three large volumes, bound in red leather… of Bilbo’s ‘Translations from the Elvish’… almost entirely concerned with the Elder Days.” See ‘Note on Shire Records’ in the prologue to The Lord of the Rings.
(47) John Rhys and John Gwenoryn Evans (eds.), The Text of the Mabínogían and other Welsh Tales from the Red Book of Hergest (Oxford, J. G. Evans, 1887) and The Text of the Bruts from the Red Book of Hergest (Oxford, J. G. Evans, 1890). I am indebted to Pieter Collier for the information that Tolkien owned both of these volumes. Fimi (‘Tolkien’s “‘Celtic’ type of legends”, p.51) provides details of other versions of The Red Book of Hergest owned by Tolkien, while Phelpstead lists the known contents of Tolkien’s Celtic library in the appendix of Tolkien and Wales.
(48) See the first chapter, ‘Tolkien and the Beowulf-Poet’, in Shippey’s Roots and Branches: Selected Papers on Tolkien, Walking Tree Publishers, 2007.
(49) For discussions of Celtic folklore in Tolkien’s work, see Fimi’s ‘“Mad” Elves and “Elusive Beauty”’ and ‘Tolkien’s “‘Celtic’ type of legends”’, Part 3 of Verlyn Flieger’s Interrupted Music: the Making of Tolkien’s Mythology, Kent State University Press, 2005, and Part II of Phelpstead’s Tolkien and Wales. Marjorie Burns (Perilous Realms: Celtic and Norse in Tolkien’s Middle-earth, University of Toronto Press, Toronto, 2005) compares the Celtic and Norse elements in Tolkien’s fiction with much insight; although statements such as “Tolkien valued both branches of English-kind, both the Celtic and the Norse” (p. 174) suggest some Arnoldian confusion.
(50) Phelpstead concludes a useful overview of the relationship of the two Red Books (Tolkien and Wales, pp. 57-63), by noting that ‘marches’ refers to border regions, and that on the border between Wales and England ‘the west march’ is how the English side of the border would be described by the English (p. 63).
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Please enable JavaScript to view the comments powered by Disqus.The KSU band’s apology is attempting to cover up the fact that they accidentally made quite a statement during the halftime show. Instead of displaying the starship Enterprise from the Star Trek series, they apparently made a giant penis. While Star Wars fans are probably enjoying a good snigger at this point, Kansas State is busy trying to apologize to anyone who may be offended.
In a related report by the Inquisitr, former KSU President Raymond Burse once cut his own salary in order to help low wage university workers.
The adult-oriented mistake occurred during a marching band routine this past Saturday night. Kansas State was facing off against South Dakota and the theme of the halftime show was space so it involved multiple scenes including notable figures from Star Wars and Star Trek. Unfortunately, when the Kansas State band formed the Jayhawks mascot and the Starship Enterprise, the space ship resembled a male genitalia going warp speed straight into the giant bird’s beak.
This giant-sized mistake has officials from the Kansas State marching band trying to concoct the biggest fig leaf ever. Frank Tracz, direct of the Kansas State marching band, issued the KSU band’s apology and explanation on Twitter.
“There was absolutely no intent to display anything other than the Enterprise and the Jayhawk in battle,” wrote Tracz. “If I am guilty of anything it would the inability to teach the drill in a manner that these young people could have succeeded. I do apologize for the misinterpretation and I assure you that I mean absolutely no disresepct or malice toward the University of Kansas.”
The KSU band’s apology was also issued from their official Twitter account.
We apologize for anyone offended by our halftime performance depicting the starship enterprise and the Jayhawk mascot. — KState Marching Band (@KStatePride) September 6, 2015
Kirk Schultz, the Kansas State president, also apologized on Twitter for the incident.
I am sorry if anyone was offended by the performance at half-time. https://t.co/5589bLIJRs — Kirk H. Schulz (@kstate_pres) September 6, 2015
Of course, this meant social media latched onto photos and made a minor mistake into quite the joke at the expense of the KSU band’s apology. Many were upset that they did not get to see the Star Wars part of the space scene. Others just used the KSU band’s apology as an excuse to whip out the George Takei memes.
What do you think about the incident?
[Image via Twitter]A federal agency created by the Harper government with great political fanfare in 2008 is costing millions of dollars to achieve pretty much nothing.
The Canada Employment Insurance Financing Board has just about everything a budding government agency could want.
So far, it has spent over $3.3 million for new offices, computers and furniture, well-paid executives and staff, travel budgets, expense accounts, board meetings, and lots of pricey consultants.
All that's missing is a reason for it to exist at all.
Chairman David Brown: 'We haven't had to do nearly as much as our original mandate intended.' (CBC )
The Conservative government set up the agency ostensibly to perform three main functions.
The first was to set the annual employment insurance contribution rates that determine how much Canadian workers and employers have to pay into the EI fund in a given year.
But in all three years the board has been in existence, the Harper government has simply capped EI rates to spare Canadian workers from potentially huge premium increases.
As a result, the rate-setting agency has yet to set a single rate.
P.O.V. Should the CEIFB be axed? Take our survey.
The board's other main responsibility is to invest any surplus EI funds.
That has never happened, either.
Since the government started capping EI contribution rates, the employment insurance program has been running a deficit now totalling almost $9 billion.
There has simply never been a surplus dime for the board to invest.
Finally, the agency is charged with managing a $2 billion EI contingency fund the government promised to set up, but never did.
Not overwhelmed
In short, the board has no rates to set, no surplus to invest, no contingency fund to manage, and little chance any of that will change in the near future.
Executive director Phil Charko: about $150,000 a year to work part time. (CBC)
The chair of the agency, Toronto lawyer David Brown, admits the organization isn't exactly overwhelmed with work.
"We haven't had to do nearly as much as our original mandate intended us to do," Brown said in an interview.
"So we've slowed down on some of our development activities until it is clear that we are going to be able to do some of the things that we will be asked in the future."
The head of the Canadian Taxpayers' Federation is incensed.
"I think average taxpayers want to know what these people are doing with their time," Gregory Thomas tells CBC News.
"I think people need to call their MPs and let them know that they are tired of their money being wasted."
Raises for everyone
Mostly, the little agency that doesn't seems to have been keeping busy spending millions of dollars turning itself into a thoroughly modern bureaucracy.
Its published budget for the current year includes giving everyone raises, and moving the entire agency into new offices — all at an expected cost of $1.8 million.
Finance Minister Jim Flaherty tells Parliament about the new agency in 2008. (CBC)
Compensation costs include stipends and expenses for the seven appointed board members, and $244,000 for a couple of executives.
The agency's executive director, retired senior public servant Phil Charko, is being paid about $150,000 a year to work part time.
The budget provides another $200,000 to pay an investment manager if the agency ever has any money to invest.
Another $300,000 is budgeted for "additional corporate services such as IT management, human resources management, and translation services."
'Improve corporate culture'
Despite so many having so little to do, the agency has earmarked over $250,000 to pay outside consultants, including public relations professionals to help produce the board's annual report showing what happened to all the money.
Finally, with two full-time employees on the payroll this year, the entire agency moved out of its former offices into larger space in a different building to "improve the corporate culture."
The total costs of the move are not shown in the agency's budget, although it mentions an estimated $89,000 just for new furniture.
Board chair Brown says the move was mainly to create enough space to accommodate financial experts on a temporary basis as needed, even though they all have permanent desks in various federal government departments.
Aside from spending money, what the agency seems to do best is create bureaucratic plans and policies for itself.
Fits in a minivan
Its planning report details many important "strategic priorities" for this year, including implementing "the communication and outreach strategy."
The agency's entire staff would fit into a minivan, but one of the priorities this year has been to "develop and implement formal HR (human resources) policies in such areas as staffing, staff relations and training."
Finally, the agency with no real purpose wants to develop "measures of corporate performance."
All of which may leave ordinary Canadians wondering what the Harper government was thinking.
The Conservatives passed legislation creating the new agency in June of 2008.
For years, the EI fund had been running huge annual surpluses that mainly Liberal governments had simply siphoned off to help pay down the country's debt and other uses.
$8.8B in the red
The new agency's primary role was to eliminate those surpluses in future by setting the annual EI contribution rate at break even, taking in just enough revenue from workers and employers to cover unemployment benefits and any deficits in the fund.
Five months later, the economic crash caused unemployment to soar and EI contributions to plummet.
By last year, the EI fund was swimming in $8.8 billion of red ink.
If the board had been allowed to exercise its mandate to set EI rates high enough to cover deficits in the fund, Canadian workers would have been hit with huge increases in annual employment insurance premiums. Instead, the Harper government used its own powers to simply freeze EI premiums for 2010, and then capped increases to relatively minor amounts in subsequent years.
Thomas of the Taxpayers' Federation says the government |
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